One of the most famous museums in the world. Kilometer-long queues line up in it, regardless of the weather outside. It has many branches, its own theater, orchestra and unusual cats.
Read this article and you will know a brief history of the Hermitage. You will get acquainted with some of the exhibits and the luxurious atmosphere of the halls. We will talk about the different buildings included in the museum complex.
The information will be of interest to all lovers of national culture and connoisseurs of masterpieces of world art.
The Hermitage in the Russian Empire
Before starting a description of the Hermitage, it is worth briefly getting acquainted with its history. The largest collection today, which is housed in many halls of different buildings, once began with a personal collection of paintings by Catherine the Great.
In 1764, she received it on account of Johann Gotzkowski's debt to the Russian Prince Vladimir Dolgoruky. The collection included more than three hundredpaintings brought from Berlin. The total value of the paintings ranges from one hundred and eighty thousand German thalers of the eighteenth century.
Thus, the history of the Hermitage began with the works of Baburen, van Dyck, Balen, Rembrandt, Rubens, Jordaens and other Dutch and Flemish painters. Of the original list of paintings, ninety-six masterpieces remain intact today. We will talk about where the rest have gone in other parts of the article.
Initially, the premises for the collection were allocated in the halls of the Winter Palace. Later, a building was built, which today is known as the Small Hermitage (the photo is located below). But during the existence of the museum, Catherine the Great followed the increase in the number of exhibits. Gradually, there was not enough space, and in sixteen years the Great (or Old) Hermitage was built by the architect Felten.
During the eighteenth century, the collection was replenished with many thousands of works of art. The collections of the Saxon minister, Count Heinrich von Brühl, the collections of the French baron Pierre Crozat, as well as a number of masterpieces from the collection of British Prime Minister Robert Walpole were purchased.
In the nineteenth century, the work of Empress Catherine the Great was continued by Alexander I and Nicholas I. They bought not just entire collections from various noble Europeans, but supplemented the collections of eras, styles and individual artists. So the Lute Player by Caravaggio and the Adoration of the Magi by Botticelli were acquired.
Nicholas I played a big role in popularizing the Hermitage. In 1852it opens the exhibition to the public. Until that time, only selected persons from the upper strata of society could admire the masterpieces. After the collection opened to the public in the New Hermitage, attendance reached fifty thousand people in the first year.
A significant figure in art history in the second half of the nineteenth century was Andrey Somov, who was the museum curator for twenty-two years. He compiled several catalogs of works of Italian and Spanish art, which were exhibited in the halls of the Hermitage.
The situation changed dramatically after Nicholas II abdicated and the Bolsheviks came to power.
History of the Hermitage after 1917
In the twenties of the twentieth century, the history of the Hermitage undergoes some changes. The collection is replenished from many collections of the imperial nobility. For example, most of the interior items, the treasures of the Great Mughals, were transferred from the halls of the Winter Palace.
Parts of the disbanded collections from the Museum of New Western Art (works by European impressionists and paintings by Shchukin, Morozov) were poured into the collection. But the Hermitage Gallery also suffered losses. So, the Diamond Room of the Winter Palace moved to the Moscow Kremlin, and the main works of artists of the seventeenth century ended up in the Museum of Fine Arts.
The turning point was the sale of masterpieces for five years (from 1929 to 1934). This was an unexpected blow to the collection. During this time, the Hermitage lost more than forty paintings (a photo of one of them is located below). For example, "The Annunciation" by Jan van Eyck todaykept in the Museum of Washington.
The next test was the Great Patriotic War. An amazing fact, but not a single copy of the two million exhibits evacuated to the Urals was lost. After returning, only a few of them needed restoration.
In 1945, the Hermitage significantly expanded its collection with Berlin trophies. The Pergamon altar and some of the things from Egypt were transported. But in 1958, the government of the Soviet Union returns them to the German Democratic Republic.
After perestroika and the fall of the Soviet state, the Hermitage was one of the first to announce the works stored in its vaults, which were considered lost to the whole world.
In addition, with the help of a specially created fund, gaps in the exhibits of the twentieth century are gradually filled. Thus, the works of Soutine, Rouault, Utrillo and other artists were acquired.
The Hermitage 20\21 project appears, during which purchases and exhibitions of works by contemporary authors are planned.
In 2006, there was a small embarrassment with the loss of two hundred small exhibits (jewelry, silverware, icons, etc.). But the investigation quickly identified the perpetrators of the theft, and most of the things were returned.
