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The Arabesque Hall With the following Arabesque Hall begins the Fifth Suite of apartments, restored by the architect Cameron, according to the taste of the Empress Catherine II, between the years 1779-1783.The Arabesque Hall has four windows, reaching to the floor, overlooking the square; it is also. double-lighted; its walls are white with gilding, ornamented with caniculated pillars and, covered, as much as the ceiling, with Renaissance paintings; on the walls are two rows of gilt bronze sconces with rich applique decoration, and under these sconces are oval mirrors. Between the frescoes, the ceiling is painted with 8 medalions in the style of the Italian Renaissance; between the windows stand huge mirrors, with shelves of yellow marble; the legs of the shelves and the frames of the mirrors are of gilt bronze; the sconces, candelabrums and mirrors are in Louis XVI style. On the middle shelf stands an 18th century clock of dark bronze, representing cupids with weapons, by Peltier (Peltier a Paris); in the centre of the longitudinal wall is a chimney with a mirror and clock, works of the latter part of the 18th century by Leponte (Leponte a Paris); near the chimney stand two immense vases from the Imperial Porcelain Factory, representing the Hussars and Cossacks of the guard, executed in 1854 by Saveliev and Frolov; in the middle of the room stands a silver group, surmounted by a statuette of the Empress Maria Aleksandrovna, presented in 1880 by the regiment of the Chevaliers Guardes to their Chief. The furniture is white with gilding, in Louis XVI style, covered with light-blue silk; the tables along the walls are of Ekaterina's time; the gilt-bronze lustre is of the time of the Emperor Alexander II. The next room is called the Lyons Hall. It is double-lighted with three windows, reaching to the floor, overlooking the square; the walls are lined with, yellow Lyons brocade, the ceiling is painted in the style of the Italian Renaissance; the floor and all the doors are inlaid with precious wood and mother-of-pearl; the door and window frames are made of massive gilt bronze on a ground of lapis lazuli; the chimneys are also ornamented with lapis lazuli and bronze, and decorated with figures of Carrara marble; this room is the work of Cameron, who destroyed the fourth and fifth Antechambers, and arranged in their place, in the part of the palace, over-looking the square, the Arabesque and Lyons Halls, as well as several private rooms in the part, overlooking the garden. Catherine II wrote with enthusiasm to Grimm, that she would have rooms in the style of "pure Raphaelism". During the reign of the Emperor Alexander II, this room was restored by Monighetti, and mirrors, chimneys, lustres and tables were ordered at the English shop in Petersburg. Everything was made of bronze and lapis-lazuli, as well as the frame work of two screens, in which, are set the pictures by Aleksey Belski, painted in 1787, in the style of Robert. On the wall is a big picture, by the artist Felice Schiavoni, ordered by the Emperor Alexander II, during his tour in Italy. It represents Raphael's last moments, and the artist took this opportunity to represent the most celebrated of Raphael's contemporaries. The furniture of the room is of the time of Alexander II. During the second half of the reign of Catherine, the whole Court life, which till then was spent in the Picture Hall in the Amber Room, and in the Pilaster rooms , passed to the Lyons and to the Arabesque Halls; the Chinese Hall separated the Lyons Hall from the Private Apartments Of the Empress. In the Lyons Hall waited the officials with their reports, before being called into the study; here too, during the evening parties, the Empress often played cards, although, ,as it seems, she preferred to spend, the evenings in the Arabesque room, where also private concerts sometimes took place. In the Lyons Hall the Russian Grand Duchesses dress for their wedding at the golden toilet-table of the Empress Anna Ioannovna, when the nuptial ceremony takes place in Tsarskoe Selo.
