The Russian Room was designed by Dr. Andrey Avinoff, a longtime curator of the Carnegie Institute's Natural History Museum. Avinoff gathered designs to show an old character to the region, with reproduced carvings from churches and creatures carved into the chairs' crest rails to illustrate regions or folktales. These collected designs point to a wide swath of area, including areas in Eastern Europe occupied with other ethnic groups, such as Rusyns, and in ancient times by such people as the Scythians.
The vastness of the area is hinted at in the rising sun above the door. The vishikva, or tapestry, was designed by Avinoff and shows St. George.