Halls of the Great Hermitage
For a beginner, the halls of the Hermitage are like an endless maze of the Palace of Knossos in Crete. Three buildings are combined here, in which there are twenty-eight sections and about four hundred rooms.
So, the State Hermitage, whose history was discussed earlier,was opened for public viewing by Emperor Nicholas I. Since that time, the museum's collections have grown significantly.
Today you can see the art of Central Asia, ancient states, Ancient Egypt and the East, monuments of various cultures on the territory of Ancient Siberia. Also, the richest collection of jewelry is presented in two galleries.
On the second floor, visitors will enjoy not only a chic collection of weapons, but also paintings by Western European masters. There are works by Flanders, Dutch, Italian, English, German, Spanish and French artists.
There is also a modern gallery. The Hermitage gave her part of the premises on the third floor. In these halls, tourists will be able to see not only paintings by Western European authors of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. There are also objects of art and culture of the Byzantine Empire, the countries of Central Asia and the Far East.
Buildings
In St. Petersburg, the buildings of the Hermitage make up an integral architectural composition. It includes five main objects, two service and four separate premises.
The ensemble is based on buildings on the Palace Square of the northern capital. Here are the Winter Palace, the Small, Big and New Hermitage, as well as the Hermitage Theater.
Since Soviet times, the Winter Palace has been given to the museum to house the exposition. This house was once the main imperial building in the Russian state. It was built in the middle of the eighteenth century by the famous architectRastrelli. Before the abdication of Nicholas II, it was the main winter residence of the ruling Romanov dynasty.
But the main halls of the Hermitage are not located here. Most of the items are exhibited in three special buildings - the Large, Small and New Hermitage. The first was built by Felten at the end of the eighteenth century. It is located on the waterfront and was intended to display art collections.
The Small Hermitage consists of the Hanging Garden, as well as two pavilions - North and South. It was built a little earlier than the Bolshoi and is a link between the classical Hermitages and the Baroque Winter Palace.
The New Hermitage was built in neo-Greek. It was created specifically to house an art collection “for public viewing.”
Also, the buildings of the Hermitage include a cinder block garage and a spare house of the Winter Palace. These buildings are considered auxiliary and service buildings.
Outside the Palace Square ensemble, the museum has at its disposal the Staraya Derevnya depository, the Eastern Wing of the General Staff Building, the Menshikov Palace and the Porcelain Factory Museum.
Theater
The history and architecture of the Hermitage buildings often borrows various ideas from Western European masters. The theater was no exception.
It was designed and built by the Italian Giacomo Quarenghi at the end of the eighteenth century. The interior and internal composition were influenced by the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza. Thus, some of the ideas of Andrea Palladio were repeated in St. Petersburg.
The “history of the Hermitage” is still noticeable in the foyer. Visitors will be ablesee with your own eyes the rafters and wooden ceilings of the late eighteenth century.
The theater building itself was built on the site of the first Winter Palace from the time of Emperor Peter Alekseevich. Only the foundation was preserved from the old house.
It is noteworthy that along the embankment there is the Hermitage Bridge, which connects the two Admir alty Islands and leads from the theater to the Old Hermitage.
New Hermitage
The history and architecture of the Hermitage fully reflect the haste with which Empress Catherine the Great took up the realization of the idea under the impression of Western European fashion. In the late eighteenth century, it became popular among the nobility to collect art collections.
The Empress bought the first batch of paintings and ordered the construction of a building that today is known as the Small Hermitage. But even before the completion of the work, it became clear that the room was too small and unable to accommodate all the new items. Therefore, seven years later, the construction of the Great Hermitage began.
After half a century, the building began to deteriorate, and the fire that happened in 1837 completely forced the start of new construction. Thus, Nicholas I brought the architect Klenze from Munich, who began to design the New Hermitage. St. Petersburg became for him the realization of failed ideas.
The interior reflects the architect's ideas that did not find a response in Athens. In general, the building was supposed to partly resemble the Pinakothek, Glyptothek, Pantechnion and the royal residence in Greece.
In 1852, the opening took placenew halls. The exhibits for them were personally chosen by the Emperor himself.
Exhibits
Next, we will look at the exhibits of the Hermitage. In the halls of this museum, the development of art from the era of the primitive communal system to the present day is presented. Particularly interesting collections of material from archaeological collections.
These include Paleolithic Venuses from Kostenki, Scythian gold, things from the Pazyryk burial mound, slabs with petroglyphs and other masterpieces of the era of cultures of the Great Steppe.
Separately, it is worth touching on the exhibits of ancient halls. There are more than a hundred thousand items on display here. You will be able to see more than fifteen thousand painted vases, about ten thousand of the most valuable antique gems, as well as one hundred and twenty Roman portraits.
