 The top of the canopy was made of specially fitted gilded bronze sheets with green enamel.On three sides - the exception being the side facing the Chudov Monastery, Ascension Convent and the Maly Nikolayevsky Palace (all of which were demolished for the enlargement of the Ivanovskaya Square in the 1930s), the monument was surrounded by a gallery with arches and openwork.Thirty-three mosaic portraits of Russia’s rulers from Prince Vladimir to emperor Nicholas II based on sketches by artist Peter Zhukovsky were placed in the gallery's vaults.