A Poem 1881
by Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) from his collection:Poems.

Her gold hair fell on the wall of gold
Like the delicate gossamer tangles spun
On the burnished disk of the marigold,
Or the sunflower turning to meet the sun
When the gloom of the dark blue night is done,
And the spear of the lily is aureoled.

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Oscar Wilde was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is best remembered for his epigrams and plays like The Importance of Being Earnest (1895), & his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray. In accordance with Wilde’s poetic principle that poetry should be divorced from life and its instruction, Wilde states that realism is the most dangerous for the future of art; it should be acknowledged for perfect art that “life imitates art far more than art imitates life”.

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The "Gold Room" in my photo is the famous Amber Room in St Petersburg, Russia.
"Walls coated and made of gold, ceiling filled with jewels and other such artifacts, all made out of the highest degree of expenses of mankind, to showcase brilliant wealthy bureaucracy as its best. The Amber room was installed in the Winter House in Saint Petersburg after it was shipped to Russia in 18 pieces where it stood as a part of the European art collection. It glowed with six tons of amber and other precious stones post the 18th century renovations, this amazing room is estimated to worth 182 million US dollars today."

"The Amber Room, the chamber had been created in Prussia in the early 16th century
and was later given to Russia’s Czar Peter the Great."

Under normal circumstances, photography is NOT permitted. They even have a surly "guard" on duty to make sure no tourist snaps a pic. She is relentless and enough to terrify even the extremely daring. Nevertheless... My dozen shots are the pride of my Russian trip. The Amber Room in Catherine's Palace defies imagination. It is truly breathtaking. Wish I had more time to better photograph it.

P.S. There is a security camera in the upper right-hand corner above. The close to priceless Amber Room is well guarded. Besides the human guard, there may have been other cameras... But I was so enthralled with the room's magnificence that I didn't notice the modern elements.