Powdered French aristocrats smile benignly from gilded frames in the salon. Fine Beauvais tapestries decorate the walls. Huge Sevres porcelain vases glimmer with gold. So do the chairs. And that's only one room of this house museum overlooking Rock Creek Park.
Shelves are heavy with silver chalices.
A diamond wedding crown was worn by a Russian princess. Next to a smattering of icons stands a massive cabinet made of ebonized wood embellished with gilt bronze and embedded with chunky lapis lazuli medallions. On top, two golden griffins hold the initials of a lost czar. Revolutions put a stop to all that, but not to American cereal heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post. She spent a good part of the last century gathering up royal treasures, the best 6,000 of which are on display at the secluded 25-acre Northwest Washington estate where she died in 1973.