Metal

After the palace was turned into a museum, the lighting fixtures of the Main Building acquired their original appearance, characteristic of the eighteenth century. A large number of bronze pieces from the Gatchina Palace were sold to buyers abroad in the 1930s. Among those irrevocably lost were some of the most unique objects such as the chandelier from the Crimson Drawing Room, which Paul I’s wife, the Empress Maria Feodorovna, assisted in its production. Some metal objects from the museum’s holdings were evacuated in part during World War II and those that were left behind were either plundered by the Nazis or lost in the fire of 1944.