the state hermitage museum annual report 2012. st. petersburg

The STaTe hermiTage muSeum annual reporT n 2012

ConTenTS

General EditorMikhail Piotrovsky,General Director of the State Hermitage Museum,Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences,Full Member of the Russian Academy of Arts,Professor of St. Petersburg State University,Doctor of History

ediTorial Board:

Mikhail Piotrovsky, General Director of the State Hermitage Museum

Georgy Vilinbakhov, Deputy Director for Research

Svetlana Adaksina, Deputy Director, Chief Curator

Marina Antipova, Deputy Director for Finance and PlanningAlexey Bogdanov, Deputy Director for Maintenance

Vladimir Matveyev, Deputy Director for Exhibitions and Development

Mikhail Novikov, Deputy Director for Construction

Mariam Dandamayeva, Academic Secretary

Yelena Zvyagintseva, Head of the Publishing Department

Larisa Korabelnikova, Head of the Press Service

exeCuTive group:

Tatiana Baranova, Vera Chudinova, Mariam Dandamayeva, Yekaterina Danilina, Victor Faibisovich, Yevgenia Glinka, Larisa Korabelnikova, Yevgenia Kulikova, Regina Mamedova, Svetlana Philippova, Yelena Zvyagintseva

© The State Hermitage Museum, 2013

4 Year of Village and Garden 6 State Hermitage Museum. General Information 16 Awards 20 Composition of the Hermitage Collection as of 1 January 2013 40 Exhibitions 86 Restoration and Conservation 121 Publications 135 Electronic Editions and Video Films 136 Conferences 141 Dissertations 142 Archaeological Expeditions 158 Major Construction and Restoration of the Buildings 170 Structure of Visits to the State Hermitage in 2012 171 Educational Events 180 Special Development Programmes 188 International Advisory Board of the State Hermitage Museum 190 Guests of the Hermitage 194 Hermitage Friends Organisations 204 Hermitage Friends’ Club 206 Financial Statements of the State Hermitage Museum 208 Principal Patrons and Sponsors of the State Hermitage Museum in 2012 210 Staff Members of the State Hermitage Museum 215 Email Addresses of the State Hermitage Museum

ISBN 978-5-93572-499-3

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Mikhail Piotrovsky,General Director of the State Hermitage Museum

year of village and garden

When we started the restoration of the Hanging Garden, the heart of the Hermitage, its two rows of trees had to be re-planted in Staraya Derevnya, next to the first building of the Storage and Res-toration Centre. We were very proud of the success of this piece of sound environmental judgment. This year saw the end of the restoration of the Hanging Garden and the construction of the second (storage) building of the Centre.The work in the Hanging Garden was hampered by insulation challenges, and many visitors have already forgotten that the garden had nearly always been out of bounds in the past. Many of them seem to think that it used to be open and has now been closed down. People find it hard to accept the restrictions imposed by cultural rights and the need to protect historic monuments. We have the Hermitage variety of tulips blooming in the garden and we have kept our beloved lilac. We have tried to ensure that the garden does not look too “reconstructed” and retains the spirit of several histori-cal periods.Another novelty that is taking some time to be accepted is that our Storage Centre is open to the public. This is not as interesting as grumbling at wicked museum workers who are hiding their great treasures from the people. In fact, the Hermitage open storage facility has long become a universally acknowledged contribution to the world’s museum theory and practice. The seemingly “impossible” challenge of making the collections accessible without damaging them has been overcome. The stor-age facilities are not just accessible. They have their own style and showcasing aesthetics. They are already well known to the experts.The new high and spacious building has many public areas: auditoria, exhibition halls and study rooms. It will house the collections of banners, sarcophagi, sculptures; workshops for the restoration of textiles, carriages, furniture; the photograph storage and restoration facility. We are especially proud of our high-security jewellery section which has many levels of protection.All this space will be “saturated” with equipment and exhibits by 2014, the year we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Hermitage.Everything that is being done today is building up to the museum’s anniversary, including the cel-ebrations of the victory of 1812. The Hermitage has approached this topic in its own special style. We have the famous paintings by Peter Hess depicting the key battles of the Patriotic War. We had these paintings brought out to the Winter Palace rooms on the dates of the battles, to the accompani-ment of military ceremonial music. At the end of the year they all formed part of a grand exhibition which carried on into the following year, reminding us of the Battles of Klum and Leipzig and the capture of Paris. The opening of the exhibition on 25 December saw the restoration of the traditional

festival marking the “expulsion of the enemy beyond the borders of the Motherland”. There were both a parade and a litany.There was also an exhibition of toy soldiers which everyone found sweet. But another, more modern and edgy version of “soldiers”, the harsh anti-Nazi installation by the Chapman Brothers was not welcomed in the same way by some visitors, who did not want to understand and accept the meta-phor of a “joke after Auschwitz”. There was even an attempt to stage a persecution of the museum, which coincided with attacks on other cultural institutions and made St. Petersburg, for a while, the field of a fierce battle between complex and simplistic understanding of art and its rights.The Hermitage restorers made both the scholars and the visitors proud by their work on Degas’ Place de la Concorde and a Hugo van der Goes triptych. The most popular architectural exhibi-tion of the year was the Santiago Calatrava display, and an extensive exhibit entitled “In Written Words Alone…” was organised as a tribute to the great scholar and collector Nikolay Likhachev. The ancient world of the Persian Gulf entered the museum’s rooms with the Bahrain exhibition called “Tylos”, while contemporary art found a permanent space for itself in the Prigov Room, part of the General Staff Building. Following scholars’ requests, the Hermitage • Kazan Centre housed the widely acclaimed exhibition on nomadic tribes. Still more popular was the exhibition tracing the sources of Impressionism at the Hermitage • Amsterdam Centre. We told the story of Catherine the Great in Edinburgh, and the story of Alexander the Great in Sydney. In Yekaterinburg, there was an exquisite display of engravings by Piranesi.Each step the museum takes, all its projects, small and large, are part of the multi-faceted pro-gramme of gifts the Hermitage is giving to its public ahead its 250th anniversary. This programme now has its own special logo, which reminds us, quite appropriately, of Empress Catherine the Great.

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STaTe hermiTage muSeum. general informaTion

muSeum SpaCe

Total area 224,970 sq. metresExhibition area 66,842 sq. metres

main ColleCTionS enTering The muSeum SinCe iTS foundaTion

1764 – Johann Ernest Gotzkowsky collection1769 – Count Heinrich von Bruhl collection1772 – Baron Pierre Crozat collection1779 – Lord Walpole collection1781 – Count Baudouin collection1787 – Cabinet of carved stones of Duke of Orleans1814 – Paintings from the Malmaison Palace of Josephine Beauharnais1861 – Marquis Gian Pietro Campana collection1884 – Alexander Basilewsky collection1885 – Collection of the Arsenal in Tsarskoye Selo (now the town of Pushkin)1910 – Pyotr Semenov-Tyan-Shansky collectionAfter 1918 the Hermitage also received the socialised collections of the Russian aristocratic families Sheremetev, Stroganoff, Shuvalov, Yusupov, as well as the famous collections of Sergey Shchukin and Ivan Morozov and others.1935 – collection of the former Museum of the Baron Stieglitz Central Higher School of Technical Drawing1950 – collection of banners and banners’ accessories, banners’ graphics, the archives from the Artillery Historic Museum2001 – collection of the Lomonosov (Imperial) Porcelain Manufactory Museum

exhiBiTion CenTreS of The STaTe hermiTage ouTSide ST. peTerSBurg

Hermitage • AmsterdamThe Netherlands, Amsterdam (exhibition area about 2,195 sq. metres)

Hermitage • ItalyItaly, Ferrara (exhibition centre – Castello Estense)

Hermitage • KazanRussia, Kazan (exhibition area about 1,381.3 sq. metres)

Hermitage • VyborgRussia, Vyborg (exhibition area about 420 sq. metres)

hermiTage WeBSiTe

www.hermitagemuseum.org

Hermitage magazine

Hermitage News neWSpaper

Hermitage radio

orCheSTra of The STaTe hermiTage

founding of The muSeum

The foundation date of the museum is considered to be 1764, when Empress Catherine the Great acquired an impressive collection of works (225 paintings) from the Berlin merchant Johann Ernest Gotzkowsky.The museum celebrates the anniversary of its founding each year on 7 December, St. Catherine’s Day.

STaTuS of The hermiTage

In a Decree by the President of the Russian Federation dated 18 December 1991 the State Hermitage Museum was included into a list of the most valuable objects of national heritage.In a Decree by the President of the Russian Federation dated 12 June 1996 the State Hermitage Museum was placed under personal patronage of the President of the Russian Federation.In a Decree (No. 984) dated 29 November 2011 the new Statutes of the State Hermitage Museum, as a federal government funded institution, were approved. According to the Statutes the Government of the Russian Federation is to act as the museum founder.

offiCial nameS

The State Hermitage Museum Federal Government Funded Cultural Institution; The State Hermitage Museum; The HermitageIn honour of the State Hermitage Museum, according to the Official Certificate of the International Astronomic Association and the Institute of Theoretical Astronomy of the Russian Academy of Sciences dated 11 April 1997, a minor planet registered in the International Catalogue of Minor Planets under No. 4758 was named Hermitage.

legal addreSS

34 Dvortsovaya Naberezhnaya (Dvortsovaya Embankment), 190000 St. Petersburg, Russian Federation

arChiTeCTural Complex of The muSeum

The museum complex consists of the Winter Palace, Small Hermitage, Old Hermitage, Hermitage Theatre, New Hermitage and Reserve House (30–38 Dvortsovaya Embankment); Menshikov Palace (15 Universitetskaya Embankment); East Wing and the Arch of the General Staff Building (6–8 Palace Square); “Staraya Derevnya” Centre for Restoration, Conservation and Storage (37 Zausadebnaya Street); Imperial Porcelain Manufactory Museum, located on the premises of the Imperial Porcelain Manufactory Public Company (151 Prospekt Obukhovskoy Oborony).

muSeum BuildingS

Winter Palace. 1754–1762Architect, Francesco Bartolommeo RastrelliReconstructed by Vasily Stasov after a fire in 1837

Small Hermitage. 1764Architects, Yury Velten and Jean-Baptiste Vallin de la Mothe

Old (Large) Hermitage. 1771–1787Architect, Yury Velten

Hermitage Theatre. 1783–1787Architect, Giacomo Quarenghi

New Hermitage. 1842–1851Architect, Leo von Klenze, construction supervised by Vasily Stasov and Nikolay Yefimov

Reserve House of the Winter Palace. 1726–1742, 1830, 1878Architects, Domenico Trezzini (?), Carlo Giuseppe Trezzini and Nikolay Bekker

Menshikov Palace. 1710–1711Architects, Giovanni Mario Fontana and Georg Schedel


General Staff Building (former Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Finance building). 1819–1829Architect, Carlo Rossi

“Staraya Derevnya” Centre for Restoration, Conservation and StorageThe beginning of construction – 1990

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meeTing The 250Th anniverSary of The STaTe hermiTage muSeum

To mark the forthcoming 250th anniversary of the State Hermitage Museum President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev signed Decree No. 227 on 24 February 2011 (Kremlin, Moscow) which stated:

“1. The proposal of the Government of the Russian Federation to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the State Hermitage Museum in 2014 is accepted.2. The Government of the Russian Federation sets up a Steering Committee to organise and hold the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the State Hermitage Museum and ensures the development and approval of the action plan to organise and hold the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the State Hermitage Museum.3. It is recommended that government agencies of constituent territories of the Russian Federation and local authorities participate in the preparation and holding of the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the State Hermitage Museum”.

To prepare and stage the celebration, the Steering Committee was formed by the Russian Federation Government’s Decree No. 552-p on 31 March 2011. In 2012 it included:

Olga Golodets Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Government

Valery Bugayenko Head of the Federal Agency of Communications

Andrey Busygin Russian Federation Deputy Minister for Culture

Gennady Gatilov Russian Federation Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs

Vasily Kichedzhi Vice Governor of St. Petersburg

Vladimir Medinsky Russian Federation Minister for Culture

Denis Molchanov Director of the Culture Department of the Russian Federation Government

Tatiana Nesterenko Russian Federation Deputy Minister of Finance

Nikolay Pankov State Secretary, Russian Federation Deputy Minister for Defence

Mikhail Piotrovsky General Director of the State Hermitage Museum

Alexey Polkovnikov Head of the Culture Sector of the Culture Department of the Russian Federation Government

Georgy Poltavchenko Governor of St. Petersburg

Vladimir Potanin Chairman of the State Hermitage Board of Trustees

Mikhail Seslavinsky Head of the Federal Agency of Press

Mikhail Shvydkoy Russian President’s Special Representative for International Cultural Cooperation

Sergey Shumakov Director of the “Culture” branch of the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company

Georgy Vilinbakhov Deputy Director of the State Hermitage Museum

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CollegiaTe BodieS of The STaTe hermiTage muSeum

aCademiC CounCil of The STaTe hermiTagepermanenT diSplay CommiTTeereSToraTion CounCilBoard of CuraTorSpurChaSing CommiSSionediTorial CounCilediTorial Board of ColleCTion CaTalogueSediTorial Board of tHe reports of tHe state Hermitage museumediTorial Board of pedagogiCal and eduCaTional ediTionSexTernal poliCy CounCilexhiBiTion CommiTTeereSearCh granT CommiTTeearChaeologiCal CommiTTeeinTerneT SiTe CounCileduCaTion and meThodology CounCilarTS CounCilmuSeum STruCTure and STaff CommiTTeeSeCuriTy CounCilengineering SupporT ServiCeS CounCil

Board of TruSTeeS of The STaTe hermiTage:

Vladimir Potanin President of Interros, Chairman of the Board of TrusteesAlexander Avdeyev Culture Minister of the Russian Federation (2008 – May 2012) Leonid Blavatnik President of Access IndustriesOleg Deripaska General Director of OJSC Basic ElementGerman Gref President and Chairman of the Board of OJSC Sberbank of RussiaLeonid Fridland President of MercuryAlexey Kudrin Finance Minister of the Russian Federation (2000–2011)Pierre de Labouchere President and CEO of JTIVladimir Medinsky Russian Federation Minister for CultureMikhail Piotrovsky General Director of the State Hermitage Museum Mikhail Shvydkoy Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation for International Cultural CooperationAnton Siluanov Finance Minister of the Russian FederationDavid Yakobashvili Chairman of the Board of Directors of Wimm Bill Dann

STaTe hermiTage endoWmenT fund

Board of Trustees of the Fund: Mikhail Piotrovsky, Vladimir Potanin, Yevgeny Satanovsky, Alexander Sokurov and Ivan Steblin-KamenskyBoard of Management of the Fund: Larisa Zelkova, Vladimir Matveyev and Marina Tsyguleva

“hermiTage 21ST CenTury” foundaTion

direCToraTe of The STaTe hermiTage muSeum

Mikhail Piotrovsky General Director, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Full Member of the Russian Academy of Arts, Professor of St. Petersburg State University, Doctor of HistoryGeorgy Vilinbakhov Deputy Director for Research, Chairman of the Heraldic Council at the President of the Russian Federation, Professor of the Stieglitz St. Petersburg State Academy of Art and Industry, Doctor of HistorySvetlana Adaksina Deputy Director, Chief CuratorMarina Antipova Deputy Director for Finance and PlanningAlexey Bogdanov Deputy Director for Maintenance, Senior Lecturer of St. Petersburg University of State Fire Service, Candidate of Technical SciencesVladimir Matveyev Deputy Director for Exhibitions and Development, Candidate of Art Theory and HistoryMikhail Novikov Deputy Director for ConstructionYelena Mironova Chief Book-Keeper

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STaTe hermiTage muSeum. general informaTion STaTe hermiTage muSeum. general informaTion

general informaTion on The main deparTmenTS and SeCTorS of The muSeum

deparTmenT of ClaSSiCal anTiQuiTyOne of the oldest departments in the Hermitage, it consists of two sectors: Art and Culture of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, and Art and Culture of the Northern Black Sea Area. Its collections include approximately 100,000 objects. Eight of the Department’s twenty-seven staff members hold Candidate degrees.

deparTmenT of The arChaeology of eaSTern europe and SiBeria Founded in December 1930 on the basis of the former Department of Antiquities. The Department consists of two sectors – Sector of the Forest and Forest-Steppe Zone of Eastern Europe and Sector of the South of Eurasia. Its collections include approximately 750,000 objects. Among its thirty-four staff members, four hold doctorates and fourteen Candidate degrees.

orienTal deparTmenTFounded in 1920. The Department’s geographical and chronological coverage is very broad, so it consists of four sectors: Art and Culture of the Ancient East; Byzantium and the Near East; Middle Asia, the Caucasus and Crimea; the Far East. The Department’s collections number about 150,000 items. Of its forty-six staff members, six hold doctorates and eighteen Candidate degrees.

deparTmenT of WeSTern european fine arTSOne of the oldest and largest departments in the Hermitage, it consists of four sectors: Painting of the 13th to 18th Centuries; Painting of the 19th to 20th Centuries and Sculpture; Drawings; Prints. The Department’s collections boast approximately 400,000 objects. Among its sixty-five staff members, four hold doctorates and fifteen Candidate degrees.

deparTmenT of WeSTern european applied arTSFormed as an independent department in 2006, it consists of two sectors: one devoted to applied arts and the other to precious metals and stones. Its stock comprises about 150,000 items. Of its thirty-three staff members, one holds a doctorate and nine Candidate degrees.

deparTmenT of The hiSTory of ruSSian CulTureFounded in April 1941, the Department acquired its present-day form after the Second World War. It has two sectors: Fine Arts Sector and Applied Arts Sector. Its collections include more than 300,000 items. Of its fifty-three staff members, two hold doctorates and fourteen Candidate degrees.

numiSmaTiC deparTmenTIt is one of the oldest departments in the Hermitage, along with the Classical Antiquity and Western European Fine Arts Departments. The first coins were purchased by Catherine the Great in 1764. It contains 1,200,000 items and consists of two sectors: one deals with works from Antiquity and those from Asia and Africa, the other comprises numismatic pieces from Europe and America. Among the Department’s twenty-nine staff members, one holds a doctorate and three Candidate degrees.

arSenalThe Department was founded in 1972 on the basis of the collection of arms and armoury kept in the Oriental and Western European Fine Arts Departments. The Arsenal consists of two sectors: Sector of Arms and Armoury and Sector of Military Heraldry. The former boasts some 16,000 superb examples of arms and armaments from various epochs and countries. The Military Heraldry Sector has over 60,000 items, including banners, their accessories and military graphics. Of the Arsenal’s twelve staff members two hold Candidate degrees.

menShiKov palaCe Founded in February 1981 as “Menshikov Palace. Russian Culture in the First Quarter of the 18th Century” Sector within the Department of the History of Russian Culture. The status of department was received in 1996. Most noteworthy are the interiors with their original eighteenth-century furnishings. Among the Palace’s twenty-five staff members three hold Candidate degrees.

imperial porCelain manufaCTory muSeumFounded in February 2001 on the basis of the historical collection at the Lomonosov Porcelain Manufactory Museum. Presently, the Department boasts over 30,000 items, the most part of which consists of objects made at the Imperial, then the Lomonosov and from October 2005 again the Imperial, Porcelain Manufactory. The Department has ten staff members.

modern arT deparTmenTFounded in 2009, the Department organises temporary exhibitions and forms the collections of contemporary art. Of its six staff members one holds a Candidate degree.

deparTmenT of The hiSTory and reSToraTion of arChiTeCTural monumenTS The Department was founded on the basis of the Department of the Chief Architect of the Hermitage in 1992. It is responsible for the conservation of the unique architecture of the museum’s buildings, as well as the adaptation of the buildings for modern use. It also provides scientific support for restoration activities. Of the Department’s fifteen staff members, four hold Candidate degrees.

arChiTeCTure and arChaeology SeCTor Established as a separate sector in 2008. It carries out excavations on the State Hermitage complex territory as well as other archaeological researches of urban architecture. Of its eleven staff members, five hold Candidate degrees.

eduCaTion deparTmenTThe Hermitage has been organising educational activities within the museum since 1925, when first guided excursions were arranged for the benefit of the public. Their aim is to introduce the Hermitage’s collections as well as art history in general to the museum’s visitors. The Department’s staff members are involved in more than 30,000 guided tours and deliver over 500 lectures a year. Fourteen of the Department’s one hundred and thirty-nine staff members hold Candidate degrees.

SChool CenTre The School Centre that offers programmes for children of pre school and school age has been functioning as a separate department since 1999. It has an Art Studio, various children study groups, Young Archaeologists Club, and Young Art Historians Club and a Lecture Centre. Two of the Department’s thirteen staff members hold Candidate degree.

reSearCh liBraryOne of the oldest and largest museum libraries in Russia specialising in art history, it has been an integral part of the Hermitage since its foundation. The Library grew from the private collection of Empress Catherine the Great. At the present moment the Library holds more than 800,000 volumes on art, history, architecture and culture in most European and Oriental languages. The Department has forty-seven staff members, three of them holding Candidate degrees.

deparTmenT of manuSCripTS and doCumenTSFounded in 1980, the Department consists of document and photograph archives, the latter includes a collection of photographs and negatives. The archives were founded in 1805 and at present contain sixty-seven funds, among them are sixty-two private archives and ninety-eight inventories. 39,631 items were catalogued in the Hermitage’s archives between 1767 and 2009. The Hermitage began receiving photographic documents in the middle of the 19th century when the first photographic works appeared, but the photo archive was set in the 1920s. At the moment it includes 75,134 negative images and about 1,000 photographs. The Department has nine staff members.

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regiSTrar deparTmenTThe Registrar Department catalogues the objects kept in the Hermitage, issuing all the necessary documents concerning their inventory and keeping. The Department has thirty-four staff members, four of them holding Candidate degrees.

SeCTor of neW aCQuiSiTionS The Sector was organised in 2000 with the main aim to ensure the fruitful activity of the Hermitage Purchasing Commission on the completion of the State Hermitage stocks. Three of the Sector’s five staff members hold Candidate degrees.

deparTmenT of SCienTifiC reSToraTion and ConServaTionRestoration activities have been carried out in the Hermitage ever since the 1760s when the Picture Gallery of the Hermitage was founded. The Department consists of fourteen restoration laboratories for scientific restoration: of easel painting, tempera painting, mural painting, Oriental painting, graphic works, sculpture and semi-precious stones, applied arts, organic materials, textiles, timepieces and musical mechanisms, precious metals, furniture, chandeliers and photographs. It has one hundred and thirty-two staff members, five of whom hold Candidate degrees.

deparTmenT of examinaTion and auThenTiCaTion of WorKS of arTFounded in 1936, it was the first in Russia and one of the first in the world X ray analysis laboratories. In 1970, it became a separate laboratory, and in 1997 was amalgamated with the chemistry laboratory and transformed into the Department of Expert Examination. Now it is amongst the largest centres engaged in the examination of works of art and culture in the country. It has fifteen staff members, five of them hold Candidate degrees.

laBoraTory for BiologiCal ConTrolThe Laboratory was created around the group of disinfection specialists which was established in the 1960s to combat insect pests. In 1990 it was reorganised into a research laboratory with highly qualified experts in entomology, mycology and microbiology. It has nine staff members, three of whom hold Candidate degree.

laBoraTory for ClimaTe ConTrolThe Laboratory’s major task is to provide favourable conditions for the storage and display of the museum objects. Its staff monitors the climate conditions of the exhibition and storage areas in the main State Hermitage Museum complex and its branches. The Department develops major requirements of museum storage for different types of collections. It has six staff members, one of whom holds a Candidate degree.

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aWardSaWardS

iTem proCeSSing, handover and aCCepTanCe

V. Panchenko, N. RyatteMaking of the electronic catalogue of the Classical Antiquity Department collections

Ya. IvanovaCreation of the electronic database of museum items released by the State Hermitage to be exhibited elsewhere (1950–1990)

S. KokarevaPhototopographic records of the glyptics collection (108,000 items), acceptance of the intaglio collection

T. KosourovaAcceptance of the collection of Western European lace from the 15th – early 20th centuries

S. Senatorov, Ye. ChistikovaAcceptance and handover of museum items from the research and auxiliary stock from the collection “Early Medieval Artefacts from Eastern Europe: the Sarkel – Belaya Vezha Site”

Temporary exhiBiTionS and Temporary exhiBiTion CaTalogueS

AT THe HeRMITAGe

N. AvetyanPreparation of the temporary exhibition and catalogue: “The Age of Daguerreotype. Early Photography in Russia”

A. BabinPreparation of the temporary exhibitions and catalogues: “Russian Descendants of the French Empress: the Dukes of Leichtenberg in St. Petersburg” and “Pool in a Harem and Other Works by Jean-Léon Gérôme in the Hermitage”

N. GusevaPreparation of the temporary exhibition and catalogue: “Mikhail Lomonosov and the Time of Elizabeth I” and the organisation of the eponymous academic conference

A. Ippolitov, V. UspenskyPreparation of the temporary exhibition and catalogue: “Ruins, Palaces and Prisons. Giovanni Battista Piranesi and Italian Eighteenth-Century Architectural Fantasies”

Since 2005, the Vladimir Potanin Charitable Foundation has been awarding grants to members of the Hermitage staff. Grants are allocated in several categories: exhibit restoration, launches of new permanent displays and organisation of temporary exhibitions in museum rooms and other cities and countries, publication of books and multimedia educational programmes, preparation of theses, curators’ work, development of research and education programmes, exhibition and book design, and other projects. All applications are evaluated on a competitive basis by the Hermitage Grants Committee and subsequently approved by the museum’s Academic Council.In 2012, the Hermitage received 50 grants for the completion of the most valuable projects.

