The white lacquered piece of furniture decorated with gold leaf, six meters long, has made countless Internet users fantasize on social networks, turning it into a ping-pong table, ice dance floor or even a Leonardo fresco. da Vinci, “The Last Supper”.
This table, “a unique piece”, was custom-made and delivered to the Kremlin in 1995 and was part of “the largest order we have ever had”, says Mr. Pologna. His price ? “Ah, it was in lire at the time, a table like this would be worth around 100,000 euros today” and the total order “more than 20 million euros”.
Certified by Boris Yeltsin
Serene, with a small graying beard, standing straight behind his desk in his factory in Cantù near Lake Como, Renato Pologna exhibits the evidence: a photo of the table reproduced in a book on the Kremlin dating from 1999, a framed certificate signed the November 22, 1996 by the then Russian President, Boris Yeltsin, and above all, the detailed sketches of the object that has become cult.
“I’m 100% sure of what I’m saying,” quietly assures this 63-year-old Italian boss, commenting on the remarks of a retired Spanish cabinetmaker, Vicente Zaragoza, who claims, like him, to have delivered the table to the Kremlin, but “around 2005”.
Renato Pologna relies on a certificate signed by Boris Yeltsin to claim the creation of the famous table.
PIERO CRUCIATTI/AFP
“It is a beech table from the Alps”, declared to the Spanish radio Cope this inhabitant of Alcasser near Valencia, who claims to have recognized his work by seeing it on television, without however producing proof. “I imagine that, as in Spain they say they made a table identical to ours, they made a replica, but I don’t know,” commented Renato Pologna, anxious to avoid any controversy.
Witness of Italian know-how
This work, which sits in the reception room for foreign guests, is only a small part of the work carried out by OAK in one of the Kremlin buildings: according to Renato Pologna, it was a question of furnishing and decorating approximately 7,000 square meters on two floors.
“Abroad, the design and quality of high Italian craftsmanship are very popular,” he said, explaining that his company supplied furniture, floors, woodwork and marble finishes on the walls. halls of the Kremlin. The success of the oval table, the image of which has gone viral, has given him ideas: “with all this noise, it would be a good idea to put it back into production”.