The door of the Lyons Hall leads into the Chinese Hall. Four large windows, reaching to the floor, and one of ordinary dimensions, overlook the "Private Garden", and two windows overlook the square. The hall is double-lighted; the walls are covered with panels in ebony frames, made by Chinese workmen, and brought from China in the beginning of the 18th century; to these panels are Attached very precious ancient Chinese enamels; from the ceiling hang four lustres, painted in Chinese style, made out of vases, by Chinese workmen; the vases are united with gilt bronze ornaments; 6 immense candelabrums stand against the walls. In the corners ar two enormous Chinese pagodas in porcelain, made in the Imperial China manufactory ; on the tables and shelves, against the wall and in the middle of the room, are a magnificent collection of vases, chests, boxes, and different knickknacks, made of porcelain, safflower, and enamel. The pictures of cloisonne enamel on copper, of the 17th century, the dishes and vases of the 16th century, the goblets of red safflower, with images of Chinese gods, are particularly valuable. The screen before the chimney is an unique example of the 16th century style in enamel work with mother-of-pearl. On the table, in the middle of the room, stands a precious vase of red safflower, a present ,of the Chinese Emperor to His Majesty in 1909. Two similar octagonal caskets were at the same time presented by the Prince-Regent. Among the small things especially remarkable is the "Lao-dzi", mounted on a deer, made of the root of an secular bamboo. On the chimney stand a clock and candelabrums in Chinese style, wrought in Europe. Near the door, leading into the Lyons room stands a mahogany chest of drawers with artistic carving on ivory, made in Archangel; the furniture is partly of the time of the Emperor Alexander II, partly an imitation of the Chinese style of that period, and partly copied from an old Chinese hall of the middle of the 18th century. On the spot of this hall, before the rebuilding of the palace by Catherine II, as it has already been said, was the principal entrance and the state staircase; above the entrance, overlooking the big meadow, was arranged at the beginning of the reign of the Empress, a covered balcony, on which during warm summer evenings the Empress and her whole Court often had their supper, on returning from a walk in the park. Sometimes even they used to dance here. A small door leads from the Chinese Hall into the Private Apartments of Catherine the Great, which begin with the Silver Study. This is a small room with one window, overlooking the Private Garden. Its walls and ceilings are painted in the style of the Italian Renaissance. Narrow glass panels hang on the walls; the window and the doors are framed with silver; the whole furniture, except two curved tables, is not of Ekaterina's time, but of the epoch of the Emperor Alexander II; near the window, in two niches, overlaid with mirrors, stand two crystal vases, having the shape of an altar. In this study Catherine received reports, sitting herself at one of the two curved tables, with the reporter opposite her at a similar table. This room and the one following it, were called "the upper story". In her secretaries' memoirs we often read the expressions" was called to the upper story", "was led to the upper story". Between these walls the destiny of Poland was once decided. The Countess Golovina was a witness of the fascination, which the Empress exercised even over her enemies. A Polish deputation once came to Tsarskoe Selo. The mocking and defiant air of the poles much amused the courtiers. The Empress appeared at the door of the study; her majestic and benevolent air compelled the deputies to make a low bow. She stepped forward, and these gentlemen were introduced to her; each knelt on one knee to kiss her hand; the Empress began to speak, and their faces were beaming; in a quarter of an hour she withdrew, bowing gently, in a manner which compelled the heads to bend involuntarily. The Poles were perfectly bewildered and, on leaving the palace, they exclaimed: "No, this is not a woman: this is a siren, an enchantress; one cannot resist her". One may imagine, the feelings of the reporters, sitting before the little curved table, opposite to the Empress in her luxurious little Silver Study.  The Bedroom of Catherine the Great Next to the study is the Bedroom. It has also two windows, facing the Private Garden. The walls and ceiling are decorated with glass and china plates of a milky white colour with light-bronze ornaments and medallions of Wedgewood porcelain; the doors are ornamented in the same style; behind an alcove, stands, the bed; between the windows is a broad mirror from ceiling to floor; the over doors are of glass and bronze; on the transversal walls, between dark-lilac glass columns with bronze capitals and bases, hang three mirrors, the alcove is hidden by a broad mirror with similar columns; the chimney is framed with massive gilt bronze and porcelain medallions; on the walls hang four lanterns of Catherine's time. In the alcove is kept the rolling arm chair of the Empress; in niches before the alcove stand two precious Chinese vases of the 15th century; in the wall cupboard is kept a Chinese enamel service of extraordinary fine work; the furniture of the room is covered with white silk and is of the time of the Emperor Alexander II.Next to the Bedroom is the small Light Blue Study with one window, facing the Private Garden. This is the only room which has kept the furniture of Catherine's time. The walls, the ceiling, and the doors, are adorned with plates of milky-white glass, inlaid with blue glass, with massive ornaments of gilt bronze; bronze bas-reliefs in medallions of blue glass adorn the walls; at the doors, columns of blue glass, with bronze capitals and bases, support milky-white glass over doors; at the end of the room is a raised platform with one step: with a broad, soft divan, covered with light-blue material, a little table, and two stools with blue glass legs. The door leads into the Mirror Room. This is also a small room with two windows, facing the Private garden, and has a transparent door, leading to the Glass Loggia or Cameron Gallery. All the walls and doors are covered with mirrors in narrow majolica frames; on the ceiling are painted frescoes in the style of the Italian Renaissance; from the ceiling hangs a glass lantern of Catherine's epoch; near one of the walls stands an inlaid desk for papers, ornamented with massive bronze work, with a clock standing on it. The hour-plate is horizontal, and a cupid is holding the mono gram of Catherine II; it is a French work of the end of the 18th century; the furniture is soft and covered with red silk. This was the favorite study of Catherine II. She enjoyed so much the decoration of her rooms, that she could not wait 'until Cameron had finished them, but moved to occupy them when only two rooms out of eleven were ready. The Scot Cameron, a partisan of the Stuarts, educated in Rome, and an enthusiastic admirer of Clerisseau, profited of the models of the latter for the decoration of the new apartments of the Empress. "I confess, that I have spent already 9 weeks here and have not ceased for a moment to admire the ornamentation", wrote Catherine to Grimm. She compared her little light-blue study to a snuff-box, and was just as enthusiastic as ever over it.
