Now Russia has not only Amber and Agate Rooms. In Orenburg's new "Hermitage - Eurasia" Center, a Jasper Room has opened! Semi-precious stone mined at the Orsk deposit was used to create it. Jasper vases and bowls adorn the halls of the Hermitage — this material was prized for its rich hues not only by craftsmen but also by monarchs who commissioned works. Today, it's hard to imagine someone being able to create an entire room out of this stone. But the craftsmen from Orenburg have accomplished this task. The multicolored jasper from Mount Polkovnik has been known for 250 years. The stones mined here are distinguished by their unusual patterns — as if a wizard had painted intricate designs on them with a brush. It is believed that the local jasper has more than 350 different shades. The work was supervised by Nikolai Mestyashev. The master stonecutter has been working with jasper for over twenty years. According to him, creating an entire room from this stone was no easy task. Jasper is a very hard material, and the craftsmen would cut less than a centimeter per minute to gradually reveal the stone's pattern and create true masterpieces. Starting from scratch, this work would have taken at least 4-5 years, but the stonecutters already had the material, so it only took a little over a year. The 75-square-meter room is decorated with jasper panels made of slabs no thicker than 4 mm. A total of 23 tons of stone were processed for their production, but only three tons were selected for the panels. A collection of semi-precious stone works — various vases and boxes that Mestyashev has collected over 46 years — is now housed in the Jasper Room.