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The Winter Palace (Zimniy dvorets), at the westernmost end of Nevskiy prospekt on the Neva embankment, is the finest example of Russian Baroque in St Petersburg, the largest, most opulent palace within the city. As loaded with history as it is with gilt and stucco, the palace's two-hundred-metre-long facade features a riot of ornamentation in the fifty bays that now face Palace Square. Official residence of the tsars, not to mention the court and 1500 servants, the existing building was completed in 1762. Later, new buildings were added to the east: the Small Hermitage (Maliy Ermitazh), built as a private retreat for Catherine the Great, and the Large Hermitage (Bolshoy Ermitazh), further east. Beyond stands the Hermitage Theatre (Ermitazhniy teatr, 1775-84), Catherine the Great's private theatre, now used for concerts, ballet and conferences. The basement houses an exhibition documenting the remains of Peter the Great's original Winter Palace.
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