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94-686: The Kremlin Senate is located in the northern part of the Kremlin grounds, between the Kremlin Arsenal and the former, now demolished, Kremlin Presidium (the site of which is planned to be a park). It is shaped like an isosceles triangle with each side approximately 100 metres (330 ft) in length, and with one side directly adjacent to the Kremlin Wall parallel to Red Square . The building has three floors and

188-658: A Governing Senate in 1711, the Collegium in 1717 and the Table of Ranks in 1722 had a lasting impact on Russia, and many institutions of the Russian government trace their origins to his reign. Peter grew up at Izmaylovo Estate and was educated at the Amusement Palace from an early age by several tutors commissioned by his father, most notably Nikita Zotov , Patrick Gordon , and Paul Menesius . When his father died in 1676, he left

282-516: A Neoclassical design in order to house a museum dedicated to the Russian victory over Napoleon . Peter the Great Peter I ( [ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪt͡ɕ] ; Russian : Пётр I Алексеевич , romanized :  Pyotr I Alekseyevich ; 9 June [ O.S. 30 May] 1672 – 8 February [ O.S. 28 January] 1725), was Tsar of all Russia from 1682, and

376-514: A 1775 draft by Kazakov. The site once housed the Trubetskoy family palace and at least three churches. In 1779 Blank was demoted, and Kazakov took the lead. He envisaged Governing Senate as a “Temple of Law”, and designed the structure in a Neoclassical style characterized by symmetry and rigour. The building was completed in 1787, with interior work continuing to 1790. Kazakov's building cost 759,000 roubles. According to Ivan Kondratiev, Catherine

470-636: A building to house the Moscow branches of the Governing Senate, namely the national judiciary administration and the seat of elected administration for the Moscow region. The new building was designed by Matvey Kazakov who had participated in the design of the Moscow Arsenal, and construction was started in 1776 by Karl Blank on a large triangular property in the north-east of the Moscow Kremlin, following

564-448: A city famously dubbed by Francesco Algarotti as the "window to the West". In 1714, Peter relocated the capital from Moscow to St. Petersburg, a status it retained until 1918. Peter had a great interest in plants, animals and minerals, in malformed creatures or exceptions to the law of nature for his cabinet of curiosities . He encouraged research of deformities, all along trying to debunk

658-617: A common interest in lizards . Together they went to see patients. He arrived in Utrecht on a barge and met stadtholder William III in a tavern. When he visited the States-General of the Netherlands he left the hall and the astonished attendees with his wig pulled over his head, according Massie. He visited Jan van der Heyden , the inventor of a fire hose . He collected paintings by Adam Silo with ships and seascapes . In October 1697,

752-548: A convent, where she gave up her name and her position as a member of the royal family. Meanwhile, he was a frequent guest in German quarter, where he met Anna and Willem Mons . In 1692 he sent Eberhard Isbrand Ides as envoy to the Kangxi Emperor of China. In 1693 he sailed to Solovetsky Monastery and accepted divine providence after surviving a storm. Still, Peter could not acquire actual control over Russian affairs. Power

846-629: A cook, a priest, six trumpeters, 70 soldiers from the Preobrazhensky regiment , four dwarfs and a monkey which he purchased in Amsterdam; Jacob Bruce accompanied him. Peter stayed at 21 Norfolk Street, Strand , and met with Bishop of Salisbury Gilbert Burnet and Thomas Osborne and posed for Sir Godfrey Kneller . He watched the proceedings within the Parliament from a rooftop window. At some time, he had an affair with actress Letitia Cross . He visited

940-593: A decree was issued that allowed factory owners, regardless of whether they had a noble rank, to buy serfs . Peter made a temporary peace with the Ottoman Empire that allowed him to keep the captured fort of Azov, and turned his attention to Russian maritime supremacy. He sought to acquire control of the Baltic Sea, which had been taken by the Swedish Empire a half-century earlier. Peter declared war on Sweden, which

1034-571: A factory for the development in the Samara Oblast . In 1721 the shipyard Petrozavod and Petrodvorets Watch Factory was established. Some 3,500 new words—German, French, Dutch, English, Italian, Swedish in origin—entered Russian in Peter's period, roughly one-fourth of them shipping and naval terms. As part of his reforms, Peter started an industrialization effort that was slow but eventually successful. Russian manufacturing and main exports were based on

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1128-460: A grand enfilade of rooms where international meetings and protocol events are held. All the rooms are located along the outer facades and are connected through corridors running along the perimeter of the inner courtyards. The president's executive office, decorated in white and green colours, is located in the Oval Room. Meetings and negotiations are held there and state awards are presented. The room

