The Hall of Twenty Columns was created after a design by the architect Leo von Klenze in the mid-19th century and was originally intended for an exhibition of antique painted vases. The two rows of polished columns (made of grey granite excavated at Serdobolye in Karelia) divide the hall into three sections. The stone mosaic floor and the pictorial decoration of the walls and ceiling show patterns typical of Classical Antiquity. On display in this hall are works of ancient Italian art, mainly painted vases.