Tsar Nicholas II Oversaw the Construction of a Number of Grandiose Projects
The Russian government began construction on the Trans-Siberian Railway in the latter part of the 19th century. The Russian Empire's far eastern regions were to be connected to Moscow and Europe via the railway. The project was a massive undertaking, and it took more than ten years to finish. Just a few months after Russia's entry into World War I, the railway was finished in 1916.
The Winter Palace in St. Petersburg has undergone numerous ochre paint re-paintings over the course of its more than 250-year history. At the start of the 20th century, the hue of the Winter Palace's exterior underwent a significant alteration. Emperor Nicholas II gave his blessing in 1897 to a plan to paint the Winter Palace's exterior a new hue. To complement the red sandstone color of the new fence surrounding His Majesty's Own Garden, a brick-red colour was chosen. After His Majesty's Own Garden's fence construction was finished in 1901, the Emperor's decree was put into action. The architect Nikolai Ivanovich Kramskoy (1865–1938) offered a price estimate of 15,639 rubles in April 1901. "for the undertaking to color the new garden fence and the Imperial Winter Palace." He rated the job and the estimate as "very approved. I was told to get painting right away!" The contractor Kruglov received a payment of 29,467 rubles for the repair work, which included "to scrape, grind, and wipe off the walls of the facades, external and outward, the drum of the dome, towers, and chimneys" before painting all the designated locations.