WinnerS of The CompeTiTion for The vladimir poTanin ChariTaBle foundaTion aWardS-2012

Ye. StepanovaPreparation of the temporary exhibition “‘In Written Words Alone…’. On the 150th Anniversary of the Birth of Academician Nikolay Petrovich Likhachev”

DeSIGN

V. KorolevDesign of the temporary exhibitions “Santiago Calatrava. The Quest for Movement”, “Mikhail Lomonosov and the Time of Elizabeth I”

BeYOND THe HeRMITAGe

N. Babina, A. LarionovPreparation of the temporary exhibition and catalogue: “Rubens, Van Dyck, Jordaens: Flemish Painters from the Hermitage” at the Hermitage • Amsterdam CentreT. Ryabkova, K. ChugunovPreparation of the temporary exhibition and catalogue: “Nomads of Eurasia on the Road to Empire” at the Hermitage • Kazan CentreS. SavateyevPreparation of the temporary exhibition and catalogue: “The Hermitage at the Prado”

puBliCaTionS

B. AsvarishchCollection catalogue “Belgian and Dutch Painting. 19th – 20th Centuries”A. BolshakovPublication of “Ancient Egypt at the Hermitage. New Discoveries”I. ZasetskayaMonograph “Treasures from the Khokhlach Barrow. Novocherkassk Hoard”V. ZalesskayaCollection catalogue “Byzantine Applied Art: Byzantine Ceramics from the 9th – 15th Centuries”.A. KostenevichPublication and exhibition “Edgar Degas. Place de la Concorde ”. “Restored Masterpieces” Series

miKhail pioTrovSKy aWarded The lev niKolayev gold medal

On 26 November 2012, an awards ceremony was held at the State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow, during which the cultural figures who had made a special contribution to education, arts and research were presented with the Lev Nikolayev Gold Medal. One of the award-winners was Mikhail Piotrovsky, General Director of the State Hermitage.The Lev Nikolayev Gold Medal was created by the Russian Ministry for Education and Science jointly with the Civilisation TV Channel. It commemorates the prominent cinema figure, educator, TV anchor and filmmaker.

miKhail pioTrovSKy aWarded The ruSSian preSidenTial CerTifiCaTe of appreCiaTion

vladimir maTveyev, depuTy direCTor of The STaTe hermiTage, aWarded The medal for ConTriBuTion To The Kaliningrad region

In October 2012, the Governor of the Kaliningrad Region N. Tsukanov signed the ordinance to mark Mr. Matveyev’s contribution to the cultural development of the region. The decision to award the Medal to Vladimir Matveyev was initiated by the Regional Council of Museums, supported by the Ministry for Culture of the Kaliningrad Region.A native of Kaliningrad, Vladimir Matveyev has made an important contribution to the development of the region’s museums, introducing new methods and promoting Russian cultural and historical heritage.

ruSSian governmenT CerTifiCaTeS of appreCiaTion aWarded To The hermiTage employeeS

At the end of 2012, the Russian Government’s Certificates of Appreciation were awarded to employees of the State Hermitage.The recipients of the Government awards were:N. Kozlova, Head of the Oriental DepartmentV. Fedorov, Head of the Department of the History of Russian CultureYe. Zvyagintseva, Head of the Publishing DepartmentT. Baranova, Head of the Department of Scientific Restoration and ConservationM. Denisova, Head of the Laboratory for Scientific Restoration of TextilesI. Malkiel, Head of the Laboratory for Scientific Restoration of Precious MetalsL. Korabelnikova, Head of the Press Service P. German, Head of the Department of Electronic Technique, Alarm Systems and CommunicationA. Moskaleva, Head of the Restoration and Repairs DepartmentN. Dubinina, Head of the State Purchases Department

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aWardSaWardS

O. KostiukCollection catalogue “French Jewellery from the 18th and Early 19th Centuries at the State Hermitage”M. KramarovskyMonograph “A Man from the Medieval Street. The Golden Horde. Byzantine Empire. Italy”G. PrintsevaMonograph “The Siberian Route of Pavel Piasetsky”A. TrofimovaMonograph “Imitatio Alexandri. Portraits of Alexander the Great and Mythological Images in Hellenistic Art”

TheSeS defended

N. AvetyanDissertation for the degree of Candidate of Art Theory and History: Sergey Lvovich Levitsky and Some Problems of the Study of Russian Nineteenth-Century PhotographyI. KalininaDissertation for the degree of Doctor of Cultural Studies: Historical Semantics in Cultural Studies: Research Subject and MethodM. LapshinDissertation for the degree of Candidate of Art Theory and History: Pavel Korin: Artist, Restorer, Collector

permanenT diSplayS

A. IvanovaOrganisation of the permanent display of Soviet porcelainT. Kumzerova, I. MaistrenkoCreation of the permanent display of Soviet porcelain

organiSaTion of ConferenCeS

D. GukOrganisation of the International academic conference “Virtual Archaeology” (4–6 June 2012)

mulTimedia projeCTS

A. MaslovaCreation of the concept, screenplay and texts for the DVD film The Siberian Route of Pavel Piasetsky

CompleTion of reSToraTion projeCTS

V. BrovkinRestoration of the painting Place de la Concorde by Edgar DegasV. KashcheyevRestoration of a cabinet (Venice, first half of the 18th century)M. MichriRestoration of a “box with a lid” (China, 2nd – 1st centuries BC)M. TikhonovaConservation and restoration of an archaeological artefact: a felt carpet (Noin-Ula, 1st century BC – 1st century AD; embroidery, appliqué over wool, silk, felt)

T. ChizhovaConservation and restoration of a seventeenth-century Russian icon The Life of St. Cyril of BelozerskS. TeploukhovaRestoration of the ceiling painting from a cave monastery (Xinjiang; Bezeklik, 8th – 9th centuries)O. KhakhanovaRestoration of an Old Russian fresco (Pskov, the Kremlin, Cathedral of the Holy Trinity; 12th century)

reSearCh and eduCaTion programmeS

Ye. MalozemovaPreparation of the academic and methodological background for tours and lectures on the exhibition “Culture and Art of Middle Asia”

puBliShing

eDITING

Ye. AdamenkoEditing of temporary exhibition catalogues: “Ruins, Palaces and Prisons. Giovanni Battista Piranesi and Italian Eighteenth-Century Architectural Fantasies”, “Santiago Calatrava. The Quest for Movement”; catalogue of the collection of sixteenth-century German medals; Transactions of the State Hermitage Museum [V.] 59: “Ceramics and Porcelain from the Far East: Problems of Style and Mutual Influences”A. RodinaEditing of temporary exhibition catalogues: “In the Shade of the Cross. Western European Crosses and Crucifixes of the 8th – 19th Centuries”, “Architecture in Islamic Arts. Treasures of the Aga Khan Museum”, “The Hermitage in Photographs–2011”, “‘In Written Words Alone…’. On the 150th Anniversary of the Birth of Academician Nikolay Petrovich Likhachev”, “Tylos. The Journey beyond Life. Rituals and Funerary Traditions in Bahrain. 1st Century BC – 3rd Century AD”; A. Kostenevich’s publication “Edgar Degas. Place de la Concorde. Notes on the Painting”

ARTISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY

V. TerebeninPhotographic illustrations to the following publications: “The Vikings: the Museum of Normandy”, “Nomads of Eurasia on the Road to Empire”, “We Will Build a New World...: Early Soviet Porcelain from the Collection of the State Hermitage”, “History of European and Russian Glass at the State Hermitage”

DeSIGN

I. DalekayaDesign and proofs for the following publications: “Mikhail Lomonosov and the Time of Elizabeth I”, “In the Shade of the Cross. Western European Crosses and Crucifixes in the 8th – 19th Centuries”, “The Age of Daguerreotype. Early Photography in Russia”, “From Birch Bark to Paper. The Book in Old Rus”, “The Siberian Route of Pavel Piasetsky”, “The Hermitage Attics”, “‘In Written Words Alone…’. On the 150th Anniversary of the

Birth of Academician Nikolay Petrovich Likhachev”, “The State Hermitage Museum Annual Report 2011”, “Tylos. The Journey beyond Life. Rituals and Funerary Traditions in Bahrain. 1st Century BC – 3rd Century AD”V. KrainevaDesign and proofs for the following publications: N. Brodskaya, “Paris at the Hermitage”; A. Trofimova, “Imitatio Alexandri. Portraits of Alexander the Great and Mythological Images in Hellenistic Art”, Transactions of the State Hermitage Museum [V.] 59: “Ceramics and Porcelain from the Far East: Problems of Style and Mutual Influences”; Transactions of the State Hermitage Museum [V.] 50: “Museums of the World in the 21st Century. Restoration, Reconstruction, Renovation” (in English)

SpeCial programmeS

S. FilippovaOrganisation of 15th season events at the Friends of the Hermitage Club

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CompoSiTion of The hermiTage ColleCTion as of 1 january 2013

JJ moST noTaBle aCQuiSiTionS of 2012

gaeTano gandolfi (1734–1802) madoNNa aNd cHildItaly, 18th centuryOil on canvas. 45 × 36.4 cm

Acquired through the Purchasing Commission

Gaetano Gandolfi belongs to the prominent Gandolfi family of artists who enjoyed wide popularity in their own time. In the second half of the 18th century, he and his brother Ubaldo were the leading masters of the Bolognese school. The art of Gaetano Gandolfi reflects the transition from the late Baroque to Neo-classicism. He was a man of many talents: artist, sculptor, brilliant draughtsman and engraver, who also created works of applied art. He was first taught painting by his older brother and then continued his studies at the Accademia Clementina. In 1760, both brothers went to Venice to continue their ed-ucation, which was made possible by their patron, the Bolognese merchant Antonio Buratti. Exposure to works by Venetian masters, most notably Sebas-tiano Ricci and Giambattista Tiepolo, had a con-siderable impact on the development of the artist’s professional style: his colour schemes became more intense, his brushstroke freer and more energetic. After his return to Bologna, Gaetano took commis-sions from churches, produced many altar pieces and frescos, as well as mythological paintings. He also received many private commissions, including por-traits. The years between 1775 and 1780s mark the high point of Gaetano’s career.Apart from large-scale, complex compositions in-volving many figures, Gaetano also painted small-scale works. One of his frequent subjects was Madon-na and Child, sometimes with images of St. Joseph and the young John the Baptist. The newly-acquired painting belongs to this type. The Madonna is de-picted wearing a traditional red dress and a blue cloak. She has a light-coloured headdress made of

thin striped cloth. She has put her right hand on her chest and is holding the Baby in her left, lightly touching him with her fingertips. Maria’s gaze is turned upwards, while the Infant Christ is look-ing directly at the viewers. The background is neutral, with the outline of the drawing seemingly glimpsed through the painting, which is a typical device often used by Gandolfi. The short, casual brushstrokes in light colour over the darker shade of the hair are also one of his characteristic traits. This type of female face with a small plump mouth, short upper lip, and large, slightly protruding eyes, can often be seen in his works from the 1780s. Madonna and Child is painted on a rectangular piece of canvas, but the artist fits the image into an oval, as if placing it in an imaginary frame and highlighting its volume with light shadows along the outline of the oval and in the corners. The paint-ing was later placed in a richly decorated gilded and carved frame, which may have been intended by the commissioner specially for this painting. This work is the first canvas by Gaetano Gandolfi in the Hermitage.

The State hermitage museum inventory contains 3,106,071 items

including:paintings 16,903graphic works 622,452sculptures 12,798objects of applied art 357,725archaeological atrefacts 751,045numismatic objects 1,122,769rare books 341arms and armoury 13,954documents 56,899history of technology and techniques objects 3,017printed objects 270other items 147,898

3,190 exhibits (as per inventory) entered the State hermitage museum in 2012 as gifts and acquisitions through the museum’s purchasing Commission and archaeological expeditions.

in 2012, There WaS an audiT of exTanT STored ColleCTionS (inv. nos.) WhiCh Were CheCKed againST The aCCounTing doCumenTS

Collection of Western european painting at the State hermitage 10,657

excavation finds from the settlement of panskoye i (homestead u 6) 143

archaeological materials from the excavation of the necropolis at myrmekeyon 78

archaeological materials from the excavation at gorgippia 289

archaeological materials from the excavation of the ilurat site 91

archaeological materials from the nymphaeum mound necropolis 193

archaeological materials from the excavations of the small towns in the Bosporus (Tiritaka and porthmion) 44

archaeological materials from the excavation of the Tanais-nedvigovka site 363

archaeological materials from the excavation at Theodosia 28

archaeological materials from the excavation of a homestead (myrmekeyon) 10

archaeological materials from the excavation of the Semibratnye burial mounds 389

russian paper money from the collection of v. lukianov and other collections 4,732

paper money. The collection of K. antipin and the new acquisitions 9,774

Total: 26,791 inv. nos. (29,028 museum items)

The safe storage documents audited and the presence of museum items ascertained by:

Curator K. Chernyshev (numismatic dept.) 11,566

Curator T. malinina (history of russian Culture dept.) 1,500

Safe storage documents audited by:

Curator T. Korshunova (history of russian Culture dept.) 12,028

Curator g. Smirnova (archaeology of eastern europe and Siberia dept.) 12,028

Curator T. malinina (history of russian Culture dept.) 2,318

audit of the presence and condition of exhibits for timely restoration 74,413

audit of the presence and condition of museum exhibits transferred from one curator to another during the preparation of exhibitions 10,330

audit of the presence and condition of museum exhibits transferred from one curator to another for permanent safe storage 45,823

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moST noTaBle aCQuiSiTionS of 2012moST noTaBle aCQuiSiTionS of 2012

iCon of The virgin and Child axion eSTin Greece, Athos, first third of the 19th centuryCypress (icon board), levkas priming, mixed technique,coloured varnish, engraving. 71.5 × 55.8 cm


The icon is a half-length representation of the Virgin with the Infant Christ in her arms. The Infant is holding an opened scroll with a Greek text. In the upper part of the icon, the Archangels Michael and Gabriel are crowning Mary and holding red medallions with her monograms.The icon is a replica of a prototype credited with miraculous properties, which is kept in the Prota-ton, in the Cathedral of the Dormition of the Virgin on Mount Athos. It has the same size as the origi-nal. There are only a few of these replicas in existence, and they were all specially commissioned. The icon can be dated to the first third of the 19th century; it was painted by one of the leading Athos artists. The painting is finely coloured and delicately and painstakingly painted. The icon-painter combined the traditions of Greek and “academic” painting, typical for the Athos workshops of the 18th – 19th centuries.The Hermitage collection of icons from the Holy Mountain is the best in the world. Considering the rare iconography and the high artistic value of the work acquired, it is safe to say that the icon has become an important addition to the Hermitage collection of Byzantine and post-Byzantine painting.

luigi premazzi (1814–1891) view of tHe red drawiNg room of graNd ducHess maria fedorovNa iN tHe aNicHkov palace1866–1867China ink, pencil, white pigment. 207 × 184 mm


Luigi Premazzi is a watercolour artist famous for his veduta paintings and watercolour views of St. Petersburg palace interiors. Along with Edward Hau and Konstantin Ukhtomsky, Premazzi was commissioned by Emperor Nicholas I to paint views of the New Hermitage and the Winter Palace and produced a series of watercolours depicting the Anichkov Palace rooms. Premazzi was a tutor of drawing at art schools and privately founded the Society of Russian Watercolour Artists. While working on views of palace rooms, the artist would produce a sketch from life, and then make a pre-liminary drawing in pencil, with every detail carefully noted, the stumping put in place and highlights marked with white pigment. Watercolour would be the final stage. The arrangement of the painting, the minute depiction of architectural details and scrolls, the pencil stumping and light touches of white on the objects are all typical of Premazzi’s manner, which are also evident in the newly-acquired drawing. It is a unique graphic image of the interior of the drawing room. The State Hermitage has quite a large number of other pieces by Premazzi, but there have been no views of the Anichkov Pal-ace before the purchase of the work. This makes it an important addition to the Premazzi collection. The drawing is of special interest for the museum: among the objects in the room, it shows Francesco Francia’s Madonna and Child with St. Anthony the Abbot and St. Dominic, which was in the Anichkov Palace after the second half of the 19th century before it was returned to the Hermitage in 1918.

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alexander orlovSKy (1777–1832)

returN of tHe soldierSt. Petersburg, 1802Paper over carton, graphite pencil, watercolour, bistre, ink, gallic inkBase 43 × 58.5 cm; mirror passe-partout 47.4 × 61.5 cm

soldier’s braverySt. Petersburg, 1802Paper over carton, graphite pencil, watercolour, bistre, ink, gallic inkBase 43 × 58.6 cm; mirror passe-partout 48.4 × 62 cm


The drawing entitled The Return of the Soldier shows a Russian soldier who has come back home to his peasant hut and is greeted by his family. A marching column of soldiers can be seen in the background. On both sides of the title, there is a dedication written in gallic ink: “Dedie a sa Majeste l’Imperatrice Marie Fedorovna” (“Dedicated to Her Majesty Empress Maria Fedorovna”). On the lower right, there is an artist’s inscription: “Par son tres humbles et tres obeisant serviteur Alex-andre Orlowski Peintre Dessinateur de A.M. le grand Duc Constantic Pavlovitch” (“From her most humble and obedient servant Alexander Orlovsky, painter and draughtsman of His Imperial High-ness Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich”).The drawing entitled Soldier’s Bravery shows Russian Grenadiers attacking French soldiers. The French are wearing the Republican Army uniforms, and there is an officer with a banner among them. In the field below, there is a coat of arms with a double-headed eagle drawn in China ink, with the French title of the work: “LA BRAVOUR DU SOLDAT”. There is a dedication on either side of the coat of arms: “Dedie a son Altesse Imperiale Monsegneur le Grand Duc Constantin Pavlovitch” (“Dedicated to His Imperial Highness Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich”). On the lower right, there is an artist’s inscription reading: “Par son tres humbles et tres obeisant serviteur Alexandre Or-lowski” (“From his most humble and obedient servant Alexander Orlovsky”).The drawings illustrate scenes from the Italian or Swiss campaigns of Alexander Suvorov (1799), in which Grand Duke Konstantin (the artist’s patron) took part.The acquired drawings are a valuable addition to the collection of military graphics of the Arsenal Department, which already has over 80 other works by Alexander Orlovsky, but has so far included none of his genre or battle scenes.

manTelpieCe CloCK Shaped aS a vaSeBronze master Robert Osmond (1713–1789, active from 1746). Clock mechanism: David-Louis Courvoisier (d. 1773)Paris, late 1760sBronze, casting, embossing, gilding; clock face: metal, glass, enamelPlinth 26 × 30 cm, height 64 cm


The body of the clock is shaped as a Classical vase, with inbuilt clockwork mechanism. The body of the clock is decorated with massive laurel wreaths, and its lower part bears a pattern of leaves. Two large C-shaped handles are decorated with garlands of acanthus branches on the outside; the cone-shaped lid is crowned with a ball. The body of the clock is mounted on a round leg with a round base and a laurel wreath along the rim. The three-step rectangular plinth on four legs is dec-orated with a meander of hanging floral garlands. The face of the clock is made of white enamel, and the hours are marked in Roman numerals and black enamel, while the minutes are marked in Arabic numerals (at a five-minute interval). The hour and minute arms are gilded and executed in openwork. The mechanism is in working order. The bronze is of classic make, made using the deep mercury “fire-gilding” method (or moulu), careful embossing, and demonstrates a characteristic attention to the detail of the dull surface of the gold with polished relief contours.Robert Osmond was a Paris bronze worker, caster and gilder, promoted to the rank of master in 1746. His workshop was located in Paris, where he worked in cooperation with his nephew, Jean-Baptiste Osmond, who later inherited the workshop in 1789. The clock maker David-Louis Courvoisier was a freelance worker in 1759 and worked for the Lepaute clan. He had his own workshop in Paris and took all kinds of trade – sold ready-made Swiss watches and clocks and mechanisms of his own mak-ing for mantelpiece clocks made by bronze masters such as Foulet, Osmond, Saint-Germain.The acquisition of a clock made in the period of French Neoclassicism, which is poorly represented in the Hermitage collection, is an important addition to the museum’s collection of bronze works.

26 27


WaTer deCanTer WiTh inSCripTion on The Body: “in The memory of The CapTure of pariS on 19 marCh 1814”St. Petersburg, Imperial Glass Factory, mould from a drawing by A. Barmin, 1814–1820sGlass, blowing, gold paint, gilding, diamond cut, cutting, polishing


The cylinder-shaped decanter is made of emerald-coloured glass. The body is decorated with dia-mond cut, and the neck with three gilded rings with gold palmettes between them. In the central part of the body, there is a gold-framed medallion which contains the monogram AI and an inscrip-tion reading: “Въ память взятiя Парижа 19 марта 1814” (“In the memory of the Capture of Paris on 19 March 1814”). The decoration of the piece is typical of the Imperial Glass Factory.After Russia’s victory in the War of 1812, the Imperial Glass Factory started to produce a range of commemorative wares decorated with overlaid medallions made of milk or coloured glass show-ing portraits of military leaders, allegorical images or triumphal inscriptions.The decanter was made of glass based on drawings by the Factory artist Alexander Barmin. The life-story of this artist, who was the author of many items in crystal services and commemorative sou-venirs, has been little studied. Nevertheless, Barmin’s role in the creation of unique works of art as well as mass-produced service ware was very important.The decanter is an excellent example of the work of Russian masters in the first quarter of the 19th century, which takes a worthy place in the State Hermitage, adding to the collection of memo-rial objects commemorating the events of the Patriotic War of 1812.

TWo iCe-Cream vaSeS WiTh lidSFrance, Sèvres Porcelain Factory, 1808. Painted by Marie-Victoire JaquototPorcelain, overglaze painting, gilding, diverging patterns. Height 33 cm


The two paired ice-cream vases with lids, shaped like Classical urns (“urnes antiques”). The body with a wide neck is mounted on a leg with a solid rectangular base. The base is gilded, as are the leg and the lower body, and decorated with stylised laurel and acanthus leaves; the body is white, with medallions in gold frames, decorated with diverging patterns. The paintings in the medallions imitate cameos depicting Classical gods and heroes. The neck is wide, gilded, and decorated with laurel leaves and palmettes. The handles are shaped as gilded elephants’ heads. The lid has a gilded rim and a gilded handle/top. The reverse of the base bears the stamp of the Sèvres Porcelain Factory.The Sèvres porcelain services were mostly made in the Napoleonic age as bespoke commissions from Napoleon himself, to be used as especially important diplomatic gifts. They were among the gifts to the participants of the Congress of Erfurt, and one of such services was later presented to the Rus-sian Foreign Minister, Nikolay Rumiantsev, who accompanied Emperor Alexander I to Erfurt.The archives of the Sèvres Factory retain the descriptions of a dessert service presented to Rumiant-sev (two plates out of ninety six are at the Hermitage). Two ice-cream vases are listed among the two hundred pieces in the service. Considering that their deçor is very close to that of the Hermitage plates, it is highly likely that the ice-cream vases belong to the Rumiantsev service.The elephant heads on the bodies of the vases are a motif from Chinese and Japanese ceramics that was adopted by European porcelain-makers and used by the Sèvres Factory in the 18th century to produce unique, extraordinary pieces. Not wishing to part with this tradition, the Sèvres masters of the Empire age often tried to combine these rocaille motifs with the pure Classical lines of the Empire style. The shape of the vases designed by the sculptor Brochard and combining the Classical urn with elephants’ heads turned out to be so popular that several similar paired vases with different ornaments were made in the 1810s. They are now in the collections of the world’s largest museums: the British Museum, Palazzo Pitti, the Berlin Museum of Decorative Arts.The painting imitating Classical cameos and carved stones, which was used at Sèvres from the 1770s, was also becoming popular again in the 1810s.The acquired vases are rare masterpieces of the Napoleonic age and combine the finest features of the Empire style.

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anTony gormley ag 1133 level2010Cast iron

Donated by the British Council

The cast-iron sculpture Level (volume 51,038 cm3, cast in 2011, weight 369 kg, height 204 cm, width 56 cm) is a three-dimensional image designed on a computer using 30–40 thousand computer- generated spatial coordinates. The sculptor uses the language of architecture to create a mass of solid, smooth, intersecting rectangular volumes which together make up the figure of a lying man. The pose of the sculpture is uncertain, unnatural and not quite symmetrical; it looks like the body has lost control over its movements.The sculpture was made by Antony Gormley for the temporary exhibition at the Hermitage enti-tled “Still Standing: A Contemporary Intervention in the Classical Collection” (2011) housed in the rooms of the Hermitage Department of Classical Antiquity, where Gormley’s cast-iron sculp-tures were juxtaposed to the idealised marble statues made by Classical Greek and Roman masters. The Classical sculptures were removed from their plinths, opening a unique dialogue between an-cient and modern. Such a dialogue is one of the key objectives of the Hermitage 20/21 project, which aims to show and collect contemporary art in a classical museum.The sculpture became a worthy addition to the Hermitage collection of contemporary art.

BooKS on SevenTeenTh- and eighTeenTh-CenTury heraldry for The heraldry room in The memory of Sergey TroyniTSKy13 books

Donated by G. Vilinbakhov

The English, German, and French seventeenth- and eighteenth-century publications on heraldry con-taining a large number of engravings, including those painted by hand. The books retain the ex libris of Georgy Vilinbakhov designed by the military artist O. Kharitonov.The name of Sergey Troynitsky has become part of the history of the Hermitage. His contribution as a brilliant expert in applied art and his efforts to protect the museum in the difficult years following the Russian revolution are hard to overestimate. He was one of the most prominent heraldry schol-ars, an editor of Gerboved journal and compiler of the guide to armorial devices of Russian, Polish, Finnish and Baltic aristocracy; companions to the General Book of Armoury of the Noble Families of the Russian empire, the Book of Armoury of the Kingdom of Poland and the List of Persons Granted Diplomas with the Right to Bear Arms in the Russian empire and the Kingdom of Poland by His Imperial Majesty (together with V. Lukomsky); published seminal collections such as The Book of Arms of Anisim Titovich Knyazev of 1785 and Arms of the Senior and Junior Officers and Privates of the Life Company.The Hermitage already has rooms commemorating the most prominent members of the “Hermitage family”. It was thought fitting to mark Troynitsky’s name in the same way by creating the Heraldry Room named after him in the Old Hermitage building, near the Small Entrance, where his study used to be. The furniture from the study has been preserved as well, making it possible to recreate a memorial study of one of the Directors of the Hermitage.

noTeBooK in a CaSeRussia, second half of the 19th century Paper, silk, velvet, wood, metal, printing, gold stamping, carving 10.5 × 7.5 × 1.0 cm (book); 14.0 × 11.0 × 2.0 cm (case)

Donated by A. Zhukov

The Hermitage Research Library received the notebook in a red velvet binding, made in the second half of the 19th century, as a gift from A. Zhukov and G. Zhukova. Both binding covers are decorated with carved wooden boards with floral patterns; there is a monogram “LS” under a princely crown in the centre of the upper cover. The leather case in which the notebook is kept is decorated with white silk and velvet on the inside.

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aCQuiSiTionS By The STaTe hermiTage muSeum in 2012

deparTmenT of WeSTern european fine arTS

Gifts:

SCulpTure

cremonini s.p.a.

Bruno liberatore planetRome, 1982Bronze

bruno liberatore

Bruno liberatore façade and cupolaRome, 1976Bronze

Bruno liberatore wallRome, 1970–1972Bronze

Bruno liberatore façadeRome, 1976–1978Bronze

Bruno liberatore gatesRome, 1978Bronze

Bruno liberatore arch and wallRome, 1999Terra cotta, bronze, iron

Through the Purchasing Commission:

painTing

anonymous artist Two female and two male portraits in profileItaly, c. 1500Tempera on wood

follower of albecht dürer, Studio (?) portrait of a man in a beretGermany, 16th centuryOil on wood

gaetano gandolfi (1734–1802) madonna and childItaly, 18th centuryOil on canvas

JJ aCQuiSiTionS By The STaTe hermiTage muSeum in 2012

Christian Wilhelm dietrich landscape with a shepherdess and flockGermany, 1731Oil on canvas

anonymous artist portrait of the royal surgeon antoine philippe pasquierFrance, first half of the 1840sOil on canvas

SCulpTure

rinaldo rinaldi (1793–1873) female portraitItaly, mid-19th century Marble

graphiCS

luigi premazzi view of the red drawing room of grand duchess maria fedorovna in the anichkov palace 1866–1867China ink, crayon, white pigment

antonio Tempesta (1555–1630) equestrian statue of cosimo i, grand duke of tuscany (1519–1574)Italy, c. 1608Etching; print on paper

Charles etienne pierre motte (1785–1836) portrait of gustav iii (1746–1792)Western Europe, 1828Lithograph on paper

michael van lochom (1601–1647) portrait of christian iv (1577–1648)Paris, after 1629Chisel; print on paper

augustin de Saint-aubin (1736–1807) portrait of Jean Necker (1732–1804)France, 1784Chisel; print on paper

anonymous artist the death of kotzebue (1761–1819)Etching; print on paper

jean morin (1590–1650) portrait of cardinal de richelieu (1585–1642)France, 17th centuryChisel; print on paper

francois le villain (born c. 1790) portrait of rafael del riego y Nuñez (1784–1823)Paris, first quarter of the 19th centuryLithograph on paper

francois le villain (born c. 1790) portrait of adam czartoryski (1770–1861)Western Europe, 1820s – 1830sLithograph on paper

a. fonrouge portrait of alexander dumas père (1803–1870)Paris, 1820s – 1830sLithograph on paper

Bernard and delarue (?) or mlle formentin portrait of walter scott (1771–1831)Paris, mid-19th century (?)Lithograph on paper

francois garnier portrait of charles X (1757–1836), king of france (1824–1830)Paris, second third of the 18th centuryChisel; steel

anonymous engraver portrait of charlotte corday (1768–1793)Western Europe, early 19th centuryColoured mezzotint; paper

jean-marie gudin (1782–1831) portrait of louis Xviii (1755–1824), king of france (after 1814)France, early 19th centuryStipple; print on paper

anonymous artist portrait of william tellWestern Europe, second half of the 18th centuryStipple, etching; print on paper

Thomas de leu (c. 1555 – c. 1620) portrait of the libyan sybilParis, second half of the 16th – early 17th centuryChisel; print on paper

pieter de jode (1606–1674) portrait of albert wallenstein (1583–1634)Antwerp, 17th centuryChisel; print on paper

Thomas de leu (c. 1555 – c. 1620) portrait of Queen elizabeth i of england (1533–1603)Paris, second half of the 16th – early 17th centuryChisel; print on paper

nicolas de larmessin the elder (1640–1725) portrait of king charles Xi of sweden (1655–1697)France, second half of the 17th centuryChisel; print on paper

Étienne desrochers (1668–1741) portrait of charles Xii (1682–1718)France, 18th centuryEtching, chisel; print on paper

B. gautier portrait of Jacob Johan anckarström, “the swedish brut” (1762–1792)Paris, 1780s – 1820sStipple; print on paper

Carel Christiaan last (1808–1876) portrait of Jacques-Henri bernardin de saint-pierre (1737–1814)Western Europe, 19th centuryLithograph on paper

deparTmenT of WeSTern europeran applied arTS

Gifts:

deCoraTive and applied arT

m. kryzhanovskaya

Bell-pullWestern Europe or Russia (?), second half of the 19th centuryBronze, gilding, stamping, silk, cotton cloth, embroidery in threads and beads

plaque with a Nativity sceneWestern Europe, 19th centuryCarved bone

yu. pyatnitsky

Textile with a paisley patternWestern Europe, 1860s – 1870sPrinted wool

m. lopato

Whistle-rattleLondon, Charles Rawlings and William Summers Co., 1862–1863Engraved and cast silver

l. dukelskaya

Sugar tongsEngland, 1802Engraved and cast silver

fish knifeGermany, late 19th centuryEngraved and cast silver

a. gnedovsky

sigrid: a set of ornaments for a king’s wife3 piecesMade by S. Belov, K. Chernov, A. YaniutinMoscow, 2011Silver, gold, weaving, casting



mantelpiece clock shaped as a vaseBronze master Robert Osmond (1713–1789, active from 1746) Clock mechanism: David-Louis Courvoisier (d. 1773)Paris, late 1760sBronze, casting, embossing, gilding; clock face: metal, glass, enamel

