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18.11.2020

The Imperial Bedroom or Bedroom of Empress Alexandra in the Alexander Palace was remarkable for its textile decorations of the same chintz fabric on the walls, furniture, and window, door and alcove treatments.

The original chintz with wreaths of pink flowers and ribbons had been commissioned from Charles Hindley & Sons in London, but the company was sold in 1909 and went out of business by 1921. The Museum turned for help to the Renaissance restoration workshop in St Petersburg.

It took over two years from sketching to fabrication to draping. The print and texture of the re-created fabric carefully reproduce the colour scheme and glazed finish quality of an original English sample from the Tsarskoe Selo collection.

The Renaissance workshop also re-created the passementerie and carpeting for the Imperial Bedroom. That became possible thanks to many surviving pre-1917 and pre-1941 photos, as well as some original details preserved at the Pavlovsk Museum.

The re-created lining fabric and lace for the walls and ceiling inside the bed recess (alcove), as well as the braided trims and other passementerie, are based on similar samples from that time period. Their colour scheme matches that of the chintz. Surviving fragments of original carpets from the Alexander Palace served as examples for proper pile height and backing density of the newly made carpeting.

The drapes and treatments were skillfully produced and installed by the company Le Luxe from St Petersburg.