The Duty Room

Between the Entrance Hall and the Bedroom there is a small room with a single window, the Duty Room, which was intended for an officer on duty. In Peter's palaces, such rooms were commonly located near the Bedroom. A small moulded cornice and flat reliefs depicting armorial trophies make up the entire decor of this interior. However, as in other rooms, painting plays a significant part in this interior, too. Remarkable among paintings hung in the Duty Room are works by Dutch artists - Morning by Rinse Verzyll (1690-?) and an animal scene by Adriaen van Oolen (?-1694). Both pictures have come from Peter's collection.

The Bedroom

The walls in the Bedroom, as in Peter the Great's other palaces, are lined with a fabric. In this case a cotton print with a characteristic "grass" motif has been used. In the course of the two centuries it was renovated several times, but the original design was invariably exactly repeated. The same fabric was used for lining a large bed designed "in the French manner", with a canopy over it and covered by Peter's quilted blanket finely embroidered with a representation of Venus's chariot. Of particular note in this room is the banquette which stands near the bed and is, at first glance, unworthy of attention. It is one of the six similar seats which were used in the palace from its very beginning. Its fragments found in the basement of the palace after the war were assembled and the restored banquette was used as a model for the reconstruction of the entire set.