Clock mechanism for a cartel clockMade by Henri LacanParis, middle – second half of the 18th centuryMetal, gilding

TrayMade by Johann Valentin Gevers (1662–1737)Augsburg, 1710s – 1720sSilver

Table-top mirror in a silver frame shaped as a lyreMade by John Samuel HuntEngland, mid-19th centurySilver, wood, glass, brass

Two ice-cream vases with lidsFrance, Sèvres Porcelain Factory, 1808Porcelain, overglaze painting, gilding, diverging patterns

glass with the arms of paris and twelve views of the cityFrance, Sèvres Glass Workshops, c. 1900Discoloured glass, chemical engraving, gilding

Boxes of beads and two needle sets43 piecesWestern Europe (?), 1910sBeads, metal

friedrich Becker Kinetic braceletGermany, Dusseldorf, 1997Steel, synthetic rubies, plexiglass

Bruno martinazzi daffodil bracelet and brooch Turin, 1996Gold, soldering, embossing

Shirt front Western Europe, late 19th centuryTextile, embroidery

Two bonnetsWestern Europe, late 19th centuryTextile, lace, embroidery

Collection of female secular dress accessories 11 piecesWestern Europe, second half of the 19th – early 20th centuryLinen, silk, lace, embroidery

Collection of lace samples with supplier tags19 pieces France, Valenciennes, early 20th centuryLinen, lace

Collection of samples of metallic and black lace9 piecesWestern Europe, 19th centuryLinen, metal, lace

Collection of light lace24 piecesWestern Europe19th – early 20th centuryLinen, lace

embroidery samples2 piecesWestern Europe, early 20th centurySilk, lace; glass beads, bugles, embroidery

Strip of light lace France, Valenciennes, 19th centuryLinen, lace

Samples of black lace (removed from ladies’ clothes) France, third quarter of the 19th century Silk, lace

Samples of black lace (removed from ladies’ clothes; five parts)France, Puy or Clunis, last quarter of the 19th century Lace, weaving

deparTmenT of The arChaeology of eaSTern europe and SiBeria

Gifts:


yu. serikov

Sacrificial vessel shaped as an elk figureShigir peat bog, 4th – 3rd millennium BCWood

deparTmenT of modern arT

Gifts:

graphiCS

santiago calatrava

drawings by Santiago Calatrava8 drawings, 2012

the sergey tchoban foundation museum of architectural drawings

drawings from the project “european embankment in St. petersburg”15 drawings, 2011–2012

painTing

g. manevich

paintings by eduard Steinberg11 works, 1972–2009

32 33

aCQuiSiTionS By The STaTe hermiTage muSeum in 2012aCQuiSiTionS By The STaTe hermiTage muSeum in 2012

Hermitage museum foundation (usa)

oleg vasiliev the artist’s concept-2009Oil on canvas

SCulpTure

the british council

antony gormley ag 1133 level2010Cast iron

deparTmenT of The hiSTory of ruSSian CulTure

Gifts:

graphiCS

m. kiselev

m. Kiselev engraved views of St. petersburg2 piecesSt. Petersburg, 2011Etching, chisel, sepia print on paper

doCumenTS

a. Nikolayeva

Specialised map of european russia. volumes i–iiiSt. Petersburg, 1860s – 1870sPaper, cardboard, printing

s. androsov

portrait of Nicola blazyMoscow, 1864Albumen print on paper


a. yershova

Two-tier walnut wardrobeRussia, first half of the 18th centuryWalnut, coniferous wood, bone, inlay, carving, inlay

v. Zubritsky

Shawl heroes of the patriotic War of 1812Russia, Pavlovo-Posad Shawl Factory, 2012Silk, printing

Shawl The Battle of vokhna in the War of 1812Russia, Pavlovo-Posad Shawl Factory, 2012Silk, printing

ye. khodza

Tongs for stretching new kid glovesRussia, early 20th centuryWood, lacquer, metal, lathework

m. barush

flower stand (jardiniere). underglaze blue stamp on the bottom: “e ii”St. Petersburg, Imperial Porcelain Manufactory, second half of the 1760s – 1770sPorcelain, relief, gilding

l. cherkasskaya

napkin ringSt. Petersburg, Imperial Porcelain Manufactory, 1840s – 1850sPorcelain, underglaze cover, gilding

v. kucherov

Cigarette case with lacquer paintingRussia, Lukutin Factory, 19th centuryPapier-mâché, lacquer, painting, metal

o. drozdov

photo albumRussia, early 20th century Leather, cardboard, metal

phoTographS

g. vilinbakhov

negative photo images of children6 piecesRussia, 1930s – 1940sGlass, black and white negative photo


painTing

anonymous artist portrait of a young woman Holding a maskRussia, late 1780s – early 1790sOil on canvas

SCulpTure

portrait of young peter the greatMould made by V. Putimtsev (1946–2004), casting by I. AndruykhinSt. Petersburg, 1992–2002; cast in 2009Bronze casting from a plasticine mould, brass

graphiCS

anonymous artist miniature portrait of g. teplovBone, watercolours, gouache

m. Tikhonov portrait of Nam Jogi alanRussia, Priyutino, 1817Paper, cardboard, watercolours

ernst von liphart (1847–1932) female portraitRussia, 1903Graphite pencil on paper

n. voitinskaya Series of lithographs 12 piecesSt. Petersburg, с. 1910

map of the lands owned by the tsar and emperor of russia in europe and asia with the road from moscow to beijing drawn from the memoirs of N. witsen, evert isbrand, p. avril and others Paris, Workshop of Nicolas de Fer (1646–1720), 1704–1720sEtching, chisel; watercolours on paper

Stefan pannemaker (?) engraving board election of mikhail fedorovich romanov as tsarFrance, c. 1880Copper, wood

doCumenTS, phoTographS

patent for the rank of Second major issued to Captain pyotr okunev bearing the signature of Catherine the greatSt. Petersburg, 1769Vellum; ink, manuscript, engraving (print)

portrait of empress maria fedorovna in her drawing roomSt. Petersburg, Studio of Levitsky and Son, first half of the 1870sAlbumen print, carton

portrait of a. nedzvetskaya (née yenisherlova) in a frame decorated with inlaid coloured stonesRussia, Penza, Workshop of Khrustalev and Cо., late 1870sAlbumen print, carton, metal, stone, glass, textile, mosaic

photographic portrait of the heir to the throne, grand duke nicholas alexandrovich in a caseSt. Petersburg, Studio of Levitsky and Son, before 1892Albumen print, carton, imitation leather, silk


folding table centipedeSt. Petersburg, Company of Heinrich Gambs, 1825Wood

Writing deskMoscow, Factory of P.A. Schmidt, from a design by F. Schechtel (?). 1890sConiferous wood, wood (oak) (base), mahogany (veneer), textile (modern), metal, carving, polishing

Cupboard with stained glassRussia, late 19th – early 20th century Wood, glass, metal, carving, stained glass

rocking chairVienna, Firm of Jacob & Josef Kohn, late 19th – early 20th century Wood, gilding; stamping, polishing

Chalice Moscow, 1701–1710Silver, embossing, gilding, engraving

finger ring with a miniature photograph of emperor nicholas i St. Petersburg, 1855Gold, enamel, glass, miniature photograph

Bell St. Petersburg, Firm of Carl Fabergé, made by Victor Aarne, 1899–1903Silver, wood, almandine, gilding

Cigarette case in the original coverSt. Petersburg, Firm of Carl Fabergé, early 20th centurySteel, gold, rubies, oxidation Cover: wood, textile

octagonal boxSt. Petersburg, Firm of Carl Fabergé, made by Mikhail Perkhin, 1899–1903Silver, rose-cut diamonds, stones, enamel, gilding, guilloche

memorial laurel wreathMoscow, Factory of P. Ovchinnikov, 1888Silver, enamel, stamping, casting, niello, soldering

Brooch shaped as a stag beetleSt. Petersburg, Workshop of N. Kemper, 1908–1917Gold, garnets, diamonds, rubies, pearls, casting, soldering, fastening

Toilet boxSt. Petersburg, Fabergé Firm, made by Heinrich WigstromSilver, gold, stones, enamel, mirror, gilding, guilloche

Brooch with a topazSt. Petersburg, K.E. Bolin Company, made by V. FinikovGold, silver, diamonds, topaz, rose-cut diamonds, wood, velvet, silk, metal

memorial table dated 25 june 1833Constantinople, 1833Engraved bronze

relief with a portrait of emperor nicholas iRussia, Urals, Verkh-Isetsk Factory, 1826–1830 Cast iron, casting, painting

equatorial sundial of the “augsburg” typeMade by Lorentz GroeslLast quarter of the 18th centuryCopper alloy

pocket watch in a caseSwitzerland, 1873Gold, enamel, glass, engraving

Cup and saucerRussia, Volyn Province, Novograd-Volynsk District, Baranovka, M. Mezer’s Porcelain Manufactory, 1830sPorcelain, gilding over varnish, overglaze polychrome painting

presentation tray with the image of the russian state coat of armsRussia, Moscow District, village of Verbilki, F. Garnder’s Porcelain Factory, 1850sPorcelain, overglaze monochrome cover, gold paint

Snuffbox with inscription “peTruS alexieWiTz Czar mag: ruSS: imp”Russia, 18th centuryCarved horn

goblet with lidRussia, Potemkin Glass Factory, late 1770sColourless glass, blowing, cutting, gold paint

Water decanter with inscription on the body: “in the memory of the Capture of paris on 19 march 1814”St. Petersburg, Imperial Glass Factory, mould from a drawing by A. Barmin, 1814–1820sGlass, blowing, gold paint, gilding, diamond cut, cutting, polishing

vase shaped as a cornucopiaRussia, the Bakhmetevs Nikolsko-Pestovsky Glass Works, 1840s – 1850sColourless glass, gold ruby glass, blowing, cutting, carving, finishing, polishing; marble, copper alloy, casting, gilding

vase with a portrait of grand duke alexander alexandrovichRussia, Nikolsko-Pestovsky District, Penza Region, Nikolsko-Bakhmetevsky Glass Works, 1870sColourless glass, gold ruby glass, milk glass, blowing, gold and enamel paint, polishing

vase shaped as a bratina (grace cup)Russia, Imperial Glass Factory (?), 1870s – 1880s Colourless glass, blowing, enamel paint, gilding

flagonSt. Petersburg, Imperial Glass Factory, 1840s – 1850s Double glass (colourless and gold ruby), blowing, cutting, finishing

glassware set consisting of a bottle with lid, six small glasses and a tray artist yelizaveta Bem (1843–1914)Russia, Dyatkovo Glass Works, 1897Glass, blowing, enamel paint, gilding

B. fedorov Composition tablets of the covenant (in two parts)Russia, Dyatkovo Glass Works, 1987Crystal, coloured glass, casting using the artist’s mould, finishing

o. Kozlova decorative sculpture stormRussia, Gus-Khrustalny, 2001Colourless crystal, coloured thread, dull finishing, wide-facet cut

icon resurrectionRussia, Kholmogory, 1830sBone, wood, textile, carving, engraving

presentation trayRussia, 1909Carved wood

TrayRussia, P. Lukutin Factory, after 1830Papier-mâché, black lacquer, stamping

photo album with a lacquer miniatureRussia, Lukutin Factory, second half of the 19th centuryLacquer, painting, stamping, gilding, leather, cardboard, paper, metal

dark red round tray with tortoise shell effectRussia, Moscow area, late 19th centuryPapier-mâché, gilding, lacquer, painting

BoxMoscow, Vishnyakov & Son Factory, 19th – early 20th centuryPapier-mâché, lacquer, painting

BoxMoscow, Vishnyakov & Son Factory, 19th – early 20th centuryPapier-mâché, lacquer, painting

glass in a case shaped as a barrelMoscow, Fedoskino Workshop of the Lukutin Factory, early 20th centuryPapier-mâché, metal, lacquer, painting

albumMoscow, last quarter of the 19th centuryPaper, papier-mâché, metal, leather, lacquer, painting

albumMoscow, P. and A. Lukutin Factory, 1860sPaper, papier-mâché, metal, leather, lacquer, paintingPlaque showing a girl with a fanGermany, Braunschweig, Stobwasser Heirs Factory, 1840s – 1850sMetal, wood, lacquer, painting

p. Chernikovich vase shaped as the ship russiaNizhny Novgorod, 2004Bone, mammoth ivory, lace carving, relief carving

m. galemsky goblet soviet circusRussia, 1988Bone, mammoth ivory, open carving, relief carving, 3d carving

a. Krylov Chess set dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the patriotic War of 1812 (32 pieces)St. Petersburg, 2011Amber, wood, velvet, carving, inlay, colouring

34 35


items of man’s clothing: dress coat, trousers, waistcoatSt. Petersburg, 1910s Textile, metal

man’s frock coatSt. Petersburg, early 20th centuryWool, silk, hand and machine sewing

man’s waistcoatRussia, early 20th centuryWool, silk, metal, hand and machine sewing

formal uniform of a 4th-rank (?) civil servant of the popular education departmentSt. Petersburg, early 20th centuryWoollen cloth, silk, velvet, gilded thread, metal, machine and hand sewing, gold embroidery, stamping, gilding

man’s shirtWestern Europe (?), early 20th century Cotton cloth, hand and machine sewing

man’s gloves Russia, early 20th century Domestic animal skin, metal, dye, hand and machine sewing

man’s glovesWestern Europe (?), Russia (?), early 20th century Domestic animal skin, mother-of-pearl, silk thread, hand and machine sewing

handkerchief with a monogramWestern Europe (?), Russia (?), early 20th century Batiste, silk threads, embroidery, hand sewing

Wedding dressRussia, 1911Lace, chiffon

Woman’s batiste summer dressRussia, mid-1910sBatiste, mother-of-pearl

Woman’s night gownRussia, 1900sCloth, lace, mother-of-pearl, embroidery

handmuffRussia, 1910sFur, silk

ScarfRussia, 1900sBatiste, lace

Woman’s gamashesRussia, 1910sWool, woollen cloth, rubber, leather, metal

lady’s handbagRussia, 1910sTextile, beads, bugles, embroidery

lady’s theatre purseRussia, 1910sSilk, beads, silk threads, embroidery

lady’s handbagRussia, 1910sSilk, beads, bugles, mirrors, embroidery

lady’s handbagRussia, 1910sSilk, beads, metal, embroidery

Woman’s shoesUSA, Walk Over TRADE MARK REG US PAT OFF Custom Trade, 1910 Leather, metal, cotton thread

Woman’s shoesRussia, 1900sChamois leather, rib cloth, metal

foot stool embroidered with beadsRussia, late 19th centuryWood, canvas, beads, embroidery

Serviette with an embroidered monogram “v. and e.l.” under a prince’s crownRussia, mid-19th centuryTextile, embroidery

pillow case with a monogram “vm” under an aristocratic crownRussia, 1845–1848Linen thread, weaving, embroidery

Canvassing shawlUSSR, 1927Cotton cloth, printing

deparTmenT of ClaSSiCal anTiQuiTy

Gifts:


N. malevskaya-malevich

Tara amphoraHeraclea Pontica, 4th century BC (?)Clay


oval gemMilos, late 7th – early 6th century BC (?)

orienTal deparTmenT

Gifts:

painTing

t. kryzhanovskaya

m. Kryzhanovsky, T. Kryzhanovskaya palden lhamo and mahakala2007 (?)Mineral paints on canvas

graphiCS

Hisa ichikawa

Cojima Sogetsu (active in 1880s – 1890s) arrival of the Heir to the russian throne. TriptychJapan; publ. 1891, 8 AprilEngraving; colour print on paper


a. balash

part of a screen panel with a pasted fragment of a silk curtainChina, 18th centuryWood, lacquer, woven silk, gold thread, painting


painTing

icon of the virgin and Child enthroned, faneromeniCorfu, turn of the 18th century or first third of the 18th centuryWood (cypress), plaster of Paris, carving, mixed technique, coloured varnish, overlay margins

icon of the virgin and Child axion estinGreece, Athos, 19th centuryCypress (icon board), poplar wood (pins), levkas priming, mixed technique, engraving, coloured varnish

manuscript of the QuranMiddle Asia (?), copying finished in 1147 (1734–1735)Paper, leather

anonymous artist bird on a shimenawaJapan, late 18th – early 19th centuryColour xylography on paper

hakuho ekigi New year performanceJapan, 1790s – 1800sColour xylography on paper, kirazuri

utagawa Kunisada (1786–1865) actor bando Hikosaburo in the role of ashikaga NaoyoshiJapan, 1862Colour xylography on paper

Kajita hanko (1870–1917) girl in a gardenJapan, c. 1910Colour xylography on paper, printing, karazuri, shomenzuri, bokashi

Kobayashi Kiyochika (1847–1915) Series of engravings “long live japan! a hundred Battles, a hundred Smiles”60 piecesJapan, 1894–1895Colour xylography on paper

utagawa Toyoharu (1735–1814) chung kueiJapan, 1770sXylography

utagawa Toyokuni i (1769–1825) actor onoe matsusukeJapan, 1800sColour xylography

okumura masanobu (?) (1686–1764) red-light district (interior of a brothel)Japan, 1740sColour xylography

hishikawa moronobu (?) (1631–1694) illustration to a scene from a novel (play?)Japan, 1675–1680Colour xylography

utagawa Kuniyoshi Three engravings: katsuta shinemon takataka, takebayashi sadashichi takashige, miura Jiroemon kametsukeJapan, 1847–1848Colour xylography


fragment of an ancient egyptian plaquetteEgypt, 15th – 14th centuries BC or the Post-Amarna PeriodCarved wood, inlay

Two fragments of mummy cartonsEgypt, 3rd – 1st centuries BCLinen cloth, levkas priming, painting

Two pottery tilesMiddle Asia, early 14th centuryBurned and carved clay

door knockerMiddle Asia, 19th centuryEngraved and cast bronze

matrix for the making of leather writing pads Middle Asia, late 18th – early 19th centuryEngraved and cast bronze

vaseChina, first quarter of the 19th century Porcelain, overglaze painting in red pigment

Two vasesChina, 1730s – 1740sPorcelain, painting in the Famille Rose style

Cups2 piecesChina, first quarter of the 17th century Porcelain, cobalt paint

Saucers3 piecesChina, first half of the 17th centuryPorcelain, cobalt paint

TrayChina, late 17th century Porcelain, cobalt paint

TrayChina, late 16th – early 17th centuryPorcelain, cobalt paint

Water vessel (hookah bowl?)China, 18th century (porcelain), 19th century (metal)Porcelain, cobalt paint, glazing with crackle effect, white metal, embossing

Sauce jarChina, mid-18th centuryPorcelain, cobalt paint

BoxChina, 18th centuryWood, priming, engraved colour lacquer, smooth black lacquer, gilding

round tray with images of three peachesChina, 18th centuryWood, priming, red and coloured lacquer, engraving, gilding

Tray with images of flowersChina or the Ryukyu Islands, 18th centuryWood, priming, brown lacquer, engraving, gilding

Brush glassChina, end of the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911), late 19th – early 20th centuryBamboo, wood, carving

Walking stick with a mushroom-shaped tipJapan, late 19th centuryBamboo, carving, brass, steel

nagamati Shuzan chinese official with a fanJapan, Osaka, early 19th centuryPainted wood

SenkyoJapan, first half of the 19th centuryWood, negoro nuri lacquer

SpoonChina, Ming Dynasty (1368–1644), Yongle tag and period (1402–1425)Iron, gold and silver inlay

Throw with the image of ducks in a pondChina, Suzhou Workshops, last quarter of the 19th centuryAtlas silk, embroidery in coloured silk thread

Collection of Turkmen carpets 12 piecesWool, cotton, silk, hand weaving

arSenal

Gifts:


e. chaperon du larrêt

Banner of the ice march of the volunteer armyRussia, 1918Textile, cord, appliqué, painting over textile

llc leibstandart

ChestRussia, late 19th centuryWood, textile, metal

phoTographS

N. vetoshnikova

photograph of nikolay Kalugin, Cornet of the Cavalry grenadier regiment of the life guardsSt. Petersburg, 1886–1888Photograph, cardboard, printing


painTing

alexander orlovsky (1777–1832) return of the soldierSt. Petersburg, 1802Paper over carton, graphite pencil, watercolour, bistre, ink, gallic ink

alexander orlovsky (1777–1832) soldier’s braverySt. Petersburg, 1802Paper over carton, graphite pencil, watercolour, bistre, ink, gallic ink

phoTographS

photographic portrait of yemelyan danilov, Sub-praporshchik of the Chasseur regiment of the life guardsSt. Petersburg, V. Pogorelov photography shop, early 20th centuryPhotographic paper, photo print, carton

portrait of yemelyan danilov with his wife and children, mounted in a passe-partoutSt. Petersburg, с. 1911Photographic paper, photo print, carton


man’s pocket watch in a caseSwitzerland, Henry Moser, early 20th centuryWatch: gold, guilloche, engraving; case: papier-mâché, lacquer, velvet, silk, metal, enamel

Tip of the sacred bannerIran, late 18th – early 19th centurySteel, forging, yellow metal damascening, carving over metal

WeaponS

pair of pistols with flint locksTurkey, second half of the 18th centurySteel, silver, wood, beating, casting, embossing, engraving, filigree, silver and gold inlay

36 37


SabreIran, second half of the 18th centurySteel, bone, forging, carving over steel and bone, yellow metal damascening

dervish’s axeIran, late 18th – early 19th centurySteel, forging, yellow metal damascening, carving over metal

numiSmaTiC deparTmenT

Gifts:

N. moiseyenko

five banknotes of zimbabweZimbabwe, 2008–2009

s. pavlov

2 bahtsThailand, 2009Aluminium bronze

ye. manukhina

Korean money7 pieces

yu. polozov

5 lariGeorgia, 2008Paper

10 lariGeorgia, 2008Paper

georgian coins5 pieces

a. akopyan

oriental coins3 piecesEastern Europe, late 9th – early 10th century

dirham. abbasid imitationEastern Europe (?), 9th centurySilver (?), stamping

dirham. abbasid imitationEastern Europe (?), 9th centurySilver (?), stamping

p. gaidukov

Coins and other items from the 9th century109 pieces

v. kuleshov

Kufic coins16 pieces

pendant with a Croation 25 para coinYugoslavia, 1920Brass, copper and nickel alloy, glass, filigree, stamping

pendant with a 1 dinar coin Montenegrin Coast, 1925Brass, copper and nickel alloy, glass, filigree, stamping

o. stepanova

modern icelandic coins22 pieces

10 rouble coins4 piecesRussia, 2010–2011

Bank card using the viSa credit systemMoscow, SberbankPlastic, with a chip

500 kronaIceland, 2001Paper

1 leuRomania, Romanian National Bank, 2005Plastic

20 euro centsItaly, 2002Yellow alloy

5 euro centsNetherlands, 2009Yellow alloy

v. kalinin

modern British coins26 pieces

10 roubles, commemorative “russian federation. republic of Buryatia”St. Petersburg Mint, 2011White alloy, yellow alloy, stamping

10 roubles, commemorative “ancient russian Cities. yurievets”St. Petersburg Mint, 2010White alloy, yellow alloy, stamping

10 rouble coins3 piecesRussia, 2008–2011

10 roubles, commemorative “50th anniversary of the first man in Space”St. Petersburg Mint, 2011Yellow alloy, stamping

10 rouble coins6 piecesRussia, 2011

Belorussian money 3 pieces

Czechoslovakian money

Souvenir of the russian federation Central Bank made of fragments of 5,000-rouble banknotes to the total value of 1,250,000 roubles

a. Zhukov

Stamp of the Kazan Cathedral, St. petersburgRussia, late 19th – early 20th centuryBronze, wood

Stamp with an image of Calvary and the passion of Christ and the inscription “Behold! The lamb of god who Takes away the Sin of the World”Russia, late 19th – early 20th centuryBronze, wood

v. lukin

Bagde “municipal affairs Bureau. 1706–2006. Committee for urban development and architecture”St. Petersburg, early 21st centuryYellow alloy

yu. pyatnitsky

Badge of the participant of the Tenth anniversary forum “dialogue of Civilisations”Received by Yu. PyatnitskyGreece, Rhodes, 2012White alloy, enamel, textile

Certificate of the participant of the Tenth anniversary forum “dialogue of Civilisations”Greece, Rhodes, 2012Paper, printing

v. rabinovich

medal commemorating the 55th anniversary of the victory over nazismIsrael, 2000White alloy, enamel, textile

medal commemorating the 60th anniversary of the victory over nazismIsrael, 2005White alloy, enamel, textile

N. mikhaleva

modern Croatian coins10 pieces1993–2011

i. saverkina

modern maltese coins8 pieces2008

v. meshcheryakov

italian coins of vittorio emmanuele iii1940–19426 pieces

ye. yarovaya

Western european coins12 pieces

RF Central Bank Head Directorate, Tver Region, not dated (21st century)Paper, glue

Two badges of the Third all-russian archaeological Congress in Staraya russaRussia, 2011

Badge of Bdu (Belorussian State university)Belarus, early 21st centuryYellow alloy, enamel

J. kotler

Transport tokens4 piecesUSA

a. raya

Six russian coins1705–1764

5 roubles, 1903. forgery (?). in a souvenir package with a lead sealRussiaYellow metal

5 roubles, 1904. forgery (?). in a souvenir package with a lead sealRussiaYellow metal

ye. lepekhina

Souvenir coin “victory in the great patriotic War of 1941–1945”, to the value of 200,000 karbovanetzUkraine, National Bank of Ukraine, 1995White alloy, stamping

v. guruleva

10 roubles, commemorative “ancient russian Cities. Solikamsk, perm region”St. Petersburg Mint, 2011White alloy, yellow alloy, stamping

m. postarnak

10 roubles, commemorative “Cities of military glory. malgobek”St. Petersburg Mint, 2011Yellow alloy, stamping

N. Zykov

State Bank note, 10 roublesRussia, 1997Paper

State Bank note, 10 roublesRussia, 1997Paper

ye. shchukina

ukrainian money3 pieces2005–2006

i. emmanuel

Set of medals made from designs by alexey olenin13 piecesSt. Petersburg Mint, 2012

the russia abroad House

memorial coin: “1812: the heroism of the people in the memory of russia abroad”By N. GolovanevaMoscow, 2012Copper, stamping


Collection of denarii82 piecesGermany, 11th centurySilver, stamping

1/2 mark gustav i vasa (1523–1560)Sweden, 1543Silver

Stamp matrices3 pieces Russia, 18th century Brass

Badge marking graduation from the institute of railway engineers. in the original boxSt. Petersburg, Arnd Company, 19th – early 20th centurySilver, leather, textile, metal

Badge marking graduation from the institute of railway engineers, miniature. Stamp reading “n.a.”St. Petersburg, late 19th – early 20th centurySilver

Badge marking graduation from the mining instituteSt. Petersburg, Workshop of Dmitry Osipov, last quarter of the 19th centurySilver

Brooch shaped as a miniature dagger and pistolRussia, 1886–1896Silver, gilding, niello

Token marking the 200th anniversary of St. petersburg with an image of the Trinity BridgeRussia, c. 1903Silver, gilding, enamel

Badge marking the 200th anniversary of St. petersburg for the employees of the St. petersburg municipal autonomous public BodyRussia, Eduard Company, c. 1903Silver, gilding, enamel

Badge marking the 200th anniversary of St. petersburg for the employees

of the St. petersburg municipal autonomous public Body, miniatureSt. Petersburg, 1903Silver, gilding, enamel

Badge marking graduation from the imperial alexander lyceum in Tsarskoye SeloSt. Petersburg, Schubert Company, late 19th – early 20th centurySilver

Badge of the Central Council, Society of friends of aviationUSSR, 1923–1925Silver, enamel

medallion with a portrait of grand duke nicholas nikolayevich romanov (junior) wearing the uniform of the hussar regiment of the life guardsRussia (?), late 19th – early 20th centuryCast bronze

muSeum of The porCelain manufaCTory

Gifts:

graphiCS

v. levshenkov

drawings by z. Kobyletskaya4 piecesLeningrad, late 1920s

m. vorobyov

drawings by Boris vorobyov32 pieces

SCulpTure

m. vorobyov

Sculptures by Boris vorobyov4 piecesLeningrad, State Lomonosov Porcelain Manufactory

t. martinson

Sculptural group ladies on a benchWestern Europe, early 20th centuryPorcelain, overglaze polychrome painting, gilding

m. kryzhanovskaya

Sculpture the actress N. tiraspolskaya in the role of the matchmaker in one of the plays by ostrovskyMould by A. Kryzhanovskaya (1895–1970)Leningrad, State Lomonosov Porcelain Manufactory, 1940s – 1950sPorcelain, overglaze polychrome painting

