[Source :
Encyclopedia II]
Encyclopedia II - Ice palace - Anna Ivanova's palace
According to the story, prince Mikhail Golitsyn had married an Italian woman. Tsarina Anna Ivanovna saw this as an affront because she was a Catholic, not Eastern Orthodox. The wife died soon after but the tsarina did not forgive Golitsyn and decided to punish him in unusual manner. First she ordered him to become a jester.
In the cold winter of 1739–1740, Anna Ivanova gave an order to build a palace made of ice in St. Petersburg. She ordered architect Pyotr Eropkin to design the building.
The palace was 24 meters tall and 7 meters wide. Huge ice blocks were "glued" together with water. The garden was filled with ice trees with ice birds and an ice statue of an elephant. The outer walls were lined with ice sculptures. Before the palace there were artillery pieces also made of ice. The palace was also furnished with furniture made of ice, including an ice bed with ice mattress and pillows. The whole structure was surrounded with a tall wooden fence.
The Tsarina selected prince Golitsyn a new wife, an unattractive court lady Avdotya Ivanovna Buzheninova. She forced the prince to marry her and displayed the newlyweds in a procession where they rode an elephant and were followed by a number of cripples and members of despised ethnic minorities. In the palace the newlyweds were closed into an icy nuptial chamber under heavy guard. The couple barely survived the night.
Tsarina Anna Ivanova died the following year and the castle did not survive the next summer.
As far as the legend is concerned, Golitsyn and his new wife decided to live together. She even gave birth to twins.
Loin d'être une servante, l'épouse aurait été une lady. Très laide tout de même.