Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The large portraits show the most important figures in Napoleon's defeat—practice your
Cyrillic by reading the names. At the far end of the hall, the largest of all is an equestrian
portrait of Czar Alexander I (he ordered the creation of the gallery). To either side of him
are the Austrian emperor Franz I (Франц I) and the Prussian emperor Friedrich Wilhelm III
(Фридрих-Вильхельм III). Next comes Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich (Константин
Павлович), the czar's unruly brother and heir to the throne; across from him is Field Mar-
shal Mikhail Kutuzov (Кутузов), the strategist of the battle of Borodino. To the other side
of the doors are Britain's Duke of Wellington (Веллингтон) and Michael Barclay de Tolly
(Барклай де Толли), a Russian general of Baltic German and Scottish descent. (A few gen-
erals weren't available for sittings, so they're remembered by squares of green cloth.)
At the end opposite Alexander, one painting depicts the battle of Borodino, while the
other (Peter von Hess's
Crossing the Berezina)
shows Napoleon's troops retreating through
the snow in rags and disarray, crossing a bridgeless river.
• Proceed straight through St. George Hall (room 198) and the smaller room beyond it
(260) into room 261; here, hang a left and pass through looong room 259 and little room
203 before stepping into room 204, the...
Pavilion Room:
You're in the Small Hermitage, the nearer of the two buildings con-
nected to the Winter Palace. Admire the fine view of the interior courtyard. The room was
decorated in the 1850s by architect Andrei Stakenschneider, and contains the fun Peacock
Clock, a timepiece made by British goldsmith James Cox and purchased by Catherine the
Great. (The controls are in the large mushroom.) Across the hall, scrutinize the remarkably
detailed inlaid floor.
