A pleasant visit to Debauve & Gallais, Chocolatier to the king's of France.

Debauve & Gallais is a French chocolate manufacturer founded by Sulpice Debauve in 1800. After his nephew Antoine Gallais joined the company in 1823, the company adopted their current name. In 1819 the company received the royal warrant as purveyors to the French court, and was the official chocolate supplier for Emperor Napoleon and of kings Louis XVIII, Charles X and Louis Philippe.

Two Decembers ago while planing my month long Paris vacation a good friend told me "Do not to miss going to Debauve & Gallais, it was designed by Percier and Fontaine" That's all I needed to hear. Percier and Fontaine were some of the best architects and designers in the world. I had heard about this place before but not being a big fan of chocolate I never sought the place out. On this trip I thought I would give it a try. I'm glad I did. Upon arriving in front of the shop I was taken back by the outstandingly beautiful original Neoclassical exterior. I had to cross the street and take this in for a few moments. Soon I entered the shop and was amazed even more by the tastefully decorated original 1819 interior. The only chocolate I love is chocolate covered orange peels. In French called "Orangette". 

I discovered these years ago while vacationing in Belgium. I bought a pack of Orangettes as a gift and decided to taste one. The rest was history. I had fallen in love. At Debauve & Gallais I bought a pound of Orangettes for 60 euros and a lot of other stuff to give as gifts such as the Pistoles made for French Queen Marie Antoinette. Sulpice Debauve (1757-1836), former chemist to French king Louis XVI, devised "the novel combination of cocoa, cane sugar, and medicine after Marie Antoinette complained to him about the unpleasant taste of the medicines she had to take. The queen was so pleased that she named those exquisite coin-shaped chocolates Pistoles. Debauve continued to create a variety of flavored Pistoles for the queen.

When I first entered the shop I was by myself but soon the shop filled with eager customers buying chocolate presents for Christmas! The man that waited on me was so nice and gave me a book on the history of the Chocolatier. I also bought some wonderful fruit candy Nougat that keep me coming back to this beautiful store during the rest of my stay in Paris. It was a joy and pleasure to visit this historic Paris Chocolatier. Now no visit to Paris is complete without stopping by this fabulous chocolate shop on rue des Saint-Pères a few times!

The Debauve & Gallais chocolate shop on rue des Saint-Pères, near Saint-Germain-des-Prés, has been operating in the same location for almost 200 years.

The elegant window displays at Debauve & Gallais are always worth a pause. 

Some of the original Neoclassical decorations on the front of the shop. In 1819, Napoleon's official architects Percier and Fontaine designed the new shop, which is now classified as a historical monument, located at 30 Rue des Saints-Pères. 

Some of the original Neoclassical decorations on the front of the shop. In 1819, Napoleon's official architects Percier and Fontaine designed the new shop, which is now classified as a historical monument, located at 30 Rue des Saints-Pères. 

n 1816, Debauve was appointed as the sole chocolate supplier to the French royal families.

Debauve & Gallais’ signature items include its chocolate pistoles, small discs of chocolate that vary according to cacao content (ranging from 45 per cent to 99 per cent) and flavorings (almond oil, bitter coffee, Bourbon vanilla and orange blossom).

The 1819 design of the boutique's Neoclassical interior is by Percier and Fontaine, Napoleon's official architects and interior designers. 

The 1819 design of the boutique's Neoclassical interior is by Percier and Fontaine, Napoleon's official architects and interior designers. 

In 1818, Debauve’s main shop was moved to its present location on rue des Saints-Pères (7th arr.), where Debauve formed a partnership with his nephew, who was also a chemist.

Balzac, Proust and Brillat-Savarin were regulars at the new store.

At its height, the company had a “chain”of 65 boutiques throughout France. Today, the company has two shops in Paris, with the second one located on rue Vivienne.

A self portrait 

Candy fruit under a 19th century dome. 

