The Small Hermitage is the smallest of this year's 4 buildings, it is only two stories in height. Under the Empress Catherine II, the Southern Pavilion of the Small Hermitage was constructed from 1765-1766. It was designed by Yury Velten. The Small Hermitage features both the Late Baroque style and the Early Classicist style when Jean Baptist Vallin de la Mothe constructed the Northern Pavilion in the Early Classicist style in 1767-1769. The Southern and Northern Pavilion are joined by the Hanging Garden on the first floor. The building was named the Small Hermitage because Catherine II had parties called "small hermitages" in the Northern Pavilion. Inside in the side galleries, there are art pieces that started the Imperialmuseum's collections. The Small Hermitage links the Winter Palace, the Great Hermitage, and the New Hermitage.
St. Basil's Cathedral is the commonly used name for the Cathedral of Saint Vasily the Blessed. Its official names used by the Russian Orthodox Church are The Cathedral of the Protection of Most Holy Theotokos on the Moat, and Pokrovsky Cathedral. It was constructed under Ivan the Terrible (Ivan IV) from 1555-1561 to celebrate the defeat of Kazan from Mongol forces . It is easily recognized by its colorful stone designs. The inside of the cathedral features more than 400 icons from the 14th to 19th centuries and even a wooden spiral staircase.
St. Isaac's Cathedral was built by the architect Auguste Montferrand and was to be the main church of the Russian Empire, rising 101.5 meters (333 feet) high. Its construction took 40 years (1818-1858). It has one big central dome, which is covered in pure gold, and four smaller domes. Its walls are made of grey and pink stones, and its 112 granite columns are made of single pieces of red granite. The inside of the dome is elaborately decorated by 12 statues of angels (made by Joseph Hermann) and a sculpted dove representing the Holy Spirit under the peak of the dome. The inside of the church features many icons created by mosaic techniques. There is also a decorated bronze door designed by Lorenzo Ghiberti.
The Kotelnicheskaya Embankment Building is the largest of this year's 4 buildings adn is one the seven Stalinist skyscrapers (Stalin Heights or Seven Sister). It was designed by Dmitry Chechulin and Andrey Rostkovsky, and was constructed from 1947-1952. The Building was meant to be an elite housing building with seven hundred apartments and tenants were very famous people. It included shops, coffee-houses, SPA, a post office, and beauty salons. There is a main tower, which rises 176 meters, has a hexagonal shape with 32 floors in the center and 18 floors on the sides. There are two apartment blocks on separate sides, forming the W-shape of the design. These were built from 1938-1940. The Building has a Neo-Gothic style. Neo-Gothic buildings had some features of Gothic cathedrals and typically had strong vertical lines to create a sense of great height, gargoyles and carvings, pointed and decorated windows, and pinnacles.
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