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The largest (400 sq.m) hall in the Marble Palace was originally designed by Antonio Rinaldi. A description of the interior of the Large Room of 1785 enumerates numerous elements of the decor - three pictorial plafonds, murals on archs, moulded "musical trophies", columns of stucco work under the choirs for the orchestra, white tiled stoves with vases, lighting devices and furniture. A contemporary wrote that "... the palace had only one room with two tiers of windows - "for ball games" - with its windows looking out onto the Marble lane."
In the middle of the nineteeth century the interior of the hall was completely redone by Alexander Brullov. The only thing he preserved was its dimensions. He employed Gothic motifs in the decor of the hall - bundles of columns, archs and vaults in combination with statues of Russian warriors, military attributes and double-headed eagles. The large white marble fireplace in the northern wall, with its overhanging mirror in a gilt frame, was made by the sculptor Catozzi. Brullov added a hanging gallery on iron brackets with oak finishings, which ran along the entire length of the room from the courtyard side. Two large crystal chandeliers of 210 candles, ten small chandeliers on cantelivers and two candelabra of ten candles were ordered in order to lighr the Large Room. All these have now been lost.
The Large (Gothic) Room is a unique palace interior, brightly reflecting the decorative art of Alexander Brullov. Restoration of the hall implies the works on recreating the lost elements of the decor, as well as moulding, parquet floor and original lighting. On completion of the work, however, the Large (Gothic) room of the Marble Palace is likely to be the one of the finest palace halls in the whole St. Petersburg, where will be held concerts, festivals, ceremonial receptions and exhibitions.
To complete the restoration works of moulding decor and artificial marble of the columns and pilasters we need - $ 450 000.
The cost of recreating decorative parquet floor is
- $ 216 000
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