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18.12.2020

Raisa D. Slepushkina, a restoration artist who invested 22 years of her talent in the revival of Tsarskoe Selo from the ashes of World War II, died at 92 on 18 December 2020.

A deep, creative and energetic person, Raisa Slepushkina (1928–2020) belonged to the celebrated school of post-war restorers of Leningrad. She worked in Pushkin town (Tsarskoe Selo) during 1956–78.

Her works at the Catherine Palace include:

  • the hand-painted silk of the Chinese Blue Drawing Room, which she worked on for two years in the early 1960s, carefully re-creating the painting after its black-and-white photographs and a few stripes of the original fabric that survived behind the mirror frame;
     
  • the restored paintings and hand-painted tiled stoves in the Picture Hall;
     
  • the hand-painted tiled stove in the Crimson Pilaster Room;
     
  • the hand-painted doors and faience columns in the Bedchamber.

Slepushkina restored the ceiling painting in the Upper Bathhouse pavilion and conserved paintings in the Agate Rooms.

Her other working places in St Petersburg included the Stroganoff Palace, St Isaac's Cathedral, Yusupov Palace, Peter and Paul Cathedral, State Hermitage, Vorontsov Palace, St Michael's Castle, Tauride Palace, Russian Museum, Kamenny Island Palace, House of Scientists, Gatchina Palace, Kazan Cathedral and Peterhof's Grand Palace.

We will always remember Raisa Slepushkina smiling as she visited the Catherine Palace two years ago and shared with us her memories of great work.