In December 1837, a devastating fire destroyed the centre of power of the Russian Empire, the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg (built 1754-62). Its reconstruction commissioned by Tsar Nicholas I marked the beginning of a large-scale restoration of the surviving masonry shell and the use of fireproof iron structures to replace the traditional timber floor structures and roofs. After restoration of the Winter Palace (1840), the timber roofs of the other buildings of the imperial residence - the Small Hermitage (1764-75) and the Great Hermitage (1771-87), both built to house Catherine the Great's growing art collection, and the New Hermitage (1842-51), built as a public art gallery - were also replaced by iron structures and many of the timber floor structures were replaced with iron. By 1852, this group of buildings, known today as the State Hermitage Museum, contained the largest ensemble of iron structures in Russia from the first half of the 19th century comprising an astonishing variety of different construction techniques. At this time, Europe was beginning to explore the possibilities of building with iron and to formulate the first rules and practices for its use. The iron structures hidden behind the facades and suspended ceilings of the Hermitage provide a unique insight into the very heart of this period of revolution in building construction.
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