Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
1754-62
Bartolomeo Rastrelli constructs the Winter Palace as the primary residence of the royal family. Em-
press Elizabeth dies three months before the building is completed.
1762
Catherine II (later Catherine the Great) is brought to the throne by a coup against her husband Peter
III, ushering in the Russian Enlightenment era.
1764
Catherine the Great begins to purchase paintings from European collectors to display in her 'hermit-
age, the foundation for the State Hermitage Museum collection.
1773
Emilian Pugachev, a Don Cossack, claims to be the overthrown Peter III and begins a peasant upris-
ing, which is quelled by brute force, curbing the liberal tendencies of Catherine the Great.
1774-75
Yemelyan Pugachov claims to be the Tsar Peter III, begins a Cossack rebellion, and briefly controls a
huge swathe of central Russia, unnerving Catherine, who abandons many of her more liberal
policies.
1782
The Bronze Horseman,a statue of Peter the Great, is unveiled by Catherine before a huge crowd.
Absent is the sculptor, Falconet, who has returned to France after a falling-out with Catherine.
1796
Upon the death of Catherine the Great, her embittered son Paul I ascends the throne. One of his first
acts as tsar is to decree that women may never again rule Russia.
1799
The birth of poet Alexander Pushkin ushers in the era of Russian romanticism and the Golden Age of
Russian literature. Revered as the national bard, Pushkin's legacy endures to this day.
