The Italian Hall

This is the compositional center of the palace. The longitudinal axis passes through it, dividing the volume of the palace into two equal symmetrical halves: the northern one is the state rooms of Pavel Petrovich and the southern one is the state rooms of Maria Feodorovna. The vertical axis reaches the height of 22 meters in the center of the light “window”. Charles Cameron designed the original layout of this two-tiered round hall with a clear floor-by-floor division and a dome with top light. He creatively developed the motif of the domed hall of the famous ancient building such as the Roman Pantheon, as well as the Villa Vicenza by Andrea Palladio, the Italian architect of the 16th century, whose legacy was a model for the Classicist architects of the 18th century, the so-called Palladians. Cameron conceived a rotunda hall with arches opening into a circular gallery, which had to be decorated with sculptures. Architect Vincenzo Brenna, who completed the decoration of the hall, designed four round and two flat rectangular niches. They are decorated with artificial marble and are topped with magnificent stucco decoration. It was here where the ancient sculptures acquired by Pavel Petrovich and Maria Feodorovna during their foreign trip were put. After the fire of 1803, the architect Andrey Voronikhin supplemented the pillars between the arched openings of the second tier with figures of caryatids in the Egyptian flair and placed figures of eagles with spread wings above the cornice. At the same time, the doors were made of mahogany with gilded details as per the project of Giacomo Quarenghi. Thus, the ensemble of the hall was formed by 1805 as a result of the consistent work of Charles Cameron, Vincenzo Brenna, and Andrey Voronikhin. The light pouring from the dome lantern is gently scattered over the entire surface of the walls, which is enhanced by the color scheme: the pale pink color of the dome space gradually thickens, turning into a pinkish-lilac tone of marble in the niches and dark porphyry ledges of the walls. The main element of the decoration of the hall is the antique sculpture: statues and reliefs. Initially, the niches held were four antique statues brought from Italy: Venus de' Medici, Bacchus, Winged Cupid with Bow and Quiver (a reproduction of a lost statue of the Greek sculptor Praxiteles), Winged Cupid Pulling His Bow (a 1st-century Roman copy of the lost statue by Lysippus, the court sculptor of Alexander the Great). During the fire of 1803, some of the sculptures were damaged and were replaced by other statues. In 1921–1922, as a result of the most valuable works of ancient sculpture being taken away to the Hermitage, the composition of the statues changed again. Currently, from the original decoration of the hall, two ancient Roman marble reliefs of the 2nd century CE have been preserved in their places: The Three Graces and The Rite of a Roman Wedding (in flat niches), as well as the statue Eros Pulling the Bowstring (in a round niche to the right of the entrance). Three other round niches have Roman statues of the 1st–2nd centuries CE: A Dancing Satyr, Venus with a Dove, A Satyr Playing the Flute. They come from the collection of the English collector John Lyde Browne; Catherine II purchased them in 1787 for Tsarskoye Selo. In 1797–1799, Emperor Paul I moved them to Pavlovsk. On the top of the walls, between the niches, there are marble reliefs in medallions: profile portraits of Emperors Octavian Augustus and Domitian, Empresses Faustina the Elder and Faustina the Younger (Rome, the 2nd century CE), as well as Emperors Galba, Titus, Julia Titi, and an unknown lady (Italy, the 16th century, copies of ancient originals). In the passages from the Italian Hall to the Greek Hall and the Upper Vestibule, there are four authentic reliefs of the late 18th century (workshop of the sculptor Ivan Martos) above the doors. An integral part of the decoration of the hall is an ensemble of eight bronze sconces in the form of French horns (France, the 1780s), a multi-tiered chandelier made of gilded bronze with a crystal decor and a rod of red (ruby) glass (Russia, the late 18th century), as well as a furniture set specially made for this hall in 1804–1805. The set was recreated in the 1980–90s based on one extant original sample. The blue fabric upholstery with an embroidered ornament echoes the blue draperies of the upper tier. The embroideries were recreated in the workshop of E. Rapay (Saint Petersburg) based on several authentic fragments of the early 19th century. The draperies were recreated in 2008. During World War II, the chandelier and sconces were evacuated, while the statues were walled up in the basement of the palace. During a fire in January 1944, the dome burned down, the artificial marble cladding was almost completely burned, except for one niche (to the right of the entrance), wooden decorative elements were destroyed, and the stucco decor was damaged. The restoration of the hall was completed in 1965 as per the projects of F. F. Oleinik (the dome) and S. V. Popova-Gunich (decoration). Artificial marble was recreated based on old samples by the master N. Varlamov, the stucco decor was restored and partially recreated by the restorer I. Kalugin, based on the models by N. Relkina.

The hall served as a ceremonial reception room for the owners of Pavlovsk. On special occasions, dinners were held here, during which, instrumental and vocal music was played from the choirs (upper tier), where the musicians were placed. The furniture for the dinners was specially brought in each time.