38 39

aCQuiSiTionS By The STaTe hermiTage muSeum in 2012


t. charina

Cup painted in the oriental style with an image of a horseman and hunter (?)Design by M. MokhLeningrad, State Lomonosov Porcelain Manufactory, 1939Porcelain, overglaze polychrome painting, gilding

t. afanasieva

plaquette showing a seated woman in classical clothing holding a teapotArtist Ye. YeropkinaLeningrad, State Lomonosov Porcelain Manufactory, 1984Coloured unglazed porcelain

st. petersburg, imperial porcelain manufactory oJsc

Tray to the custodians of eternal valuesMould by A. BorisovSt. Petersburg, Imperial Porcelain Manufactory OJSCPorcelain, underglaze polychrome painting, overglaze polychrome painting, silvering, diverging patterns

vase aligned planetsArtist T. AfanasievaSt. Petersburg, Imperial Porcelain Manufactory OJSC, 2011Porcelain, underglaze monochrome painting, overglaze polychrome painting, gilding, diverging patterns

vase aligned planetsArtist T. AfanasievaSt. Petersburg, Imperial Porcelain Manufactory OJSC, 2011Porcelain, underglaze monochrome painting, overglaze polychrome painting, gilding, diverging patterns


doCumenTS

S. Chekhonin (1878–1936) Congratulatory address “from the employees of the political Board of the Baltic navy” to d. gessenPetrograd, 1920Paper, pencil, watercolours, gouache, ink

Collection of drawings by g. zimin, artist at the imperial porcelain manufactory (later leningrad lomonosov porcelain manufactory)38 piecesRussia, 20th centuryPaper, pencil, watercolours, gouache

Collection of printed works and manuscripts from the archive of g. zimin81 piecesRussia, late 19th – early 20th century Paper, tracing paper, pencil, ink, watercolours, photographs, newspaper cutouts

photographs from the archive of g. zimin32 piecesRussia, 20th centuryPhotographic paper, printing


Cup and saucer with a winter landscapePainted by G. Zimin (1875–1958)Leningrad, 1948Porcelain, overglaze polychrome painting, gilding

S. yakovleva (1910–1993) vaseLeningrad, State Lomonosov Porcelain Factory, 1950sGlazed porcelain

menShiKov palaCe

Gifts:


van paris christian guy marie Joseph

Six ceramic stoves and 43 stove tiles49 pieces

advertising plaquettes6 piecesKlebaur Colmar House, 19th century


doCumenTS

a. prokhorov admiral prince a. menshikovSt. Petersburg, 1854 Lithograph on paper

v. Klassen first Cadet Corps Cotillion accessoriesSt. Petersburg, 1907Paper, phototype

v. Klassen first Cadet Corps officers and cadets in uniform from 1732 to 1907St. Petersburg, 1907Paper, phototype

v. Klassen first Cadet Corps. 1. grenadier cadet; 2. Staff officer; 3. Cavalry Squadron cadet; 4. musketeer cadet; wearing ceremonial

uniforms from the reign of empress anna ioannovnaSt. Petersburg, 1907Paper, phototype

v. Klassen first Cadet Corps Staff officer of the gentry Corps (1732)St. Petersburg, 1907Paper, phototype

v. Klassen first Cadet Corps grenadier cadet from the reign of emperor paul i; musketeer cadet from the reign of emperor alexander iSt. Petersburg, 1907Paper, phototype

v. Klassen first Cadet Corps grenadier cadet from the reign of emperor alexander i grenadier cadet from the reign of emperor nicholas iSt. Petersburg, 1907 Paper, phototype

p. fernlund officers and cadets in the reign of empress Catherine iiFrom the book Historical Survey of the 2nd Cadet CorpsSt. Petersburg, 1868Lithograph on paper

p. fernlund officer and cadet from the reign of emperor paul iFrom the book Historical Survey of the 2nd Cadet CorpsSt. Petersburg, 1868Lithograph on paper

p. fernlund officer, drummer and cadets from the reign of emperor paul iFrom the book Historical Survey of the 2nd Cadet CorpsSt. Petersburg, 1868Lithograph on paper

p. fernlund officers, bugler and cadet from the reign of emperor alexander iFrom the book Historical Survey of the 2nd Cadet CorpsSt. Petersburg, 1868Lithograph on paper

p. fernlund Cadets from the reign of emperor alexander iFrom the book Historical Survey of the 2nd Cadet CorpsSt. Petersburg, 1868Lithograph on paper

p. fernlund Banner-bearer, officers and cadets of the 2nd Cadet Corps from the reign of emperor nicholas i

From the book Historical Survey of the 2nd Cadet CorpsSt. Petersburg, 1868Lithograph on paper

p. fernlund officer, drummer and cadets from the reign of emperors nicholas i and alexander iiFrom the book Historical Survey of the 2nd Cadet CorpsSt. Petersburg, 1868Lithograph on paper

p. fernlund officers and cadets from the reign of emperor alexander iiFrom the book Historical Survey of the 2nd Cadet CorpsSt. Petersburg, 1868Lithograph on paper

arChiTeCTure and arChaeology SeCTor

Gifts:


a. filippova

part of a vessel: ochre-coloured crown, grey wallRussia, late 17th centuryGrey clay ceramics, burning, glossing

arrow headRussia (?), second half of the 17th century (?) Iron, melting, forging

Collection of artefacts: flint fragments, beads and clasp12 pieces

archaeological finds from the town of primorsk31 pieces

reSearCh liBrary

Gifts:

BooKS

g. vilinbakhov

Books on seventeenth- and eighteenth-century heraldry for the heraldry room in the memory of S. Troynitsky13 pieces

a. Zhukov

notebook in a caseRussia, second half of the 19th century Paper, silk, velvet, wood, metal, printing, gold stamping, carving


BooKS

Western european publications on the history of Classical art, specialised Classicist dictionaries and reference books, catalogues of the largest museum and private collections, guide books, photo albums, contemporary research papers on the history of Classical art, monographs and cataloguesBooks from the collection of O. Neverov54 pieces

russian publications on the history of Classical art, catalogues of russian and international museum collections, memoirs and historical studies on the time of napoleonBooks from the collection of O. Neverov47 pieces

Studies in the history of ancient glyptics, academic catalogues of the largest Western european collections of carved stones, collections of studies and conference proceedings, letters, memoirs, and documentsBooks from the collection of O. Neverov59 pieces

german and french editions of Classical authors in greek and latin, books published by B.g. Teubner publishing house Books from the collection of O. Neverov54 pieces

rare translations of Classical authors into russian, works by russian Classic scholars, translations of Western european publications, catalogues of private art collections and state museums, publications by academia Books from the collection of O. Neverov49 pieces

deparTmenT of manuSCripTS and doCumenTS


doCumenTS

materials from the personal archive of i. ratievLate 20th – early 21st century33 pieces

materials from the personal archive of l. rakovRussia, 20th century85 pieces

aCQuiSiTionS By The STaTe hermiTage muSeum in 2012♥

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exhiBiTionSexhiBiTionS

JJ Temporary exhiBiTionS in The hermiTage

Carlo Gavazzeni Ricordi. Imaginary Theatres in Rome03.02.12 – 25.03.12Exhibition of works by the contemporary Italian artist and photographer featuring photographs of ro-mantic ruined interiors of the Theatre in the Villa Torlonia near Rome and the Villa Medici. The photo-graphs, reminiscent of Giovanni Battista Piranesi’s etchings, were given the composite title “Imaginary Theatres”, an allusion to Piranesi’s “Imaginary Prisons” series.

Carlo Crivelli. The Annunciation with St. Emidius from the National Gallery in London. From the “Masterpieces from the World’s Museums in the Hermitage” Series14.02.12 – 27.05.12The Annunciation with St. emidius, Carlo Crivelli’s most famous work, was lent by the National Gallery in London in exchange for the right to display Leonardo Da Vinci’s Madonna Litta in their exhibition “Leonardo Da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan”.

A Second Life. Coins and Medals in European Applied Art06.03.12 – 28.10.12This exhibition from the State Hermitage repository was devoted to the use of numismatic monuments in decorative applied art from the 1st to 20th centuries. The exhibits included necklaces, caskets, cups, snuffboxes, pendants, tankards and ladles decorated with coins and medals. In becoming elements of the décor of objects of applied art, the coins and medals took on “a second life”.

Surimono. Poetic Greeting06.03.12 – 02.09.12This exhibition from the State Hermitage repository featured works in the Surimono print technique – an original type of Japanese woodblock prints, published in limited editions on private commissions: not for sale, but as gifts for friends. As a rule, they were commissioned by members of poetry clubs, so a Surimono was a blend of image and poetry, including one to three verses by the poets themselves.

“In Written Words Alone...”. On the 150th Anniversary of the Birth of Nikolay Petrovich Likhachev20.04.12 – 22.07.12This exhibition, devoted to the history of letters and documents, featured written records from the col-lection of the scholar Nikolay Petrovich Likhachev, which numbered around 80,000 exhibits – from the age of Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt to the 20th century. Today these texts are kept in the State Hermitage and other scholarly institutions in St. Petersburg.

Opening of the exhibition “Carlo Gavazzeni Ricordi. Imaginary Theatres in Rome”. Mikhail Piotrovsky, Carlo Ricordi

Opening of the exhibition “Carlo Crivelli. The Annunciation with St. emidius from the National Gallery in London. From the ‘Masterpieces from the World’s Museums in the Hermitage’ Series”

Opening of the exhibition “Surimono. Poetic Greeting”

Opening of the exhibition “‘In Written Words Alone...’. On the 150th Anniversary of the Birth of Nikolay Petrovich Likhachev”. Victor Pleshkov, Yelena Stepanova, Georgy Vilinbakhov

in 2012, the hermitage held 31 temporary exhibitions (objects from the hermitage and other museums).in museums around russia the hermitage held five exhibitions (2,944 exhibits) and took part in twelve exhibitions (352 exhibits).outside russia the hermitage held six exhibitions (1,251 exhibits) and took part in 21 exhibitions (447 exhibits).

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Degas. Place de la Concorde. From the “Restored Masterpieces” Series18.05.12 – 17.01.13Edgar Degas’s painting Place de la Concorde, which was long thought to have been lost, was put on display after restoration. The natural scene, actually painted in the Paris square, is in stark contrast to the overwhelming majority of canvases painted in Europe in the 1870s and is characteristic of the peak of the artist’s career.

Santiago Calatrava. The Quest for Movement27.06.12 – 30.09.12Exhibition by one of the best-known contemporary architects, who has designed over forty major build-ings all over the world in the last thirty years – museums, stadiums, railway stations, bridges – and has received several dozen prestigious awards and prizes. The display included models, sketches, blueprints, sculpture and ceramics.

848. The Collection of Georges Matcheret and Nadia Wolkonsky29.06.12 – 22.07.12The exhibition featured a collection of works from the late 20th and early 21st centuries belonging to Georges Matcheret and his wife Nadia Wolkonsky. The 848 art epistles, made on blank envelopes for their collector friends by well-known Moscow painters, poets, researchers and theatre directors, were added to the State Hermitage collection of contemporary art in 2012.

Anthony Cragg. Luke29.06.12 – 01.08.12Luke, by one of the best-known contemporary British sculptors, was put on display in the Great Court-yard of the Winter Palace. The sculpture is part of the Rational Beings cycle, in which the artist explores the correlation between geometric and biological forms.

Tylos. The Journey beyond Life. Rituals and Funerary Traditions in Bahrain. 1st Century BC – 3rd Century AD02.06.12 – 14.10.12This exhibition from the Bahrain National Museum described the daily life, culture and beliefs of the peo-ple of Bahrain in the Tylos age (from the end of the 1st millennium BC to the early centuries AD). The dis-play featured over 250 objects discovered during excavations of Hellenistic necropolises in the last few decades.

Enrique Celaya. The Tower of Snow10.07.12 – 30.11.12Sculpture depicting a boy on crutches carrying a house, whose belt is strangling him. This theme, a sym-bol of duality and fragility, occurs frequently in the work of the contemporary artist, poet, philosopher and critic Enrique Martinez Celaya in drawings and paintings, and in 2011 it was cast in bronze.

The Book as Art. Twenty Years of the Rare Books from St. Petersburg Publishing House11.09.12 – 04.11.12Exhibition timed to coincide with the 20th anniversary of a publishing house specialising in rare books. As a rule, the circulation is no more than 25 copies and in some cases is limited to one or two. The dis-play included Biblical texts, works by ancient authors, Russian and European classics and world epics, as well as books by contemporary writers.

At the exhibition “Degas. Place de la Concorde. From the ‘Restored Masterpieces’ Series”. Henri Loyrette, Mikhail Piotrovsky

Opening of the exhibition “Santiago Calatrava. The Quest for Movement”

At the exhibition “Tylos. The Journey beyond Life. Rituals and Funerary Traditions in Bahrain. 1st Century BC – 3rd Century AD”

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Russian Lithographic Portrait of the 19th Century21.09.12 – 13.01.13150 works from the Hermitage collection of lithographic portraits were displayed for the first time. Among the exhibits which reflected the main stages in the development of the art of lithography were portraits of members of the Imperial family, statesmen, military leaders, high society ladies, artists and other representatives of Russian society in the 19th century.

Paula Modersohn-Becker and Worpswede Artists. Drawings and Prints. 1895–190621.09.12 – 11.11.12This exhibition, devoted to one of the most outstanding periods in German art at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, included over 60 drawings and prints by Paula Modersohn-Becker and her colleagues from the Worpswede colony of artists, as well as documentary photographs of their life. The exhibition was part of the Year of Germany in Russia and Russia in Germany – 2012.

Medals of Dishonour28.09.12 – 13.01.13The exhibition from the British Museum and several private collections, shown in London in 2009, was supplemented by exhibits from the State Hermitage and shown in a new guise. The display included around 150 examples of the medallist art – medals of a particular type, little known to the general pub-lic, which reflect a negative point of view towards historical events and political personalities.

The Wild Swans. Découpages and Costumes Designed by Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II of Denmark for the Film Adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s Fairy Tale08.10.12 – 02.12.12The exhibition featured the découpages and costumes designed by Queen Margrethe for the film based on Andersen’s fairy tale. The display included 43 découpages, eleven costumes made especially for the film, and the green screen technology used in the film. The film itself was shown in one of the museum’s rooms.

Marc Chagall and the Livre d’artiste. Selected Prints11.10.12 – 25.11.12The livre d’artiste (“artist’s book”) is a particular type of publication dating from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. The Hermitage collection contains eleven of Chagall’s books acquired in the 1980s (nine of them as gifts from the artist himself). The exhibition featured prints from five books – from major projects of the 1920s (black-and-white engraving on metal) to works from the 1960s (colour lithographs and woodcuts).

Architectural Library12.10.12 – 16.12.12The exhibition included over 80 architectural drawings from the 18th to 21st centuries from collections of varying types – the current developing collection of practising architect Sergey Tchoban, which he has amassed in a little over a decade, and the old Imperial collection that goes back to the acquisitions of Catherine II and is now part of the State Hermitage collection.

Jake and Dinos Chapman. The End of Fun19.10.12 – 13.01.13The works by the British artists the Chapman Brothers shown in the exhibition belong to The Disasters of War genre first introduced in the celebrated series of etchings of the same title by Francisco Goya (1746–1828). The display featured the Chapmans’ installations The end of Fun, Traumatize, in Order to Offend, The Disasters of War and a series of “completed” Goya etchings.

Opening of the exhibition “Russian Lithographic Portrait of the 19th Century”. Niele Masyulionite, Galina Mirolyubova

Opening of the exhibition “Paula Modersohn-Becker and Worpswede Artists. Drawings and Prints. 1895–1906”. Svetlana Adaksina, Vladimir Matveyev

Opening of the exhibition “Marc Chagall and the Livre d’artiste. Selected Prints”. Mikhail Balan

Opening of the exhibition “The Wild Swans. Découpages and Costumes Designed by Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II of Denmark for the Film Adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s Fairy Tale”

Opening of the exhibition “Architectural Library: Architectural Drawings from the State Hermitage and Sergey Tchoban’s Collection”. Valery Shevchenko

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“There is No One to Help them”. Tragedy in the Graphic Works of Francisco Goya19.10.12 – 13.01.13The exhibition featured 40 sheets of graphic art from the State Hermitage collection – prints from four different series and several drawings done in lithographic crayon. The exhibition was staged in parallel with the exhibition by Jake and Dinos Chapman who employed the themes of Francisco Goya in their work.

The Artist’s Room in the Hermitage. Dmitri Prigov 06.11.12 – 15.01.13The Dmitri Prigov Room is devoted to the work of the Russian poet, prose writer, artist, sculptor and actor, one of the founders of Moscow conceptualism. The display featured part of the body of Prigov’s works received by the museum as a gift from his heirs.

Opening of the exhibition “Jake and Dinos Chapman. The End of Fun”. Dmitry Ozerkov

Opening of the Dmitri Prigov Room in the Hermitage

The exhibition “The Book as Art. Twenty Years of the Rare Books from St. Petersburg Publishing House”. See p. 47

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“An Artist of All Schools”. Christian Wilhelm Ernst Dietrich (1712–1774)27.11.12 – 08.03.13Exhibition to mark the 300th anniversary of the birth of the German artist who won recognition and fame in Germany and Europe during his lifetime. The display featured paintings, engravings and draw-ings by the master, who was able to recreate the style of many of his celebrated predecessors.

A Sentimental Journey: Wedgwood in Russia07.12.12 – 31.03.13Exhibition marking the centenary of the exhibition of Wedgwood ceramics in the Imperial Academy of Arts; one of the curators of that exhibition was Sergey Troynitsky (1882–1948), the first Director of the State Hermitage. In addition to items that were displayed in the 1912 exhibition, the Hermitage presented objects from the museum’s reserves that were unknown to the public and had not previously featured in literature.

A Treasury of Books. 250 Years of the Hermitage Library07.12.12 – 17.03.13For two centuries and a half, by the will of Emperors and as the Imperial Hermitage developed, the library has amassed books on a variety of themes that with the passage of time have become valu-

able collections. The exhibition to mark the library’s 250th anniversary featured the most outstanding and significant collections with which the Hermitage Library collection started and continues to exist.

The Hermitage in Photographs – 2012 The Hermitage in Publications – 201207.12.12 – 16.12.12Traditional annual exhibitions devoted to the academic and exhibition activity of the State Hermitage in the past year. The display included publications issued by the State Hermitage Publishers and other Russian and foreign publishing houses in collaboration with the museum, as well as photographs reflect-ing the most outstanding events of the past year.

The Adoration of the Magi. Triptych by Hugo van der Goes. Restoration Completed09.12.12 – 27.01.13The exhibition marked the completion of restoration work on the triptych by the fifteenth-century Dutch master. More recent layers of paint had concealed approximately 50% of the original, and badly dark-ened layers of varnish and dirt had altered the colour to such an extent that the painting had become grey-brown. As a result of the restoration begun in 2007 the authentic fifteenth-century work was re-vealed, striking in the richness of its colours.

Antique Style in Russian Imperial Porcelain in the Second Half of the 18th Century. From the “Christmas Gift” Series21.12.12 – 31.03.13The eleventh annual exhibition in the “Christmas Gift” series was devoted to the theme of the influence of the antique heritage on Russian porcelain in the second half of the 18th century. Along with exhibits from that period, the display also featured authentic ancient pieces, porcelain in the European Neoclas-sic style and works by contemporary porcelain masters, united by the theme “Antiquity in Porcelain” and made especially for this project.

Opening of the exhibition “A Treasury of Books. 250 Years of the Hermitage Library”

Opening of the exhibition “‘The Thunder of 1812...’. The Patriotic War of 1812 in Hermitage Collections”

Opening of the exhibition “Antique Style in Russian Imperial Porcelain in the Second Half of the 18th Century”

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exhiBiTionS

“The Thunder of 1812...”. The Patriotic War of 1812 in the Hermitage Collections25.12.12 – 07.04.13The exhibition was timed to coincide with the 200th anniversary of victory over Napoleon in the Patriot-ic War of 1812. It included around 600 exhibits describing events from the age of the Napoleonic Wars. The display covered the period from the first encounter of the two Emperors in 1805 to the death of Na-poleon on the island of St. Helena in 1821, highlighting the major battles from Austerlitz to Leipzig and the history of diplomatic contacts between Russia and France.

“United we shall be, as one!”. The Patriotic War of 1812 in the Medals of Alexey Olenin and his Contemporaries25.12.12 – 07.04.13This exhibition was devoted to the projects of Alexey Olenin (1763–1843), President of the Academy of Arts and Director of the Imperial Public Library, united in a separate manuscript entitled “A Col-lection of Drawings of Medals for the Famous Events of 1812, 1813 and 1814”. The project was only brought to life by the St. Petersburg Mint two centuries after it had been conceived, and presented as a gift to the State Hermitage.

Toy Soldiers in the Hermitage. On the 200th Anniversary of the Patriotic War of 181225.12.12 – 07.04.13This exhibition, marking the 200th anniversary of victory in the Patriotic War of 1812, featured tin soldiers representing not only the Russian and French armies at the time of the Napoleonic Wars, but also the armies of their allies: Prussians, Austrians, Bavarians and Saxons. The exhibition included indi-vidual portrait figures, groups depicting regiments and compositions reproducing battle scenes.

We Draw and Paint in the Hermitage29.12.12 – 20.01.13Annual exhibition of children’s drawings, featuring works by pupils of the State Hermitage Art School Centre in 2012.

Opening of the exhibition “‘The Thunder of 1812...’. The Patriotic War of 1812 in Hermitage Collections”

“Toy Soldiers in the Hermitage. On the 200th Anniversary of the Patriotic War of 1812”

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exhiBiTionS exhiBiTionS

Two Centuries of French Elegance. Decorative Art of the 17th and 18th Centuries from the State Hermitage Museum CollectionHermitage • Vyborg Centre, Vyborg10.04.12 – 14.10.12The exhibition demonstrated the main stages in the development of French decorative applied art in its heyday. The display included bronze, porcelain, tapestries and furniture that formerly belonged to the Imperial family, as well as items from the private collections of the Russian nobility that were nationalised after the 1917 revolution.

Nomads of Eurasia on the Road to EmpireHermitage • Kazan Centre, Kazan18.06.12 – 31.03.13Exhibition devoted to the characteristic features of the culture of the nomadic tribes of Eurasia, based on material from archaeological excavations and private collections of the late 19th – early 20th century. It featured over 2,000 exhibits from the Hermitage, covering the period from the begin-ning of the 1st millennium BC to the formation of the Great Mongol Empire in the 13th century.

Boris Vorobyov. Porcelain and Graphic Art from the State Hermitage and Imperial Porcelain Manufactory CollectionsNovgorod Museum-Reserve14.09.12 – 09.12.12This exhibition of the work of the Leningrad sculptor Boris Vorobyov included around 150 exhibits from the collections of the State Hermitage and the Imperial Porcelain Manufactory. In addition to the sculp-tor’s original porcelain works, the exhibition also featured his graphic art.

JJ exhiBiTionS in muSeumS around ruSSia

The Last Russian Emperor. The Family and Court of Nicholas II at the Turn of the 19th – 20th CenturiesHermitage • Vyborg Centre, Vyborg26.10.12 – 07.04.13The exhibition was devoted to the way of life of Nicholas II and his family, as well as the diplomatic, religious and court ceremonies of the Imperial Court. It featured over 250 exhibits from the Hermit-age collection, including memorial items that were once in the Winter, Anichkov, Alexander, Novo-Mikhailovsky and Yusupov Palaces.

Giovanni Battista Piranesi. Palaces, Ruins and Prisons. Architectural FantasiesYekaterinburg Museum of Fine Arts14.11.12 – 24.02.13The display devoted to the great Italian master of etching, engraver, draughtsman and architect featured 59 of his works, as well as an engraved portrait of Piranesi himself done by one of his contemporaries. Piranesi constructed only one real building in his whole life – the rest remained bold ideas on paper, which led to him being called a “paper architect”.

Opening of the exhibition “Two Centuries of French Elegance. Decorative Art of the 17th and 18th Centuries from the State Hermitage Museum Collection”. Alexander Kostenko, Larisa Bulkina

The exhibition “The Last Russian Emperor. The Family and Court of Nicholas II at the Turn of the 19th – 20th Centuries”

Opening of the exhibition “Nomads of Eurasia on the Road to Empire”. Mintimer Shaymiyev, Konstantin Chugunov

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exhiBiTionS exhiBiTionS

JJ parTiCipaTion in exhiBiTionS in muSeumS around ruSSia

An Imaginary MuseumPushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow28.04.12 – 29.07.12

I Want to Go to Gatchina!Manege Central exhibition Hall, St. Petersburg06.05.12 – 22.05.12

The Death of the Family of Nicholas II. A Century-long InvestigationState Archive of the Russian Federation, Moscow25.05.12 – 29.07.12

Russians and Germans: 1,000 Years of History, Culture and ArtState Historical Museum, Moscow21.06.12 – 25.08.12

Treasures of the Order of Malta. Nine Centuries of Loyalty to the Faith and Charitable WorkKremlin Museums, Moscow05.07.12 – 09.09.12

Traditions of a Craft. The Art of WoodworkState Museum of the History of St. Petersburg10.09.12 – 20.11.12

The Architectural Legacy of Harald Julius von Bosse. To Mark the 200th Anniversary of his BirthAcademy of Arts Museum, St. Petersburg28.09.12 – 02.12.12

Fontanny Dom. An Encounter 300 Years LaterState Museum of Theatrical and Musical Art, St. Petersburg18.10.12 – 18.12.12

Exhibition of Painting and Graphic Art to Mark 175 Years of Railways in Russia Russian ethnographic Museum, St. Petersburg24.10.12 – 06.11.12

Sword and Zlatnik. Marking the 1,150th Anniversary of Russian StatehoodState Historical Museum, Moscow02.11.12 – 27.02.2013

Still Life. Metamorphoses. Dialogue between Classic and Contemporary ArtState Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow02.11.12 – 24.02.13

The Spellbinding Charm of Finland. Nicholas Roerich and Finnish Cultural FiguresRoerich Family Museum-Institute, St. Petersburg23.11.12 – 21.04.13

JJ exhiBiTionS aBroad

Rembrandt. Master of the Copper Plate. Prints from the Rovinsky Collection at the State HermitageSinebrychoff Museum, Helsinki, Finland02.02.12 – 29.04.12The exhibition included 55 etchings by Rembrandt from the Hermitage collection, bequeathed to the mu-seum in 1897 by Dmitry Rovinsky. The etchings are on Biblical, mythological and literary themes, genre scenes, landscapes, portraits and self-portraits.

FECIT AD VIVUM. Portraits of Artists in Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century Western European EngravingsLithuanian Art Museum, Vilnius, Lithuania08.03.12 – 10.06.12The exhibition included 100 portraits of artists from the Hermitage collection of Western European engravings. Its broad chronological range was determined by the time when the genre was at the height of its popularity, when, like painted portraits, it reflected features of all the stylistic trends.

The Face of an Era. 400 Years of European Masterpieces from the State Hermitage MuseumNational Arts Centre, Tokyo, Japan25.04.12 – 16.07.12Nagoya Municipal Museum, Japan28.07.12 – 30.09.12Kyoto Municipal Museum, Japan10.10.12 – 07.12.12The exhibition, which was shown in three Japanese cities, featured 89 paintings from the Hermitage col-lection. It was divided into thematic sections covering the period from the 16th to 20th centuries, each of which included works by great masters who became symbols of their time – Titian, Van Dyck, Rubens, Rembrandt, Delacroix and Picasso.

The exhibition “Catherine the Great, an Enlightened Empress”

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Impressionism: Sensation and Inspiration. Masterpieces from the State Hermitage MuseumHermitage • Amsterdam Centre, Amsterdam, Netherlands16.06.12 – 27.01.13The exhibition featured 80 works from the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries – paintings, graphic works and sculptures – from the Hermitage collection. Works by Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley and Camille Pissarro – masters of Impressionism who opened a new age in the de-velopment of art, were displayed in the context of the broad artistic panorama of their time.

Catherine the Great, an Enlightened EmpressNational Museum of Scotland, edinburgh13.07.12 – 21.10.12The exhibition highlighted the many facets of the Russian Empress’s personality, as well as Russian art and culture during her reign. The display featured over 600 exhibits from the Hermitage collection, in-cluding memorial items, works from Catherine II’s personal collection and objects linked with important events of the time.

Alexander the Great. 2000 Years of TreasuresAustralian Museum, Sydney23.11.12 – 28.04.13This exhibition from the Hermitage collection was devoted to Alexander the Great, his Eastern cam-paign and the consequent influence of Hellenism on world artistic culture. The display included over 400 exhibits covering a period of more than 2,500 years, from the 5th century BC to the 20th century. The exhibition had previously been shown at the Hermitage and at the Hermitage • Amsterdam Centre.