1222-470: A keen interest in The Education of a Christian Prince which offers advice to rulers on how to govern justly and wisely. He introduced into the concept of the autocrat's power the notion of the monarch 's duties. He considered it necessary to take care of his subjects, to protect them from enemies, to work for their benefit. Above all, he put the interests of Russia. He saw his mission in turning it into

1316-562: A large courtyard. It occupies most of the northern corner of the Moscow Kremlin. In the Middle Ages , the spot was occupied by granaries. After they burnt down in the last years of the 17th century, Peter the Great engaged a team of Russian and German architects to construct the Kremlin Arsenal, designed to be one of the largest buildings in Moscow at the time. Construction started in 1702, but

1410-612: A more conventional approach and arranged his marriage to Eudoxia Lopukhina in 1689. The marriage was a failure, and 10 years later, Peter forced his wife to become a nun and thus freed himself from the union. By the summer of 1689, Peter, planned to take power from his half-sister Sophia, whose position had been weakened by two unsuccessful Crimean campaigns against the Crimean Khanate in an attempt to stop devastating Crimean Tatar raids into Russia's southern lands. When she learned of his designs, Sophia conspired with some leaders of

1504-570: A new state body known as the Governing Senate . Normally, the Boyar duma would have exercised power during his absence. Peter, however, mistrusted the boyars; he instead abolished the Duma and created a Senate of ten members. The Senate was founded as the highest state institution to supervise all judicial, financial and administrative affairs. Originally established only for the time of the monarch's absence,

1598-414: A power similar to Western countries, and subordinated his own life and the lives of his subjects to the realization of this idea. Gradually penetrated the idea that the task should be solved with the help of reforms, which will be carried out at the autocrat's will, who creates good and punishes evil. He considered the morality of a statesman separately from the morality of a private person and believed that

1692-786: A search for a foreign expert in the German Quarter . Peter befriended Andrew Vinius , a bibliophile, who taught him Dutch and two Dutch carpenters, Frans Timmerman and Karsten Brandt. Peter studied arithmetic, geometry, and military sciences ( fortification ). He was not interested in a musical education but liked fireworks and drumming. Peter was not particularly concerned that others ruled in his name; Boris Golitsyn and Fyodor Apraksin played an important role. He engaged in such pastimes as shipbuilding in Pereslavl-Zalessky and sailing at Lake Pleshcheyevo , as well as mock battles with his toy army . Peter's mother sought to force him to adopt

1786-560: A ship in Emmerich am Rhein and sailed to Zaandam, where he arrived on 18 August 1697. Peter studied saw-mills , manufacturing and shipbuilding in Zaandam but left after a week. He sailed to Amsterdam after he was recognized and attacked. The log-cabin he rented became the Czar Peter House . He sailed to Texel to see a fleet. Through the mediation of Nicolaas Witsen , an expert on Russia,

1880-605: A small service apartment within the Kremlin Senate, although he chose not to live within the Senate building as his main residence. In 1955, Lenin's apartments were opened to public access; however, in 1994, all exhibits of this museum were relocated to Gorki Leninskiye and the Senate closed its doors to the public again. From 1946 through the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Council of People's Commissars , later known as

1974-406: A sword and a quill in one right hand") and courageous behavior he demonstrated to his subjects his personal positive example, showed how to act, fully devoting himself to the fulfillment of duty and service to the fatherland . Peter reigned for around 43 years. He implemented sweeping reforms aimed at modernizing Russia. Heavily influenced by his advisors, like Jacob Bruce , Peter reorganized

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2068-596: A visit to a friend's mansion near Nigtevecht , a silk manufacture and a paper-mill. At five in the morning he was received by Herman Boerhaave who showed Peter the Botanical Garden . In April 1717 he continued his travel to Austrian Netherlands , Dunkirk and Calais. In Paris he obtained many books, requested to become a member of the Academie de Sciences and visited the parliament, the Sorbonne and Madame Maintenon . Via

2162-406: Is 25 metres in diameter and 27 metres high. Formerly it had been intended for assemblies of the nobility for elections to the local government. Its decoration consists of 24 columns of Corinthian white marble and bas-reliefs in antique style. The partitions between the windows in the domed section are filled with plaster medallions with bas-relief images of Russian dukes and tsars. In the piers between

2256-642: Is a circular hall, with a 24.7-meter diameter under extensive bas-relief ornamentation depicting Catherine as the Greek goddess Minerva . The Presidential Residence consists of two parts: the business part and the representative part. The business part includes the working and representative rooms, the Presidential Council Hall, the Library and the Security Council premises. The representative part consists of

