In the corner there is a stove of Delft tiles; the restored paintings on the stove represent people of different strata in the 18th century.

The ceiling painting by an unknown Italian artist of the late 17^th century depicts Alexander the Great and the family of the Persian King Darius III.

The unique writing desk inlaid with 40 kinds of wood was made in Germany by the well-known craftsman Abraham Roentgen, father of the famous David Roentgen.

The chess board with ivory figures came from China.

GREEN ROOM WITH PILLARS. The walls are decorated with "pillars" in a similar fashion as the previous room, except that the tinsel is green.

The ceiling painting has been recreated after the original by the 18^th century Italian artist Stefano Torelli, "The Military Leader at Rest Hears the Call of the Muses",

The walnut writing desk was made in Germany in the 18^th century.

PORTRAIT ROOM. The room got its name because of the portraits of the two empresses who owned the palace, Catherine I and Elizabeth I, which hang here.

During the war the furnishings of the Portrait Room which had been preserved for two centuries disappeared. However, the two sofas with carved backs and the gilt chairs in the style of Louis XV, which had once stood here, made from sketches by Rastrelli, were restored from drawings.

The portraits on the walls include (left-to-right) those of Elizabeth (by Heinrich Bucholtz), Natalia (Peter I's sister), Catherine II, and Catherine I (by Ivan Adolsky).

The ceiling painting is a multi-figure composition which is an allegory of parts of the world, the gods of Olympus and nymphs. It is believed to be a work of the great Venetian artist and decorator of the 18^th century Giovanni Tiepoio.

AMBER ROOM. This used to be the richest and the most famous room of the palace. As the story goes, early in the 18^th century the Prussian King Friedrich I ordered an amber study for his Potsdam Palace. The architect Schluter and the jeweller Tusseau were called in to create it. The Amber Study was finished in 1709. Its walls were lined with panels, covering 550 sq. ft. in all. It looked magnificent. The King and the court were full of admiration and the masters expected a big reward. But the amber panels fell off the walls a few days later. The King was enraged. Tusseau was thrown into prison for high treason and Schluter was exiled. The Amber Study was taken apart and stored in boxes.

In 1716 Peter I visited Prussia and was presented with the Amber Study by Friedrich Wilghelm I, the son of Friedrich I. Peter greatly appreciated the gift, and gave in exchange for the 22 amber panels 248 sturdy soldiers for the Prussian King's guard as well as a lathe and a wine cup which he had made himself. He intended to use the amber panels for the decoration of one of the rooms of the Winter Palace, but the idea never materialized.

After Peter's death, the panels were brought to Tsarskoye Selo by the orders of Elizabeth. 76 strongest men of the royal guard transported the heavy boxes with great care from St.Petersburg to Tsarskoe Selo, and it took them 6 days.

In 1755 Rastrelli began working on the decoration of the Amber Room. Since there were not enough amber panels to cover the whole wall-space, he inserted a number of mirrors, gilt woodcarvings, and mosaic panels of Ural jasper. The result was a fantastic Baroque interior. Numerous descriptions of the Amber Room in memoirs and historical literature refer to it as "the eighth wonder of the world", "the amber poem", and "the marvel of the reign of Elizabeth".

During the Nazi occupation the panels stayed in the palace. Soon after the invasion, the Nazi removed the room as a whole. What is known for a fact is that the amber panels were packed in boxes, put on a train and sent off to Konigsberg by the German commandment. What happened next is a mystery. All attempts to find traces of the Amber Room ended in failure. A special committee was formed In 1949 which included architects, engineers, some art critics and journalists, but nil In vain. The search is still going on, though it is getting more complicated with every year.

That was why in 1979 the Russian Government adopted a decision to revive this unique room. The amber, of which more than б tons is needed, was delivered to Pushkin from the quarry in the Kaliningrad region. (Amber is petrified resin of .indent trees.) The restoration work is still under way. Just as in the 18^th century, there is the frieze painted to look like amber, the restored gilded carved ornamentation on the walls and the newly-laid parquet floor of valuable kinds of wood. On display there are some objects d'art made of amber.

The painted ceiling "The Wedding of Chronos" has been recreated from a •.ketch by an unknown artist of the 18^th century Italian school which is preserved In the Hermitage.

PICTURE HALL. The room occupies the whole width of the palace. It is 1800 sq. ft. in size. In the 18^th century it was used for official receptions, banquets and concerts more than any of the other rooms.

The ceiling painting is a copy of the 18^th century original by the Italian master Gasparo Diziani, depicting the gods on Olympus. The original canvas today decorates the main Staircase of the Winter Palace.

The hall was designed by Rastrelli and decorated with 130 paintings by West European artists. The collection was acquired abroad in 1745. The paintings were meant for decoration rather than for display. Almost any 18^th century palace had a picture hall like this, where paintings were put up on the walls regardless of their national belonging, school of art, or time to produce a tapestry-like Impression. They say that when a canvas was too big they cut it to fit into the frame.

All West-European schools are represented in the Picture Hall except for the Spanish and English. There are paintings by Ostade, Nattier, Luca Giordano etc. Though the room was badly damaged during the war, 114 paintings out of 130 have survived (in evacuation); the rest were replaced with paintings of the same •.l/e and school of art from the Hermitage collection. Besides, there are two Interesting battle paintings depicting episodes from the Northern War, commissioned by Peter I from the French artist Pierre Martin. They represent the Battle at the Village of Lesnaya (1708) and the Battle of Poltava (1709).