A nice early 19th century display counter 

Tasting chocolates - according to Sulpice Debauve

Purveyor to French kings and a must for all true connoisseurs, Debauve & Gallais is pleased to offer a singular range of dark chocolates featuring an exceptional grade of aromatic cocoa (many consisting of 72%, 85%, even 99% cocoa) aimed at an exclusive clientele of chocolate purists. Many aesthetes and gourmands have attempted to define the rules for chocolate tasting. For our part, we offer several reflections made by our founder, Sulpice Debauve, on the subject. These reflections were taken from correspondence dating back to the 1830s and reveal his thoughts on the ideal circumstances, moment, and methods of tasting.

FIRST RULE: Circumstances - a spiritual state

According to the Aztec culture, cocoa - or Theobroma - is the drink of the gods. Like many of the most refined foods, cocoa tasting requires a clean palate. Tasting should be a moment of meditation, an opportunity to escape the stresses of daily life and renew our sense of true values. "It is important, above all, to take one's time and to make each moment of tasting a moment of eternity. Serene, surrounded by loved ones, with a calm spirit - allow yourself to become absorbed in the taste of the chocolate."

SECOND RULE: The moment - heightening one's awareness of tastes and aromas

The ideal moment for tasting a dark chocolate bonbon is between meals. In effect, hunger sharpens the perception of cold aromas while the beginning of the digestive process awakens the perception of hot aromas. It is also possible to approach tasting in this way: before meals, taste "hot aromas" - in this case, ganaches - and after meals, taste only "cold aromas" - or pralinés. "The palate appreciates all best when its tasting ability isn't muddled by a pressing hunger or the saturation of the tastebuds following a large meal."

My girl Marie Antoinette. 

THIRD RULE: Methods - perception and enjoyment of the details

Debauve's instructions for eating chocolates are precise: Place a chocolate in the middle of your tongue. Chew slowly, several times. Let the chocolate linger for several seconds, during which time you may notice a warm sensation from the outer coating of cocoa as it melts on the tongue. The bonbon - still resting on the palate - then begins to withdraw into a blend of subtle aromas until finally it overwhelms the palate with all of the richness of its flavors.

The 1819 design of the boutique's Neoclassical exterior is by Percier and Fontaine, Napoleon's official architects and interior designers. 

In 1823, Debauve took in his nephew Jean-Baptiste Auguste Gallais (1787-1838), also a chemist, as an associate in order to create and distribute his dietary chocolates; known then as "healthy chocolates" they were made with almond milk, vanilla and orange blossom water. Gallais published four years later in 1827 his Monographie du cacao ou manuel de l'amateur de chocolat which offered a scientific approach to chocolate.

My Orangettes & the outstanding fruit candy Nougat that keep me coming back to this beautiful store during the rest of my stay in Paris.  Washed down with a 1830's Louis Philippe flute of Vueve Clicquot. 

The elegant window displays at Debauve & Gallais are always worth a pause. 

Debauve & Gallais claims to be one of the few former royal suppliers in France who retain their independence, and are family owned and operated till today. In 1989, Madame Paule Cuvelier took over the Debauve & Gallais establishment. With the help of her son, Bernard Poussin, Debauve & Gallais have now expanded their business worldwide and have offices in New York, Seoul, Dubai, Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Bucharest, Taipei, Hong Kong, Beijing, Nanjing, Shanghai, and Chengdu. The New York branch was run by Yoo Byung-eun's son Keith H. Yoo.

Debauve & Gallais offer a wide range of dark chocolates whose cocoa percentage comes as high as 99%. Over time they have built a cult following among gourmands, aristocrats, artists, writers and celebrities.

The elegant window displays at Debauve & Gallais are always worth a pause. 

Some of my Debauve & Gallais Chocolates displayed in my Paris apt-  Marie Antoinette chocolate coins. These were first developed for Queen Marie Antoinette in order to ease her distaste for taking medicine.

My son Cyprian stops by my Paris apt for a visit and enjoys a Louis Philippe glass of sparkling Peach wine & Debauve & Gallais Royal chocolates!  

