The Romanovs and the Ice Palace of 1740

In the winter of 1739–40, on the frozen Neva River in St. Petersburg, a bizarre and brutal spectacle unfolded: an ice palace built entirely of ice, with ice furniture, ice cannon, even an ice bath and ice wedding. This episode explores how Empress Anna Ioannovna, whose reign was already marked by the brutal Bironovshchina, commissioned the structure to humiliate her court jester, Prince Mikhail Golitsyn, and his Kalmyk bride. We dig into the engineering marvels — the ice cannon that actually fired, the ice bath where the newlyweds spent their wedding night — and the darker symbolism: a ruler using architecture as a weapon. We also trace the palace's fleeting afterlife in Russian culture, from the 1900 novel and 2008 film to its echoes in later propaganda. Join Lucas and Luna as they uncover the chilling details of a winter fantasy that was really a punishment. #IcePalace #AnnaIoannovna #RussianEmpire #18thCentury #StPetersburg #NevaRiver #MikhailGolitsyn #Bironovshchina #Kunstkamera #RomanovDynasty #WinterPalace #IceArchitecture #CourtIntrigue #ImperialRussia #History #FexingoHistory #EasternEurope #WeirdHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo