Agate Rooms: A ‘terem’ like Olympus
Catherine II confessed in a letter to the architect Falconet that she "would like to have a project of an antique house, planned as in ancient times". Her dream was realized by Scottish architect Charles Cameron.
In Tsarskoye Selo, he created a whole complex of buildings in the image of Roman baths, which included the ‘Cold Bath’.
On the first floor, there were swimming pools and steam rooms, while, on the second floor, which was called the ‘Agate Rooms’, there were offices, including the Agate and Jasper, a library and reception halls.
There, the empress studied documents in the mornings and answered letters. Different types of jasper were used to decorate the second floor, including the ‘Urazovskaya’ jasper, which was dubbed ‘meat agate’, because of its rich, deep red color. Hence, the name of the entire floor.
Unlike the panels of the legendary Amber Room, which could be moved from palace to palace, the jaspers of the Agate Rooms were created to decorate only this building.
The stone plates were glued to the walls, massive doors, columns and complemented with marble and porphyry.
The combination of Roman architecture with decoration in the style of Russian mosaics made an indelible impression. Poet Gavriil Derzhavin called it “a ‘terem’ equal to Olympus”.
During the Great Patriotic War, the Agate Rooms suffered greatly: German troops broke the doors, destroyed the bronze decor and damaged the jasper panels.
After restoration, the building returned to its original appearance. Today, you can see the luxurious Agate Rooms only in the summer in good weather.
