The Chinese Palace was built for Catherine the Great on the Oranienbaum Estate to the north west of St Petersburg. Miraculously, the palace escaped the devastation of the second world war which destroyed so many of the other great palaces of the period, and it remains a time capsule containing many of its original paintings and furnishings.

In 2000 the palace was placed on the World Monuments Funds list of 100 most endangered buildings and in 2004 a project to conserve the structure and its contents was begun. Tobit Curteis Associates was commissioned to undertake a study of the environmental causes of deterioration for the internal decorative surfaces and artefacts in order that control measures could be developed to prevent further damage.

As part of this work, an environmental monitoring system was installed throughout the display rooms and storage facilities within the palace and the adjacent buildings. The radio telemetry monitoring system was initially managed remotely using a GSM modem link and data analysis was carried out by Tobit Curteis Associates. As the project developed, training was provided for the Russian conservators in the use of the monitoring system and the development of an environmental management programme.