THE HERMITAGE

Part I

The Hermitage is one of the greatest

museums in the world. It is the largest museum in Russia.

It contains more than 2,9 million works of art representing different ages, countries

and nations.

The Hermitage collections include not only pictures, drawings, engravings, sculptures, but items of decorative and applied art as well.

The Hermitage’s collections include works by Leonardo da

Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael and Titian, a unique collection of

Rembrandts and Rubens, many French Impressionist

works by Renoir, Cezanne, Monet and Pissarro, numerous

canvasses by Van Gogh, Matisse, Gaugin and several sculptures by

Rodin

The experts say that if you were to spend a minute looking at each exhibit on display in

the Hermitage, you would need 11 years before you’d seen them all.

All in all there are six departments at the Hermitage:

1. West European Art2. Oriental Culture3. Antique Culture4. Russian culture

5. Prehistoric Culture6. Numismatics

The Hermitage museum comprises 5 buildings, they

are:The Winter palace

The Small HermitageThe Old HermitageThe New Hermitage

The Hermitage Theatre

The Winter Palace was official residence of Russian emperors. Magnificently located on

the bank of the Neva River, this Baroque-style palace is perhaps St. Petersburg’s most

impressive attraction.

The green-and-white three-storey palace is a marvel of Baroque architecture (is known as the Elizabethan

Baroque) style and boasts 1,786 doors, 1,945 windows and 1,500 elegantly and lavishly decorated

halls and rooms, many of which are open to the public. The principal façade is 250 m long and 30 m

high.

The Winter Palace was built between 1754 and

1762 for Empress Elizabeth, the daughter

of Peter the Great. Unfortunately, Elizabeth died before the palace’s completion and only

Catherine the Great and her successors were

able to enjoy the interiors of Elizabeth’s

home.

Many of the palace’s impressive interiors have been remodeled since then,

particularly after 1837, when a huge fire destroyed most of the building.

The Winter Palace was

built by architect

Bartolomeo Rastrelli.

Bartolomeo went to Russia in 1715 with his father, Italian sculptor Carlo Bartolomeo Rastrelli.

His ambition was to combine the latest Italian

architectural fashion with traditions of the Muscovite baroque style. He was appointed to the post of senior court architect in 1730. His works

found favour with female monarchs of his time.