The Working Study of Nicholas II in the Alexander Palace is a business-style room where the emperor read papers and correspondence, received foreign ministers and dignitaries and listened to their reports.

It was decorated in 1896-1897 by Robert Melzer. The furniture maker Karl Grinberg, who earlier worked on the upper-floor rooms of Emperor Alexander II's daughter Maria and her husband Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, was invited to repair the existing furniture from the mid-1870s.

The Study was decorated in the English style, with the walls painted dark red from the middle to the ceiling and with walnut panels below. The walnut furniture was upholstered in green Morocco leather. One side was occupied by a large ottoman (like in the Study of Alexander III), upholstered with a Persian carpet, and a pedestal desk. Attached to a special rod above it was a lamp which easily rose and fell to the desired height. Next to the desk stood an armchair in the Italian Savonarola style, decorated with carvings and upholstered in brown leather.

The furnishings included vases, mantel clocks, jubilee and souvenir glasses, miniature watercolours and photographs of the imperial family and their relatives. Nicholas II loved smoking, therefore his Study was also filled with pipes, ashtrays, cigarette cases and lighters.

Named the Old Study after the State Study was built, this room had special built-in cupboards with shelves which held about one thousand books, albums, magazines and manuscripts and brochures from the Emperor’s library. Among those were biographies and memoirs, as well as book on Russian and military history, politics and religion.

Like the other rooms of the imperial family during 1918-1930s, the Study was part of the Alexander Palace's museum display. Unfortunately, it was completely lost in WWII.

The re-created decorations feature wood panels, built-in furniture and a carpet. The curtains have been restored after the samples preserved by the Museum. An accurate restoration of the fireplace finish became possible thanks to the tile fragments found in the pool of the Tsar's Bathroom (Moorish Room). Also planned for re-creation are the ottoman, desk, lamp and armchairs. The original paintings and mantel clocks, which have been stored in the reserve collection of Pavlovsk, will return to their places in the Study.