The Greek Hall

This is the most solemn hall in the central part of the palace; it was intended for balls and ceremonial receptions. The architectural and spatial volume of the hall with a colonnade around the perimeter was conceived by Charles Cameron (the 1780s) in the form of an antique “peristyle”. It should be noted that there is an artistic affinity of the Greek Hall with the Marble Hall of the Kedleston Hall Palace in England by the architect Robert Adam, under whom Cameron studied and worked with, and who had a great influence on him. Cameron recommended Pavel Petrovich and Maria Feodorovna, who were traveling in Europe, to buy columns made of green marble, the so-called vert antique, in Italy, as he wanted to use them in the decoration of the hall. The idea of columns of green antique marble, a very rare and expensive mineral, was also borrowed from Adam, who included authentic vert-antique columns in the decoration of the Grand Reception Room in the Syon House Palace. However, Cameron failed to complete the decoration of the Greek Hall, since after 1786 he practically ceased to conduct architectural supervision. The architect and decorator Vincenzo Brenna completed the decoration of the hall in 1790, as evidenced by several surviving drawings of the architect, as well as his letter of 1789 to Count Stanislaw Potocki, his Polish patron, where he says that this hall is “one of the best among all available in this country”. The walls of the hall are lined with white artificial marble, the lower panels are made of golden stucco imitating yellow Sienese marble. A wide strip of stucco ornamental frieze with the image of griffins among acanthus leaves stretches along the top of the walls. The Corinthian columns made of greenish artificial marble (faux vert antique) form an elegant decorative colonnade. Its rhythm echoes the rhythm of the wall niches, in which plaster casts from ancient statues are placed: Mercury, Venus de' Medici, Venus Kallipyge, Dionysus, Venus Anadyomene, Apollino, as well as copies of the works of famous Italian sculptors: Faun with a Goat by Jacopo Sansovino (the 16th century) and Psyche with a Butterfly by Antonio Canova (the 18th century).

After the fire of 1803, the architect Andrey Voronikhin carried out some alterations, which, without violating the integrity of the architecture of the hall, made it more strict. He replaced the lost picturesque plafond, Bacchus and Ariadne, with an ornamental painting with diamond-shaped caissons creating the illusion of a domed ceiling. Between the columns, he placed marble lamps in the form of antique lamps hanging on long bronze chains. Instead of the previous furniture set in the style of Louis XVI, which was purchased by the owners of the palace in France during the trip, new furniture in the antique flair was created following the Voronikhin's project: the armrests of sofas and armchairs are decorated with figures of griffins, and the legs end with animal paws. The structural details of the furniture are painted in dark green bronze, and the elegant carved details are gilded. For the upholstery, French pastoral tapestries of the Beauvais Manufactory of the late 18th century were used. The monumentality of the furniture forms, the radiance of gilding, the brightness of the tapestries: all these things bring special features of grandeur. This room has some pieces of furniture preserved in the evacuation, as well as one armchair returned from Berlin after the war, and a restored sofa that was kept in a ruined state in the museum's holdings for several decades.

Voronikhin moved two marble fireplaces with inserts of lapis lazuli and bloodstone (designed by Vincenzo Brenna) from the St. Michael's Castle to this room. On the fireplaces are the clocks Paris and Elena (Paris, 1795–1799, workshop of Pierre-Philippe Thomire, clockmaker Louis-Jean Laguesse), Study and Vigil (Paris, 1795–1798, clockmaker J.Charpentier, enameler Henri-François Dubuisson), as well as incense vases and candelabra. In the fireplace niches, there are elegant trivets, signature products of the bronzesmith Walner, rarely found in our collections. On the console tables, there are paired porcelain vases “in the Etruscan flair” (Saint Petersburg, Imperial Porcelain Factory, 1796) and decorative jugs made of gilded and patinated bronze (France, the late 18th century). On the pedestals opposite the windows are two paired vases made of penny jasper with bronze ornaments (following Andrey Voronikhin's drawings), against the central window is a porphyry vase with figures of satyrs made of gilded bronze, made at the Kolyvan Lapidary Factory (master Philip Strizhkov), the bronze was minted in the workshops of the Imperial Academy of Arts. Two bronze lanterns (France (?), the late 18th century) complement the decor.

In the fire of 1944, the inter-floor ceilings collapsed, the colonnade was burned and destroyed, the plaster sculpture was lost completely, and the fireplaces were severely damaged. The hall was recreated in 1967 following the method of scientific restoration developed by N. I. Gromova based on research works and pre-war measurements. The restoration projects were carried out by F. Oleinik (architectural structures) and S. Popova-Gunich together with V. Mozhanskaya (architectural decoration). The reconstruction of the columns was carried out by the masters P. Nikanorov and P. Lyzik. The sculpture was recreated by sculptor I. Kalugin, based on authentic fragments and models made by N. Relkina. The picturesque plafond was made by the artist A. Treskin. The carving of the doors was done by the carver V. Polyakin.