The main element of decoration in the Large Chamber are tapestries hand-woven from wool and silk. The list of property confiscated from Menshikov in 1727 includes “fifty woollen wall tapestries large and small”. The Large Chamber is adorned by a unique set of five tapestries created in France in the late 17th century that depict events in the life of King Perseus of Macedonia (taken from Plutarch’s account). One of the tapestries bears the woven inscription: E.PALMA.AQVEV.INVE.1677(possibly 1611).
By the late 1720s, on Peter the Great’s initiative and with Menshikov’s involvement, the production of tapestries in St Petersburg was established.