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The Restoration of the Throne Dais in the St George Hall of the Winter Palace The restoration of the Throne Dais represented a continuation of the work to bring back the historical decoration of state rooms in the palace-and-museum complex. The St George Hall, or Large Throne Room, was created to the design of Giacomo Quarenghi in the 1790s and has undergone a number of changes in its 200-year history. The original decor was destroyed by the great fire of 1837. When restoring the hall, Vasily Stasov retained the architectural approach of his predecessor, but gave the interior a different character. Different coloured marbles were replaced in the decoration by the white Carrara variety, while the coffered ceiling with gilded bronze beams and ornaments was replaced by a ceiling painting. The throne dais was created anew and took the form of a stepped podium supporting the throne standing against the background of the Russian state coat-of-arms beneath a gilded canopy. The scarlet velvet canopy, topped by a crown, and embroidered in gold with heraldic and ornamental compositions created a great artistic impact set against the white marble finish of the hall. The throne dais survived unchanged until 1917 when the Russian imperial symbols were removed from it. Later, in the 1930s, it was dismantled completely. After the Second World War, an immense map of the Soviet Union that had been produced from Russian semiprecious stones for the 1937 Paris World Fair was given to the Hermitage and installed in the place formerly occupied by the Throne Dais. During restoration work in the 1980s the map was taken apart and transferred to the museum of the St Petersburg Mining Institute. Consequently the question of restoring the Throne Dais - a unique piece of decorative art from the first half of the 19th century - naturally presented itself. Drawing up papers for the project involved the study of pictorial records, archive documents and a search for authentic fragments of the gold-embroidered fabric. Much turned out to have been lost. Yet the main elements of the Throne Dais had survived: the Russian state coat-of-arms in the form of a double-headed eagle; the throne modelled on that of Empress Anna Ioannovna (1730-1740); gold-embroidered ornamental compositions, palmettes, the fringe, braid and braided tassels. This made it possible to speak of the recreation of the dais in strict accordance with the historical original. The restoration work began in 1997 in accordance with the project drawn up by V.V. Yefimov, Deputy Chief Architect of the Hermitage and head of the Department of the History and Restoration of Architectural Monuments. The Hermitage's laboratories and workshops restored the surviving heraldic and ornamental compositions and recreated those that had been lost. The architectural forms of the entablature, crown and finials were carved anew in lime wood and the carved elements were gilded with gold-leaf. The canopy and podium were covered with natural velvet. Today the St George Hall or Large Throne Room has recovered its historical appearance. On the Orthodox St George's Day, 9 December, 2002 the hall was formally reopened after the restoration of the Throne Dais. |
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Copyright © 2006 State Hermitage Museum |