Debauve & Gallais

30, rue des Saints-Pères, 75007 Paris

Tel. +33 (0)1 45 48 54 67

Métro: Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Sèvres-Babylone

Hours: Mon. to Sat. 9:00am to 7pm

Other locations in Paris:

33, rue Vivienne, 75002 Paris

Tel. +33 (0)1 40 39 05 50

Métro: Bourse or Grands Boulevards

Hours: Mon. to Sat. 9:00am to 7pm

For Debauve & Gallais international locations, click here.

Marie Antoinette recycled; When she could!

Cupid Cutting His Bow from the Club of Hercules copy after Edme Bouchardon 

                                                                               
Never had someone spent so much money turning one of the most beautiful gardens in the world into a natural landscape. It was said about Marie Antoinette's English gardens at Versailles. French Queen Marie Antoinette was highly criticized for Sacrificing the famous studied botanical garden of Louis XV and turning them into to what was called at the time Jardin Anglo-Chinois. A style of Landscape garden which emerged in England in the early 18th century, and spread across Europe, replacing the more formal, symmetrical Garden à la française of the 17th century as the principal gardening style of Europe. The English garden presented an idealized view of nature, often inspired by paintings of landscapes by Claude Lorraine and Nicolas Poussin. It usually included a lake, sweeps of gently rolling lawns set against groves of trees, and recreations of classical temples, Gothic ruins, bridges, and other picturesque architecture Follies, designed to recreate an idyllic pastoral natural looking landscape. Marie-Antoinette put her architect Richard Mique and painter Hubert Robert in charge of creating a picturesque garden. At the time, English gardens were all the fashion, with their artificial succession of “natural” landscapes scenes. The Queen dreamed of a living nature that was not imprisoned in greenhouses or flowerbeds as in the French gardens.

View of the Temple of Love from the Petit Trianon

                                                                              

Marie Antoinette was been represented with a straw hat and a white muslin dress with pleated and tight pleated sleeves. This painting was exhibited in the 1786 Salon, but the Queen's unpopularity was already strong, then the backbiters said that the Queen had portrayed herself in a blouse.

                                                                             
                                                                  
If one wants to see the real Marie Antoinette and not the Queen you must leave Versailles and go to the château of the Petit Trianon and the Hameau de la Reine. Marie Antoinette did not like the strict court life of Versailles but was more at home at her play village and Petit Trianon also called the anti-Versailles by the court, a smaller, messier, more feminine site then Versailles where Marie Antoinette, the last queen of France’s Ancien Regime, sought refuge. Marie Antoinette did not want power. She just wanted happiness. At the Petit Trianon she could choose objects and decorations that reflected her personal style, rather than opting for the taste imposed by the social demands and traditions of the royal court at Versailles. On the grounds of the Petit Trianon is where she tried to create happiness. It was here that the queen gambled, played parlor games, held concerts, put on theatrical performances performing as milkmaids, shepherdesses, and village maidens and received intimates. It was also here that she discovered the joys of a simpler life — churning butter, raising farm animals and indulging her passion for horticulture. She even took to wearing lawn dresses and a straw hat.

View of the Temple of Love and  the Petit Trianon

Cupid Cutting His Bow from the Club of Hercules copy after Edme Bouchardon 

Cupid Cutting His Bow from the Club of Hercules copy after Edme Bouchardon 

                                                                              