JJ parTiCipaTion in exhiBiTionS aBroad

Matisse. Pairs and SeriesPompidou Centre, Paris, France07.03.12 – 18.06.12

Gifts of the Sultan: The Art of Giving at Islamic CourtsMuseum of Islamic Art, Doha, Qatar21.03.12 – 02.06.12

Cézanne: Paris–ProvenceNational Art Centre, Tokyo, Japan28.03.12 – 11.06.12

La Sainte Anne, l’ultime chef-d’œuvre de Léonard de Vinci Louvre, Paris, France29.03.12 – 25.06.12

Women. Pablo Picasso, Max Beckmann, Willem de KooningGallery of Contemporary Painting, Bavarian State Picture Collection, Munich, Germany30.03.12 – 15.07.12

Titian’s First Masterpiece: The Flight into EgyptNational Gallery, London, UK04.04.12 – 19.08.12

The Splendour of Painting on Porcelain. Charles Nicolas Dodin and the Vincennes-Sèvres Manufactory in the 18th CenturyChateau de Versailles, France16.05.12 – 09.09.12

The Early DürerGerman National Museum, Nuremberg, Germany24.05.12 – 02.09.12

The Small Utopia. Ars MultiplicataPalazzo Ca’ Corner della Regina, Venice, Italy06.07.12 – 25.11.12

Cosroe Dusi 1808–1859, Diario artistico di un veneziano alla corte degli ZarLower Castle, Marostica, Italy07.07.12 – 14.10.12

Matisse – Doubles and VariationsState Art Museum, Copenhagen, Denmark14.07.12 – 28.10.12

The exhibition “Alexander the Great. 2000 Years of Treasures”Photograph by Carl Bento© Australian Museum

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anniverSary of The War of 1812

During 2012, as part of the celebration of the 200th anniver-sary of victory in the Patriotic War of 1812, the State Hermit-age showed battle pictures commissioned by Nicholas I from the Bavarian artist Peter von Hess. Hess travelled around the battle locations with General Kiel, making numerous sketches and studying examples of military uniform and weaponry from the time of the war. The artist painted twelve pictures between 1840 and 1857. Those currently in the Hermitage are The Bat-tle of Kliastitzi, The Battle of Smolensk, The Battle of Valutina Gora, The Battle of Borodino, The Battle of Tarutino, The Battle of Maloyaroslavets, The Battle of Vyazma, The Battle of Kras-noye and The Retreat of the French across the River Berezina. The paintings were put on display in the formal rooms of the Winter Palace throughout the year on the days when the battles had taken place.


Il Tiziano mai visto. La fuga in Egitto e la grande pittura venetaAcademy Gallery, Venice, Italy29.08.12 – 09.12.12

ChardinMitsubishi Ichikogan Museum of Fine Arts, Tokyo, Japan08.09.12 – 06.01.13

Canaletto à VeniseMaillol Museum, Dina Verni Foundation, Paris, France19.09.12 – 10.02.13

GypsiesGrand Palais, Paris, France26.09.12 – 14.01.13

The Ecstasy of Colour – Munch, Matisse and the ExpressionistsFolkwang Museum, essen, Germany29.09.12 – 20.01.13

Francesco Guardi – 1712–1793Correr Museum, Venice, Italy29.09.12 – 06.01.13

Russians and Germans: 1,000 Years of Art, History and Culture New Museum, Berlin State Museums, Germany06.10.12 – 13.01.13

Splendors in Smalt: Art of Yuan Blue-and-White PorcelainShanghai Museum, China19.10.12 – 20.01.13

El joven Van DyckPrado National Museum, Madrid, Spain20.11.12 – 31.03.13

Giambattista TiepoloVilla Manin, Passariano, Italy15.12.12 – 07.04.13

Peter von Hess. The Battle of Smolensk. 5 (17) August 1812. 1846

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JJ hermiTage CenTreS

HERMITAGE • AMSTERDAM CENTRE

In 2012 the Hermitage • Amsterdam Centre staged two temporary exhibitions from the State Her-mitage collection.“Rubens, Van Dyck and Jordaens. Flemish Artists from the Hermitage” opened at the end of Sep-tember 2011 and was extended until the beginning of June 2012. There are virtually no seventeenth-century Flemish paintings in Dutch museums, so public interest was extremely high. The exhibition was visited by 230,000 people, though it should be noted that the subject was of interest mainly to the older generation. One of the marketing ploys used in the run-up to and during the exhibi-tion was the so-called Rubens Tram. For several weeks famous Rubens portraits could be seen on the No. 9 tram, which stops close to the Hermitage • Amsterdam Centre – an original way of in-viting Amsterdam’s residents and visitors to the exhibition.The Centre organised its traditional extensive thematic programme to accompany the display. As usual, open concerts were held on the first and last Sundays of every month in the Centre’s Church Room; music from Rubens’s time could not have been heard in a more appropriate setting than in a room dating from that period.The second half of the year featured French art from the second half of the 19th century in “Im-pressionism: Sensation and Inspiration”, an exhibition which had been anticipated in Amsterdam for a long time. It was the second display in a series devoted to the French art of the 19th and early

20th centuries; the Hermitage is justly proud of its collection. About 507,000 people visited the exhibition.Early in 2012 the Hermitage • Amsterdam Centre was ap-proached by the Director of the Van Gogh Museum with a re-quest to consider the possibility of making the Centre’s empty second wing available for the exhibition of masterpieces from the Van Gogh Museum, which was to be closed for restoration until 1 May 2013. As a result, for six months two famous col-lections were displayed under one roof: the Impressionists from the Hermitage and the best works of Vincent van Gogh, who had known and had been friendly with many members of the cele-brated French school. A combined ticket was available for both displays.There is a tall building on the Ij that can be seen from almost anywhere in Amsterdam. For several weeks this building sported a 59-metre depiction of Claude Monet’s Lady in the Garden, so virtually everyone in Amsterdam knew that the Hermitage’s Im-pressionist collection was visiting the city.The second half of 2012 was taken up in preparations for the Year of the Netherlands in Russia and Russia in the Netherlands, during which the Centre had the honour of receiving guests from

Russia. Russian Vice-Premier Arkady Dvorkovich made several working visits to the Hermitage • Amsterdam Centre.2012 was the first year of the Centre’s new Director, Cathelijne Broers. She made several working visits to the State Hermitage during the year to become more closely acquainted with her colleagues in St. Petersburg.

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HERMITAGE • ITALY CENTRE

The Centre’s activities developed in various ways during 2012. In spring, as in previous years, the State Hermitage had a stand at the 19th International Salon on the problems of the restoration and conservation of cultural monuments in Ferrara. Two laboratories were represented in accordance with the long-term programme – the Laboratory for Scientific Restoration of Easel Painting and the Laboratory for Scientific Restoration of Sculpture and Semi-Precious Stones. A master class in the Russian mosaic technique using malachite was conducted by the restorer Alexander Androkh-anov. His virtuoso knowledge of the material and artistry evoked lively interest in the audience. At a Hermitage seminar during the Salon Svetlana Petrova, Head of the Laboratory for Scientific Restoration of Sculpture and Semi-Precious Stones, described methods of conservation and spoke of restoration projects that had been completed (in particular, the discovery of Vladimir Beklemishev’s Fugitive Slave). Several lectures devoted to the completion of the restoration of The Annunciation by Giovanni Battista Cima da Conegliano were given by experts from the Laboratory for Scientific Restoration of Easel Painting (Victor Korobov, Kamilla Kalinina and Irina Artemieva). A separate subject was the restoration of large-scale canvases that had been kept on rollers (Marina Guruleva).From the beginning of the year a new cycle of lectures and conferences on various matters of art his-tory – seventeen in all – was held in the conference hall of the Hermitage • Italy Centre in Ferrara (Palazzo Giglioli). However, unexpected adjustments to the plans had to be made – a two-day con-ference on the importance of digital media in the dissemination of information concerning museums and other cultural heritage institutions, scheduled for 21 May, had to be postponed owing to the severe earthquake that struck on 20 May, the epicentre of which was the Emilia-Romagna Region. The Hermitage • Italy Centre was the first cultural institution in the country to organise a seminar to assess the damage to cultural monuments in the region caused by the earthquake and to discuss urgent measures to save them. The seminar’s participants were welcomed on 3 July 2012 by Mikhail Piotrovsky, General Director of the State Hermitage, who was in Ferrara for the latest session of the Centre’s Scientific Committee, at which the lists of the Centre’s scholarship holders were confirmed: grants were awarded to twelve Hermitage employees and sixteen young scholars from Italy, the Netherlands and France. In July in Florence a protocol concerning collaboration between the Hermitage • Italy Founda-tion and the Mayor’s Office in Florence was signed. There was also a ceremonial announcement of the formation of a Hermitage Friends’ club in Italy, whose aim will be support of the Hermitage’s museum projects and various cultural initiatives of the Hermitage • Italy Foundation. At about the same time a collaboration agreement was concluded with the Mayor’s Office and museums in Turin which envisaged exhibition exchanges and the extensive participation of Turin in the celebrations for the Hermitage’s 250th anniversary.In October the Hermitage received its first gift from Italy for its forthcoming anniversary – Villa Russiz introduced a white Friulano wine with a special label featuring the emblem of the anniversary year (devised by Italian graphic artists).In December the Hermitage General Director Mikhail Piotrovsky signed another collaboration agreement – with the mayor’s office and museums in Padua. It envisages the exchange of materials and specialists, mainly concerning the problems of the restoration of fresco painting; the Hermitage suggested involving Novgorod museums in this work. The Hermitage’s exhibition activity on the Apennine Peninsula was as intensive as ever and was co-ordinated by the Hermitage • Italy Centre. Exhibitions were held with support of the Centre in Pavia (“Nineteenth-Century Italian Painting”, 11 February – 12 April, after the successful show-ing of this display in the Hermitage); “Cosroe Dusi” (7 July – 14 October, Lower Castle, Marostica); the “Francesco Guardia” anthology (29 September 2012 – 6 January 2013, Correr Museum, Ven-ice); “Giambattista Tiepolo” (15 December 2012 – 7 April 2013, Villa Manin in Passariano, Udine). The main “premiere” of the past year was the display of Titian’s The Flight into egypt at the Acad-emy Gallery in Venice. This unique painting by the great Venetian master was visiting its homeland after being shown at the National Gallery in London.The final event of 2012 for the Hermitage • Italy Centre was the publication of a collection of materi-als from a conference held in the Palazzo Barberini in Rome on 20 October 2011, devoted to the pub-lication of a catalogue of seventeenth-century Italian painting (author: Svetlana Vsevolozhskaya). The broad discussion of the Hermitage catalogue in Rome, where interest in the material published so comprehensively is particularly great, could and should become a welcome tradition.

HERMITAGE • KAZAN CENTRE

Chronicle of Events

2–7 JanuarySpecial “New Year with the Hermitage!” museum-based educational programmes were featured in the “Christmas Fantasies with Glass” exhibition, including an introduction to the exhibition, meet-ings with the artists and a creative lesson in painting on glass with transparent paints.

20 JanuaryOpening of an exhibition by the XOLST art association, formed in Moscow by a group of artists working at the meeting-point between classical and contemporary styles of painting. The exhibi-tion featured over 40 works, including landscapes and cityscapes, still life paintings and portraits. The exhibition in Kazan was sponsored by the Art Finance – a subsidiary of Gazprombank formed to facilitate art projects and support Russian artists.

14 MarchThe exhibition “Spanish Art from the State Hermitage Collection” featured “Fan. Guitar. Flamen-co” programme staged in conjunction with the Triana Flamenco School and the Vernissage String Trio.

5 AprilA seminar entitled “The Educational Activity of a Museum: Principal Directions and Trends of De-velopment” on the theme of “The Exhibition, Cultural and Educational Activities of the Hermit-age • Kazan Centre” was held in conjunction with the Republic of Tatarstan Institute for Further Education of Socio-Cultural and Art Specialists. It raised problems relating to the study, preser-vation and transmission of the cultural heritage and discussed the following matters: the special characteristics of the Centre’s exhibition and museum-based educational work, the use of knowledge in the field of museum communication, museum teaching and sociology to devise new ways of work-ing with the target audience, and the actualisation of the heritage by means of various museum-based educational programmes.

17 MayThe Centre participated in a discussion on “Patriotism, Citizenship and Cosmopolitanism in School Programmes” at the Polish-Russian debates on “Citizenship, Patriotism and Other Means of Identi-fication in One’s Native Land” in Warsaw. Report: “The Hermitage • Kazan Centre – State Hermit-age Exhibition and Educational Programme”.

18–19 May“International Museum Day and Night in the Kazan Kremlin”. The programme included a visit to the “Spanish Art from the State Hermitage Collection” exhibition and the “Fan. Guitar. Fla-menco” music and dance show, staged in conjunction with the Triana Flamenco School and the Vernissage String Trio.

18 JuneOpening of the exhibition “Nomads of Eurasia on the Road to Empire”

8 SeptemberTo mark the seventh anniversary of the Hermitage • Kazan Centre a musical and theatrical pro-gramme entitled “By the Roads of the Nomads” was staged in conjunction with a folk dance ensem-ble directed by Nadezhda Budylenko. The programme featured a dramatised tour of the exhibition “Nomads of Eurasia on the Road to Empire” and a performance by the Republic of Tatarstan State Chamber Choir.

10 OctoberA methodological seminar entitled “The Formation of a Global Cultural Zone. The State Hermitage Programme in Kazan” was held for employees of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). It presented the history of the establishment of the Hermitage • Kazan Centre, its pro-gramme of collaboration and development.

20 NovemberOpening of the “Blockade Cello” exhibition from the collection of the St. Petersburg State Museum of Theatrical and Musical Art. It was devoted to the musicians, actors and artists who continued

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to paint pictures, act in plays and make musical instruments in Leningrad during the blockade. It included some unique exhibits: photographs, graphic works and sketches of scenery, bills of per-formances and musical instruments that survived those dreadful years with the musicians.

21 NovemberThe Centre held a methodological and museum-based educational seminar entitled “Multimedia Programmes and Web Resources for Teaching Purposes in Children’s Art Schools”.

28 NovemberAt the “Nomads of Eurasia on the Road to Empire” exhibition there was a round table discussion on “The Question of the Unity of Cultures in Eurasia”, dedicated to the 110th anniversary of Nicholas Roerich’s birth.

4 DecemberMuseum-based educational programmes entitled “Lessons in History” were held at the “Nomads of Eurasia on the Road to Empire” exhibition for history teachers in Kazan. Among the participants were Fayaz Khuzin, Corresponding Member of the Republic of Tatarstan Academy of Sciences, and Ildus Zagidullin, Doctor of History.

20 DecemberOpening of the exhibition “Christmas Tales about Felt”, which included over 200 items: felt boots of all shapes and colours, sculptures and panels, clothes and accessories, female adornments and toys. They are all handmade by masters from Kazan and Kukmor, Moscow and Izhevsk. In their hands familiar objects are transformed into exquisite works of decorative art.During the year the Hermitage • Kazan Centre held music and art programmes in the Hermitage Drawing Room. The programmes included visits to exhibitions accompanied by special musical pro-grammes aimed at various categories of visitors. The concerts featured the “Sergiev Posad” Cham-ber Choir, the “Razdolye” Russian Folk Choir, and pupils of the Nazib Zhiganov Music School and the Triana Flamenco School.The Youth Club continued to operate. As part of the “Original Strategies in Contemporary Art” programme of the 20/21 Club the work of major foreign contemporary artists, contemporary art prize-winners working in new media (installation, performance and video art) was shown.

hermiTage • vyBorg CenTre

2012 saw the closing of the exhibition “Italian Baroque Painting and Sculpture in the Hermit-age Collection” and the opening of the exhibitions “Two Centuries of French Elegance. Decorative Art of the 17th and 18th Centuries from the State Hermitage Museum Collection” and “The Last Russian Emperor. The Family and Court of Nicholas II at the Turn of the 19th – 20th Centuries”. The latter was one of a number of Hermitage projects marking the 400th anniversary of the House of Romanov. In addition, as part of its art education activities, the Centre staged twelve thematic exhibitions that included works by artists from Vyborg and St. Petersburg, as well as those by for-eign masters.Around 30,000 people visited the Centre in 2012: they came from Vyborg and the Vyborg District, ten districts of the Leningrad Region and 70 cities in various regions of Russia – from St. Petersburg and Moscow to Vladivostok, Kamchatka, Nakhodka and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. Every seventh person was a visitor from abroad (CIS countries, Bulgaria, Germany, the Netherlands, China, the UAE and the USA).By tradition particular attention was devoted to children who were granted entrance to the Centre free of charge and the services of a guide at a reduced rate. 5,000 children from 26 schools in Vy-borg and the Vyborg District visited exhibitions in 2012. They took part in conferences, competitions and special lessons linked to the exhibitions. For instance, there was a scientific and practice con-ference for senior pupils of Gymnasium No. 11 on Italian Baroque. Younger children learned about Greek gods and heroes at the exhibition of Italian art, and about the etiquette of the royal court at the French exhibition. At the display devoted to the family of Nicholas II lessons were held on the theme “Visiting the ‘Children’s Quarters’: Olga, Maria, Anastasia and Alexey”.In January 2012 a number of competitions were held for children and their parents. Over 300 pho-tographs were submitted for the “Museum Europe through the Eyes of Vyborg Residents” photog-raphy competition. Almost 150 works in various techniques were entered for the 3rd Christmas exhibition “Handmade Christmas Tree Decorations”.Members of the Korchaginets Club for wheelchair invalids regularly visited the exhibitions. Partner-ship relations were established with a naval instruction unit.For adult visitors the Hermitage • Vyborg Centre hosted meetings with artists in the Art Foyer. On 18 May 2012 – International Museum Day – a presentation by the Vyborg Culture and Art Soci-ety brought together people of creative professions. Their combined efforts led to the staging of indi-vidual exhibitions by Albert Bakun, Mikhail Siymes, Sergey Kiselev and Leonid Frolov – both in the Centre and in the “Art Hall” Gallery that comes under its jurisdiction.In July 2012 the 2nd “V.I.P. – Vyborg Intelligent Performance” Musical and Theatrical Festival was held at the Centre and at the Vyborg Children’s Art School. Every evening the Centre’s inner courtyard became a jazz venue, while chamber theatre performances and one-man shows took place at the school.A substantial proportion of the Hermitage • Vyborg Centre’s foreign visitors are Finnish citizens, which facilitates, to a significant degree, the close relations with the Viipuri Centre in Vyborg and Viipuri Keskus, its main partner in Helsinki. In conjunction with the Viipuri Centre, the District Administration and Gymnasium No. 11, the Centre staged the international project “Vyborg – the Birthplace and Final Refuge of General Teslev”, devoted to the 200th anniversary of the Pa-triotic War of 1812. The result of the project was the unveiling of a monument to Infantry General Alexander Teslev at the city’s Southern Cemetery (formerly the Lepola Cemetery). Nearly thirty descendants of the famous native of Vyborg came from Finland to take part in the ceremony.Finnish museums take a great deal of interest in the Centre. Close partnerships have been estab-lished with the Armoury of South Karelia in Lappeenranta. In April 2012 Swedish descendants of the Nobel family staged an exhibition of their family archive at the Centre entitled “The Story of the Life of the Nobel Family and the Family Estate of Ala-Karjola on the Outskirts of Vyborg”.With support of the Consulate General of Poland in St. Petersburg and the Polish Cultural Institute the Centre staged an exhibition of photographs of the restoration of the frescoes in the nineteenth-century Holy Trinity Chapel in Lublin by Russian masters and an exhibition of works by Nadezhda Anfalova entitled “The Light and Shade of Two Capitals”, reflecting the St. Petersburg artist’s view of Warsaw and Krakow. Visitors to the Hermitage • Vyborg Centre in 2012 included the Consul Generals of Finland, Ger-many, Poland and South Korea, and official delegations from China, Sweden and the USA (State of Maryland).

Opening of the exhibition “Nomads of Eurasia on the Road to Empire”

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JJ CuraTorS on exhiBiTionS

“in WriTTen WordS alone...”. on The 150Th anniverSary of The BirTh of aCademiCian niKolay peTroviCh liKhaChev

State Hermitage20.04.12 – 22.07.12

Nikolay Petrovich Likhachev was a palaeographer and epigraphist of international stature, an out-standing specialist in diplomatics, codicology, textology and sphragistics, a bibliophile and expert on icons, and also a great collector. His unique collection, compiled in the early decades of the 20th century, was officially named the Museum of Palaeography in 1925. The museum’s main aim was to demonstrate the development of the written word from ancient times to the early 20th cen-tury, based on specific documents. Likhachev was repressed in 1930, and a few years later, after his death, his museum was dismantled. The exhibits ended up in various museums, principally the Her-mitage, and in academic institutions, where they remain to this day. In paying tribute to the acad-emician, it was decided to assemble in a single display, albeit temporarily, the most interesting and representative documents from Likhachev’s collection. This predetermined the main aim of the ex-hibition – to trace the principal stages in the development of the written word, to display various types of writing on soft and hard materials, and also to show various types of documents – official and private, manuscripts, textbooks, codes and autographs.The display featured a total of 460 exhibits – cuneiform tablets, Ancient Egyptian stone inscriptions, Ancient Greek and Roman monuments, Greek and Coptic papyruses, Byzantine, Old Russian and medieval Western and Eastern manuscripts and documents; New Age materials: deeds, autographs, manuscripts and leaflets from Russia, Western Europe and the East, seals, coins, incunabula, Elzeviers and a great deal besides. All the material was divided into four large sections: “The Origin of the Written Word. Writings of the Ancient World”, “Writings and Documents of the Middle Ages and Renaissance”, “Documents of the New Age from Russia and Western Europe” and “Written Documents from the Medieval and New East”.The exhibition was complemented by an extensive memorial section that included documents from Likhachev’s huge personal archive, now kept in the St. Petersburg branch of the Academy of Scienc-es’ archive. This section featured materials describing the history of the Likhachev family, Nikolay Petrovich’s childhood and youth, his family, his scientific, teaching and collecting activities, and the difficult period of his life after the revolution.The exhibition was organised by the State Hermitage in conjunction with the St. Petersburg In-stitute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the St. Petersburg branch of the Academy of Sciences Archive, the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Academy of Sciences Library. The staff of these institutions prepared the catalogue of the exhibi-tion, which included three introductory articles about Likhachev himself, his collecting activity and the history of the Museum of Palaeography, descriptions of 460 written documents from various periods, and an annex containing the names of about 300 antiquaries, collectors and scholars with whom Likhachev was in direct contact when forming his collections.During the period of the exhibition the State Hermitage and the St. Petersburg Institute of History held a joint scientific conference entitled “The Legacy of Nikolay Petrovich Likhachev: Text and Im-age Interpretation”, devoted to the study of written and artistic monuments from the academician’s collection.

Yelena Stepanova

SanTiago CalaTrava. The QueST for movemenT


Santiago Calatrava is one of today’s most renowned and prolific architects. In just thirty years he has designed over forty major projects throughout the world – museums, stadiums, railway sta-tions and bridges. He has received several dozen important awards and prizes.Calatrava graduated from the Architecture Faculty of the Polytechnic University in his native city Valencia in 1974 and from the Swiss Technical University in 1979, where he first obtained a degree in civil engineering and then a doctorate in technical sciences. Thanks to this fundamental combi-nation of architectural and engineering education, the master’s work features in equal proportions the emotional impulse of an artist and the scrupulous research of a designer.At the basis of each Calatrava project is the observation of nature. The filigree steel supports of the Oriente railway station in Lisbon bear the awnings above the platforms like the branches of a tropi-cal forest, the sails of the vault of the Marina d’Arechi and the Tenerife Opera are curved like palm leaves, and the steel “petals” on the roof of the Museum of Tomorrow in Rio de Janeiro stretch towards the sun with thin spikes.The organic world suggests to the master not only figurative, but also technical elements. The bridg-es in Dublin and Haarlemmermeer, the TGV railway station at Saint-Exupery Airport in Lyon and the Milwaukee Art Museum in Wisconsin, USA, are like hovering birds. Movement is a most sur-prising element in such a static art form as architecture. Experiments with movement and statics in sculpture and architectural designs open up new possibilities in form for Calatrava.The exhibition in the State Hermitage was the first full-scale display of Santiago Calatrava’s work in Russia, revealing every sphere of the architect’s interests in his thirty-year career; from his early designs of bridges and stations, including the famous railway station in Zurich (1992), to his most recent works – the TGV station in Liege (2010) and sketches for the Ground Zero railway station in New York. The exhibition featured models, sketches, blueprints, sculpture (in marble, bronze and wood) and ceramics. Some of the exhibits were made by the artist especially for the Hermitage display.The project was part of the year of cultural co-operation with Italy and Spain. It was the first in a se-ries of Hermitage exhibitions devoted to classic exponents of contemporary architecture – a subject which is essential for a full and objective display of contemporary art.

Ksenia Malich

At the exhibition “Santiago Calatrava. The Quest for Movement”

Opening of the exhibition “Santiago Calatrava. The Quest for Movement”. Santiago Calatrava

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a TreaSury of BooKS. 250 yearS of The hermiTage liBrary


The Hermitage Library celebrated its 250th anniversary in 2012. For two centuries and a half, by the will of Emperors and as the Imperial Hermitage developed, the library has amassed books on a variety of themes that with the passage of time have become valuable collections. Books from these remarkable collections were displayed in this anniversary exhibition.Some sections began to take shape as early as Catherine II’s reign. They included collections of en-graved albums and picturesque travel books, architectural treatises and ouvrages, geographical maps and atlases. The numismatic book collection was started at the same time as the formation of the Münzkabinett in the Hermitage. Collections of symbols and emblems occupied an important place in the Imperial collection. Catherine II’s fascination with Russian history led to the inclusion of Slavic manuscripts and copies in her library. Books on military matters arrived with the forma-tion of Peter III’s library. There is a bibliographical rarity in this collection: a multi-volume pub-lication by Alexander Viskovatov entitled “A Historical Description of the Clothing and Armour of Russian Troops”.From the 1920s, after the formation of the Hermitage’s Research Library, it began to receive books from nationalised private and institutional libraries. The Hermitage book collection received manu-scripts and publications that substantially increased the existing collections and was also enriched in many subjects that were previously represented by few examples.One of the most interesting collections is of books presented to Emperors – from Catherine II to Nicholas II. There is also a collection of artistic book-bindings by European and Russian masters. The study and systemisation of the owners’ and dedicatory inscriptions marked the beginning of the collection of Russian and European autographs. A special place in the Hermitage book repository is occupied by European and Russian editions of the Bible and books on Biblical themes. A separate collection consists of drawings and engravings with views of Russian localities, cities and places of interest. Another interesting collection contains books with drawings and prints of flora and fau-na, some of them in colour, and of peoples of the world. Next to this section are albums of drawings and woodcuts by seventeenth- to twentieth-century Japanese artists. The Hermitage Library also has a fine collection of fashion magazines dating from the 18th to 20th centuries and books on the history of fashion.In recent years the collection of bibliophile and original books has been supplemented by the works of acknowledged masters of the genre in the 19th and early 20th centuries, as well as interesting examples of works by contemporary authors and publishers. The section of outstanding historical Russian books – rare manuscript books and low-circulation publications – is not only the pride of the Hermitage Library, but also a part of the world’s cultural heritage. One of the new collections that is of paramount importance for the library and the museum is the so-called “Hermitagiana” – a full collection of works published in the 18th to 21st centuries about the museum, its buildings, collec-tions and individual art works. The exhibition featured only publications connected with the Hermit-age Library. Among the manuscript catalogues of the book collections that make up the Hermitage repository it was possible to see catalogues of Imperial, regimental and major private libraries.The Hermitage Library’s book collections are carefully preserved and continue to increase.