2350-623: Is a former armory built within the grounds of the Moscow Kremlin in Russia . Initially constructed in 1736, it has been rebuilt several times. It remains in military use to date, unlike the Kremlin Armoury , another arsenal within the walls of the Moscow Kremlin, which is now a museum. The building is off-limits to tourists. The Kremlin Arsenal is a large elongated trapezoid two-storey building with

2444-538: Is decorated with a malachite fireplace, a mirror with a bronze clock and candelabrums on the mantelpiece, and four tall sculptures: Peter the Great , Catherine the Great , Nicholas I and Alexander II . The hall's crystal chandeliers are based on drawings by Kazakov . In the recess of the courtyard is the main compositional centre of the building – the Catherine Hall. It is one of the largest circular halls in Moscow: it

2538-542: Is painted in the same yellow color as many other administrative buildings within the Moscow Kremlin. The triangular structure has an inner courtyard, and is divided by hallways into a central pentahedral portion and two side trihedral portions. In the middle of the main façade is an arched passage fashioned like a triumphal arch leading to the inner yard. Inside is Rotunda Hall (diameter 24.6 m or 80 ft 9 in and internal height 27 m or 89 ft), once called The Pantheon of Russia . Its green dome, carrying

2632-499: Is the Blue Drawing Room with white and gold furniture. The Audience Hall, in light colours with gilding, is decorated with portraits of Russian emperors, marble and a classical fireplace. The Banqueting Room in light yellow and blue tones completes the enfilade of representation rooms. The furniture in it was created according to the surviving drawings of the 18th century. The Fireside Hall and Drawing Room are used for meetings and

2726-533: The streltsy (Russia's elite military corps) in April–May 1682. In the subsequent conflict, some of Peter's relatives and friends were murdered, including Artamon Matveyev, and Peter witnessed some of these acts of political violence. The streltsy made it possible for Sophia, the Miloslavskys (the clan of Ivan ) and their allies to insist that Peter and Ivan be proclaimed joint tsars, with Ivan being acclaimed as

2820-775: The Azov campaigns to take the fortress, but his attempts ended in failure. Peter returned to Moscow in November 1695 and began building a large navy in Voronezh . He launched about thirty ships against the Ottomans in 1696, capturing Azov in July of that year. He appointed Alexander Gordon , who later would publish a biography on Peter. Peter used to hold all his important meetings and numerous celebrations in Le Fort 's palace. Peter knew that Russia could not face

2914-563: The Council of Ministers and as the Cabinet of Ministers , was based in this building. In 1994-1998, Senate building was converted to house the Russian presidential administration . An indiscriminate reconstruction from scratch destroyed Kazakov's interiors. Preservation advocate Alexei Komech reported from the site: "... crushed walls, ripped air ducts and piles of 200 year old bricks remind me of wandering around ruins of Berlin 's Reich Chancellery in 1946". Other sources, however, maintain that

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3008-683: The Julian calendar , which replaced the Byzantine calendar that was long used in Russia, but the Russian Orthodox Church was particularly resistant to this change. In 1703, he introduced the first Russian newspaper, Sankt-Peterburgskie Vedomosti , and ordered the civil script , a reform of Russian orthography largely designed by himself. On the shores of the Neva River, he founded Saint Petersburg ,

3102-670: The Moscow Print Yard . In 1707, Tsar Peter I bought a fully equipped printing house in Holland , including staff. Peter replaced the Cyrillic numerals with Arabic numerals (1705–1710) and the Cyrillic font with a civil script (1708–1710). In 1708, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz became an advisor and offered to write new laws for the country. In December Russia was divided into eight governorates ( guberniya ). Matwei Petrowitsch Gagarin

3196-668: The Palace of Saint-Cloud , the Grand Trianon at Versailles, Fontainebleau , Spa he travelled on to Maastricht , at that time one of the most important fortresses in Europe. He went back Amsterdam to attend a Treaty with France and Prussia on 15 August. He achieved a diplomatic success, and his international prestige, consolidated. Again he visited the Hortus Botanicus and left the city early September 1717, heading for Berlin. In October he

3290-777: The Royal Mint four times; it is not clear whether he ever met Isaac Newton , the mint's warden , who introduced milling on the coinage. Peter was impressed by the Great Recoinage of 1696 , according to Massie. At some time he visited Spithead , Plymouth , with captain John Perry to watch a mock battle . In February he attended a Fleet Review in Deptford , and inspected the Woolwich Dockyard and Royal Arsenal with Anthony Deane . For three months he stayed at Sayes Court as