The Temple of the Love one of many Follies on the grounds of the Hameau de la Reine at Versailles was the setting for many fêtes , The queen could see it from her bedroom window at the Petit Trianon, Built on a man made island behind the Petit Trianon, it was erected by Richard Mique in 1778 in pure neo-classical style. Built entirely out of marble, this invaluable building is especially notable for the quality of the highly detailed sculptures by Deschamps which adorn its Corinthian capitals, its friezes and the inside of its dome. This exceptional quality is explained by the fact that it was built to house a recognized masterpiece of French sculpture from the mid 18th century, Cupid cutting his bow from the Club of Hercules by Bouchardon whose original, now on display at the Louvre, was replaced by a replica by Mouchy, another great 18th century sculptor. Marie Antoinette recycled this Louis XV rococo masterpiece that was not so well received when it was new. During the period of Louis XVI it had become a highly praised French masterpiece that Marie Antoinette would build the Neoclassical Temple de l'Amour around. During Marie Antoinette's life time she was also criticized for not being interested in anything old or out of fashion. This is not true as she bought at auction old decorative arts collections belong to Madame de Pompadour, Louis XV's mistress and loved her large collection of old Japanese lacquers her mother left her.

Marie Antoinette happy with her children, Louis Charles and Madame Royale by Adolf Ulrich Wertmüller, 1785. Note temple of Love.

                                                                              

Detailed sculptures by Deschamps which adorn its Corinthian capitals, its friezes and the inside of its dome.

                                                                             


Cupid Cutting His Bow from the Club of Hercules

Cupid Cutting His Bow from the Club of Hercules by Edme Bouchardon 1747-1750

                                                                                       

Edme Bouchardon portrays Cupid as an adolescent playing a trick on Hercules. The god of love has an impish look on his face. The gentle contours and the spiral motion of the body invite the viewer to walk around the sculpture. This daring work, in which the sculptor sought to realistically portray a naked, unidealized adolescent, was considered shockingly crude at the time.

Cupid, portrayed here as an adolescent, has stolen the weapons of Mars and the club of Hercules. Proud of having disarmed these two formidable deities, he laughs maliciously as he tests the spring of the bow he has carved out of the club. Bouchardon showed the terra-cotta model at the 1739 Salon; a marble was commissioned by Philibert Oudry, director of the King's Buildings, in 1740, but as Bouchardon was fully occupied by the Grenelle fountain, he did not begin work on it until 1745. The sculptor made several studies from life to give his figure a natural appearance and exhibited a plaster model at the 1746 Salon. He worked on the marble from July 1747 to May 1750, carrying out the sanding and polishing himself, tasks usually carried out by assistants. However, the astronomical fee - 21,000 livres - he received for the sculpture more than compensated for this. The sculpture invites one to move around it, no doubt because it was destined to be placed in the middle of the Hercules Room at Versailles.

Cupid Cutting His Bow from the Club of Hercules by Edme Bouchardon 1747-1750

                                                                                 


The blank-eyed face has a uniform, classical beauty. But instead of giving the god an idealized physique, the sculptor chose a lifelike representation of an adolescent. At that age, the body is not yet fully developed, parts of it have grown quicker than others; Bouchardon has kept these anatomic irregularities. The work was too innovative for its time. In 1739, Voltaire considered the idea of Cupid engaged in a manual task ingenious but incongruous, and it annoyed Diderot. The statue, installed at Versailles in 1750, was disliked by both king and court. It was considered vulgar, and Cupid was likened to a porter. The statue was admired by only a handful of art lovers, including Madame de Pompadour, Louis XV's mistress, who ordered a copy (apparently never executed) for the Bosquet de l'Amour at Bellevue. In 1752, the sculpture was relegated to the orangery of the Château de Choisy-le-Roi. Despite this, the work soon became famous. It appeared in drawings and paintings, including a portrait of Bouchardon by François-Hubert Drouais (1758, Louvre), and a version in Sèvres biscuit was produced in 1768.

Portrait of Bouchardon by François-Hubert Drouais

                                                                                 

Happy Birthday Marie Antoinette!!!

Marie Antoinette age 17

Gluck: Orfeo ed Euridice "Che Faro Senza Euridice?" M. Horne

                                                                               

Marie Antoinette's gift to Maria Feodorovna

Archduke Maximilian Francis of Austria visited Marie Antoinette and her husband on 7 February 1775 at the Château de la Muette.