Olga Zimina

“The Thunder of 1812...”. The paTrioTiC War of 1812 in The hermiTage ColleCTionS


The opening of this exhibition in the Field Marshals Room of the Winter Palace was the last in a se-ries of ceremonies devoted to the victories of Russian arms in the Patriotic War of 1812.The Hermitage is closely linked to the events of 200 years ago. Their memory is perpetuated in the architecture of Palace Square, in which Carlo Rossi’s Triumphal Arch stands close to Montferrand’s Alexander Column, in the decoration of the Alexander, Picket, Field Marshals and Armorial Halls and other rooms in the Winter Palace. The most important part of the Hermitage from this point of view is the War Gallery: 332 portraits of commanders of the Russian army, as well as portraits of the allies’ monarchs and generals who commanded the troops of the anti-Napoleon coalition, making it a real Pantheon of glory of heroes of the 1812–1814 campaign.The opening date of the exhibition was not chosen at random: it was on 25 December 1812 (6 Janu-ary 1813 new style) in the town of Vilno that Emperor Alexander I of Russia confirmed the “Imperial Manifesto of Giving Thanks to the Lord God for the Liberation of Russia from the Enemy Invasion”. On the same day Alexander I signed another decree – concerning the building of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow.Two years later, at the Emperor’s behest, an annual “celebration of thanksgiving” was established. The day was celebrated as the anniversary of the deliverance of Russia from the invasion of Napo-leon’s army. Parades took place in Palace Square, beginning with a ceremony in the War Gallery. Representatives of each of the Guards’ regiments (one officer, two NCOs and five soldiers) received military banners from the War Gallery and carried them out into Palace Square. They were awaited there by combined detachments of soldiers and officers who had been awarded medals of distinction in the Patriotic War campaigns in 1813 and 1814. Later, when few such people remained in service, the combined detachments were made up of soldiers who had distinguished themselves in other wars. The same evening a special thanksgiving prayer was said in all Russian churches following the Christmas Liturgy. It was written by Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow “in remembrance of the de-liverance of the Church and the Russian State from the invasion of the Gauls and twelve other peo-ples with them”.This glorious episode in Russian history was reflected in numerous works of fine and applied arts by both contemporaries and later artists and kept in the State Hermitage reserves.The central exhibits in the display, around which the account of the events revolved, were the battle paintings of Peter von Hess, commissioned by Emperor Nicholas I for the Winter Palace. They fea-ture all the major battles in the campaign.The display was complemented by numerous drawings and engravings, many of them by eyewitnesses of the events, as well as material monuments of the war: Russian and trophy military banners, med-als, orders, uniforms and equipment of Russian troops, cold steel and firearms, and memorial items.They were not simply a collection of mementos of an era. The banners are impregnated with the smoke of battle and many of the uniforms are signed by the soldiers and officers who wore them. Their names are in the lists of their regiments. And the weapons saw the blood of their enemies.The exhibition also featured trophies: Marshal Davout’s baton, captured by Platov’s Cossacks along with his baggage train, examples of the Napoleonic army’s uniform and armaments, and trophy French banners.The exhibition was not exclusively about the Patriotic War of 1812. The large, all-embracing his-torical display covered the period from the first confrontation of the two Emperors in 1805 to Na-poleon’s death on the island of St. Helena in 1821. The major battles (from Austerlitz to Leipzig), the history of diplomatic contacts between Russia and France and the fate of Europe after the Napo-leonic wars were reflected in over 500 exhibits displayed in the Field Marshals, Armorial and Picket Halls and the War Gallery in the Winter Palace.

Victor Looga

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nomadS on The road To empire

Hermitage • Kazan Centre, Kazan18.06.12 – 31.03.13

The exhibition showcased 2,190 objects from the State Hermitage collection covering a period from the early 1st millennium BC to the formation of the Great Mongol Empire in the 13th century. The material was arranged in a chronological order and divided into sections dealing with a variety of nomad cultures in different European and Asian regions.The first section was dedicated to the culture of the Scyths and included materials from the earliest finds in Europe and Middle Asia to the Pazyryk monuments of the Altai and exhibits from Peter the Great’s Siberian collection.The next section had discoveries of the Hunnic Noin-Ula barrow and Sarmatian objects. The most interesting complex of this period consists of the decorations from the extremely rich Khokhlach barrow in the Lower Don.The Migration period (middle of the 1st millennium AD) was represented by gold items crafted in a semi-chrome style, adorned weapons and harnesses which had made up the material culture of the European Huns. During this period, Turkic tribes appeared on the historical arena of Asia. The stone sculptures of warriors, weapons, belts, harnesses and other items of material culture that come from different places from Middle Asia showed the broad influence of Turkic culture over a huge territory.The antiquities from the Khazar Khaganate from archaeological digs from Sarkel on the Lower Don demonstrated the multi-faceted nature of the culture and a multi-ethnic population. The finds included gold and silver jewellery, dishes, richly decorated weaponry from the tomb of the Bulgarian Khan Kuvrat of the Dnieper.At the turn of the 1st and 2nd millennia in the Tian Shan foothills the Kara-Khanid Khanate was established. The expansion of Islam to Karakhanid society enabled the development of magnificent ornamentation in applied art. During the Middle Ages the southern Russian steppes were populated by nomads of varied ethnicity. One of the best examples of monumental art of this period displayed at the exposition is known as the Cuman Woman.The concluding section was dedicated to the Mongol Empire which united the huge territory of Eura-sia. Material from archaeological excavations of this state at Karakorum, and from other Mongol city centres, now studied within Russia were put on display for the first time at this exhibition.The “Nomads of Eurasia on the Road to Empire” exhibition was created to show the wealth and diversity of nomadic culture during its development over a huge territory and to demonstrate the possibilities and significance of archaeology. The items that archaeologists extract from the ground are evidence of human existence and give us the opportunity to experience the enduring importance of the creative and constructive activities of the nomadic world, making an invaluable contribution to global civilisation.

Konstantin Chugunov

TWo CenTurieS of frenCh eleganCe. deCoraTive arT of The 17Th and 18Th CenTurieS from The STaTe hermiTage muSeum ColleCTion

Hermitage • Vyborg Centre, Vyborg10.04.12 – 14.10.12

This was the first time the collection of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century French decorative art – from Louis XIV to Louis XVI – had been shown in Vyborg. The exhibition included superb examples of furniture, tapestries, embroidery, silver, jewellery and ceramics. The exhibits gave an impression of the wealth and luxury of the French court at this peak of artistic production and demonstrated the main stages in the development of French applied art in the 17th and 18th centuries, which influ-enced the development of artistic crafts all over Europe, particularly in Russia.The 17th century was represented by examples of furniture in the Boulle marquetry technique and a magnificent ebony suite. Tapestries, embroidery, lace and ceramics helped to create the atmos-phere of Versailles in the 17th century. Traditional French manufacture was illustrated by Limoges

enamels and bone carving. The 17th century featured not only courtly festivities, but also military actions. Weapons, like many other items in that century, were decorated in accordance with the fashion, and some examples of armaments were included in the exhibition.The 18th century, the heyday of French decorative art, was represented by two stylistic trends – Rococo and Neoclassicism. In the rooms devoted to the first half of the century were dresses “with Watteau pleats” that had been restored especially for the exhibition. The showcases contained jew-ellery items of gold, silver, precious and semi-precious stones. Porcelain – a material that was new to Europe – was represented by two services arranged on tables. Tapestries in the 18th century more and more resembled woven pictures, while strict rhythmical patterns were used to decorate fabrics and embroidered panels.The furniture clearly demonstrated the characteristics of the two eighteenth-century styles – mas-ters of the Rococo period deliberately endeavoured to conceal the construction of chests of drawers, armchairs and small tables, while in the second half of the century the decoration emphasised the strict rectangular construction of secretaires, tables and chairs.The Hermitage collection is considered to be one of the best in the world outside France. The stand-ard of our collection was largely determined by the close relations that existed between Russia and France. The exhibition demonstrated all the variety of artistic production over a period of two centuries.The exhibition in Vyborg was designed in an interesting way – the exhibits were arranged against the background of posters depicting rooms in French palaces. The detailed labels were accompanied by photographs of fragments of paintings and engravings that showed the purpose of the items and how they were used.The exhibition was accompanied by a well-illustrated catalogue.The two centuries of elegance – the 17th and 18th centuries – made France the country that set the tone for the development of fashion and for a long time it was the trendsetter of European taste. Visi-tors to the exhibition were able to verify the truth of that and to take a fresh look at the surrounding conditions.

Tamara Rappe

The laST ruSSian emperor. The family and CourT of niCholaS ii aT The Turn of The 19Th – 20Th CenTurieS

Hermitage • Vyborg Centre, Vyborg26.10.12 – 07.04.13

The exhibition was organised as part of the celebrations for the 400th anniversary of the House of Romanov. It featured around 300 works of pictorial and applied art from the State Hermitage collection, many of which were being displayed for the first time. The exhibition’s four large sections traced the life of the last Russian autocrat – as the ruler of the largest country in the world, but also focusing on his relations with his family, other members of the House of Romanov and the court.The first section was devoted to events in the life of Grand Duke Nicholas Alexandrovich before his accession to the throne. A description of the wedding ceremony and coronation of Nicholas II and Alexandra Fedorovna was accorded a special place in the display. All kinds of souvenirs were made for participants in the ceremonies: glasses, bowls, mugs and kerchiefs. The display featured, for the first time, kerchiefs depicting Their Imperial Majesties and state emblems made at the Prokhorovs-kaya, Tryokhgornaya and Danilovskaya factories.The second section highlighted the relations between various generations of the House of Romanov and the part played by religion in the life of the Imperial family. A special place was occupied by items of wardrobe of the Imperial children and toys, which served as an illustration of the family’s modest way of life. The icons on display in the exhibition, in particularly that of St. Seraphim of Sa-rov, demonstrated the importance of religion in the life of the last Emperor and his spouse.Despite his attempts to stay out of the public eye, Nicholas II took part in diplomatic, military, court, cultural, religious and other ceremonies, and that was the subject of the third section. The Russian Museum of Alexander III was founded in St. Petersburg in 1895 in memory of Nicholas II’s father. The event was immortalised by Karl Brozh, whose drawing was included in the exhibition. In 1903 a costumed ball was held in the Winter Palace to which guests had to come dressed in masquerade

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costumes in style characteristic of Russia before Peter I. The Emperor and Empress, who appeared as Tsar Alexey Mikhailovich and Tsaritsa Maria Ilyinichna, aroused universal admiration. The 1903 masked ball was the best-known court festivity in Nicholas II’s reign and one of the few society events attended by Empress Alexandra Fedorovna.A particular highlight was a range of items that demonstrated the luxury and wealth of the Russian court – dishes presented as gifts, elegant accessories and figurines of animals and insects made by Heinrich Wigstrom, a master at Carl Fabergé’s company, and by Ivan Britsyn and Johan Olsonius, famous jewellers at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Some of the exhibits were acquired by the Hermitage relatively recently and were being shown for the first time.The fourth section of the exhibition was devoted to the tragic years of Nicholas II’s reign. This short but extremely intensive period in Russian history included two wars and three revolutions and ended with a change of political regime, the downfall of the Romanov dynasty and the death of many of its members. The exhibition featured graphic art illustrating events in the Russian-Japanese War and the First World War, banners, and military uniforms worn by the Emperor and the heir to the throne Alexey Nikolayevich. The exhibition concluded with photographs of the Imperial family’s private apartments, taken be-fore and after the storming of the Winter Palace in 1917. The chaos and disorder that reigned in the rooms of the Emperor and Empress after the storming and that are recorded in the photographs were a kind of symbol of the fall of the Empire, putting an end to the brilliant Imperial era in the history of the Russian state.

Irina Zakharova

impreSSioniSm: SenSaTion and inSpiraTion. maSTerpieCeS from The STaTe hermiTage muSeum

Hermitage • Amsterdam Centre, Amsterdam, Netherlands16.06.12 – 27.01.13

This exhibition with a title full of commercial traveller’s spiel (the idea of the Dutch organisers) turned out to be really sensational – hardly surprising, then, that it attracted a record number of visi-tors: 370,000. The display was planned from the beginning to last a long time, but it proved so popu-lar that it was extended still further – from the middle of May 2012 to the end of January 2013.

Over 90% of the masterpieces in the main Hermitage Impressionist collections, once collected by Sergey Shchukin and Ivan Morozov, appeared all at once on the banks of the Amstel – nothing like it had ever been seen there. Monet’s Lady in the Garden and two of his Montgeron canvases, Renoir’s Portrait of Jeanne Samary, Child with a Whip and Woman with a Fan, Pissarro’s Place du Theatre Francais, Cézanne’s Fruit and The Smoker, Gauguin’s Woman Holding a Fruit and many other out-standing works that are part of the most thoroughly compiled selection in world painting are desired by the most renowned museums. They now form part of a historical construction built to the glory of Impressionism.The whole display of 80 paintings, sculptures and drawings began with the romantic masterpieces of the Impressionists’ predecessors – Delacroix (Lion Hunt in Morocco), whose search for pure col-our can clearly be seen, and Corot with his delicate nuances in conveying a sense of light and air in his landscapes. They were supported by canvases of the Barbizon school – Theodore Rousseau, Dupré, Daubigny and Diaz de la Peña, who painted French landscapes in a new and very observant way. This historical review was rounded off with canvases by Cézanne, Gauguin and Moret, in which the post-Impressionist phase is already noticeable.An unusual characteristic of the exhibition was that, along with paintings by the Impressionists and their Barbizon predecessors, it featured a wide selection of canvases by academists and stars of the Salon – Bouguereau, Gérôme, Roybet and Laurens – which contributed to its success and gave a more objective impression of the French art scene in the second half of the 19th century.

Albert Kostenevich

alexander The greaT. 2000 yearS of TreaSureS

Australian Museum, Sydney24.11.12 – 18.04.13

This exhibition, which opened in the Australian Museum on 24 November 2012, was the largest Russian exhibition ever to be staged in Australia (it was held at the State Hermitage in 2007 and at the Hermitage • Amsterdam Centre in 2010–2011). The opening was an event of exceptional impor-tance in the cultural life of Australia: the concept of the exhibition and the history of its formation were featured extensively on national TV and radio, as well as in the press, and over 17,000 tickets had been sold long before the opening. A conference held during the exhibition, devoted to the main ideas of the display, the individual exhibits and the problems of studying the age of Alexander the Great and Hellenism, was attended by world-renowned experts.The exhibition was devoted to Alexander the Great, his Eastern campaign and the subsequent influ-ence of Hellenism on world artistic culture. Visitors saw how the great civilisations – the Hellenic world, the ancient empires of the East and the world of nomads – met; how the process of Hellenisa-tion started wherever Alexander went – Greek art and architecture, the Greek language and way of life spread everywhere. The focus of attention was Alexander’s historic role in the destiny of Western Europe, Russia and the East, and Hellenism as a global process of interaction between civilisations and cultures. The first section of the display featured the myth of Alexander in New Age Western Europe. Visitors were then plunged into the atmosphere of the ancient world that nurtured the conqueror – into the art of classical Greece and Balkan culture. The main part of the exhibition was devoted to Alexander’s Eastern campaign – the sections followed his route, featuring works of art from Asia Minor, Egypt, Iran, Syria, Bactria and India. Among the masterpieces were depictions of Alexander on carved stones and coins, portraits of rulers and jewellery items. There were unique exhibits in the “Hel-lenised East” section – monuments from Middle Asia, Parthia and the Greek-Bactrian kingdom.The legacy of Alexander and Hellenism was the subject of the final section. It included monuments from Byzantium – the last Hellenistic state that founded the Christian world on an ancient base. In the 15th and 16th centuries Alexander, in the guise of Iskander, played a significant role in Per-sian literature. In the 18th and 19th centuries “The Alexander Story” became part of Russian cul-ture – of education, political thought, art and literature.

Anna Trofimova

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JJ SoCiologiSTS on exhiBiTionS

viSiTorS To The Temporary exhiBiTion “miKhail lomonoSov and The Time of elizaBeTh i”

This large exhibition, marking the 300th anniversary of the birth of the great Russian scholar-en-cyclopaedist Mikhail Lomonosov, was set out in formal rooms in the Winter Palace – the Ante-room, the Nicholas Hall and Concert Room. It included more than 700 exhibits from the collections of the State Hermitage and other St. Petersburg museums, archives and libraries. The main aim of the exhibition was to recreate the spiritual atmosphere of the reign of Empress Elizabeth, when Lomonosov’s genius was so vividly revealed.The age was represented by portraits, documents, architectural models, painting and graphic art, decorative applied art, jewellery and costumes. As far as Lomonosov himself was concerned, the exhibition featured unique documents in several languages with his signature, his extensive archive, poetry and prose compositions, models of his estate and of his chemical laboratory on Vasilievsky Island which has not survived, mosaic panels and panels of beads and bugles.The temporary exhibition was open for 94 days and no special ticket was required to visit it. It was seen by individual visitors and by those in groups, to whom guides showed the Hermitage’s formal rooms and the exhibitions in them. A total of 350,000 people visited the exhibition.A questionnaire was circulated among visitors to the exhibition on a random basis. The visitors were predominantly women – 77% of the total. The exhibition attracted primarily young people under 30 – 64%. Elderly people (aged 51 and over) accounted for 19% of the total and those of a mature age (31–50) – 17%. Most visitors had a high level of education: half were graduates, 40% had not completed their higher education, while those with secondary education accounted for just 11%.The exhibition was visited primarily by active working people. Most of them were professionals in the fine art field, teachers at higher and secondary educational establishments, and engineering-technical employees. A significant proportion of visitors were students in courses of higher educa-tion and unemployed people (housewives and pensioners).

Social Composition of Visitors to the Exhibition “Mikhail Lomonosov and the Time of Elizabeth I” (% of the total completing questionnaires)

StudentsStudents in higher education 37

In employmentArtists, architects, designers, art experts 12Teachers in secondary and higher educational establishments 7Engineering-technical employees 5Entrepreneurs, commercial employees 4Accountants 3Managers 3Medical employees 3Workers 2Researchers 2Lawyers 1Financiers 1

Not in employmentHousewives 9Pensioners 7

Almost a third of the respondents (30%) said that the exhibition was one of their priorities in visiting the museum; they all knew about the exhibition before their visit. Their main sources of information were word of mouth, the Internet and outdoor advertisements.About half of those questioned (53%) had specific motives for wishing to see the exhibition. There was a wide range of these motives, linked with the following areas of knowledge:– history (the Elizabethan age as a whole, Elizabeth’s decrees, an assessment of her reign, historical personalities of the time, Lomonosov’s life and his role in Russian history);– art history (the artistic style of the age, the architecture of St. Petersburg in the 18th century, portraits of statesmen, interiors and costumes, tableware, items of court life);– cultural studies (the way of life and the morals of the 18th century);– personology (Empress Elizabeth’s personal belongings, Lomonosov’s way of life, Lomonosov as a scholar, poet and artist, his interests and everyday items);– natural sciences (geodesy and cartography in the 18th century, Lomonosov’s scientific works, the making of mosaics, glass and porcelain, Lomonosov and porcelain);– aesthetics (aesthetic standards of the 18th century).The exhibition as a whole was highly appreciated by visitors and received only positive ratings from the respondents – 80% of those questioned gave the exhibition the highest rating: About a third of the respondents (30%) limited their description of their impressions of the ex-hibition to short emotional appreciative statements; the most common words used were “admi-ration”, “delight”, “amazement”, “impressive”, “interesting”, “instructive”, “superb” and “unforgettable”.14% of the respondents expressed their pride and admiration for Russia during the reign of Empress Elizabeth:– I was struck by the achievements of that time (housewife, St. Petersburg, 44, higher technical education);– I felt joy and pride of my country (St. Petersburg, male, 26, higher education in natural sciences, emergency doctor);– respect for our historic past (male architect, St. Petersburg, 62, higher artistic education).10% of those questioned remarked that the exhibition superbly recreated the spiritual atmosphere of the Elizabethan age:– I was pleasantly surprised by the atmosphere in the exhibition hall, which fully immersed me in the time of elizabeth’s reign (female student, St. Petersburg, 17, currently studying at the Pavlov State Medical University in St. Petersburg);– there was a sensation of a different age and a real idea of life in the 18th century (female student, Moscow, 18, uncompleted higher humanities education).5% of the respondents noted the large number of exhibits, and the fine structure and design of the exhibition:– an exhibition that gave an all-round impression of the elizabethan age (female student, Chely-abinsk, 20, currently studying at Chelyabinsk State Medical Academy);– the exhibition is structured very logically and organically, and reflects many areas in the life of that time (female guide at the Combined Artistic Historical-Architectural and Natural Landscape Museum-Reserve in Moscow, 20, higher humanities education);– an amazing blend of splendour and refinement (housewife, St. Petersburg, 37, higher economics education);– an excellently designed temporary exhibition (male student of natural sciences at St. Petersburg State University, 19).One of the aims of this sociological research was to clarify whether people’s concept of Mikhail Lo-monosov had changed after visiting the exhibition, and if so, in what way. As it turned out, 15% of the respondents said that they had learned something new about Lomonosov. Visitors in this category obtained a more profound impression of Lomonosov’s personality, the versatility of his talents, his areas of creativity, his way of life, the atmosphere that surrounded him, and his contemporaries. It should be noted that the subject of Mikhail Lomonosov in itself arouses great interest from the general public: 70% of those questioned expressed a desire to know more details about Lomonosov’s life and work.

Anatoly Roshchin

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SuCCeSS of The exhiBiTion “SanTiago CalaTrava. The QueST for movemenT”

This first exhibition in Russia of the work of one of the world’s leading contemporary architects was a great success. It was the most popular in the Hermitage 20/21 series of projects, attracting around 730,000 people.Let us take a look at the characteristics of those who visited the exhibition. There were not only many from outside the city (53%), but also a good number of St. Petersburg residents (47%), who are usually less active in the “high” season. The most numerous age group (62%) was, as always, young people under 30, predominantly students. The percentage of male visitors, who, as is well known, are particularly selective in visiting exhibitions, was more substantial on this occasion (44%), most of them working in engineering-technical occupations or in information technology. Special mention should be made of the number of professionals, mainly architects, who visited the exhibition (10%), when for other exhibitions this indicator is usually in single figures. Other professionals included sculptors, artists and art historians. The total of specialists and students at higher art schools was as much as 22%.The exhibition aroused a wide response in the city, judging by the fact that nearly every other re-spondent gave their source of information about it as advice from friends and acquaintances and the recommendations of colleagues.The overwhelming majority of those questioned (94%) gave the exhibition top marks. It appealed equally to professionals and ordinary visitors. Such a unanimous positive response to works by a con-temporary artist is quite exceptional – on a par with the usual ratings for traditional, classical art.So why did visitors rate Santiago Calatrava’s work so highly? What was the cause of their feelings of admiration and aesthetic pleasure?The aspects most commonly remarked upon were the versatility of his talent, his innovativeness, the freshness of his ideas, the fantasy, uniqueness and originality of his architecture with movement as its unusual property, the beauty and technical perfection of his buildings, the accuracy of his engineering calculations, the lightness, airiness and elegance of his constructions, the similarity to nature, his solicitous attitude to the environment and the large scale of his designs.The professionals among those questioned added to these Calatrava’s impeccable taste, the imagery of his architecture, the link with tradition and, most tellingly, his enviable ability to bring his ideas to fruition and work without restrictions. The range of visitors’ artistic preferences was very wide, encompassing most of the works displayed. The most popular of them were Wave (mentioned by 27% of respondents, mainly young people), The Cathedral of St. John the Theologian, The Quadracci Pavilion of the Milwaukee Museum of Art, Fountain and Samuel Beckett Bridge. Along with these, the most common replies were “I liked everything”, “a lot”, “kinetic transformations”, “bridges” and “models”. The interactive displays produced a great impression on ordinary visitors.A question about the significance of the exhibition drew a lively response, with 84% of the most varied replies.Experienced architects, who, of course, knew and appreciated the work of their Spanish colleague, most frequently spoke of the exhibition as “a professional event that should not be missed”, of the opportunity “to have a fuller idea of Santiago Calatrava’s work”, “penetrate into his ‘kitchen’” (meaning his sketches and drafts), and also of “the Hermitage’s competent display of contemporary architecture”. Teachers at higher educational establishments remarked on the “not only the artistic, but also the educational aspect of the exhibition”, “important for the new generation of St. Peters-burg architects”. The exhibition was a kind of “master class” for students of architecture from St. Petersburg and oth-er cities, who saw it as “a chance to get to know something new, to learn”, “to obtain a huge amount of useful material for reflection”, “to peep into the creative laboratory of the master”, “to feel and assimilate new trends in contemporary art”. They characterised the exhibition as a source of infor-mation and a stimulus for creative development.The topical nature of the exhibition for Russia and St. Petersburg was highlighted by both expe-rienced architects and beginners; this interested section of the audience expressed the desire for similar exhibitions to be held on a regular basis.The replies of other visitors clearly referred to the educational significance of the exhibition. Here are some of the comments: “It was an opportunity to see Calatrava’s fascinating and varied work”, “with the masterpieces of his architecture”, “with examples of engineering genius”, “understanding what contemporary architecture is as an art”, “its possibilities”, “comparison with our architecture

is, alas, not in favour of the latter”, “changing attitudes to contemporary architecture”, “seeing that it is no inferior to classical architecture”. In the opinion of many respondents the exhibition was topical, since it touched on the pressing problem of the current state of architecture and construction in St. Petersburg and was an example of the kind of architecture that should be supported by the authorities. The same visitors wanted architectural exhibitions in the Hermitage to continue.The following data was further evidence that Santiago Calatrava has won recognition by the Russian public as an outstanding contemporary architect. The question “Would you like to see this archi-tect’s buildings in your city?” was answered emphatically in the positive by the majority of respond-ents (86%). Those St. Petersburg residents who objected were more concerned with intrusion into the city’s historic centre.The research showed that the exhibition was successful, effective and important for St. Peters-burg. It fully justified the expectations of professionals and the artistic intelligentsia, and also had a strong influence on budding architects open to fresh, innovative ideas. The exhibition fulfilled its aesthetic-educational function, giving a wide range of social strata impressions of what exemplary contemporary architecture is. The project turned out to be extremely successful.

Irina Bogacheva

viSiTorS’ reSponSe To The exhiBiTion “jaKe and dinoS Chapman. The end of fun”

The research was conducted in the first section of the exhibition, the subject of the most virulent attacks in some of the media and on the Internet. We can draw the following conclusions from the data collected:The reactions of visitors entirely contradicted the statements in the media. The exhibition drew a positive response from the majority of those who visited the exhibition and nobody made any pro-test. There had been similar reactions to the previous exhibitions in the General Staff Building: they

all passed peacefully, even “America Today. Charles Saatchi’s Choice”, which caused such a furore in the press.It has to be said, of course, that such exhibitions are visited by people who are interested in contemporary art – not ordinary visi-tors to the main museum or tourists who end up in the exhibition because it happens to be on their route and are inclined – un-like visitors with a special interest – to give it conflicting or even negative ratings.In fact, the number of visitors to the contemporary art displays in the General Staff Building is not great – normally no more than 10,000. In this case, on account of the scandal, there were twice as many.At first the exhibition was visited by those with an active interest in contemporary art, sufficiently well-trained to accept this type of art and knowing what to expect from its radical forms. Ap-proximately two thirds of the total number of visitors were young people – students in higher education, budding specialists. Many

of them had a professional attitude to art as students in art colleges, gallery employees, artists or art teachers. Some of them have their own blogs on the Internet where they discuss current events in the art world. This part of the audience reacted to the Chapmans’ installations with characteristically composed emotions and were able to reflect on what they had seen.When the scandal provoked by the exhibition gathered pace, people in the older age bracket (50 to 80) began to visit it. They were not necessarily particular admirers or connoisseurs of contem-porary art, but found it interesting. They remembered the underground exhibitions of years gone by. These people have cultural baggage as regular visitors to the Hermitage, as well as other art mu-seums and exhibitions, concerts and theatrical productions. They came to the Chapmans exhibition not simply to see with their own eyes works that had been attacked by the critics, whose objectivity they doubted, but also to express their support for the Hermitage and its Director. Knowing of the exhibition’s anti-fascist content and having personally suffered during the Great Patriotic War, they were deeply offended by the attacks on the museum and expressed their feelings in no uncertain

Opening of the exhibition “Jake and Dinos Chapman. The End of Fun”. The Chapman Brothers

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JJ preSS on exhiBiTionS

Carlo Gavazzeni Ricordi. Imaginary Theatres in Rome

Carlo Gavazzeni has brought an “eternal treasure” to St. Peters-burg – views and panoramas of Rome. Enigmatic and mysterious, on the cusp between dream and reality – that is how the city is present-ed in these photographs. The special effect is achieved by the tech-nique of overlaying one photograph on another. What is produced is actually a fashionable 3D effect, and it is all done with an old cam-era and ordinary film.

“The ‘Imaginary Theatres’ of Carlo Gavazzeni Ricordi in St. Petersburg”, Rossiya K (Kultura), 3 February 2012

At a stretch of the imagination, The Gates of Rome XXXII could eas-ily be a fragment of the scenery for The Sleeping Beauty, an ancient wall imprisoned by an invisible but almost palpable web, age-old ne-glect and torpidity. Somewhere inside is life deprived of breath, and above it all the frozen sounds of an orchestra...

Svetlana Rukhlya, “Nostalgia for the Present”, Novyie Izvestia, 16 February 2012

The artist’s original vision gives the gloomy architectural landscapes a sense of mystery: the desolate rooms are illuminated only by thin strips of daylight, and the peeling walls are covered with rough, in-decipherable inscriptions and drawings. This mysterious world of Roman culture, this world of light and shade lures the viewer to go behind the ancient railings and step on the dry grass.

Sabina Abdullayeva, “A Theatre of Fact and Fantasy at the Hermitage”, Vesti newspaper, February 2012

Carlo Crivelli. The Annunciation with St. Emidius from the National Gallery in London. From the “Masterpieces from the World’s Museums in the Hermitage” Series

The latest exhibition of a single painting has opened in the Her-mitage – a single masterpiece, to be more precise. This showing of Crivelli’s work is an event not only because The Annunciation with St. emidius is considered to be one of the artist’s most important works. There actually are none of his paintings in Russian collec-tions – only the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts has a polyptych paint-ed by his brother Vittorio.