3384-762: The Black Sea, which would require expelling the Tatars from the surrounding areas. As part of an agreement with Poland that ceded Kiev to Russia, Peter was forced to wage war against the Crimean Khan and against the Khan's overlord, the Ottoman Sultan. Peter's primary objective became the capture of the Ottoman fortress of Azov , near the Don River . In the summer of 1695 Peter organized

3478-561: The Great established the Olonets Shipyard at Lodeynoye Pole , where Russian frigate Shtandart was built. While the Poles fought the Swedes, Peter founded the city of Saint Petersburg on 29 June 1703 on Hare Island . He forbade the building of stone edifices outside Saint Petersburg, which he intended to become Russia's capital, so that all stonemasons could participate in the construction of

3572-404: The Ottoman Empire alone. In March 1697, he traveled "incognito" to Western Europe on an 18-month journey with a large Russian delegation—the so-called "Grand Embassy" . Peter was the first tsar to leave Russia for more than 100 years. He used a fake name, allowing him to escape social and diplomatic events, but since he was far taller than most others, he could not fool anyone. One goal was to seek

3666-471: The Ottoman Empire. Russia had defeated what was considered to be one of the world's best militaries, and the victory overturned the view that Russia was militarily incompetent. In Poland, Augustus II was restored as King. Peter, overestimating the support he would receive from his Balkan allies, attacked the Ottoman Empire, initiating the Russo-Turkish War of 1710 . Peter's campaign in the Ottoman Empire

3760-539: The Ottoman Sultan. Peter failed to expand the anti-Ottoman alliance. In Riga, the local Swedish commander Erik Dahlbergh decided to pretend that he did not recognize Peter and did not allow him to inspect the fortifications. (Three years later, Peter would cite the inhospitable reception as one of the reasons for starting the Great Northern War). He met Frederick Casimir Kettler , the Duke of Courland. In Königsberg ,

3854-401: The Russian Church of the opportunity to regain a single spiritual leader. Reducing the number of monasteries, he converted all monasteries with less than 30 monks into schools or churches. He encouraged the development of private entrepreneurship, but under strict state control. He initiated the construction of canals by John Perry and implemented a monetary reform, using the decimal principle as

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3948-425: The Russian army along modern lines and dreamed of making Russia a maritime power . He faced much opposition to these policies at home but brutally suppressed rebellions against his authority, including by the Streltsy , Bashkirs , Astrakhan , and the greatest civil uprising of his reign, the Bulavin Rebellion . In his process to westernize Russia, he wanted members of his family to marry other European royalty. In

4042-404: The Russian people as rude, unintelligent, stubborn in their sluggishness, a child, a lazy student. He highly appreciated the state's role in the life of society, saw it as an ideal instrument for achieving high goals, saw it as a universal institution for transforming people, with the help of violence and fear, into educated, conscious, law-abiding and useful to the whole society subjects. Peter had

4136-461: The Senate became a permanent body after his return. A special high official, the Ober-Procurator , served as the link between the ruler and the senate and acted, in Peter own words, as "the sovereign's eye". Without his signature no Senate decision could go into effect; the Senate became one of the most important institutions of Imperial Russia. In 1701, 1705 and 1712, Peter I issued decrees establishing an Engineering School in Sukharev Tower , which

4230-407: The Streltsy, who continually aroused disorder and dissent. Peter, warned by others from the Streltsy, escaped in the middle of the night to the impenetrable monastery of Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra ; there he slowly gathered adherents who perceived he would win the power struggle. Sophia was eventually overthrown, with Peter I and Ivan V continuing to act as co-tsars. Peter forced Sophia to enter

4324-574: The Strong abdicated in 1706. Swedish king Charles XII turned his attention to Russia, invading it in 1708. After crossing into Russia, Charles defeated Peter at Golovchin in July. In the Battle of Lesnaya , Charles suffered his first loss after Peter crushed a group of Swedish reinforcements marching from Riga . Deprived of this aid, Charles was forced to abandon his proposed march on Moscow. Charles XII refused to retreat to Poland or back to Sweden and instead invaded Ukraine . Peter withdrew his army southward, employing scorched earth , destroying along

4418-520: The Strong . Peter's visit was cut short, when he was informed of the second Streltsy uprising in June. The rebellion was easily crushed by General Gordon before Peter returned home early September. Peter nevertheless acted ruthlessly towards the mutineers; 4,600 rebels were sent to prison. Around 1,182 were tortured and executed, and Peter ordered that their bodies be publicly exhibited as a warning to future conspirators. The Streltsy were disbanded, and Peter's half-sister Sophia, who they sought to put on