 

Gold Snuffbox with a Portrait Miniature of Louis XVI on Ivory by Pierre Noel Violet 1780

It was formerly the custom for French Kings to make important presents to visiting princes,foreign sovereigns and their ambassadors, and indeed to anyone who had rendered them some signal service. It was not only Europeans who benefited from this custom. Gifts were sent to the Grand Turk, the Dey of Algiers, and even the Emperor of China. The most usual present was a gold box, but all the Manufactures Royales were put under contribution. Gobelins tapestries, Sevres porcelain and Savonnerie carpets were all given at one time or another; even furniture and sculpture were presented, though more rarely. The gold boxes have mostly been melted down for cash, but a selection of surviving presents given by Louis XVI & Marie Antoinette have been identified in the sixty-three manuscript registers of Royal gifts which extend from 1640-1789.

George Washington 1799

                                                                              
The signature of the Treaty of Versailles, in 1783, brought and end of the American War of Independence. On that occasion, Louis XVI ordered a series of Beauvais tapestries representing the four parts of the world, as well as two sofas and twelve armchairs to match to be sent to George Washington. It was, of course, out of the question to use old cartoons showing America as a country peopled by plumed savages and exotic animals. Something new was in order, and a refurbished iconography was commissioned to a rather obscure painter by the name of Lebarbier. In the redesigned tapestry a new and young America, that of the recently freed British colonists, holds out a fraternal helping hand to Indian Americans, and in the other hand brandishes the flag of the new republic. This flattering, almost prophetic allegory was not finished till the French Revolution. It was sold in 1795 to pay off a debt of the young French Republic and did not reach America till the 20th century.

Benjamin Franklin Portrait by Joseph Siffred Duplessis

                                                                               

As America's first diplomat to France Benjamin Franklin was leaving office in 1784 to return home to America, French King Louis XVI presented the great diplomat a present of the kind often giving to a departing diplomat. The king had his portrait painted in miniature by Louis Sicardÿ (1746-1825). The portrait was surrounded by 408 diamonds in two concentric rings with a crown at top. Franklin, who offered the gift to the nation to forestall any suspicion of impropriety. With the approval of Congress, and Jefferson's blessing, the portrait was his, and passed as a special line item in his will to his daughter Sarah Bache. Franklin placed a condition upon his bequest .

Portrait miniature giving by King Louis XVI to Benjamin Franklin

                                                                                 
The King of France's Picture set with Four hundred and eight Diamonds, I give to my Daughter, Sarah Bache, requesting however that she would not form any of those Diamonds into Ornaments either for herself of Daughters and thereby introduce or countenance the expensive, vain and useless Fashion of wearing Jewels in this Country, and that those immediately connected with the Picture may be preserved with the same.



Franklin was talking about young unmarried lady's in the New world wearing diamonds during the day or all day long. In Europe married lady's only wore diamonds at evening events, such as opera, dinner, dance etc as the rosecut diamonds of the 18th century were meant to be seen in candlelight. So it's nothing new today to see woman in America with diamonds on during the day and unmarried, as this was a problem going back to the 18th century. This was considered trashy in Europe and not of good taste. Sarah complied. But once in her hands, she removed the outer ring of diamonds to sell to finance a planned excursion to Europe. Some people have suggested that Sarah justified her action by arguing that while Benjamin disapproved of jewelry, he approved education, and if nothing else, travel is educational.

Sarah Franklin Bache (1743–1808). Daughter of Benjamin Franklin

                                                                                     

Over the years the portrait was passed down thru the generations with each taking its toll on the diamonds will into the mid 20th century. When the miniature was presented to APS in 1959 only the inner ring and a single diamond remained.

