The grand staircase in the apartment of the heir to the throne, the future Alexander II, was restored after the 1837 fire by Alexander Briullov, who retained Auguste Montferrand’s design from the late 1820s almost unchanged. The architectural treatment of the staircase is marked by Classical austerity. The interior is richly decorated with grisaille painting: the lunettes contain allegorical compositions of female figures bowing to a double-headed eagle. The bas-relief above the windows depicts a triumphal procession.
