The Corner Drawing-Room of Alexandra Fiodorovna

Only one interior has survived from the apartments of Empress Alexandra Fiodorovna – the Corner Drawing-Room that completed the suite of state rooms created by Quarenghi at the end of the eighteenth century. In this room the Empress would receive ministers, foreign ambassadors and deputations. It was the setting for concerts in which members of the imperial family participated. Several meetings of the Imperial Historical Society were held in the room.

Originally the white artificial marble walls were adorned by five large mirrors that were removed during alterations in the mid-1800s. In the early twentieth century the Empress’s drawing-room contained eighteenth-century furniture and contemporary items made by the court suppliers Friedrich Melzer and Nikolai Svirsky, two concert grand pianos and a harmonium, a large number of portraits, busts and miniatures as well as a Gobelins tapestry of Marie Antoinette and her children that was presented to the imperial couple by President Emile Loubet of France during his visit to Russia in 1902.

The décor of the Corner Drawing-Room suffered badly during the Second World War. The interior was restored between 1947 and 1951.

At present on display in the room are a carpet, tapestry, paintings and ceramics that were here in the lifetime of the last owners and also other unique items from the former furnishings of the Alexander Palace’s halls.