This icon was the Imperial standard of Constantinople and was paraded along the walls and carried into battle by emperors. Crusader loot - it's now in Venice
|
The Amber Room The first room of the "Third" Apartments is the Picture Hall. This hall occupies the whole width of the palace; three windows, reaching to the floor, overlook the park, and three others overlook the square; the hall is double-lighted and ornamented with gilding and modeling in the style of Louis XV. The immense ceiling, representing "Olympus" was painted in 1820 by Academician Stephen Bessonov after the old picture, to supply the place of Gradizzi's ceiling, which had been spoiled by the fire in 1820. All the walls of the hall are covered with pictures, mostly collected here during the reign of the Empress Yelizaveta. After the fire of 1820, 130 pictures were put on new canvas by Briosco, Bencini, and Mitrokhin. At the same time the pictures over the mirrors were restored by Academician Antonelli. Two ancient stoves of German tiles of the middle of the 18th century, stand against the longitudinal walls of the hall; eight vases of labradorite, jasper, and agate, and magnificent candelabrums decorate the shelves; on a separate little table stands a porcelain vase of the Imperial works, with the monogram "E. H.", above a landscape, representing a rising sun, illuminating ploughing tools, with the inscription "the useful". Underneath is another inscription: "made in St. Petersburg in 1779".Index of the Pictures in the Picture Hall .
The room next to the Picture Hall is the Amber Room, and the beginning of the Apartments of the Empress Maria Fyodorovna. The Amber Room overlooks the square with three windows, reaching the floor. It is double lighted and its' walls are covered with amber; between the windows are high mirrors, touching the floor in muddled gilt rococo frames; on the walls are gilt sconces in the same style., The painted ceiling is by an unknown artist of the 18th century. In the middle of the room stands the model of the monument in Berlin of the Prussian King Frederick the Great. The furniture is white with light gilding, covered with yellow silk; near the windows in show-cases are small amber knickknacks: chess-men, caskets, snuff-boxes etc.; the clock is made of bronze, representing a tree with branches, leaves, and flowers in porcelain, and a group in gilt bronze underneath, by Causard of Paris (Causard a Paris) of the middle of the 18th century; in the plain amber walls are set four mosaic landscapes in rich frames of carved amber, representing allegorically the five human senses; on the wall, facing the Picture Hall, two dates - 1709 and 1760 - are inserted with amber. The Prussian King Frederick-William I ordered the amber craftsman Gottfried Turau from Danzig to make an amber study and presented it to Peter I during an interview at Havelberg as a sign of everlasting friendship. Peter with a letter from Amsterdam, dated from the 7th of January 1717, sent it from Berlin to Memel, where the Lord Steward of the Duchess of Courland, Anna Ioannovna, Bestuchev, received the precious study and sent it under a military escort through Riga to Petersburg. Here, it seems, it lay unused until 1755, when Martelli - a worker in amber, who bad begun to decorate one of the rooms in the Winter Palace, received an order to stop that work, and to collect the amber and use it for a study in Tsarskoe Selo. In 1830 the general Zacharchevski obtained the Imperial permission to restore the amber room by the turner - Esch.  The Portrait Hall The following room with three windows, reaching to the floor and overlooking the square, also double-lighted - is the Portrait Hall. The walls of this room are covered with white silk and ornamented with rococo modeling and carving. In one of the corners is an ancient Hamburg stove, in the other a muddled chimney, between the windows are high mirrors, resting on the floor; the furniture is gilt, covered with silk, in the style of Louis XV; on the chimney stands a clock of white marble and gilt bronze by Barancourt of Paris (Barancourt A Paris) of the end of the 18th century. The painted ceiling is the work of an unknown artist, and was restored in the studio of the Hermitage in 1856. Before the middle windows is placed a bust of the Empress Catherine II, a copy by Academician Brodski of the work of Professor Gansberg. On the walls hang the following portraits; the Empress Catherine I in full height by Ivan Adolsky Bolshoi, the Empress Elizabeth in full height by Buchholz in 1768; and the Tsarevnas Natalia Alekseyevna and Anna Petrovna, by an unknown painter.The next room in the State Apartments is called The Green Pilaster Room. This is also a double-lighted room with two windows reaching to the floor, and overlooking the big square. The walls are covered with white brocade and ornamented with gilt carving and modeling in rococo style; and are decorated besides with narrow panels of green tinsel under glass, the so-called "pilasters". In one corner is a stove of Hamburg tiles; at the end of the room stands a white painted screen with mica windows and a gothic top - a survivor of ancient screens from the time of Catherine