Two ancient stoves of German tiles were destroyed during the war; now one has been assembled out of old fragments of the original Hamburg tiles, while I he other one is a plaster copy of it.

The inlaid parquet floor is composed of nine sorts of wood from Latin America, India, Vietnam, and Egypt.

Adjacent to the Picture Hall are several rooms of the small suite which was furnished for Alexander I, Catherine II's grandson.

SMALL DINING ROOM. According to the fashion of the period, the tables were brought in just for the meals and taken away afterwards.

The landscape paintings on the walls are 18^th century views of Tsarskoe

Selo.

The ceiling painting which represents "Bathing Venus" is a copy of the 18^th century original by Van Loo.

The roll-in-desk is made in the technique of inlaid wood. It shows a panoramic view of Moscow in the 18^th century (the Moscow Kremlin) which is almost documentary. The two sideboards of the desk represent "Mon Bijou" and "Hermitage" pavilions of the Catherine Park. The inlay work was done by the Russian serf Nikifor Vasiliev so exquisitely that it resembles a jeweller's creation.

RECEPTION ROOM. Alexander used this room for official receptions.

The ceiling painting represents "Venus' Chariot".

The walls are hung with portraits of the Russian tsars. There are two ceremonial portraits of Alexander I (by G. Dawe) and Catherine II (copy of Lampi's work). The small portraits represent Peter I. Catherine I. Anna I, Elizabeth I, Peter II, and Peter I's daughter Anna.

There are some 18^th-century Chinese and Japanese vases and two 18^th century English clocks.

PANTRY. It was originally used for keeping table linen and tableware. It was from here that meals were served in the Small Dining Room.

The still life paintings on the walls are by Johannes Groot.

The ceiling painting by an unknown 17^th-century Italian master represents "Coral Hunters".

The garden chairs displayed in this room belonged to the Hanging Garden which this palace used to have in the mid-18^th century.

STANDARDS ROOM. This small room was used for keeping military banners of the royal regiments quartered in Tsarskoye Selo.

The next suite of rooms was designed by Cameron to replace Rastreiii's hanging garden. The rooms were badly damaged during the war but have been restored to their original designs. The apartments belonged to Paul I's wife Maria.

GREEN DINING ROOM. The room is typically Neo-Classic in design. Symmetrically placed reliefs include vases, pale pink medallions with dancing cupids, floral ornaments, male and female figures representing characters from Greek mythology (Themis, the goddess of law and justice; Poseidon, the god of the sea and horses; Phaeton, son of Helios - the god of the sun; Hermes - the god who served as herald and messenger of other gods). The moulded decoration in the room was created by the outstanding Russian sculptor Ivan Martos.

The marble fireplace was assembled out of fragments of the original marble which was found after the war scattered all over the grounds.

The mantelpiece screen was made of gilded bronze after Cameron's design.

The murals on the doors were restored after one door panel which had survived in the war and was used as a model.

The dinner service on the table is known as the "Moscow Private Service". Its dishes are decorated with monograms of Paul I and his wife Maria who owned the service. They received it from Catherine II. The name of the service is due to the Gardner Porcelain Factory in Moscow which made it.

The inlaid floor was restored after an original drawing by Cameron (oak- wood, light maplewood, mahogany).

The ceiling painting perished in the fire during the war and has not been restored yet.

WAITERS' ROOM. Originally it was exclusively for servants' use and Cameron had it divided by a screen, so that there were no windows in the other section of the room which looked over the stairs. The style of the ornamentation dates from the late 18^th century, though the room owes its present appearance to Stasov who re-decorated it after the fire of 1820. He removed the screen but і .irefully preserved the initial proportions and the chief motif of Cameron's design: the pink walls decorated with dark brown wooden pilasters made to imitate marble (gnly the two in the corners are original).

The walls are hung with romantic landscapes typical of the Neo-Classical period, which depict the ruins of antique structures, by the late 18^th century artists ЛІехеі Belsky, Andrea Locateili, and Hubert Robert.

The furniture is Dutch mahogany, in the style of the early 18^th century, upholstered with white brocade. It also includes a few card-tables of inlaid wood of late 18^th century work.

The parquet floor in this and the following rooms is original (rosewood, oak, ebony, and mahogany).

BLUE DRAWING ROOM. In the 19^th century this room started the private suite of apartments of Elizaveta Alexeyevna, wife of Alexander I. It is the largest In the suite of rooms designed by Cameron to replace the hanging garden.

The walls are covered with white silk stuff with print blue flowers on it. The furniture (designed by Cameron) is gilt, upholstered with the same 18^th century silk. The original silk has survived in the curtains and in the upholstery of the few furniture pieces exhibited in the room. As to the wall lining, it was restored in 1957 at the Research Silk Centre in Moscow.

The furniture is ornamented with rosettes, wreaths, and laurel garlands typical of the late 18^th century Neo-Classical style.

The fireplaces of Carrara marble were executed to Cameron's drawings. On the fireplaces are vases of Berlin china.