4512-452: The Tsar visited Delft and received an "eal viewer" from the microscopist Antoni van Leeuwenhoek . After the Peace of Ryswick he was invited by King of England to visit him. The Dutch regents considered the Tsar too inquisitive, and this affected their willingness to help the Russians. On 11 January 1698 ( O.S. ), Peter arrived at Victoria Embankment with four chamberlains, three interpreters ( Peter Shafirov , LeFort), two clock makers,

4606-436: The aid of European monarchs, but Peter's hopes were dashed. France was a traditional ally of the Ottoman Sultan, and Austria was eager to maintain peace in the east while conducting its own wars in the west. Peter, furthermore, had chosen an inopportune moment: the Europeans at the time were more concerned about the War of the Spanish Succession over who would succeed the childless King Charles II of Spain than about fighting

4700-545: The basis of the monetary system (1698-–1704). Peter attracted many foreign specialists and opened an educational institution for surgery , led by Nicolaas Bidloo . In 1701, the Moscow School of Mathematics and Navigation was founded, led by Jacob Bruce ; for fifteen years, naval officers, surveyors, engineers, and gunners were educated there. In 1700, Jan Thesingh (-1701) received a monopoly on printing and importing books, maps and prints into Russia for fifteen years. In 1701 he appointed Fedor Polikarpov-Orlov as head of

4794-409: The building lost its national functions and became the seat of Moscow Regional Court (Здание Московских судебных установлений) and several other state offices. In 1905, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich Romanov , the military governor of Moscow, was assassinated just outside the Moscow Senate by Ivan Kalyayev . This was commemorated by a memorial cross , designed by Victor Vasnetsov in 1908. In 1918,

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4888-405: The columns are eighteen high relief panels on allegorical subjects composed by Gavrila Derzhavin and Nikolay Lvov . They reflect the state activities of Catherine II and glorify legality, justice and enlightenment. The vault of the dome is decorated with caissons, giving it depth. The president's office is in classicist style, with a circular rotunda adorned with a bronze chandelier. Next to it

4982-443: The court apothecary; Johann Daniel Schumacher was appointed secretary and librarian of the Kunstkamera . The country's first scientific library was opened in his palace in the Summer Garden. Peter ordered the development of Aptekarsky Island , headquarters for the Medical Clerical Office and the Main Pharmacy. Gottlieb Schober was commissioned to examine hot springs and discovered rich deposits of sulfur ; Peter immediately set up

5076-420: The end of April 1698 he left after being shown how to make watches, and carpeting coffins. Back in Holland he visited Harderwijk and Cleves. The Embassy next went to Leipzig, Dresden, where he met with the Queen of Poland . Three times he visited the Kunstsammlung , then Königstein Fortress , Prague, Vienna, to pay a visit to Leopold I . At Rava-Ruska , he crossed the border and Peter spoke with Augustus II

5170-431: The first Emperor of all Russia , known as Peter the Great , from 1721 until his death in 1725. He reigned jointly with his half-brother Ivan V until 1696. From this year, Peter was an absolute monarch , an autocrat who remained the ultimate authority and organized a well-ordered police state . Most of Peter's reign was consumed by long wars against the Ottoman and Swedish Empires . Despite initial difficulties,

5264-412: The forces of Charles XII, rather than employ a slow methodical siege, attacked immediately using a blinding snowstorm to their advantage. After the battle, Charles XII decided to concentrate his forces against the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, which gave Peter time to reorganize the Russian army and conquered Nyenschantz in the Ingrian campaign . Bidloo had to organize a military hospital. Robert Bruce

5358-418: The genius Leibniz . Blumentrost and Areskine accompanied him. In early December Peter arrived in Amsterdam and visited Nicolaas Witsen . He bought the anatomic and herbarium collection of Frederik Ruysch , Levinus Vincent and Albertus Seba . He obtained many paintings among other from Maria Sibylla Merian for his Kunstkamera and Rembrandt's "David and Jonathan" for Peterhof Palace . He paid

5452-452: The guest of John Evelyn , a member of the Royal Society . He was trained on a telescope at the Greenwich Observatory by John Flamsteed . Peter communicated with Thomas Story and William Penn about their position that believers should not join the military. King William III presented a schooner with a whole crew to Peter I in exchange for the monopoly right of English merchants to trade tobacco in Russia (see Charles Whitworth ). At