II. Between the windows are high mirrors in gilt frames, reaching to the floor; the furniture is gilt of the time of Louis XV, covered with white silk stuff. The clock is in a case of walnut wood, made by George Dudds in London. The painted ceiling is by Torelli. With this room finishes the part of the palace, which was added to the former stone rooms, and formed the "Middle House", at the first Elizabethan period. The next room is the Crimson Pilaster Room. It has no second light, and terminated, it seems, the series of stone chambers of the Empress Catherine I. The Crimson Room with pilasters has two windows, facing the big square; its walls and furniture are similar to those in "Green Pilaster Room", except that the tinsel of the pillars is crimson. The painted ceiling, representing "Allegory" is the work of Luca Giordano. Near the windows, on special pedestals, stand magnificent gilt candelabrums of the beginning of the 19th century; the vases are of Japanese porcelain. The last room, next to the principal palace staircase is the Dining Room of the Empress Maria Fyodorovna. Four windows of this room overlook the square; the walls are covered with white brocade with gilt rococo carving and modeling; in the corner is a big tiled stove. The painted ceiling "The Death of Alexander of Macedonia" was painted by Charles Balk. On the walls hang the following pictures by Willewalde: "Entry of the Emperor Alexander 11 into the Kremlin the day of the Coronation", "Tsarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich Taking the Oath". "Tsarevich Alexander Alexandrovich Taking the Oath". "Inauguration of the Monument in Honour of the Millennium of Russia in Novgorod in 1862", a picture by Ladurner, " Tsarevich Alexander Nikolaevich Taking the Oath in 1834"; and two small pictures by Schwarz, "Review", and "Parade". On the shelves stand some remarkable vases of old Chinese porcelain (craquele), of celadon green, with European bronze ornaments. Before passing from the white dining-room through door, leading onto the landing of the principal palace staircase, one ought to return to the Picture Hall and visit the Private Apartments of the Empress Maria Fyodorovna, the spouse of the Emperor Pavel I. The windows of these rooms overlook the garden. The first is a small room Preceding the Cast-iron Staircase it has one window reaching the floor; one door leads into the Picture Hall and the other into the Reception Chamber. Behind a glass screen there existed until the year 1908 a round cast-iron staircase with an issue into the park. This small room is painted in light-green and is richly ornamented with wooden wainscot, with gilt carving and modeling, and sconces in rococo style; above the door are set in the wall two small pictures, representing "Wings of a Palace", and "Construction of a Palace", by an unknown painter. The next room is the "Reception Chamber. Its walls are covered with tapestry of the 19th century; the style of this room, as well as that of the other private rooms of the Empress Maria Fyodorovna, is Empire. The furniture is made by Meltzer and is contemporaneous, in the style of Louis XVI, covered with light-gray silk; from the ceiling hangs a magnificent bronze gilt chandelier; on the shelves are massive candelabrums of gilt bronze, and a clock with Hannibal, by an unknown artist of the beginning of the 19th century; on the walls are the following pictures; "Female Study", by Guido Reni; "Maidens with Wreaths", by Andrea del Sacce; "View of the Kolomenskoye near Moscow", by Rauch; "Isaac Bridge in Petersburg in the Time of the Emperor Pavel", by an unknown painter and "Head of the Virgin Mary", by Sassoferrato. The door from the Reception Chamber leads into the Drawing Room. The Drawing Room has three windows, reaching to the floor; its walls are covered with light-blue silk stuff; a rich muddled and painted frieze with one headed eagles in relief separates the muddled ceiling from the brocade tapestries. Both ceiling and frieze are the work of Demut-Malinovsky and Scotti. The stoves are painted by Academician Antonelli. The furniture is white and gold of the early part of the 19th century and is covered with light-blue silk. Between the windows stand high mirrors; the tables are of blue glass; from the ceiling hangs a light-bronze chandelier and on the walls are two "Battles" by Bourguignon, and views of Theodosia and Kerch by Aivasovski. The following room is the Library. Its walls are covered with red silk and with golden ornaments; the ceiling is painted with frescoes; the furniture is of mahogany and bronze; in the corners are two marble chimneys with mirrors in wooden and bronze frames. A similar mirror stands between the windows; on the chimneys stand candelabrums and clocks of gilt bronze on dark-red marble bases; one of the clocks represents Poetry, standing before the bust of Homer; the other a youth with a scroll in his hands before the bust of Socrates, both are of French work by an unknown artist of the beginning of the 19th century. On the walls hang two landscapes by Panini, and two by Hagen. "Female Study" - Flemish school, and, "The Ascension of the Virgin Mary" a copy from Rubens by Beskey; some Russian