Between the Mirror Room and the former Dressing Room of the Empress Catherine II now called the Bedroom of the Empress Maria Aleksandrovna, is situated the small Passage Room with one window, overlooking the park. Its walls are decorated with copies of Raphael's cartoons by Giovanni Volpato in Rome, in 1774. The frieze and the ceiling are in the Renaissance style; the lustre is of Ekaterina's epoch, of crimson glass, with white crystal hangings. To the right of the Passage Room are two small rooms, decorated in the simplest manner; they are the former Ladies-in-Waiting rooms. Their windows overlook the park, the walls are covered with ancient paper. In the first of them is an interesting stove of Dutch tiles of Catherine's time. The furniture is of dark Norwegian maple of the same epoch; on the chest of drawers stands a clock, made by Deverberie in Paris. In the second "Ladies-in-Waiting Room" is a door, leading to a little staircase with an issue into the park. The other door of the Passage Room opens onto the Dressing Room of the Empress Catherine, which overlooks the park. It is ornamented very simply; the walls are of a rosy tint and are covered with medallions of papier-mache, and with small pictures, representing fruit, flowers, and simple landscapes; the furniture is of mahogany , covered with white silk, in Empire style of the time of Nicholas I. Next to the Dressing Room is a small room with one window, the walls of which are covered with simple modern cretonne. The furniture is covered with similar stuff. The couch can be moved aside, and discloses Catherine's Marble Bath. Tired after receptions, or feeling unwell, the Empress Catherine sometimes had supper or played cards in the Dressing Room with the most intimate of her suite. Her usual card party, during the latter part of her reign, consisted of the Adjutant General on duty, the Count Stroganov, the old Chamberlain Tchertkov, who was a particular favorite, the Count Shuvalov, and Platon Zubov. The played generally from 9-9:30 in the evening. "I remember", says the Countess Golovina in her journal, "how Tchertkov, who was a bad gambler, once got angry with the Empress, who had slipped a trick. He flung down the cards on the table, and this offended the Empress; she said nothing, but leaving the game, she rose and bid us good night, this happened towards the end of the evening. Tchertkov was thunderstruck. On the following day there was a big service for the highest dignitaries. After the Divine Liturgy the Empress had withdrawn and the Court Marshal, the Prince Bariatinski, named the persons who were to dine with her. full of sorrow after the scene of the preceding night. He was afraid to lift his eyes on the man, who was to pronounce his judgment: but what was his astonishment, When he heard his own name. He could not walk, he ran. We approached the colonnade, Her Majesty, was sitting at the end of it; she rose, took Tchertkov's arm, and together they made the tour of the colonnade Tchertkov was unable to pronounce a word. On coming back to the spot, from which they had started, the Empress, noticing his confusion, said to him in Russian: "Are you not ashamed to think, that I should be angry with you. Do you forget, that when friends quarrel, they only joke?" "Never have I seen an old man in such a state, "oh, how can I speak to you, how respond to such kindness, I only wish to die for you" sobbed he convulsively." The Fifth Suite of Apartments was transformed during the reign of the Emperor Alexander II into the private rooms of the Empress, who lived a great deal at Tsarskoe Selo, spending not only a part of the summer, but also the whole autumn there. She received here the news of the capture of Plevna on the 28th of November 1878. Her children also lived with her. |