Maria Feodorovna

                                                                                   

In September 1781, under the pseudonyms of "the Count and Countess Severny," the heir to the Russian throne Paul and his wife Maria Feodorovna set off on a journey that lasted fourteen months and took them to Poland, Austria, Italy, France, Belgium, Holland and Germany. Paris made a special impression on the couple. Madame Vigee Le Brun wrote in her memoirs about Maria's husband Paul. “Paul was exceedingly ugly,” “A flat nose, and a very large mouth furnished with very long teeth, made him look like a death's head.” Maria Feodorovna was tall, fair, fresh, buxom and rosy cheeked with a sunny disposition. Maria cultivated the arts with great enthusiasm, not disdaining even needlework.She was skilled in watercolor, she also knew engraving, designed cameos, and created objects of ivory and amber, which she often presented as gifts. She was a gifted musician, and was a renowned specialist in horticulture, with a lifelong passion for flowers and plants.

Maria Feodorovna

                                                                             
During there visit French Queen Marie Antoinette presented Marie Feodorovna with a Neoclassical Sèvres porcelain service de toilette in porcelaine de France, as the set was called then. The Toilet set of porcelain was considered some of the most beautiful porcelain made at Sèvres during the Louis XVI period. The set comprises over sixty pieces of "jewelled Sevres" painted in gold over underglaze lapis lazuli blue ground with classical subjects in gold gilt, and having applied solid gold mounted decorations of the utmost delicacy, with tiny drops of colored enamels fused onto the surface to imitate precious stones. This technique was considered at the time to be the last word in the art of porcelain decoration. Of superb craftsmanship is the oval mirror adorned with the white figures of the Three Graces in biscuit porcelain. Models for these sculptures and for the playing amorini on the pair of porcelain jewelry boxes were made by Louis Simon Boizot, director of sculpture at the Sevres factory. There was even a tongue scraper. The gold and bronze decorations are the work of Jean Claude Duplessis, goldsmith to the French court, and the jewelling was done by the enameller Joseph Cotteau, the inventor of this technique. This masterpiece which won world-wide fame, cost the royal exchequer 75,000 livres, about a million in today's money, and no other set like it was made ever since.

Neoclassical Sèvres porcelain service de toilette in porcelaine de France

Neoclassical Sèvres porcelain service de toilette in porcelaine de France

 Detail of Sèvres porcelain service de toilette

 Detail of Sèvres porcelain service de toilette

 Detail of Sèvres porcelain service de toilette

                                                                                  

During their travels they saw the palaces and French gardens of Versailles and Chantilly, which strongly influenced the future appearance of Pavlovsk Park. They ordered more sets of porcelain and purchased statues, busts, paintings, furniture and paintings, all for Pavlovsk Palace. When visiting the famous Sevres factory, they acquired various porcelain goods for the astronomical sum of 300,000 livres. While they traveled, they kept in contact almost daily with Kuchelbecker, the supervisor of construction at Pavlovsk, sending back and forth drawings, plans and notes on the smallest details.

Fireplace in the State Bedroom

                                                                                      
Paul and Maria Feodorovna returned in November 1782, and they continued to fill Pavlovsk with art objects. A shipment of antique marbles, statues, busts, urns, and pottery discovered and purchased at Pompei, arrived in 1783. Sixteen sets of furniture, over two hundred pieces, were ordered from Paris between 1783 and 1785 for the State Rooms. In 1784, twelve Hubert Robert landscapes were commissioned for Pavlovsk. The couple purchased ninety-six clocks from Europe. The Imperial Glass factory, made special chandeliers for each room.

Catherine ll the Great

                                                                                

Catherine the Great died in 1796, and Paul became Emperor of Russia. The reign of Emperor Paul did not last long. Paul was murdered by members of his court in 1801, and his son Alexander became Emperor. Pavlovsk Palace became the residence of the Empress Maria Feodorovna, Maria Feodorovna died on October 24, 1828, fourteen days after her sixty-seventh birthday. She left the house to her younger son, Michael, and specified that none of the furniture should be taken away. After Michael's death, it went to the second son of Nicholas I, Constantine Nikolayevich. It then passed to his widow and then their eldest son, Constantine Constantinvich. Her descendants respected the will, and turned the house into a family museum, just as it was when she died.