china from the Imperial Porcelain Factory with drawings by Stoletov and Sebach stand on the little cupboards, and a splendid chandelier hangs from the ceiling. Next to the Library is the Pink Drawing Room. This room is also called the Study. It's third window has been transformed into a door and serves as an issue on to the balcony. The walls are covered with gold-colored brocade; the ceiling and walls are ornamented in antique style; the furniture is of Karelian curled birch, covered with olive-green leather. In the comers are chimneys, with clocks and magnificent candelabrums; one of the clocks represents Bayard investing King Francis I with the order of knighthood, the other Apollo and Diana; both are of the 18th century, French work. From the ceiling hangs a beautiful chandelier of gilt bronze; on the walls are the following pictures: "A View of the Caucasus" by Mestcherski, "Moorland in the Island of Rugen", by Ducker, two landscapes by van Valens and "The Virgin Mary with the Child" a copy from van Dyck. Over the divan is a portrait of the Empress Maria Fyodorovna, in Lampi's style, by an unknown painter. The following room is the Bedroom. It has two windows; the walls are covered with ancient Chinese silk and ornamented with panels of Norwegian maple, the furniture, alcove and columns are also made of the same wood, painted with small flowers, by the artist Bernasconi; the furniture is contemporary, and covered with light olive silk. The ceiling is painted with garlands by B. Medici; from it hangs a chandelier of gilt bronze and crystal; on the walls are two big pictures of Italian school, representing, "The Flight to Egypt". Next to the Bedroom are two small rooms each with one window the Dressing Room and the Ladies-in-Waiting Room. In the first the walls are lined with modern chintz; the doors and the furniture are of wild Norwegian maple, the vaulted ceiling is painted with frescoes. In the second the walls are covered with contemporary tapestry, made from ancient patterns; the furniture is of polished ash. It appears, that the private rooms of the Empress Maria Fyodorovna, were never inhabited by her, as, since these rooms were arranged (in 1820), she has always been living in Pavlovsk, during the residence of the Court in Tsarskoe Selo. In the winter of 1826, when the Court came to Tsarskoe Selo to meet the body of the late Emperor Alexander I, Maria Fyodorovna occupied the private rooms of the Empress Elizabeth Alekseyevna.
Having visited this part of the palace, the visitors then return to the State Rooms of the Third Suite of Apartments, and through the Dining Room come to the principal staircase. Until the year 1781, when the Empress Catherine II moved into the rooms, newly arranged, according to her taste by Cameron, in the left wing of the palace, in the picture hall and in the other state rooms had taken place all evening parties, balls, receptions, dinners etc. In short, here resided the Court of the Empress Catherine, who business being finished, liked to enjoy herself in the society of those persons, whom she had honoured with an invitation to Tsarskoe Selo. Most of the official dinners took place in the Gallery or in the Great Hall. Here too, in the Picture Hall, on very solemn occasions, the Empress Catherine received congratulations from the suite and from other persons, who had come to the Court. On such days about 6 o'clock in the evening began a "private ball", which lasted till half past eight; and here during the evenings the Empress often played chess or breland at the big round table. During the first half of the reign of Catherine II, small evening parties sometimes took place in the Amber Room, which were attended by the most intimate of her suite, and here Catherine gave audience to the foreign ambassadors. In the Portrait Hall the Empress also played cards or chess, and frequently, after leaving her private apartments, before coming to dinner, or for the evening entertainment, talked graciously with the maids of honour and with the gentlemen, gathered there. Here too on Sundays after mass, the Empress received congratulation from the suite and from the "illustrious persons specially arrived from the town" and stretched graciously her hand to be kissed. "On that day", remarks the chamber fourriers, journal, "the ladies were in frock coats and hats, and the cavaliers wore their orders until noon, and afterwards took them off". In the Dining Room for the most part, the, dining table was, laid out for the Empress, when there were no arrivals from Petersburg. Here the Court dined, when any indisposition prevented the Empress from leaving her private apartments. The "ball" on the 10th of December 1765, was a curious sight: the Empress "amused herself with cards", while the court musicians "played fiddles and the ladies and gentlemen danced a counter dance, and some of the court cavaliers were dressed in lady's attire. On the 14th of June 1780 the Empress received in the Portrait Hall, the deputation of "the government administration of the newly founded town of Sophia; and in the Green Pilaster Room the merchants and citizens of the same town, who presented her bread and salt, and fresh fruit". |
