Re-creation of glass items and decorative elements for the interiors of the Alexander Palace is neither fast nor easy.

Specialists of St Petersburg's Yuzhakova Studio have completed complex and painstaking work on the glass lighting fixtures in the interiors of the Alexander Palace. Their re-creations and restorations include the blue border details on the ceiling in the Tsar’s Bathroom, the crystal pendants, obelisks and cobalt balusters on the chandeliers from Catherine's time, a crack on the eighteenth-century flask of the lantern in the Large Library, as well as the yellow beads on the fringe of the chandelier in the Reception Room of Nicholas II.

The interiors of the Alexander Palace were originally decorated with glass objects, such as large mirrors, luxurious chandeliers, girandoles, sconces, vases and glass clock cases. Those eighteenth-nineteenth century items of complex manufacture demonstrated technical achievements of Russian (Nazinsk Glass Factories and Irbit Glass Factory) and foreign glass makers.

From 1895, Nicholas II and Alexandra Fyodorovna gradually filled their private rooms with Russian and foreign objects. Their orders were commissioned from the imperial porcelain and glass factories and the factory of mirrors, windowpanes and photographic plates in St Petersburg. Their rooms also featured vases and other items from glass factories in Silesia and the French Émile Gallé and Daum Brothers from Nancy.  

While decorating the private rooms of the imperial couple in the East Wing of the palace, the architect Robert Melzer continued a tradition of using the best modern glass products and installed transom windows with cathedral glass in both the Reception Room and Working Study of Nicholas II.

For the lighting fixtures of Nicholas’ State Study, 25 coloured glass shades were used for the design of Tiffany-style “tulip lanterns”.  

According to Meltzer’s project, the State Study of the emperor and the Maple Drawing Room of the empress were connected with a mezzanine, which was designed as a balcony in the Maple Drawing Room, with the side rails in its upper part decorated with stylized floral ornament glazing. The stained-glass frame of the mezzanine fireplace mirror was manufactured and electrified. Also decorated with stained glass, a high screen stood near the room's door. Sadly, those exquisite decorative glass elements did not survive.

Our Museum decided to re-create them on the basis of design documentation developed by the Studio 44 architectural bureau, prepared from photographs of the early twentieth century and 1930s. The decorative faceted glass and stained glass frame for the fireplace mirror were reconstructed in 2020 by the masters of the Yuzhakova Studio. The absence of historical fragments and clear photographs complicated their work: it was necessary to study similar objects – coloured glass of the Art Nouveau era. Natalia Yuzhakova selected and used glasses identical in texture and colour. Since the stained-glass frame was convex, the cut-out elements from the layers of stained glass were heated in an oven and bent to the desired configuration. Master Valery Matrosov had a pre-made template, which he used for checking while manufacturing the tin frame.

The same workshop made the faceted mirrors of complex configuration for the Palisander Drawing Room and Mauve Room of Alexandra, as well as a glass vase of the Mauve Room chandelier.

The twelve-candle chandelier  from the Museum's historical collection was made in 1858 at the factory of the famous St Petersburg bronzier Felix Chopin and was originally located in the rooms of Alexander II's wife in the Zubov Wing of the Catherine Palace. A special decoration of this lighting device was a central vase in the form of a jug made of coloured glass (lost in WWII) with a bronze openwork lid (survived). When re-creating the glass part, there were no difficulties with the shape and size of the vase, which was clearly visible in old black-and-white photographs. While the colour of the glass, designated as “purple” in the inventories, was more difficult to restore. Finally, a pinkish lilac shade corresponding to the colour of the wall and furniture upholstery in the Mauve Room was approved, which made the chandelier so perfectly fitting in the whole ensemble of this interior.

During the process of re-creating the chandelier's vase, experts made several attempts to blow out the glass piece. It was not immediately possible to obtain the desired colour shade and saturation, since manganese oxide, used as a dye, can change its colour at high temperatures, which, in turn, affects the colour of the finished product. Moreover, the base and neck of the vase were to fit snugly against the adjacent parts of the chandelier – the lower bronze rosette and the openwork lid, taking into account that the lower part of the vase is held together by six gilded bronze holders in the form of narrow leafy shoots. Given the unpredictability of glass blowing, bronze masters usually first acquired finished glass parts of the required size, shape and colour and then did bronze casting for chandeliers.

All these glass objects will be on display after the private rooms open for visiting in August 2021.