The Redisplay of the Music Lounge at Yusupov Palace

The displays at Yusupov Palace on the Moika River continue to be renewed. We are continuing our series on rooms that have undergone redisplay. This time, we turn our attention to the Music Lounge, located in the Prince's private apartments.

The Music Lounge was decorated at the request of Prince Nikolai Borisovich Yusupov the Younger to house his collection of musical instruments.

Between 1858 and 1860, architect Ippolito Monighetti and artist Auguste Rouilly incorporated elements of the Italian Renaissance into its decoration. The coffered ceiling with gilded stucco ornamentation, grisaille paintings on the ceiling coves, a painted rosette at the centre, wall-mounted mirrors and decorative grilles beneath the windows were all harmoniously integrated into the interior.

During the lifetime of Prince Nikolai Borisovich Yusupov the Younger, the Music Lounge housed a remarkable collection of musical instruments, including violins made by the great Italian masters Amati, Guarneri and Stradivari.

Today, the Music Lounge displays a rare mechanical organ created by the Austrian craftsman Thomas Hess in the early 19th century, an 1865 harmonium made by the American company J. Estey & Co., and a white grand piano manufactured by C. M. Schröder in St. Petersburg in the late 19th century, adorned with gilded carvings.

The Thomas Hess organ is housed in a mechanical cabinet veneered with Karelian birch and decorated with painted panels.