Museums and Society: Restored halls of St. Michael's Castle in Saint-Petersburg to host a permanent exhibition about the Romanov dynasty

St. Michael's Castle (State Russian Museum) opened a permanent exhibition devoted to the House of Romanov. The exposition is located in the recently restored rooms of St. Michael's Castle, which had been closed for visiting from the 1950s to 2018. Before the State Russian museum, these premises belonged to the Central Naval Library.

Now, the renovated halls contain the "Portraits' Gallery of the Highest Persons of the House of Romanov", which presents works from the State Russian Museum. The original idea of the gallery belonged to Emperor Nicholas I. At the end of 1844, portraits of all the emperors of the House of Romanov, their spouses and children were showcased in the Small Hermitage. The paintings originated from Russian palaces, the Hermitage repository, the Academy of Arts and Moscow residences; missing portraits were copied and bought from private collections. The exhibition in the State Russian Museum represents most of the family portraits in authentic frames created especially for the gallery.

During the restoration of St. Michael's Castle, there were recreated the old ceiling and artificial marble of walls in Voskresensky Hall. Specialists restored the velvet wall decoration of the Great Throne Room of Paul I. The material was produced according to historical models by a Paris textile manufactory.

The experts also performed part of the restoration work in the Arabesque Gallery. They cleared and restored the bas-reliefs over the windows and the doors decorated with skilful carvings.

During the reign of Paul I, the rooms in the southern part of the mezzanine of the eastern façade of the palace, facing the Fontanka River, were occupied by the gentlewoman Anna Protasova. The interiors were modest and simple: ceilings were painted with ornaments; walls were covered with silk wallpaper. The restoration of the former gentlewoman's premises took place in 2019–2020. It was based on the design of the interiors of the mid-XIX century.