Nicholas I was also responsible for the creation of the Battle Galleries (19), which occupy the central portion of the Palace Square façade. They were redesigned by Alexander Briullov to commemorate the Russian victories prior to 1812. Immediately adjacent to these galleries celebrating the French defeat, were rooms (18) where Maximilian, Duke of Leuchtenberg, Napoleon's step-grandson and the Tsar's son-in-law, lived during the early days of his marriage.The website of The State Hermitage Museum records the Duke living in these rooms, soon after his marriage to the Tsar's daughter, in 1839. The Tsar built the Duke and Duchess of Leuchtenberg the Marinsky Palace (completed in 1844), thus enabling the Duke to escape to what must have been less humiliating surroundings.
