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The Chapel Anteroom is connected to a marble staircase leading to the Waiters' Room of the Catherine Palace. The staircase was constructed between 1843 and 1846 by the architect Vasily Stasov in place of an old circular staircase. The staircase was also called the Chapel Staircase since it was always next to the room leading to the Palace Chapel. In the 19th century on each side of this staircase were mounted paintings by the 18th-century French artist Hubert Robert. Prior to World War II, the tour of the Catherine Palace Museum always began with the first covered entrance of the palace's main façade, which was called the chapel entrance and located behind the palace's chapel wing. In the early 1820s, Emperor Alexander I lived on the third floor of the chapel wing. Visitors to the museum would reach the Stasov Staircase via the chapel entrance. During World War II, the staircase was destroyed and the paintings stolen. Three paintings were later found and returned the Catherine Palace. The remaining paintings were replaced by similar canvases selected from the St. Petersburg Hermitage.