The Sons' Rooms

The rooms of the children and of Nicholas I were on the first floor. A small group portrait of the Emperor's sons in Circassian costumes, painted by an unknown artist in the 1840s, can be seen in the Sons' Room near the door leading to the balcony.

On the walls of the Heir's Training Room are engraved portraits of members of the Imperial family. The engraving A Merry-Go-Round at Tsarskoye Selo by Jean Paul Jaset based on the original by Horace Vernet is probably the most interesting piece among the displayed graphic works. The depicted celebration at Tsarskoye Selo on 23 May 1842, which marked the silver wedding of Nicholas I and Alexandra Feodorovna, was a reminiscence of the "Magic of the White Rose" festival held in 1829 at Potsdam.

Worthy of attention among objects of daily use is a gilded bronze casket inlaid with malachite, lapis lazuli, agate, semiprecious stones and strasses. The casket was used to keep the baptismal accessories of the heir - his shirt, cap, etc.

The Toilet Room of Nicholas I

Nicholas I changed his clothes for various ceremonial occasions in the Toilet Room five or six times a day. He had to visit incessant reviews and training of regiments at Peterhof, maneuvres and parades at Krasnoye Selo, at Kronstadt, and to be present at official receptions and formal balls.

In the centre of the room is the allegorical sculptural group St George Striking the Dragon (1856) by Nikolai Pimenov. According to the artist's conception, the image of the victorious St George personifies Emperor Nicholas I who suppressed liberation movements in Poland and Hungary.

The military motif is present in the decoration of the round tambour in the corner where the spiral cast-iron staircase leading to the Library on the first floor is concealed.

On display in the Toilet Room is part of the ash-wood furniture set produced in the studio of the famous Heinrich Gambs and his sons in 1834 - a washing table with a marble slab, a cheval-glass and a cupboard.