Ancient Greek exhibits from the Hermitage are complemented by a stunning collection of terracotta figurines from the city of Tanager in Boeotia.
The numismatic collection is over one million coins. Antique and oriental, Russian and Western European samples are presented here. In addition, there are about seventy-five thousand commemorative medals, fifty thousand badges, orders, seals and other items.
However, the most famous is undoubtedly the collection of paintings by artists that belong to different periods and styles.
Western European authors from the thirteenth to the twentieth century are represented here. If we consider them separately by country, we can distinguish several eras.
Italian masters from the thirteenth to the eighteenth centuries: Titian and Giorgione, da Vinci andRaphael, Caravaggio, Tiepolo and others. Netherlandish painting is expressed in the canvases of Robert Campin, van Leyden, van der Weyden, etc. There are also Flemings Rubens and Snyders, Jordaens and van Dyck.
The Spanish collection is the largest in the world, except for the museums in Spain. Here you can enjoy the works of El Greco, de Ribera, Diego Velasquez, Morales and others.
From the British exhibited paintings by Kneller, Dobson, Reynolds, Lawrence, etc. From the French - Gellet, Mignard, Delacroix, Renoir, Monet, Degas and others.
With all the diversity, the collection has many gaps. For example, the surrealists and some other movements are practically not represented in the Hermitage.
Orchestra
But St. Petersburg is famous not only for the breathtaking collection of the Hermitage. The famous orchestra is also popular.
This unexpected Russian-Lithuanian project was created at the turn of the era. In 1989, when glasnost and perestroika were raising the Iron Curtain and the Soviet Union was collapsing, Saulius Sondeckis created an orchestra called the St. Petersburg Camerata.
The basis of the group were students of the city conservatory, where this Lithuanian taught.
The next year the director of the Hermitage, Boris Piotrovsky, invites them to play under the patronage of this institution. Subsequently, for some time, "Camerata" signs a contract with the record company "Sony Classical".
And in 1994, after a series of negotiations, the group again returned under the patronage of the museum and received the final name Orchestra of the StateHermitage.”
In 1997, the Hermitage Academy of Music was created, based on this group. Today the orchestra gives concerts in the Hermitage Theater and other historical halls.
And its permanent leader received the Order of Honor in 2009 as an outstanding cultural figure and for strengthening relations between the two states.
Famous Hermitage cats
Cats of the Hermitage are an inimitable urban legend and simply an amazing fact. Today, about seventy animals live on the territory of the museum. They have all documents, including veterinary cards and passports. In addition, cats are officially listed as "highly qualified specialists in cleaning the museum basements from rats."
Thus, the Hermitage collection is kept completely safe from the invasion of rodents. Only a few times it was such that the rats spawned a palace.
The first cat was brought to the Winter Palace by Tsar Peter the Great from a trip to Western Europe. Later, during a trip to Kazan, Elizaveta Petrovna noticed the absence of rodents in the city due to the large number of rat-catchers. By special decree, the largest individuals were relocated to St. Petersburg.
Later, Catherine the Great divided animals into indoor and outdoor. The first included exclusively Russian blue cats.
The second time rats bred was during the siege of Leningrad during the Great Patriotic War. But after its completion, two wagons of cats were brought to the city, of which the best ones were assigned to the museum.
Today all Hermitage cats are sterilized. They have their own places to sleep and bowls. Museum workers affectionately call them "Ermiks". And on the territory of the attraction there are signs urging you to be careful. They are placed as a necessary measure, as many animals die under cars during various repairs.
Branches
You are mistaken if you think that there is only one Hermitage. St. Petersburg has several branches of this museum around the world.
The first attempts to create branches were at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Halls opened in London and Las Vegas, but after seven years they were closed. Cooperation with Italy turned out to be more successful. The first exposition here appeared in 2006 in the castle d'Este. This building is considered the hallmark of the city of Ferrara. Options with Verona and Mantua are also being considered.
But the most famous foreign department is the Hermitage on the Amstel, in the city of Amsterdam. It was opened in 2004, and later, an entire street and the Amstelhof building were reconstructed to create a complete composition.
In the Russian Federation there are branches in Kazan and Vyborg, planned in Omsk in 2016.
Thus, in this article we got acquainted with the amazing museum of the Russian Federation. The Hermitage is not just a place where masterpieces are exhibited, but a piece of culture with its own history and peculiarities.
Good luck to you, dear readers. I wish you bright impressions and colorful travels!
