To visit St. Petersburg and not visit the Hermitage? Traditionally, this is a mandatory item of the excursion program. However, not everyone is familiar with all the branches of this museum. One of these branches, which certainly deserves the attention of visitors, is the restoration and exhibition complex "Old Village" of the Hermitage.
About the complex
The project for the construction of a depository, which started at the beginning of the century, was associated with the need to move part of the workshops and collections from the main building of the Hermitage, whose space was no longer enough to store all the exhibits.
The result of the project was a magnificent marble building ("framed building"), decorated with the famous Karelian petroglyphs, ancient rock drawings. The "Old Village" depository of the Hermitage is located in the Primorsky district of St. Petersburg, on Zausadebnaya street, 37a.
The complex includes buildings for storage, biocontrol, restoration, exhibition and lecture, technical buildings, a round garden.
The peculiarity of the depository is the availability of special equipment(mobile racks and showcases-boxes), allowing you to easily move the exhibits.
"The Old Village" of the Hermitage: exhibitions and expositions
Even if you have been to the main building of the Hermitage and are familiar with its exposition, the collections of the restoration complex will pleasantly surprise you. There are a huge number of unique exhibits here, previously inaccessible to the public.
Among permanent exhibition collections:
- hall-storage of furniture and household items of the XVI-XIX centuries. (about 1000 exhibits);
- dynamic exposition "Tapestry Theater" with musical accompaniment (special metal structures move on rails, controlled remotely);
- carriage hall;
- frame structure "Turkish Sultan's tent" (a gift to Emperor Alexander III from the Emir of Bukhara);
- icon painting gallery;
- Department of Western European Art (more than 200 exhibits);
- department of Russian culture (about 3,5 thousand paintings by Russian painters, ancient Russian frescoes, sculpture);
- gun room;
- costume gallery.
Tours
Features of the restoration depository do not provide free access. You can get into the storerooms only as part of an excursion group.
Excursions in the Hermitage on the "Old Village" are held daily, four times a day, starting at 11.00, from Wednesday to Sunday. Every first Thursday of the month for visitorsdiscount.
The length of the route reaches a kilometer, the tour lasts an average of about an hour and a half.
The format of the tours is not quite usual, because the "Old Village" is primarily a museum repository. The guide opens and locks the doors to the halls with a magnetic card, the exhibits are not signed and often change (some of them are sent for temporary storage to other branches).
Interactive themed tours for children (from six to eleven years old) are organized. During such excursions, the children not only get acquainted with the exhibits, but also answer quiz questions, perform interesting tasks, and at the end they look for a real "treasure chest".
Workshops of the complex
In addition to exploring the treasures of the Hermitage's "Old Village" storage, visitors can get into the restoration workshops and watch the work of specialists.
For example, in a metal restoration workshop, not only weapons, but also old book frames are restored to their original appearance.
Specialists of the oil painting workshop, restoring the canvas, check with reproductions and make X-rays of the painting layers.
The Foundation also operates a class for visually impaired and blind children "The Past at their Fingertips", during which they can independently learn about history using special layouts.
Costume Gallery in the "Old Village" of the Hermitage
Thisthe exhibition hall is especially popular, and not only among ladies. The gallery of ancient costumes in the "Old Village" of the Hermitage is a vast area (about 700 square meters), on which 130 mannequins are installed in outfits from past centuries.
Many of the presented costumes belonged to the imperial family. Here you can see the clothes of Peter I, the uniforms of Peter III, Nicholas I, Alexander II, Nicholas II, luxurious dresses of Catherine II. Among the exhibits is the military uniform of officers and generals of the army of the 18th-20th centuries.
Gorgeous ladies' toilets of the 19th-20th centuries are also presented: dresses, veils, hats, shoes, bags, fans, travel chests.
In addition to old costumes, you can get acquainted with the works of modern fashion designers, for example, F. Khalafova, Honored Art Worker of Azerbaijan. Her collections are created mainly from chiffon and silk, they are distinguished by oriental flavor and national motifs.
Tours are held twice a week (on Saturdays and Thursdays).
Visitor reviews
The "Old Village" of the Hermitage today attracts not only connoisseurs of museum art, but also beginners who are just discovering this type of cultural leisure.
If we turn to the numerous comments about the work of the restoration and exhibition complex, then among them we can hardly find negative ones. On the contrary, most visitors leave the most flattering reviews of the museum.
First of all, this concerns the building of the complex. Celebrates itoriginality, spaciousness, competent organization of internal and external space.
Attracts visitors and a huge diverse collection of storage (more than a million exhibits!), As well as the opportunity to be in real museum storerooms, because in a traditional museum access is usually closed there.
The work of the guides, the employees of the Hermitage, who are truly passionate about their work and ready to share the most interesting information, is highly appreciated.
