ST.PETERSBURG, September 10 (Itar-Tass) An enfilade of gala rooms opened in the Grand Menshikov Palace in Oranienbaum, a suburb of St. Petersburg, after years of restoration. The opening ceremony took place on September 10 when the Oranienbaum estate marked its 300th anniversary. It was attended by Svetlana Medvedeva, the wife of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, and St. Petersburg Governor Georgy Poltavchenko.

Poltavchenko described the opening of the gala rooms as an event of national significance. “Oranienbaum was a place where Peter the First and Catherine the Great as well as many other prominent figures in Russian history decided the future of Russia and created a great country called the Russian Empire. Today, after years of painstaking restoration efforts, this gem of St. Petersburg and Russia has been revived,” Poltavchenko emphasized.

The Palace’s interior features genuine objects dating back to the era of Peter the Great, the spears and uniforms of the Preobrazhenskiy regiment and the 18th-century furniture that was stored in the reserves of the Peterhof museums.

Restoration specialists studied archive materials to reproduce the colors and tissue that were used in the interior decoration.

Elena Kalnitskaya, the general director of the Oranienbaum museum, said that only the first stage of restoration works had been completed and that new museum facilities would open in 2013,2014 and 2015.