5546-403: The mining and lumber industries. In 1719, the privileges of miners were enshrined in law with the Berg Privilege, which allowed representatives of all classes to search for ores and build metallurgical plants. At the same time, manufacturers and artisans were exempted from state taxes and recruiting , and their houses were exempt from the post of troops. The law also guaranteed the inheritance of

5640-407: The monument was destroyed by the Bolshevik administration. After the 1917 Russian Revolution and relocation of the capital to Moscow, the Kremlin Senate served as the seat of the Soviet government, including the Politburo . Vladimir Lenin had his study and private apartment on the third floor in 1918-1922. Later, the Senate housed Joseph Stalin 's study and conference hall. Stalin maintained

5734-461: The new city. While the city was being built along the Neva he lived in a modest three-room log cabin (with a study but without a fire-place) which had to make room for the first version of the Winter Palace . The first buildings which appeared were a shipyard at the Admiralty , Kronstadt (1704-1706) and the Peter and Paul Fortress (1706). Peter took his whole family on a boat trip to Kronstadt. Following several defeats, Polish King Augustus II

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5828-399: The ownership of factories, proclaimed industrial activity a matter of state importance and protected manufacturers from interference in their affairs by local authorities. The same law established the Collegium of Mining , and managed the entire mining and metallurgical industry , and local administrations. The Demidovs became the first Russian exporters of iron to Western Europe . In 1721,

5922-555: The past, his ancestors had been snubbed at the idea; however, it was proving fruitful. He negotiated with Frederick William, Duke of Courland to marry his niece, Anna Ivanovna . He used the wedding in order to launch his new capital, St Petersburg, where he had already ordered building projects of westernized palaces and buildings. Peter hired Italian and German architects to design it. He attracted Domenico Trezzini , Carlo Bartolomeo Rastrelli , Jean-Baptiste Alexandre Le Blond and Andreas Schlüter . To improve his nation's position on

6016-401: The possibility of future joint ventures with the Knights, including action against the Turks and the possibility of a future Russian naval base. On 12 September 1698, Peter officially founded the first Russian Navy base, Taganrog on the Sea of Azov . In 1699, Peter changed the date of the celebration of the new year from 1 September to 1 January. Traditionally, the years were reckoned from

6110-407: The presidents take the oath of office. The Governing Senate was an institution created by Tsar Peter the Great in 1711. It had six departments, four of which were in St Petersburg and two of which were in Moscow. Empress Catherine the Great had been a frequent guest in Moscow at the time when the city, neglected by past monarchs, did not have enough state offices. She ordered the construction of

6204-427: The purported creation of the World , but after Peter's reforms, they were to be counted from the birth of Christ . Thus, in the year 7207 of the old Russian calendar, Peter proclaimed that the Julian Calendar was in effect and the year was 1700. On the death of Lefort in 1699, Menshikov succeeded him as Peter's prime favourite and confidant. In 1700, Peter I prevented the election of a new patriarch and deprived

6298-489: The quarrelsome Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin with which Peter wanted an alliance. He obtained the assistance of the Frederick William I of Prussia who sieged the strong Swedish fortress Wismar . In Altona he met with Danish diplomats, supporting Prussia. He sailed to Copenhagen heading an allied fleet. In Wittenberg he visited the monastery, where Luther lived. In May he went on to Bad Pyrmont , and, because of his physical problems he stayed at this spa. There he met with

6392-487: The reconstruction actually restored the interiors to the original Kazakov's plans after two centuries of ad-hoc modifications. Present-day photographs also show that the builders destroyed and paved the chestnut garden that used to grace the Senate's courtyard in the 1970s. On the night of May 2-3, 2023, the building was hit by an alleged drone attack , which detonated on top of its roof. Kremlin Arsenal The Kremlin Arsenal ( Russian : Арсенал Московского Кремля )

6486-424: The same year, Peter also sought to end arranged marriages , which were the norm among the Russian nobility , because he thought such a practice was barbaric and led to domestic violence, since the partners usually resented each other. In 1698, Peter sent a delegation to Malta , under boyar Boris Sheremetev , to observe the training and abilities of the Knights of Malta and their fleet . Sheremetev investigated

6580-461: The seas, Peter sought more maritime outlets. His only outlet at the time was the White Sea at Arkhangelsk . The Baltic Sea was at the time controlled by Sweden in the north, while the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea were controlled by the Ottoman Empire and Safavid Empire respectively in the south. The country's need for metal was exacerbated by the outbreak of wars for access to the Black and Baltic Seas. Peter attempted to acquire control of

