The block that was built to the design of the architect Giacomo Quarenghi specially to house the recreation of the Raphael Loggias stood along the embankment of the Winter Canal.
Leo von Klenze preserved the Loggias during the construction of the New Hermitage, incorporating the eastern façade of Quarenghi’s block into his own building.
The Raphael Loggias were recreated the same size as before, but the copies of the murals in the Vatican were shifted 10½ metres southwards, as Von Klenze’s design created small rooms or cabinets at the northern and southern ends.
The Northern Cabinet occupied part of what had previously been the Loggias. The decoration of both cabinets was carried out to Von Klenze’s designs. The ornamental murals, executed in tempera on plaster, echo the grotesques employed in the Raphael Loggias, creating a harmonious theme running through decoration of the rooms.
