The centerpiece aka The Winter palace is the earliest and most celebrated building on the square, the baroque white-and-azure Winter Palace of the Russian tsars, gives the square its name. The opposite, southern side of the square was designed in the shape of an arc by George von Velten in the late 18th century. These plans came to life half a century later, when Alexander I of Russia decided to turn the square into a vast monument to the 1812-1814 Russian victories over Napoleon and commissioned Carlo Rossi to design the bow-shaped Empire-style Building of the General Staff, which centers on a double triumphal arch crowned with a Roman quadriga.