Alexey Mokrousov, “The Good News from Carlo Crivelli has Reached Russia”, Izvestia, 22 February 2012

You are quite likely to meet ufologists in the Hermitage today. Those who love searching for truth that is close at hand have been inter-ested in a painting by the Venetian artist Carlo Crivelli for several centuries. They have identified an object that looks like a UFO on The Annunciation with St. emidius. And this work has been brought to St. Petersburg, though not for long – until May – and in exchange for Da Vinci’s Madonna Litta, which is equally valuable.

Pavel Ryzhkov, “Ufologists have Identified a UFO in Crivelli’s Masterpiece”, NTV, St. Petersburg, 14 February 2012

Carlo Crivelli’s best-known painting has come to St. Petersburg. The Hermitage staff have been waiting for this gift for several months, and not surprisingly: at the end of last year they sent Leon-ardo Da Vinci’s Madonna Litta to the National Gallery in London. Now the “token of gratitude” – The Annunciation with St. emidius – has reached St. Petersburg.

Maxim Syu, “The British Thank the Hermitage with a Venetian Masterpiece”, Komsomolskaya Pravda,

18 February 2012

A Second Life. Coins and Medals in European Applied Art

There is something in this exhibition of one of the temptations that Flaubert dreamed up for his St. Anthony: a hermit finds a cup with a coin on the bottom of it; the coin is lifted and another one mirac-ulously appears underneath it, a third... then all kinds of “staters, shekels, darics and andrianics” pour out of the cup. The point is that had the saint found a clay pot with the same coins, the effect would have been less exciting. It is the same with this exhibition: it is not difficult merely to show a couple of hundred coins and med-als, but that would not be interesting without some kind of ges-ture on the part of the curator or designer. In this case the gesture, it has to be admitted, is an original one: the exhibits are not sim-ply fine numismatic pieces, but works of art made from these coins (or medals).

Sergey Khodnev, “Artistic Money”, Kommersant Weekend, March 2012

Surimono. Poetic Greeting

This exhibition of woodblock prints is essentially a monument to the museum’s restorers who have managed to bring back to life these unique examples of Japanese culture. These pages came to the Her-mitage in very poor condition – the silicate glue used to stick the prints to the mountings had turned into sharp crystals that were de-stroying the paper. The restorers have performed a miracle, and now visitors can see “Surimono” – that is the name of this type of Japa-nese prints, which features poetry as well as pictures.

Yelena Medvedeva, “Japanese Prints and Roman Coins – New exhibitions in the Hermitage”,

Radio Rossiya, 6 March 2012

The exhibition “Surimono. Poetic Greeting” is not great in size, but is still an outstanding event. It features only sixteen works – part of a collection of ancient Japanese prints acquired by the Hermitage in the 1980s. The 36 coloured woodblock prints were not in the best condition and the whole collection had to be restored. As the spe-cialists say, “the prints had been stuck to poor-quality paper with silicate glue, were damaged and had stains on them”. The work took almost three years and the results of the Hermitage restorers’

terms. Here are some of the reactions: “I was simply shocked that anyone could rate the exhibi-tion negatively – my mother and her family had lived through the siege and my grandfather had been seriously wounded at the front. We must never forget what the fascists had done to us, to our city”; “here is the naked bestial essence of fascism, all these crosses – excuse me, but that is how the Romans had executed criminals – it was not only Christ that was crucified, if you know your history”; “When I heard about it, I rushed here immediately, I am a regular here. I thought, Mikhail Borisovich (Piotrovsky) – Doctor of Art Theory and History and a renowned Oriental spe-cialist – he would never permit any rubbish to be shown here”; “all these speculations are just black PR of our country for the whole of Europe, for the whole civilised world”; “I saw these things on TV, but if I had known that they had crucified a clown, I would not have paid any attention. Personally I cannot see whether the protests are about the clown or the fact that it has been cruci-fied”; “It might shock only those who see it not

as a work of art”; “it is simply an excuse to blacken the Hermitage and Piotrovsky”; “They want a scandal”; “Now what those girls did in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour really did shock people and offend believers’ feelings, but this is an art museum, a different place entirely”; “You cannot tell me that Cossacks or devoutly religious people are really interested in modern art and go to exhibi-tions like this. On whose behalf are they concerned?!”As the data obtained during interviews shows, both the younger and older generation rated the exhibition “interesting” and “important”. The general impression it produced was characterised as “powerful”, “great” and “striking”.It has to be admitted that visitors experienced complex sensations and emotions in viewing the installations. On the one hand, they were struck and even carried away by “the gigantic volume of the artists’ work” and how it had been done – “precision and attention to detail”, “the working-out of each figure, each movement”. On the other hand, what they examined, as they themselves admitted, “with curiosity” did not arouse particularly pleasant feelings. However, nobody said any-thing about shock. Here are a few of the opinions: “I did not experience any extremely negative emotions, nor any rapturous delight or admiration”; “I could not say that I had pleasant feelings”; “I would not say that I was shocked, because none of it is life-size”; “perhaps it is tough, but how else can fascism be judged?!”; “I do not think it was particularly repulsive, as the figures are like toys”; “the scale of the figures relieves the sensation of horror”; “if the exhibition had been in the Winter Palace it probably would have been shocking, but not here”.Almost all those questioned spoke of a definite “relieving” of sensations of horror, of repulsion, i.e. actually of artistic perception.Apart from that, the replies showed that the artists’ concepts were fully comprehensible to visi-tors (“the works relate to actual historical situations”; “it is about fascists devouring themselves”; “the inevitable retribution for an ideology, for crimes”; “the artists themselves completely reject what stands behind these characters”; “they have been able to convey the sense of horror at that period in history, after which everything was different, and that is impossible to forget”; “the artists understand what world they are living in and what mankind can expect”.).Correspondingly, the challenge posed by the Chapmans’ works was seen by visitors as “a reminder to people, a warning, and that is very important”; “so that people do not forget how many lives a war costs, so that they do not repeat historical mistakes that can lead to apocalypse”; “so that we think about what is going on in the world, that there are problems that we must not hide away from”; “how we actually perceive cruelty, whether we have become accustomed to it”.All those questioned were in favour of similar exhibitions being held in the General Staff Building. They intend to visit such exhibitions and discuss them with their friends and fellow art lovers.

Irina Bogacheva

Opening of the exhibition “Jake and Dinos Chapman. The End of Fun”

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labours can now be seen in Room 374 in the Winter Palace, next to the Oriental collections and the art of the Impressionists. This proximity may look like a coincidence, but Van Gogh and the French Impressionists loved Japanese prints, collected them and sometimes reproduced them on their own canvases.

Alexey Mokrousov, “The Hermitage is Showing Rare Japanese Prints”, Izvestia, 6 August 2012

“In Written Words Alone...”. On the 150th Anniversary of the Birth of Nikolay Petrovich Likhachev

“In Written Words Alone...” is, of course, a quote from Bunin, who contrasted the solemn sound of writings with silent “tombs, mum-mies and bones”. In principle, it has suited science to ridicule this lofty contrast – following proper examination, mummies and bones are now actually very eloquent and completely honest to boot. As for paper – well, as Tynyanov wrote, “there are formal documents, and they tell lies, just like people do”. However, the exhibition does not challenge us to take on trust all these myriad lines in living and dead languages. It is about something quite different: man’s feeling for the past, which comes out in these carved, printed or written lines,

the delicate beauty that sometimes shines through even in texts that are not at all intended to be admired. And, of course, it is about that wonderful time when the market for antiquities was quite different and a striking collection could be amassed not by an oil baron or an arms manufacturer, but by an expert in palaeography.

Sergey Khodnev, “A Museum Document Presentation”, Kommersant Weekend, 20 April 2012

Degas. Place de la Concorde. From the “Restored Masterpieces” Series

The Hermitage is showing Edgar Degas’s Place de la Concorde in its “Restored Masterpieces” series. This masterpiece by one of the most prominent French Impressionists, which has been called the most “enigmatic” and the most “Parisian” of his works, has been restored and, as researchers confirm, is now as close as possi-ble to the condition it was in nearly 150 years ago just after Degas had painted it.

Svetlana Rukhlya, “The Revival of Place de la Concorde”, Novyie Izvestia, 23 May 2012

It is difficult to call this event an exhibition in the direct sense of the word: the painting has been installed in the place where it will hang for quite a long time – until it moves to its new home in the Gener-al Staff Building along with its neighbours in the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist rooms. However, there can be no doubting the significance of this event: the canvas has been cleaned, made light-er, brighter and even a few centimetres larger. The restorers bent back the lower strip of the canvas that was concealed underneath the stretcher, and this has had a substantial effect on its present for-mat… The main message of this “exhibition” is that the painting was and still is one of the principal adornments of the Hermitage collection. And nobody can argue with that.

Kira Dolinina, “The Viscount Strolls in Any Weather”, Kommersant, 23 May 2012

Santiago Calatrava. The Quest for Movement

This exhibition is worth seeing not only on account of the great Cala-trava, but also to see how an art exhibition can be made from a dis-play of architecture and how fresh a view of a generally acknowl-edged idol can be.What do we expect of an architectural exhibition? Blueprints, models and designs. But here those are the last things you notice. The curators (Christina Carrillo de Albornos on the Spanish side and Ksenia Malich on the Hermitage side) have shown Calatra-va as an artist. The main part of the display (not in quantity but in importance) is devoted to his sculptures, drawings and art ob-jects. They are shown not as preliminary studies or as the architect’s sideline or hobby, but as an integral part of the aesthetic developed by him.

Anna Matveyeva, “Santiago Calatrava. The Quest for Movement”, ARTkhronika, No. 4, 2012

The Hermitage is staging an exhibition by the outstanding Span-ish architect Santiago Calatrava entitled “The Quest for Move-ment”. It is the first time the work of a living star of architec-

ture has been shown in such a large-scale and spectacular way in St. Petersburg.As a rule, architectural exhibitions are unbearably boring: endless stands with photographs, abstruse blueprints and tedious explana-tions. There is none of that here, for which we should be grateful to the curators. At the opening visitors were already enthusiasti-cally photographing each other against the background of the nu-merous intricate objects. The public were obviously delighted and intoxicated by the kinetic models, abstract sculptures and elegant watercolours.

Ilya Arkhipenko, “Architecture of Inconstancy”, Stengazeta, 6 July 2012

At the opening of the exhibition by the Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, one of today’s most celebrated architects, in the Nicho-las Hall of the Winter Palace your correspondent suddenly recalled the well-known paradox – crooked female legs, though not recog-nised as the official ideal of beauty, excite men much more than the perfect legs of models and ballerinas... And here they are – crooked beauties, in all their glory – in the Hermitage exhibition: 150 de-signs, sculptures, drawings and models selected for the museum by Senor Calatrava himself...Calatrava’s exhibition – all these sculptures and designs of mov-ing, revolving and turning buildings and bridges – on the one hand, blends into the interior of the majestic Nicholas Hall and, on the oth-er hand, has completely transformed its pompous, haughty Imperial luxury, filling it with air, light and a playful spirit.

Zinaida Arsenyeva, “Santiago Calatrava would Like to Build a Bridge across the Neva”, Vecherny Peterburg,

5 July 2012

The exhibition by the well-known contemporary architect Santia-go Calatrava is being shown in the Nicholas Hall, the largest room in the Winter Palace. The room is quite an ordeal for artists and works of art. On several occasions it has brought recognised and distinguished artists down to size, but it has acknowledged and ac-cepted Calatrava. After all, the Hermitage is itself the creation of great architects and contains a remarkable collection of archi-tectural graphic art by seventeenth- to nineteenth-century foreign artists.The exhibition has turned out to be beautiful, exquisite (white on white), fascinating and instructive from the point of view of broad-ening architectural horizons.

Liudmila Leusskaya, “Calatrava’s Serious Toys”, St. Petersburg Vedomosti, 3 July 2012

However, all these knobs and attractions do not at all mean that the exhibition is frivolous. On the contrary, it is one of the most well thought-out exhibitions at the Hermitage in recent times. The nor-mally gloomy, huge Nicholas Hall appears to be full of air. Ca-latrava’s light constructions, his abstract sculptures, oval shapes in the arches and classical figures on enormous sheets of paper form an entirely individual space within the formal palace interi-or. If the Hermitage continues this series of retrospectives of fa-mous architects, as it has promised to do, then the tone has truly been set. If, on the other hand, Calatrava remains the only star to come here, it is nevertheless a lesson for the city, which essentially

rejects any top-class contemporary architecture, so will not pass without leaving a trace behind.

Kira Dolinina, “Intercostal Architecture”, Kommersant, 3 July 2012

848. The Collection of Georges Matcheret and Nadia Wolkonsky

The display in the foyer of the Hermitage Theatre features 200 enve-lopes painted by Russian underground artists in the final third of the 20th century. The names of widely recognised artists mingle easily with those of their more modest colleagues, forming a cross-section of “the second Russian avant-garde” – a phenomenon that exist-ed in a particularly closed space and extended substantially further than an exclusively artistic context.

Svetlana Rukhlya, “Messages to the Future”, Novyie Izvestia, 10 July 2012

The exhibition that opened in the Hermitage on 29 June is not only outstanding evidence of a whole age of contemporary art from 1980 to 2000, but also a reminder of how pleasant it was some-times to receive letters in ordinary envelopes. These works cannot be described as traditional mail-art, as none of the envelopes was used for its original purpose and never reached a letter-box. They cannot even be described as traditional art, but the power of the works and the impression that remains from seeing the collection are colossal!

eva Istr, “Letters from Underground Soviet Artists to Contemporaries”, Gallerix, 30 June 2012

Tylos. The Journey beyond Life. Rituals and Funerary Traditions in Bahrain. 1st Century BC – 3rd Century AD

The Hermitage exhibition, according to the concept of the French designer Didier Blin, should give visitors the sensation that they are entering a tomb. The somewhat terrifying sight of the wooden sar-cophagus, clay burial vessels and life-size photographic images of a grave in the middle of the room gives way to interested contempla-tion of the treasures placed in the burial.

Yekaterina Kalinina, “Archaeological Monuments of Ancient Tylos from the Bahrain National Museum are on Display in the State

Hermitage”, ITAR-TASS, Moscow, 2 July 2012

As you go into the exhibition, it is as if you were entering an ancient necropolis. This illusion is reinforced by various video-technical ef-fects from the impressive exhibits – the wooden sarcophagus and ceramic vessels – the burial places of small children. The gold, sil-ver and bronze adornments, the items made of ivory and ceramics, the weapons, coins and food and the original steles all help modern people to understand how the residents of Tylos lived and what they believed in.

eva Istr, “Burial Rites of Bahrain”, Gallerix, 5 July 2012

At the exhibition “‘In Written Words Alone…’. On the 150th Anniversary of the Birth of Nikolay Petrovich Likhachev”

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Enrique Selaya. The Tower of Snow

The Hermitage in St. Petersburg is gradually becoming also a muse-um of contemporary art. A five-metre sculpture by the Cuban-born American artist Enrique Selaya can be seen in the Great Courtyard of the Winter Palace. The bronze boy on crutches carrying a house on his back is an allegory of man’s search for his place in the world. Selaya was eight when his family was forced to leave Cuba: since then the artist’s concern for the loss of his native land is evident in almost all his works. Incidentally, the French word “ermitage” means a “refuge”.

“Cuba is Nearby”, Vogue, August 2012

The Book as Art. Twenty Years of the Rare Books of St. Petersburg Publishing House

The St. Petersburg publishing house which issues books with a circu-lation of no more than 25 has put its folios on display in the Hermit-age – fairy tales, historical treatises and ancient plays in a unique design. Books which every schoolchild would dream of having in his or her library are now on show in the Hermitage. The exhibition marks the publishing house’s anniversary: all the most fascinating books published in the last twenty years have been put on display. Each exhibit is a genuine work of art created with the use of unique materials.

Pavel Ryzhkov, “The Old Curiosity Shop: Ancient Literature ‘Dressed’ in Ceramics and Carrara Marble”, NTV,

St. Petersburg, 11 September 2012

Russian Lithographic Portrait of the 19th Century

For the first time the Hermitage is showing 150 lithographic portraits from its collection. The exhibition’s organisers have laid special emphasis on the art of lithography in Russia, but visitors will be much more interested in the subjects of the portraits. There are certainly people who are worth a closer look: all the high society of the last two centuries, including the extended Imperial family, top military officers, writers and composers. Also included, of course, is Pushkin – calm and even handsome.

Yelena Druzhinina, “What Handsome Faces, and How Long Ago it Was”, Intellectualny Kapital, 22 September 2012

Paula Modersohn-Becker and Worpswede Artists. Drawings and Prints. 1895–1906

Paula Modersohn-Becker has gone down in history as an outstand-ing Expressionist artist who revealed the potential of primitivism and whose value was appreciated on the Paris art scene. The Her-mitage exhibition features her drawings, engravings and etch-ings – country landscapes and scenes from peasant life. It is a pity that we shall not see her celebrated series of self-portraits in which the artist appears in the nude. Those works stuck in the memory of her contemporaries and subsequently became cult symbols for feminists.

Stanislav Savitsky, “Communism, Feminism and the Third Reich”, Delovoy Peterburg, 19 October 2012

Medals of Dishonour

This exhibition was conceived in the British Museum, and this is noticeable – one probably has to have an English sense of humour to come up with such an elegant theme from the peripheral field of medal art. The point is that the theme has been stood on its head – whereas medals are usually a celebration of some event or person-age, the objects in this exhibition show the “reverse side” of history, moments of individual or collective disgrace and dishonour.

Kira Dolinina, “Awarded with Contempt”, Kommersant, 11 October 2012

The Wild Swans. Découpages and Costumes Designed by Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II of Denmark for the Film Adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s Fairy Tale

The art of découpage is individual, fragile and refined. The Dan-ish writer’s fairy tale, familiar to most people from childhood, is a triumph of good over evil, a manifesto of love and virtue. Their “confluence” forms in an exhibition space a little corner of life divorced from the real world – supernatural and extremely dec-orative. And it helps viewers to immerse themselves in the other world.

Svetlana Rukhlya, “A Strange Universe”, Novyie Izvestia, 29 October 2012

Marc Chagall and the Livre d’artiste. Selected Prints

A point of interest is that among the numerous fabulous imag-es created by the artist the exhibition also features his own image. His book “The Circus” resurrected in the artist’s memory reminis-cences of his childhood in Vitebsk. And the sad clown making people smile is the artist’s alter ego.

Anna Tsiopa, “Chagall Appears as a Sad Clown”, Nevskoye Vremya, 16 October 2012

In the opinion of the exhibition’s curator Mikhail Balan, Cha-gall cannot and should not be reduced to a common denominator. He is too diverse. The only thing he was never inclined to occupy himself with was the decoration of a page. The link between his “il-lustrations” and the text, though frequently entirely paradoxical, is always justified for a host of reasons. For Chagall, one of the most recognisable twentieth-century artists who never deviated from his style, each such book was a challenge. For today’s viewers it is an amazing discovery of how somebody else’s text can be dealt with on an equal footing.

Kira Dolinina, “Living Souls”, Kommersant, 16 October 2012

Architectural Library: Architectural Drawings from the State Hermitage and Sergey Tchoban’s Collection

This “library”, somewhat Borges-like in its heterogeneity and de-gree of surrealism, is arranged in pairs. Sometimes the pairs are obvious: two sheets by the same architect from the two collections. Sometimes they are paired by closeness of themes. Sometimes

the theme is made up. Sometimes the theme works on contrasts. And the crowning glory of the whole display (topographically ev-erything starts from it) is the famous panorama of St. Petersburg by Mikhail Makhayev (1749–1750). Until now we have known it only from the numerous prints used to check the canonical pan-orama of the Neva with its perfect skyline. In Tchoban’s collection Makhayev’s panorama is presented in the form of a preliminary drawing, and one can imagine the surprise of specialists when they see the noticeable differences from what appeared to be unshake-able fact.

Kira Dolinina, “Construction Pages”, Kommersant, 19 October 2012

Jake and Dinos Chapman. The End of Fun

In fact, showing the Chapman Brothers Disasters of War series in a city that knows all the horror of war, and not by hearsay, is quite logical. Whereas the nightmare of war and the blockade has been blunted by a surplus of non-locals in the population, it is fast being revived. The revulsion caused by the compositions of plastic fascists enjoying cannibalism and self-destruction is psychologically fully compatible with feelings of hatred for fascism.

Maria Roshchina, “Fascinated by Horror”, Vash Dosug, 15–28 October 2012

The visitor contemplating this mini-hell in the Hermitage moves from one glass showcase to another. There are nine of them, like Dante’s circles of hell, but if you were to do the impossible and hov-er above the showcases, you would see that they form a swastika. But the swastika cannot be seen! The visitors are on one side of the glass, but their gaze is beyond the glass. They peer at the ter-rifying scenes of the fascist inferno, walk around them, then step back from the glass and take in the panorama. Nothing but fas-cists! Even the soil is not simply impregnated with fascists – the soil is fascists. Nobody but fascists. Fascists going who knows where, fascists’ heads on stakes, shark-fascists with swastikas on their fins, semi-decayed fascists, fascist goats with swastikas on their

sleeves. Nobody is fighting with anyone else. The fascists are fight-ing among themselves.

Victor Mazin, “The Chapmans’ Hell in the Hermitage”, expert Online, 19 November 2012

There is no denying the boldness of the Hermitage. The Chapman Brothers’ work has already been seen in Moscow, where it was displayed in private galleries. For a museum of classical art with a worldwide reputation to take such a step was not an easy decision, though the Hermitage curators have taken precautions: they have selected by far not the most provocative works of the scandalous brothers, who are renowned for their “horrors”.

Zinaida Arsenieva, Boris Oskin, “Mikhail Piotrovsky: In Fact This Fun will Never end”, Vecherny Peterburg,

22 October 2012

“There is No One to Help them”. Tragedy in the Graphic Works of Francisco Goya

The opening of the new rooms in the General Staff Building would have been a boring event had it not been for the Goya exhibition. It includes many works from the famous Los Caprichos (Caprices) series – uncompromising virtuoso drawings, a tradition of qual-ity long forgotten by our contemporary artists. The display fea-tures instruments of torture, a mask for liquid torture, clamps for the fingers and a mask for torture by starvation with surprising-ly attractive sticking-out ears. This room is always full of interest-ed visitors.

Stanislav Savitsky, “Toy Fascists”, Delovoy Peterburg, 26 October 2012

“An Artist of All Schools”. Christian Wilhelm Ernst Dietrich (1712–1774)

It is symbolic that this exhibition is a sort of preparation for the 250th anniversary of Russia’s principal museum of European art. If one were to collect Dietrich’s vast legacy (around 2,000 paintings

The exhibition “Architectural Library: Architectural Drawings from the State Hermitage and Sergey Tchoban’s Collection”

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in various museums and private collections in Europe) and display them all in one palace, you would have a reduced version of the art of old European masters from late Renaissance and Baroque to Ro-coco and Academism. It is also symbolic that Dietrich’s landscapes were among the first purchases of the Berlin merchant Johann Gotz-kowsky, beginning the picture gallery in the Hermitage in 1764. Di-etrich’s genre scenes in the style of the “Small Dutch Masters” were purchased by Catherine II in 1769 as part of the collection of the Saxon minister Heinrich von Brühl.

Sergey Khachaturov, “The Imitator”, ARTkhronika, 18 December 2012

The Hermitage is staging an exhibition of works by the German art-ist Christian Dietrich, who never painted an original picture, but copied canvases in the Dresden Gallery.In the late 1990s Stefan Breitwieser, probably the most famous art thief, explained that it was the German artist Christian Ernst Diet-rich who inspired him to steal paintings. The Saxon painter’s first monographic exhibition in Russia is being staged by the Hermitage to mark the 300th anniversary of his birth.

Violetta Ryabko, “A Brazen Imitator and Inspirer of Art Thieves”, Deutsche Welle, 20 February 2013

DAYS OF THE HERMITAGE – 2012 A Sentimental Journey: Wedgwood in Russia

It was not by chance that this exhibition was entitled “A Sentimen-tal Journey”. As the Hermitage General Director Mikhail Piotro-vsky explained, Britons and Russians have always had a sentimen-tal attitude to each other, even though the countries may have often been at loggerheads politically.But how delightful this 200-year-old Wedgwood porcelain is! What sweet paintings, what a charming frog – the Wedgwood symbol for Catherine II’s service. You look at them, sigh, then go about your business, but something remains within you...

Yelena Druzhinina, “An english Lesson”, Intellektualny Kapital, 8 December 2012

DAYS OF THE HERMITAGE – 2012 A Treasury of Books. 250 Years of the Hermitage Library

The full code of laws of the Russian Empire, Catherine the Great’s favourite albums and a valuable book with Voltaire’s autograph. The Hermitage librarians are continuing the scholarly traditions of their Imperial predecessors. The State Hermitage is preparing to celebrate the 250th anniversary of its library. Tomorrow visitors to the museum can see a wonderful collection of book treasures. The exhibits include valuable folios from the collections of Emper-ors and Empresses, which are being shown to the general public for the first time.

Pavel Ryzhkov, “Art Historians from the Imperial Library are Showing Luxurious Folios from the Past”, NTV,

St. Petersburg, 6 December 2012

Antique Style in Russian Imperial Porcelain in the Second Half of the 18th Century. From the “Christmas Gift” Series

The exhibition of remarkable pieces of Russian porcelain is com-plemented by genuine ancient artefacts (sculpture, ceramics and carved stones) and by European Neoclassical works (graphic art and porcelain). This material at one time provided the inspiration for Russian antique-style porcelain.Continuity in the use of ancient heritage is also demonstrated by the original work of today’s porcelain masters. New designs under the umbrella theme “Antiquity in porcelain” were selected especially for this display.

Yelena Druzhinina, “Porcelain in the Antique Style”, Intellektualny Kapital, 21 December 2012

“The Thunder of 1812...”. The Patriotic War of 1812 in the Hermitage Collections

The centrepiece of the narrative is the battle paintings of Peter von Hess depicting the major battles of 1812. They were commissioned by Nicholas I for the Winter Palace. They are surrounded by works of fine and applied art, including drawings and prints made by par-ticipants in the events of 1812. Of special interest to visitors are the fighting and trophy banners, medals, orders, cold steel weapons and firearms. These are not merely relics of an age: the uniforms bear the signatures of the officers and soldiers who wore them, the weapons saw enemies’ blood and the banners are impregnated with the smoke of battle.

Liudmila Leusskaya, “A Landmark Year”, St. Petersburg Vedomosti, 26 December 2012

The exhibition features some fascinating material. On the whole, the selection of exhibits and the way they are shown create the impres-sion that the events of those heroic years are thought of today as mythological, allegorical, archaeological... The exhibition about the thunderstorm continues the theme of an allegorical and symbolic triumph. Peter von Hess’s battle paintings, commissioned by Nich-olas I, depict all the principal battles of the campaign. There are lots of orders, uniforms and medals. The enemy banners are thrown down in the rooms like the German banners by the Kremlin wall.

Sergey Khachaturov, “A Minted Celebration”, Neskuchny Sad, 4 February 2013

“United we shall be, as one!..” The Patriotic War of 1812 in the Medals of Alexey Olenin and his Contemporaries

The formation of the heraldic image of the victory over Napoleon is featured in the Rotunda of the Winter Palace. The title of the ex-hibition is a line from the reverse side of an anniversary commemo-rative medal...The exhibition is the first time that Olenin’s work has been shown in an historical context: the medals are surrounded by works by Fy-odor Tolstoy, Ivan Shilov, Karl Leberecht and even Empress Maria Fedorovna, the widow of Paul I.

Alexey Zakhartsev, “Hermitage Director Mikhail Piotrovsky: ‘Our museum’s mission is to tell the story of the state

and military history of Russia’”, File-RF, 27 December 2012

Toy Soldiers in the Hermitage. On the 200th Anniversary of the Patriotic War of 1812

Tin soldiers are of special significance for the Hermitage. Its col-lection of military-historical miniatures includes the collection of the celebrated Lev Rakov, the Hermitage employee who found-ed the Museum of the Defence and Blockade of Leningrad. From 1938 there was a permanent exhibition in the Hermitage entitled “The Military History of the Russian People”, initiated and creat-ed by Rakov. His miniature army now forms the basis of the new display.

Zinaida Arsenieva, “Tin Soldiers – A Staunch People”, Vecherny Peterburg, 25 December 2012

However, for visitors the most attractive part of the exhibition was what they literally wanted to touch. Behind the glass of the showcases are figures of Russian and French soldiers, composi-tions featuring several regiments and dashing cavalry. Part of the collection was brought to the Hermitage by an ordinary Lenin-grad builder, who discovered a box with nineteenth-century boys’ amusements in the stove of an old house on the Petrograd Side af-ter another war – the Great Patriotic War. The find supplemented the Hermitage collection of tin soldiers, one of the richest in Rus-sia. These three-centimetre men are capable of influencing the public no less than huge battle paintings. After all, in history there are no small details.

