On the last day of September our Museum received a Russian government delegation led by Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko and accompanied by Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller, Culture Deputy Minister Sergei Obryvalin, and Director Olga Taratynova of Tsarskoe Selo.

The delegation reviewed and highly appraised our three current restoration projects carried out with Gazprom's financial help at the Catherine Palace: the Chapel, the Lyons Hall, and the Private Rooms of Catherine the Great in the Zubov Wing.

Gazprom supports several restoration projects at Tsarskoe Selo and Peterhof, and the educational program "Friends of Petersburg" which includes master classes for young restorers held at the Tsarskoselskaya Amber Workshop.

The guests couldn't possibly leave without seeing the restoration progress of the Alexander Palace which they greatly approved of as well.

On parting with the guests, the director of Tsarskoe Selo emphasized the invaluable support of Gazprom in bringing back to life the once lost masterpieces of our national heritage. She also announced the pending importance of solving the acute problem of water supply in the parks of Tsarskoe Selo and our plans to restore the Chinese Theatre destroyed at the beginning of the Nazi invasion of the USSR.

The Third Antechamber of the Catherine Palace will hold for some time three information boards on Gazprom's charitable projects at the Catherine Palace (pics 2/6, 4/6, 6/6).