Pavlovsk Palace a book by Anatoli Michailovich Kuchumov website design by Bob Atchison
  Grecian Hall
The Grecian Hall was created in 1789 by Brenna on the site assigned by Cameron to a state drawing-room. A Corinthian colonnade gives the interior a resemblance to a Greek temple.

Compared with the Italian Hall, the Grecian Hall is treated in a cooler range of colours. Its fluted columns of verde antico form a contrast with the white stucco facing of the walls and the golden yellow panels of Siena marble. The magnificent mouldings on the ceiling, the frieze of acanthus scrolls and gryphons, and the Roman trophies and standards, together with the white statns in fine plaster, modelled from the plaster casts of antique sculptures, which had been brought from Rome, and occupying the recesses of the walls, lend to the Grecian Hall a stately and dignified air. The interior was restored by Voronikhin, after the fire of 1803, practically to its original form. The monumental marble fireplaces faced with lapis-lazuli and jasper were made earlier from the sketches of Brenna for the Maltese Gallery of the St Michael Castle in St Petersburg, and brought here by Voronikhin.

Two large vases of Altai jasper with exquisitely chased ormolu mountings decorate the hall; they . were designed by Andrey Voronikhin and fashioned by Filipp Strizhkov, a talented stone carver of the Kolyvan Factory in the Altai region. The. Grecian Hall is noted for its many fine bronzes, such as a clock stamped "L. J. Laguesse", candelabra with sculptural groups, vases and fire-dogs of perfect design. Exquisite in shape, chasing and gilding are the bronze lanterns. Similar lanterns adorn the adjoining Halls of War and Peace. The marble chandeliers in the form of Roman lamps, fashioned from the sketches of Voronikhin, hang suspended from chains between the columns, forming an integral part of the antique decor of the hall.

The sofa and chairs of the Grecian Hall once belonged to a set, no longer extant, which was designed for this interior by Voronikhin. The upholstery in Beauvais tapestry perfectly harmonizes with the woodwork, painted in imitation of antique bronze and embellished with gilded carving. The rest of the set - consoles, sofas and chairs, lost during the War of 1941-45, will be reproduced (the coverings have all been saved); and the decor of the hall will then assume its original appearance. The Grecian Hall is flanked by the Hall of War and the Hall of Peace, connected with it by archways. The functions, the names and the position of the two halls created by Brenna were inspired by the planning of the royal palace at Versailles.
Grecian Hall at Pavlovsk
Grecian Hall at Pavlovsk
Grecian Hall at Pavlovsk

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