Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
• Continue into the
Armorial Hall
(room 195), a banquet hall with golden columns and
sculptures of knights with spears in each corner, and take a left into the long, skinny room
197, known as the....
War Gallery of 1812:
Opened in 1826, this hall displays over 300 portraits of the gen-
erals who helped to expel Napoleon from Russia in 1812 and pursue him back to France.
The Russian and French armies fought to a draw at the battle of Borodino, just west of
Moscow, in September. The French troops were lured into Moscow, but the city was de-
liberately burned, Russian forces refused to submit to French control, and after some days,
Napoleon's troops realized they were overextended and began to retreat through the deep-
ening winter cold. Napoleon had entered Russia with 400,000 men, but only a tenth would
make it back out. This crushing reversal ended his plans for European dominance.
