The glitter of gold has illuminated a small room in the Menshikov Museum, where Yekaterina Rapai is displaying works from her new creation, a golden lacework shop.
A member of Britain's embroiderers guild, Mrs Rapai presented her rich and sophisticated works at the London Museum of Victoria and Albert a year ago. This is her first exhibition in Russia.
The works of art include clothes, purses, small bags and panels.
A long heavy velvet dress covered with golden stiches, shining with glass beads, spangles and pearls, might have come straight from ancient Russia.
Such a lustrous dress might have belonged to a "boyarynya" -- courtier's wife from the time of Ivan the Terrible, if not one of his numerous wives.
Russian craftswomen tried to imitate the look and feel of rich fabrics using embroidery.
"Luxurious fabrics were never produced in Russia in olden times, and that is why hand embroidery was popular here -- to make dresses look more decorated," said Mrs Rapai.
In her works, Mrs Rapai uses stiches that were almost forgotten in Russia.
One of them is the "aksamitny" stich, "of which even Torzhok [a famous Russian handwork center] does not have the ability to do," she said.
In the "aksamitny" stitch, the golden thread spirals around and is somehow attached to the cloth.
"We circle the thread over the needle and then connect it to the cloth," revealed Mrs Rapai.
Other stitches are used more widely in hand embroidery, like the "kovany" stitch, which is made over a cartoon pattern, which is placed underneath to make the picture look shapely.
Another stich, the "vprikrep," is made with a thicker thread or several threads together, which are attached to the cloth with a much thinner and almost invisible thread of the same color.
Mrs Rapai said she imitates old Russian ornaments in her embroidery.
"Traditional technique requires traditional plans and aesthetics," she said. "I do not agree with efforts to apply these traditional stitches to modern avant-garde schemes. My soul is there."
Hand embroidery "is something where the individuality of a master can be shown better. The handwork is warm," said Mrs Rapai.