|
Sunday, 22.07.2007
Hermitage
The “State Hermitage" is in every respect a museum of superlatives: It encompasses three million art exhibits from ancient times to the present day – distributed among approx. 1000 rooms in seven palaces. Alone a list of the painters on show here induces diziness: Dürer, da Vinci, Tizian, Rembrandt, Cezanne, Monet, van Gogh, Picasso ...
|
|
But the Hermitage does not only have paintings: its baroque and classic facades, architectural masterpieces in themselves, also contain drawings, ancient statues and gems, coins, Scythian gold pectorals and much more besides.
|
If you were to look at each exhibit for only a few seconds, you would need 70 years to see everything. But don’t worry: If you exercise moderation and keep a clear head, the world’s second largest museum will provide you with aesthetic satisfaction of the highest class, instead of an exitless maze.
|
Catherine II, her ‘Hermitage’ and the mice.
|
Peter the Great had also collected art, but it was Catherine II who made a profession of it. First of all, in her Winter Palace residence she built herself a ‚hermitage’ according to the prevalent French fashion of those days, where she could pursue her interest in art undisturbed, and enjoy her collection with selected guests after conducting taxing affairs of state. This was where the first 225 paintings brought by the Berlin merchant Johann Gotzovsky were hung on the 8th December, 1764, a date now celebrated as the Hermitage’s official birthday.
|
|
| Coordinates |
Dvortsovaya nab. 34
Nearest metro: Nevski Pr./Gostiny Dvor
Opened: 10.30am - 6.00pm, Sundays to 5pm
Closed: Mondays
Tel.: 1109625 (automatic message), 3113465
Admission charge: approx. 12 $
Free admission for students (with AISEC card) and for all visitors on the first Thursday of each month.
|
|
The collection grew rapidly, filling the Small Hermitage, and then the Old Hermitage. Finally, in the mid-19th century, Nicholas I erected the first building of the ensemble to be conceived from the very beginning as a museum: the New Hermitage, designed by the German architect Leo von Klenze.
|
The opening of this public Imperial Museum in February 1852 put an end to the situation that Catherine II had once regretted: ‘Only I and the mice get to marvel at all this beauty.”
|
The Hermitage thrives
|
That was then. Today the Hermitage is Russia’s most frequented museum with approx. 2.4 million visitors each year. The museum is currently about to expand from the traditional ensemble of the Winter Palace, the Small, Large and New Hermitages and the Hermitage theatre to add the East Wing of the General Staff Building on the opposite side of Palace Square.
|
Some tips for handling the Hermitage
|
Be warned: Don’t overdo it. If you don’t have much time, and only want an overview, concentrate on the gala halls of the Winter Palace with their splendid interiors, and visit the highlights such as the Da Vinci Madonnas, Rembrandts or the Impressionist masterpieces only recently retrieved from the secret stacks, where they had been stored after being brought from defeated Germany.
|
If you have a definite goal (such as the Egyptian Room or Ancient Greece) go straight there and be careful not to take any wrong turnings. Alternatively, do the exact opposite: Take a day to drift around, have a coffee now and again in the pleasant café on the ground floor, and enjoy the breathtaking view of the Neva or of the beautiful arcs of Palace Square.
|
(sb/rufo)
|
|