6674-437: The senior. Sophia then acted as regent during the minority of the sovereigns and exercised all power. For seven years, she ruled as an autocrat. From 1682 to 1689, Peter and his mother were banned to Preobrazhenskoye . At the age of 16, he discovered an English boat on the estate, had it restored and learned to sail. He received a sextant , but did not know how to use it. Peter was fascinated by sundials . Therefore, he began

6768-602: The signing of state documents. The Dining Room is used for informal breakfasts and lunches and working meetings of the Russian president with the leaders of various states. On the third floor of the northeast part of the building is the Presidential Library. The bookcases contain encyclopaedias, reference books and legislation. This room contains an authentic copy of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, on which

6862-570: The southern half of modern Estonia ), driving the Swedes out of Finland . In 1714, the Russian fleet won the Battle of Gangut . During the Great Wrath most of Finland was occupied by Russian forces. In January 1716, Tsar Peter traveled in the Baltic region to discuss peace negotiations and how to protect the sea trade route from the Swedes. He visited Riga, Königsberg and Danzig . There his niece married

6956-412: The sovereign in the name of state interests can go to murder, violence, forgery and deceit. He went through the naval service, starting from the lowest ranks: bombardier (1695), captain (1696), colonel (1706), schout-bij-nacht (1709), vice-admiral (1714), admiral (1721). By hard daily work (according to the figurative expression of Peter the Great himself, he was simultaneously "forced to hold

7050-548: The sovereignty to Peter's elder half-brother, the crippled Feodor III . Throughout this period, the government was largely run by Artamon Matveyev , an enlightened friend of Alexis, the political head of the Naryshkin family and one of Peter's greatest childhood benefactors. This position changed when Feodor died in 1682. As Feodor did not leave any children, a dispute arose between the Miloslavsky family ( Maria Miloslavskaya

7144-486: The state flag as seen from the Red Square, would later become a Soviet propaganda icon. However, originally it carried a statue of St. George, then a statue of Justice (destroyed by French troops in 1812). The exterior styling of the building is an unusual mix of Doric and Ionic order columns. Inside the building, the large “Catherine Hall” is designed as a parade room, where especially important ceremonies are held. This

7238-563: The superstitious fear of monsters . He promoted industrialization in the Russian Empire and higher education. The Russian Academy of Sciences and the Saint Petersburg State University were founded in 1724, and invited Christian Wolff and Willem 's Gravesande . Peter is primarily credited with the modernization of the country, quickly transforming it into a major European power. His administrative reforms, creating

7332-529: The throne, was kept in strictest seclusion at Novodevichy Convent . Peter's visits to the West impressed upon him the notion that European customs were in several respects superior to Russian traditions. He commanded all of his courtiers and officials to wear European clothing (no caftans ) and cut off their long beards, causing Boyars and Old Believers , who were very fond of their beards, great upset. Boyars who sought to retain their beards were required to pay an annual beard tax of one hundred rubles . In

7426-513: The tsar engaged many skilled workers such as builders of locks, fortresses, shipwrights, and seamen—including Cornelis Cruys , a vice-admiral who became, under Franz Lefort , the tsar's advisor in maritime affairs; engineer Menno van Coehoorn refused. Peter put his knowledge of shipbuilding to use in helping build Russia's navy. Peter and Witsen visited Frederik Ruysch who had all the specimens exposed in five rooms. He taught Peter how to catch butterflies and how to preserve them. They also had

7520-417: The tsar was apprenticed for two months to an artillery engineer. (Decrees were issued on the construction of the first Ural blast furnace plants.) In July he met Sophia of Hanover at Coppenbrügge castle. She described him: "The tsar is a tall, handsome man, with an attractive face. He has a lively mind is very witty. Only, someone so well endowed by nature could be a little better mannered." Peter rented

7614-571: The tsar was given the opportunity to gain practical experience in shipyard, belonging to the Dutch East India Company , for a period of four months, under the supervision of Gerrit Claesz Pool . The diligent and capable tsar assisted in the construction of an East Indiaman Peter and Paul specially laid down for him. Peter felt that the ship's carpenters in Holland worked too much by eye and lacked accurate construction drawings. During his stay

7708-817: The wars were ultimately successful and led to expansion to the Sea of Azov and the Baltic Sea , thus laying the groundwork for the Imperial Russian Navy . His victory in the Great Northern War ended Sweden's era as a great power and was followed by the proclamation of the Russian Empire . Peter led a cultural revolution that replaced some of the traditionalist and medieval social and political systems with ones that were modern, scientific, Westernized , and based on radical Enlightenment . In December 1699, he introduced

