Below Lenin's picture is a portrait of Tsar Nicholas II

On the other side of the canvas by the Soviet artist Vladislav Izmajlovic, on which the leader of the October Revolution, Vladimir Lenin, was painted in full size, a portrait of Tsar Nicholas II was discovered under a layer of paint that dissolves in water during the restoration.

The Russian emperor was "hidden" for 90 years.

"It is a large two-sided portrait on which painters of different political regimes worked. It is a unique phenomenon that has not been known in the history of art," said the restorers for "Rusku rec".

This discovery was made by the restorers of the Academy of Applied Arts "Stiglitz" in St. Petersburg, to which the Russian Museum sent this portrait for restoration in 2013. The restored works of the two painters will be presented in the Museum of Applied Arts of Saint Petersburg on November 30, 2016.

The history of the "double" portrait begins in 1896, when the painter Ilya Galkin, who painted portraits of members of the imperial family on several occasions, created a large ceremonial portrait of Tsar Nicholas II (280 x 184 cm). That year, the emperor was crowned, and the canvas was painted with the aim of being placed in the meeting hall of the Petrovsky College of the Trade Association.

After the revolution of 1917, the college building was turned into an ordinary school, and in 1924, after Lenin's death, Vladislav Izmajlovic painted, as scientists assume, the emperor's portrait with several layers of paint and painted the leader of the world proletariat on the other side.

Lenin is painted standing on the pavement in front of the Admiralty building. The picture was placed in the same place in the meeting hall and it stood there for almost a whole century, until the school management made a decision to send his portrait for restoration, because it was damaged during the USSR.

"In the lower part of the painting, numerous small holes were discovered, which are assumed to be traces of bayonet blows in the heat of the revolutionary struggle. It is interesting that the x-ray of the canvas shows that Lenin's and the emperor's heads practically match", the information service of the academy pointed out.