page_title: Maria Feodorovna (Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg)
section_title: Building projects
hierarchical_section_title: Maria Feodorovna (Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg) / Empress / Building projects
caption_attribution_description: Palace-table-p1030767.jpg
context_page_description: Maria Feodorovna was Empress consort of Russia as the second wife of Tsar Paul I. She was the founder of the Office of the Institutions of Empress Maria.
  Daughter of Duke Frederick Eugene of Württemberg and Princess Friederike of Brandenburg-Schwedt, Sophie Dorothea belonged to a junior branch of the House of Württemberg and grew up in Montbéliard receiving an excellent education for her time. After Grand Duke Paul became a widower in 1776, Sophie Dorothea was chosen by Frederick II of Prussia, her maternal great-uncle, and Empress Catherine II of Russia, as the ideal candidate to be Paul's second wife. In spite of her fiancé's difficult character, she developed a long, peaceful relationship with Paul and converted to the Russian Orthodox Church by the name Maria Feodorovna. During the long reign of her mother-in-law, she sided with her husband and lost the initial affection the reigning Empress had for her. The couple was completely excluded from any political influence, as mother and son mistrusted each other. They were forced to live in isolation at Gatchina Palace, where they had many children together.
context_section_description: Maria Feodorovna had exceptional taste. She was skilled at architecture, watercolor; engraving; designing objects of ivory and amber; and horticulture.
  The palaces of Pavlovsk, Gatchina, Tsarskoe Selo, the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg and The Hermitage were remodelled and furnished under her personal guidance. Her efforts would produce some of the most beautiful estates in all of Russia.
  Maria Fedorovna and Paul began remodelling Pavlovsk. She insisted in having several rustic structures which recalled the palace where she grew up at Étupes, 40 miles from Basel. During their travels in 1781, the couple sent back and forth drawings, plans and notes on the smallest details. She brought Italian architect Carlo Rossi to redesign the library to contain more than twenty thousand books. After Paul's death in 1801, Gatchina Palace came into the ownership of the new Empress Mother, who used her experience from her travels around Europe to redone the interiors in the Neoclassical style and make alterations to adapt it "in case of winter stay" in 1809.
caption: Pavlovsk Palace: The cabinet of Maria Feodorovna.
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