The Winter Palace and the Hermitage from the Extraordinary Commission of Inquiry to the Bolshevik Assault

Abstract

After the February Revolution of 1917 and the abdication of tsar Nicholas II, the Winter Palace founded by Catherine the Great lost its status of the main Imperial residence, and started to be referred to as the Hermitage. In July 1917, head of the Provisional government Alexander Kerensky moved to the former apartments of Alexander III in the Winter Palace and held meetings of ministers in the apartments previously occupied by Nicholas II. On October 25 (November 7) 1917, the Winter Palace did not only witness but participated in the main event of the 20 th century which changed the course of history in Russia and in many other countries. Referring to the accounts of the participants of the events and archival documents, the author tries to reconstruct the chronology of the events that had taken place in the proximity of the Hermitage before October 1917, and that of the day which saw the capture of the Winter Palace. During the period between the Revolutions, these state buildings that are now considered national heritage housed the extraordinary and artistic commissions, the secretary of the Academy of Sciences S. F. Oldenburg, poet A. Blok, historian Ye. Tarle, chairman of the Second State Duma V. F. Golovin, and the “grandmother of the Russian revolution” E. K. Breshko-Breshkovskaya, etc. The events of 25–26 October, “one day that shook the world” described in the article draw a picture that differs significantly from the textbook depiction of the iconic October by S. Eisenstein and allow one to break from the mythological interpretation of the October Revolution prevalent in the past.