7802-520: The way anything that could assist the Swedes. Deprived of local supplies, the Swedish army was forced to halt its advance in the winter of 1708–1709. In the summer of 1709, they resumed their efforts to capture Russian-ruled Ukraine , culminating in the Battle of Poltava on 27 June. The battle was a decisive defeat for the Swedish forces, ending Charles' campaign in Ukraine and forcing him south to seek refuge in

7896-415: Was appointed commander-in-chief of St. Petersburg. After the defeat at Narva, Peter I gave the order to melt the church bells into cannons and mortars. In 1701, Peter ordered the construction of Novodvinsk Fortress north of Archangelsk. Everybody was convinced they knew: his Majesty will wage war. In the siege of Nöteborg Russian forces captured the Swedish fortress, renamed Shlisselburg . In 1702 Peter

7990-538: Was at the time led by the young King Charles XII . Sweden was also opposed by Denmark–Norway , Saxony , and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth . The Preobrazhensky regiment took part in all major battles of the Great Northern War. Russia was ill-prepared to fight the Swedes, and their first attempt at seizing the Baltic coast ended in disaster at the Battle of Narva in 1700. In the conflict,

8084-405: Was cut in the back of the throne, so that she, literally behind the scenes, could whisper to the two boys. The "Moscow Grand Discharge" started in 1677 and was completed in 1688; it affected noble families with high ranks in the administration; the ministries were also reduced in number. This provoked fierce reactions. Sophia , one of Alexis' daughters from his first marriage, led a rebellion of

8178-516: Was disastrous, and in the ensuing Treaty of the Pruth , Peter was forced to return the Black Sea ports he had seized in 1697. In return, the Sultan expelled Charles XII. The Ottomans called him Mad Peter ( Turkish : deli Petro ), for his willingness to sacrifice large numbers of his troops in wartime. Peter's northern armies took the Swedish province of Livonia (the northern half of modern Latvia , and

8272-410: Was instead exercised by his mother. It was only when Natalya died in 1694 that Peter, then aged 22, became an independent sovereign. Formally, Ivan V was a co-ruler with Peter, though being ineffective. Peter became the sole ruler when Ivan died in 1696 without male offspring. Peter grew to be extremely tall, especially for the time period, reportedly standing 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m). He

8366-426: Was interrupted due to lack of funds during the Great Northern War with Sweden , and was only completed in 1736, under supervision of Field-Marshal Burkhard Christoph von Münnich . The new building was gutted by a fire in 1737, and only restored from 1786-1796. During Napoleon's invasion of Russia , the retreating French soldiers had the central part of the building blown up. It was restored between 1816 and 1828 to

8460-486: Was seen as a "second Goliath " or Samson . Saint-Simon described him in 1717 as "tall, well-formed and slim... with a look both bewildered and fierce". Peter had noticeable facial tics, and he may have suffered from neck spasm . As a young man, Peter I adopted the Protestant model of existence in a pragmatic world of competition and personal success, which largely shaped the philosophy of his reformism . He perceived

8554-407: Was so impressed by the building that she gave Kazakov her gloves, saying "I'll pay your bills later, for now – this is a token for your wife". She indeed repaid Kazakov with diamonds, promotion and a pension. The building later served as a model for several other official buildings in other Russian cities in the late 18th and 19th centuries. Later, in line with legal reforms of Catherine's successors,

8648-441: Was supposed to recruit up to 100 students, but had only 23. Therefore, he issued another decree in 1714 calling for compulsory education , which dictated that all Russian 10- to 15-year-old children of the nobility, government clerks, and lesser-ranked officials must learn basic arithmetic, trigonometry and geometry , and should be tested on the subjects at the end of their studies. Areskine , an iatrochemist , became head of

8742-634: Was the first governor of Siberia. Peter was visited by Cornelis de Bruijn , who spent six years in Russia and made drawings of the Kremlin. In 1711, Peter visited elector August II of Poland in Dresden, Carlsbad and Torgau where his son Aleksei married. In 1713 he visited Hamburg, sieged Tönningen with his allies. He then traveled to Hanover and was a guest of Duke Anton Ulrich of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel in Salzdahlum . From Danzig he sailed to Riga, Helsingfors and Turku . In 1711, Peter established by decree

8836-452: Was the first wife of Alexis I) and Naryshkin family ( Natalya Naryshkina was his second wife) over who should inherit the throne. He jointly ruled with his elder half-brother, Ivan V , until 1696. Ivan, was next in line but was weakminded and blind. Consequently, the Boyar Duma (a council of Russian nobles) chose the 10-year-old Peter to become tsar, with his mother as regent . A hole

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