Cabin of Peter the Great in St Petersburg Russia

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The Cabin of Peter the Great in Saint Petersburg is the first residence of the Tsar and generally the first civilian building in the city on the Neva river. It is situated on the Petrograd side, not far from the Troitsky Square.

The Cabin is a unique monument of wooden architecture of the 18th century. The museum “the Cabin of Peter I” is a filial of the Russian museum. There is furniture and dishes, private items of the Emperor as well as documents about the Peter’s era.

Description

The building was erected by soldiers-carpenters within three days – May 24-26, 1703. On May 27 it was a celebration venue for new joint lands and the city foundation. The Emperor lived there before the construction of Winter and Summer palaces – from 1703 to 1708.

The location was chosen so from the house windows it would be possible to see Peter and Paul Fortress bastions, the surrounding area and beautiful Neva.

Wooden hut in the active museum Cabin of Peter the Great in Saint Petersburg Russia

Living room of the Russian Emperor in the Cabin of Peter the Great. Saint Petersburg, Russia

Dining room in the Cabin of Peter the Great in Saint Petersburg Russia. Authentic decorations and inner interiors.

The house was made of pine logs and had features of Dutch and Swedish architectures. It is a one-storey building with two rooms – a cabinet and a bedroom, and an inner porch. There’s no chimney as Peter lived there only in summertime. Hewn logs were painted to look like red bricks, while its roof was covered with wooden planks that imitated roof tiling. There were 17 windows in the house, and some of them were divided into several segments which was traditional to the architectural styles of Norway and Sweden. Room walls were covered with a sailing canvas, and doors were adorned with metal pads as ornaments.

As the Emperor had the military rank of Colonel of Preobrazhensky regiment, a wooden artillery weapon was established on the rooftop.

History

The first gallery around the Cabin of Peter the Great was created under the order of the Emperor in 1723. However, it did not manage to protect the house from huge floods. That is why in 1784 Catherine the Great ordered to build a durable case around the Cabin with a foundation and a roof. It was changed to a stoned one in the middle of the 19th century.

An Emperor’s bust by Parmen Zabello was established in front of the building in 1875. During the same year, a cast-iron fence with two golden two-headed earls was installed. These symbols of the Imperial family were removed during the October revolution 1917.

In 1930 the Cabin of Peter the Great was turned into a historical museum that holds some private assets and furniture of the Emperor. There are also materials about the history of Peter’s era, including the Great Northern war times.

During the Great Patriotic war, the building was thoroughly protected under planks and plywood, colored in grey. In 1994, the Cabin of Peter I was the first museum opened after breaking the Siege.

In the after-war time, the building was restored. The brick walls were cleaned, windows and doors were glazed. The fence and all the inner rooms were repaired.

Over the last three centuries, the embankment was expanded several times, and nowadays the historical building appeared to be moved away from the shore of Neva.