Maria Feodorovna in mourning early 19th century

                                                                                

Although this famous Sèvres toilet set has been preserved Emperor Paul & Maria's Pavlovsk Palace did not far as well. The German attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941 took the Soviet government by surprise. The morning after the attack, the curators of Pavlovsk, under the direction of museum curator Anatoliy Kuchumov, began to pack as many of art objects as possible, starting with the Sevres porcelain toilet set given by Louis XVI to Maria Feodorovna and Paul in 1780. Ninety-six hours after the announcement of the beginning of the war, the first thirty-four crates were being carried from the palace by horse-drawn cart. Boards were put over the windows, and sand on the floor of the Palace. The thirty curators often worked by candlelight, and by July there were air raids. The paintings, chandeliers, crystal, porcellain, baes of jasper and rhodonite, rare furniture, and works of ivory and amber were packed and sent first. They worked with great care - each piece of furniture had to be carefully dismantled, porcelain vases had to be separated from the bases, and delicate clocks had to have their casing and mechanisms separated and packed separately, with diagrams on how to put them back together. One piece of each set of furniture was saved, and the others left behind. The Roman and Greek antiquities were too heavy and delicate to move, so they were taken to the basements, placed as close together as possible, and then hidden by a brick wall.

Detail of painted wall decoration

                                                                                     
On September 16, the last soldiers left, and the Germans occupied Pavlovsk Palace, which was still occupied by a group of elderly women guardians.The Germans occupied Pavlovsk palace for two and a half years. Officers were quartered in the salons on the first floor, and the ballroom was made into a garage for cars and motorcycles. Barracks were located in the north wing and a hospital in the south wing. German soldiers, Dutch soldiers and Spanish soldiers in special units of the German army occupied the buildings in the Park. The sculpture and furniture that remained in the house and all the books of the Rossi Library were taken to Germany. The statue of Emperor Paul in the courtyard was used as a telephone pole. Fortunately the Germans did not discover the antiquities hidden behind the brick wall in the basement. Pavlovsk was liberated on January 24, 1944. When the Soviet troops arrived, the Palace had already been burning for three days. The main building of the Palace was a hollow shell, without a roof or floors. The north wall had fallen. Most of the parquet floors of the palace had been used as firewood; a few pieces were found in unburned portions of the palace near the stoves. Of the over one hundred thousand trees that had been in the park before the War, seventy thousand had been cut down or destroyed by the shelling. All the decorative bridges in the park had been blown up. Eight hundred bunkers had been dug in the park. The Rose Pavilion was gone; the Germans had used the materials to construct a fortified dugout.

Ruins of Pavlovsk Palace interior in 1944.

                                                                                 

During most of the 2th half of the 20th century the palace was reconstructed and restored back to the period of Paul and Maria. Photographs and early plans of the palace were brought together to help with the restoration. As soon as the war ended, a search began for treasures stolen from the Palace. Curators collected pieces of furniture, fabric, the legs of tables and pieces of doors and gilded cornices from the German fortifications around the Palace. In the buildings which had been German headquarters, they found chairs , marble statues and rolled-up paintings from the Palace. They found other furniture and objects as far away as Riga, Tallinn, and in Konigsberg, in Germany.

Cupid in Pavlovsk Palace

                                                                                  

The chief of the restoration, Feodor Oleinik, was insistent that all the restoration be faithful to the original work: "Pay attention and do not use later details," he demanded. "Only the original variant, only that done by Cameron, Brenna, Vornykhin, or Rossi." Old techniques of artisans of the eighteenth century, such as painting false marble and gilding furniture, had to be relearned and applied. A silk workshop was opened in Moscow to recreate the original woven fabrics for wall coverings and upholstery, copying the texture, color and thread counts of the originals. In forty rooms of the Palace, painted decoration on the walls and ceilings had to be precisely recreated in the original colors and designs. A Master painter and six helpers recreated the original trompe l'oeil ceilings and wall paintings. The Sèvres toilet set is now in the apartment of the Tzarina at Pavlosk Palace, exactly the same spot it was originally brought to.

 

Sèvres porcelain service de toilette