“The Hermitage is Staging Three exhibitions to Mark the Victory in the War of 1812”, Rossiya K (Kultura),

26 December 2012

HERMITAGE • VYBORG CENTRE, VYBORG

Two Centuries of French Elegance. Decorative Art of the 17th and 18th Centuries from the State Hermitage Museum Collection

Starting today Vyborg residents can immerse themselves in the mys-terious atmosphere of seventeenth-century Paris and peep into the couloirs of Versailles. The display in the Hermitage • Vyborg Cen-tre features art from the reigns of Louis XIV and Louis XVI... What is notable is that the exhibits on display in Vyborg cannot be seen in the Hermitage, as the collection on display is kept in the museum’s reserves, so aesthetes from the Northern Palmyra will have to travel to Vyborg to see these fine examples.

“Paris is to be Shown in Vyborg”, Online 47, 10 April 2012

The unusual presentation of material in “Two Centuries of French Elegance” is not typical of the Hermitage. There are a large number of fragments of pictures demonstrating the functional significance of the exhibits. The graphic images explain what these luxury items were made of, how they were made and how they were used. For in-stance, few people today know that the watches on chatelaines that were popular in the 18th century were attached to the belt.

Liudmila Leusskaya, “Luxury Fit for a King”, St. Petersburg Vedomosti, 23 April 2012

The Last Russian Emperor. The Family and Court of Nicholas II at the Turn of the 19th – 20th Centuries

The new display reveals all the variety of the collections possessed by the state museum. Despite the fact that exhibitions devoted to var-ious periods of history and culture have been staged at the Vyborg branch, this display is important in that it tells the story of one of the most tragic periods in Russian history. “The exhibition vividly reflects the course of history and the lesson in life that Russia under-went”, said Georgy Vilinbakhov, Deputy Director of the Hermitage and State Herald-Master of Russia.

“The New exhibition in the Hermitage • Vyborg Centre has been Presented to a Delegation from Finland”,

BaltInfo, 26 October 2012

HERMITAGE • KAZAN CENTRE

Nomads of Eurasia on the Road to Empire

From the Scythians to Genghis Khan. The visitor’s route begins in the Ural steppes and ends in Karakorum, the first capital of the Mongol Empire. The vast display “Nomads of Eurasia on the Road to Em-pire” has opened in Kazan. Over 2,000 exhibits from the State Her-mitage collection describe the culture of the nomadic tribes of the Eurasian continent – from the beginning of the 1st millennium to the 13th century. This great, enigmatic civilisation of travellers, having no written language, left their descendants their own chronicle of objects, and each item here is unique. Moreover, many of them are being shown for the first time.

“Nomads of eurasia on the Road to empire: from the Scythians to Genghis Khan”, Rossiya K (Kultura),

19 June 2012

HERMITAGE • AMSTERDAM CENTRE, AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS

Impressionism: Sensation and Inspiration. Masterpieces from the State Hermitage Museum

The contrast between the Impressionists and adherents of classical and Neoclassical painting makes it possible to sense the revolution-ary character of the then new trend. The display is structured so as to include not only the work of the Impressionists’ predecessors, but also that of those that followed them, such as Paul Gauguin and Paul Cézanne. According to the Hermitage General Director Mikhail Pi-otrovsky, “This exhibition is truly revolutionary art”.

Maria Fyodorova, “An exhibition of Impressionists from the State Hermitage Collection has Opened

in Amsterdam”, ITAR-TASS, 16 June 2012

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reSToraTion and ConServaTionreSToraTion and ConServaTion

in 2012, the department of Scientific restorationand Conservation (headed by Tatiana Baranova)restored 4,332 cultural and artistic objects

including:

easel paintings 427

tempera paintings 27

murals 50

oriental paintings 16

graphic works, mounted and assembled works, books, book bindings and documents 887

sculptures, objects of applied arts and objects made of semi-precious stones 56

objects of applied art made of decorative and “new” metal, stained glass panels, ceramics 2,304

objects of applied art made of organic materials 199

textiles 134

timepieces and musical mechanisms 10

objects made of precious metals 80

chandeliers 33

furniture pieces 60

photos and photographic materials 49

laBoraTory for SCienTifiC reSToraTion of eaSel painTing

Headed by V. Korobov

HUGO VAN DER GOES (1435/1440–1482) TRIPTYCH ThE AdoRATion oF ThE MAgi

15th centuryOil on canvas, transferred from board. 96 × 77 cm (central part); 96 × 32 cm (side panels)

Restored by V. Brovkin

The restoration of the triptych started in May 2008 with a com-plex examination of the work: X-ray, infrared and ultraviolet scanning, analysis of pigments and the varnish layer. These in-vestigations revealed the presence of restorative inpaintings and corrective additions made in the course of previous restoration at-tempts. The alien repainted pigment layers obscured about 50% of the original painting, while the yellowed layers of varnish and grime had altered the colour considerably, making grey and brown the prevalent tone.As early as 1908, Max Friedlӓnder, a scholar of Dutch painting, noted that “the dull tones of the whole painting and the insuffi-cient clarity of many details, especially on the sides, are deplor-able and prevent the altar from appearing before us with its first-class freshness, precision and artistic power. The poor state of the painting seems to be the main reason for the undeserved atten-tion it has so far received from the critics”. The painting has been cleared of later overpainting layers. This was the most challeng-ing and demanding part of the work, and it was completed under a microscope. The clearing was made even more difficult by the fact that there were extensive areas of petrified restorative mastic

Before restoration. Detail After restoration. Detail

applications under the overpainting layers, which overlay both the small areas of loss and sections of the original painting.Many elements of the design were uncovered during the clearing. After the thick layer of overpainting was removed, grass and flow-ers were revealed growing in the cracks between the stones, and the texture of the stone revealed many shades of colour. It was even possible to see the artist’s fingerprints in the glaze coat; it is possible that the master applied his fingers to the fresh paint to achieve an effect he could not get with a brush. The carpen-ter’s tools standing near the wall were more clearly outlined, and the object that had looked like a stick turned out to be a saw. Be-fore restoration, it had been impossible to understand the origin of a green reflection on the soldier’s metal breastplate. It turned out to be a reflection of bright green sleeves which had been over-painted in dark brown.The background sections of the triptych showing earth, grass, and the pedestal, had been painted over. On the central panel, the light grey earth floor strewn with ears of corn and straw had been painted dark brown, with horizontal wooden planks painted over it. As a result, the painting appeared simplistic and lacked the numerous details hidden under the new coats of paint. The pre-vious restorers had altered the folds of the garments in some places, while the many inpaintings had altered the original col-our scheme. In the circumcision scene, the originally bright green vestments of the priests had been painted an ungainly dark colour,

Hugo Van der Goes. The Adoration of the Magi. After restoration

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reSToraTion and ConServaTion reSToraTion and ConServaTion

Before restoration. Detail

In the process of cleaning. Detail

and the folds of the clothing had been changed. Each restoration (there were four documented ones) added new alterations to the original painting. The numerous overpainting areas did not merely cover the areas of loss but extended far over the original painting, changing its colour and tone and making the painting appear dark and monochrome. Moreover, the thick layer of old yellow varnish had become opaque and deteriorated into whitish spots, and in places it was like a shagreen skin.The lost areas of the painting were toned starting from 2012 using Maimeri Restauro varnish colours. The abrasions and the more obvious cracks and craquelure were also toned. The most damaged areas of the original painting in the lower part of the central panel (the clothing of the kneeling Melchior, the hat, the cup and the wooden stand, were reconstructed in the original manner on the basis of the surviving particles of paint. The lacuna on the face of the Wise Man has also been filled in. The young Ethiopian Balthazar’s left leg and the lower rim of his clothes have been reconstructed as well. The section with the angel holding the canopy on the right-hand side has also been restored in the manner close to the original. The restoration took around five years and was completed in November 2012. A number of ele-ments of the triptych that had been hidden from researchers and viewers for many years have emerged. This creates the opportunity for a further study of the works of this great master. The original fifteenth-century canvas, cleared of later overpainting, has strik-ing saturated colours and pays close attention to minute details.

laBoraTory for SCienTifiC reSToraTion of Tempera painTing

Headed by I. Permiakov

ANONYMOUS ARTIST MEMEnTo MoRi (ALLEgoRiCAL REPRESEnTATion oF ThE nATuRE oF EARThLy LiFE)

Late 17th – early 18th centuryOil on board. 32.7 × 28 cm

Restored by N. Malinovsky

It is not known exactly when and where the painting underwent a previous restoration. The backing wooden panel has through cracks. The edges of the painting were reinforced on all sides with wooden planks. The board had been cradled using the parquetage technique. The painting had undergone several restorations. The study in UV luminescence revealed repainting over nearly the whole surface and another late restoration paint layer under it across the sky, applied when the backing board was expanded.The painting of the figures had been severely damaged by wash-ing and “alterations” applied to individual local segments in oil, which had changed its colour and tone. The original inscription had not survived and had been painted anew. The earth in the low-er part of the picture had been completely repainted. The thick coat of varnish has darkened and cracked. The museum’s Restoration Commission decided to thin out the varnish coat and to remove the top layer of overpainting. When re-moving the repainting from the background, the letters of the new inscriptions were left in situ. The removal of the repainting in the

lower part of the painting uncovered restoration priming applied over the addition, which partly overlay the original paint layer.On the figures, the removal of old repainting revealed coats of res-toration priming applied over the well-preserved original painting.

The paint layer was restored over the original priming, which has been levelled. On the added side boards, the dark paint layer had been applied directly over the wooden boards. Corrective retouch-ing was applied to it.

RUSSIAN ICON. NORTHERN SCHOOL ST. CyRiL oF BELozERSk WITH HAGIOGRAPHICAL BORDER SCENES

17th centuryTempera on board (pine). 124 × 105.5 × 5.5 cmFrom the Church of the Holy Trinity, village of Nyonoksa, Belomorsk District, Arkhangelsk Region (field trip of 1959)

Restored by T. Chizhova

The Hermitage collection of Old Russian icons was mainly augment-ed in the course of the collecting activities: from the 1950s on, field trips were organised to identify and acquire objects of Old Russian art. The Nyonoksa pogost (rural centre) was mentioned in an early fifteenth-century chronicle as a large trading centre of the lands around the Dvina River, which was part of the estates of Martha Boretskaya, the widow of the Novgorod Posadnik (Mayor). Later, this rich estate belonged to some large Northern monasteries. The most significant historical artefacts from the area are the icons from Nyonoksa’s St. Nicholas Church, primarily The Last Judg-ment (late 15th – early 16th century), and those from the Holy Trin-ity Church: St. Nicholas of Zaraisk with hagiographical scenes (first half of the 16th century) and The Nativity of the Virgin (16th cen-tury). These icons are close to the Moscow and Novgorod originals of the 15th century. But Nyonoksa had its own painters by the early 16th century (The Virgin Hodegetria, the State Russian Museum).

Anonymous Artist. Memento Mori. Before restoration Anonymous Artist. Memento Mori. After restoration

After restoration. Detail

In the process of restoration. Macro photo of part of the inscription

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The seventeenth-century icon showing St. Cyril of Belozersk sur-rounded by hagiographical scenes comes from the same Church of the Holy Trinity in Nyonoksa and was probably painted by a lo-cal artist. The icon was deeply revered, was repainted many times and was encased in a metal stamped and embossed mounting case (oklad) with a stylised geometric pattern.The saint is depicted wearing a monk’s clothing in full-size front view; he is sending a blessing with his right hand and holding a scroll in his left. There are sixteen hagiographical scenes on top and on the sides. The backgrounds of the scenes were covered in haphazardly applied metal plates with engraved inscriptions. The mounting case was poorly preserved, it had separated from the painted surface and has insertions. The whole surface of the painting was repainted with crude coarsely ground oil pigments.At the start of the work aimed at removing the stamped mounting case, it was revealed that it had been glued to the painting by a lay-er of glutinous blackened linseed oil varnish, which had caused the paint layer to become detached from the gesso. This made the restoration process much more difficult. It was necessary to re-move the oil varnish, to stabilise the paint layer and to dismantle the mounting case plates all at the same time. After the case was removed, differently dated late gesso insertions were revealed in areas where the original gesso had been lost, as well as numerous areas of repainting which overlay one another. The painting previ-ously hidden by the cover was in a much better state of preserva-tion than the open areas of the icon.Well-preserved seventeenth-century cursive writing has been re-vealed; lost areas were toned in an approximate manner without reconstructing the pattern; the case and metal plates with inscrip-tions were mounted on canvas placed on a stretcher.

JACOPO DEL SELLAIO (C. 1441–1493) MAdonnA And ChiLd

Italy, 15th centuryTempera on board. 115 × 69 cm (with frame)

Restored by N. Malinovsky

The painting is painted on a board consisting of three poplar planks glued together and encased in an attached wooden frame with a carved top and a carved console in the lower part bear-ing a shield with the coat of arms of the commissioner. The paint-ing on the shield has not survived. It may have been deliberately obliterated. All that remains are the old marks left by a sharp in-strument, which may bear witness to the events in Florence in the 15th – 16th centuries. After it was finished, the painting had been repeatedly rinsed and even polished with pumice. Traces of burns were discovered on the frame. The only parts spared by time are the images of the faces and hands of the Virgin and Child. The Ma-donna’s cloak, her headscarf and chiton and the Infant’s himation had been repainted many times. These areas were considerably thickened by the additions of later paint layers. The niche in the background had the same fate. The lower layers of repainting were applied in tempera colours, and the top ones in oil. All of them had also been damaged by rinsing in varying degrees.

The study of the painting in visible UV luminescence uncovered a film of glue across large areas of the painted surface and al-lowed to identify a crude overpainting over the Child’s himation. The study in infrared light did not provide a definite answer as to the presence of the original paint layer. The rays could only pen-etrate the layers of semi-transparent oils on the Madonna’s cloak as far as the tempera layers and revealed the extent of the dam-age to the lower paint layer as low as the priming on the frame. The presence of large amounts of lead in the top painted layers made it impossible to use X-ray analysis. Only test clearings un-der a microscope and the study of harvested microscopic samples were able to look under the surface paint layers and gain a notion of the state of preservation of the original painting.The museum’s Restoration Commission decided to remove the old glue remaining from old stabilisation attempts and to clear the variously dated repainting as much as it is possible.After the top layer of oil overpainting was removed from the Ma-donna’s cloak, a light blue tempera layer was revealed, which had losses all the way down to the preceding layer, primarily across the tips of the craquelure. Additional investigations showed that the original paint layer had been severely worn down so that it was dif-ficult to see the modelling of the folds. The general colour scheme had been entirely different.

St. Cyril of Belozersk with hagiographical border scenes after toning the losses

Part of the border scene The Vision of St. Cyril. Cursive writing. 17th century

Jacopo del Sellaio. Madonna and Child. Before restoration Jacopo del Sellaio. Madonna and Child. After restoration

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Only small areas of the original painting had survived under the late crude repainting of the Child’s himation, so it was necessary to restrict conservation to the reduction of the surface layers of paint. The original paint layer on the white cloak falling from the Virgin’s right arm has been revealed. Unfortunately, only small fragments of paint and remnants of the fold pattern were to be seen in its other part over her left shoulder.It proved impossible to remove completely the pink overpainting over the Madonna’s and Child’s hands and faces. This late layer of paint had been applied directly on the painting without the inter-vening coat of varnish, so all the restorer could do was thin it out as much as possible. Late repainting on the backgrounds alternat-ed in some areas with layers of restorative priming, under which the original dark-red paint layer was discovered. The outline of the niche had been altered.There were considerable challenges in the process of removing restorative repainting from the frame. The first test clearings re-vealed a complete absence of the original paint layer. The surface of the frame had been repeatedly polished using a coarse abrasive (pumice) and repainted. The priming had become uneven. It was decided to thin out all the late repainting as much as possible. This work revealed scraped outlines of stars and a thin dotted pattern over the priming.After the repainting was removed, the colour scheme became much warmer. The original outlines of the images were revealed, the painting of the niche became less disjointed and the original design of the artist became much clearer.

laBoraTory for SCienTifiC reSToraTion of mural painTing

Headed by A. Bliakher

A TWELFTH-CENTURY OLD RUSSIAN FRESCO FROM THE HOLY TRINITY CATHEDRAL, PSKOV KREMLIN

Excavated in 1981

Restored by O. Khakhanova

The fresco had been buried in a heap, and the state of preservation of the painting is unusual for frescoes removed from walls or dis-covered amid ruins during excavations. The fresco had fallen from a considerable height onto uneven ground together with a heavy block of masonry. The cemented bricks did not fall apart after the impact, so that the stucco with the fresco remained over the brick-work. The fresco fell surface first and so was severely damaged by the fall, breaking into many tiny pieces with edges crumbling to dust; the cracks between them were filled with limestone grit. Ground stucco and earth fixed the pieces in place. The painting was so damaged that it was nearly impossible to discern the im-age. Before restoration, the location of each fragment was marked

on a plastic film so that after dismantling the fresco it was possible to put each of them back in place.After restoration, the fresco was made whole again. The copied pattern made it possible to place each fragment in its proper place and to rectify deformities, so that the image of the lower part of the figure in golden robes became visible. After restoration, the fresco fragment – the only extant example of twelfth-century fresco painting from the first stone Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in the Pskov Kremlin became fit for display and could be included in the State Hermitage exhibition programmes.

PAINTED CEILING FROM THE CAVE MONASTERY

Xinjiang; Bezeklik, 8th – 9th century

Restored by S. Teploukhova

The State Hermitage possesses a collection of mural paintings based on loess stucco from Eastern Turkestan, collected in the early 20th century by the first Russian expedition to Turkestan headed by Academician Sergey Oldenburg. The collection of arte-facts from the oases on the Great Silk Road is still of paramount importance for the study of various cultural, religious and artistic aspects of the life of many peoples who lived in this vast region of Central Asia.The fragments of a painted ceiling from cave No. 43 (19) are also part of this collection. All the fragments had been mounted on plaster slabs in the 1930s. The paintings had been originally brought to the laboratory as separate fragments not forming part of a single design, which were mounted on different backing at different times: wax and galipot mastic and polystyrene boards. After the majority of the fragments had undergone restoration it became clear that all of them were part of a single painted ceil-ing design. It was decided to remove the painting from earlier

A twelfth-century Old Russian fresco. After restoration

Restorer O. Khakhanova working

Jacopo del Sellaio. Madonna and Child. Microshield of the painting of the himation on the Child’s shoulder

In the process of thinning out the overpaintings. Detail

In the process of thinning out the overpaintings. Details

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mounts and to attach all the fragments to a single foam plastic board and to complete the lost segments with monochrome draw-ings. Because the image was greatly fragmented it was difficult to imagine it as a single whole, so a computer reconstruction was produced.After restoration, the image became a single whole, while the graphic reconstruction enabled the viewers to see the design of the painted ceiling in its entirety. All the fragments have been brought together to create an impression of the décor of cave No. 43. This unique mural can now be included in the exhibition programmes of the State Hermitage.

laBoraTory for SCienTifiC reSToraTion of orienTal painTing

Headed by Ye. Shishkova

SERIES OF PORTRAITS OF HIGH-RANKING CHINESE DIGNITARIES

Restored by A. Gorodishenina, A. Divletkildeyeva, M. Korotkov, A. Tsepkova

The reporting year saw the completion of the restoration of a se-ries of Chinese portraits of high-ranking dignitaries. All in all, 32 items underwent restoration between 2009 and 2012 for a new exhibition of Chinese art and culture, including twelve paintings on silk backed on rolled China paper.The restoration of the series of portraits of dignitaries was espe-cially challenging and interesting. It required an original approach to the task in hand. The small collection of Chinese portraits at the Hermitage is gathered from different sources: the portraits were acquired at different times and together form a small gallery of images of Chinese officials of various ranks. The iconography of such portraits goes back to the official Confucian tradition of the socio-ethical importance of a person. Most often, these were official or memorial portraits of members of the Imperial family, historic figures or statesmen and dignitaries.The minutely detailed clothing accessories, armchairs and carpets make it possible to establish the status of the figures portrayed.

The Portrait of a Qing Dynasty Dignitary with a Beizi Title can be dated to the 18th century. The Portrait of a Dignitary in the rank of Zhenguo Gong dates back to the 19th century. The elderly lady in the portrait dating back to the middle or second half of the 19th century was equally high-ranking; she may have been a mem-ber of the Qing Imperial family.The portraits were painted in glue pigments on silk, which was then backed on three layers of China paper and mounted in a silk frame. Judging by their state, before being mounted on old frames they had been rolled and stored without due care, which resulted in many horizontal breakages. Two of the portraits had been nailed along the edges to the stretcher and board, while the portrait of an elderly lady was pulled tight over a stretcher. For many years, these works had been part of the exhibition of Chinese art.In 2009, they were dismantled for the first time and sent for res-toration. Their poor state of preservation, not very noticeable under glass, became apparent now. The silk backing had become yellow and had started to peel off from the backing paper as the glue was gradually drying up. The rolls were very dusty and grimy, with stains of various origins: foxing, water ingress, spots of paint

Painted ceiling from the cave monastery. Fragments with graphic reconstruction. After restoration

Restorer S. Teploukhova working Dismantling the silk backing of the portrait

Portrait of a Chinese Dignitary. After restoration

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and the numerous tears and cracks which stretched both the paper and the silk. The backing paper had become brittle and fragile. The paint layer on the portraits was also a cause for concern as it was too dry and starting to crumble. There were especially many losses of the pigment on The Portrait of a Dignitary. The old silk frames had become so stained that their ceremonial white colour was barely visible. The situation was exacerbated by the large size of the canvases – on average 2.8 × 1.5 m.When the work started, the Laboratory had no special equipment; the full dismantling and restoration of these rolls could have tak-en years and had to be done on Chinese tables; it was necessary to find a “simple” solution to this complex problem. Conserva-tion and restoration were only one side of the preservation plan; another, equally important task was finding a way to display the rolls after conservation.After they had been dismantled, the portraits were cleaned inas-much as that was possible, the paint layer was stabilised, the tears

reinforced with glue, and weakened areas of the backing made more stable. In order to mount the portraits on new boards, they were attached to additional supporting edges made of Japan pa-per. They had been previously levelled on the floor by stretching. Before this operation, the floor was washed with water and alco-hol and then marked for placing the portraits. The levelling pro-cess required some corrective measures. After they were attached to new boards, the portraits were toned.The final stage involved the making and attaching of new frames made of backed-up Chinese silk. This work required an experimen-tal and original treatment: the mounting of the supports on BEVA film. This is not a traditional method but it allows the techniques used to be reversed. When their full restoration following the can-ons of Chinese rolls becomes possible, it will be easy to dismantle the portraits again. The work was successfully completed; the por-traits were placed in glass frames so that it was possible to admire their new and impressive look.

laBoraTory for SCienTifiC reSToraTion of graphiC WorKS

Headed by T. Sabianina

CHARTER OF TSARS IVAN, PETER AND TSAREVNA SOPHIA FOR LANDS IN THE RZHEV DISTRICT GRANTED TO STOLNIK NELIDOV

Moscow, 1689Paper, manuscript, ferro-gallic ink, printed cloth, silk cord, wax, printing. 266 × 32.5 cm

Restored by V. Khovanova

The charter was sent to the Laboratory from the collection of man-uscripts and early printed books at the Department of the History of Russian Culture, State Hermitage. This is the only scroll char-ter manuscript in the collection (266 cm long), a rare document reflecting the short period in Russian history when the country was ruled by three children of Tsar Alexey simultaneously: Sophia, Ivan and Peter. This is one of the last charters written in the Old Russian style. This is an artefact of significant academic interest which can become a valuable exhibit and a worthy addition to dis-plays illustrating the history of Russia.The charter was in a very poor state when it was brought to the Laboratory. It was damaged in various ways which reflected the most unfavourable conditions it had been kept in: considerable staining, numerous tears, losses, typical hard transverse creases, various paper pastings on the reverse (an attempt to halt the disin-tegration). Unlike other similar documents which had undergone restoration in the past, it was badly damaged by mould. A number of species of mould was discovered, which manifested themselves in stains of different colours: black, grey, pink, violet. The mould caused the paper to lose its sizing and to turn from high-quality, durable rag paper to something close to blotting paper, while the mould infestation spots had turned into cotton wool-like mass causing loss of the writing or the nearly complete fading and loss of legibility.First and foremost, it was necessary to neutralise the mould, to remove surface stains inasmuch as it was possible, to stabilise the paper and to restore its flexibility. The greatest challenges were

presented by the difficulty of working with a large document and the presence of writing in ferro-gallic ink which does not tolerate humidity or exposure to chemical agents, as well as the rigid tra-ditional structure which was impossible to separate into elements. The pendent seal and the rag pocket bind together the charter it-self (written in ferro-gallic ink over rag paper), and the paper and textile (linen) covers. In order to carry out the necessary conser-vation, the document was taken apart following the gluing lines which were bound together by bands of writing on the reverse side of the document, which connected the different parts of the char-ter and served as protection against fraud). After the end of the restoration, the document was bound together following the origi-nal seventeenth-century protective bands.The joint efforts of the restorer V. Khovanova, curator of the manuscript sector at the History of Russian Culture Department O. Maltseva, restorer of the Laboratory for Scientific Restora-tion of Textiles and Water-Soluble Paintings N. Pinyagina, senior research fellow of the Scientific and Technical Examination De-partment Ye. Mikolaichuk, research fellow of the Biological Con-trol Laboratory O. Smolyanitskaya helped to restore the charter, return it to academic circulation and make it fit for display.Portrait of a Chinese Dignitary. After restoration. DetailPortrait of a Chinese Dignitary. Before restoration. Detail

Restoration Commission at work

Restorer V. Khovanova Charter in the process of restoration

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THE GOSPEL BOOK

Moscow, 1754. 458 pagesPrinted paper. Binding: oak boards, velvet, brass fittings with gilding and silvering. 30.0 × 19.5 × 10.0 cm

Restored by T. Grunina-Shkvarok, S. Kudriavtsev, M. Matveyeva

The Gospel book was brought to the Laboratory in 2008. The re-storers’ task was primarily to preserve the extant artefact as much as possible with minimal interference. The examination showed that preventative measures would not be sufficient. A book con-sists of the actual inner book (made of paper or parchment) and the binding (wooden boards, cardboard, leather). This variety of materials makes books difficult to conserve. In this case, two labs were involved in restoration: the Laboratory for Restoration of Graphic Works and the Laboratory for Restoration of Textiles, which restored the velvet binding. The conservation of 458 paper pages by the highly-qualified researcher M. Matveyeva was very time-consuming.The Gospels were in a poor state of preservation. The binding had become detached from the heavy inner book (5.5 cm thick), while the inner book itself was badly damaged by soaking. There were water stains on all pages, the needlework had disintegrated (torn cords and decayed threads), and individual pages were falling out. The flyleaves made of white paper moire were covered in deeply ingrained dirt, brown spots, stained by the red velvet, torn and scratched. It is always difficult to work with paper moire because the traditional mechanical method (using rubber or rubber dust) is not very effective for removing dust and dirt from it, and water destroys the pattern on the surface.Such large books were usually carefully glued together, and the ingress of water or other liquids caused the glue to dissolve and to penetrate deep inside the inner book and glue individual quires and even pages together. It is hard to take such books apart be-cause of additional damage caused to the pages along the central folds. Another challenge was caused by the inevitable thicken-ing of the back if all the pages were patched in the same place. In this case, paper thinner than that of the inner book was used.

The patches were applied without overlaying and stabilised on both sides with square paper. After each page had been cleaned from dust, adhering grime, wax drops and ingrained dirt in the corners, it was subjected to water treatment to dilute the ingress stains. Each page was first patched along the central folds and then pressed. After it had dried, other losses were filled in and tears stabilised. As a result, it was possible to conserve the inner book without widening the back.The restoration of the book was fully completed in the end of 2012.

GIUSEPPE PIETRO BAGETTI (1764–1831)

ThE EMPERoR nAPoLEon wATChES ThE gREAT ARMy CRoSS ThE nEMAn on 23 junE 1812

Watercolour on paper. 50 × 80 cm, 60 × 90 cm (including margins)

ThE EASTER SERviCE in ThE ALLiEd CAMP on 24 MARCh 1814

Watercolour on paper. 50 × 80 cm, 60 × 90 cm (including margins)

Restored by O. Mashneva

Both the watercolours were received in a poor state of preser-vation. They must have been exposed to light for a long time – the general uneven yellowing of the backing paper was in places dark brown. There was a wide dark brown vertical strip around 15 cm wide in the middle of the pages over the image of the sky. The uneven brown discoloration distorted the artist’s original col-our scheme to the extent that the delicate layer of watercolour paint was completely invisible, including the background white. The main challenge faced by the restorers was undertaking the full conservation cycle involving intensive water treatment on two paired drawings of considerable size made in the same technique. The restoration procedures had to be carried out simultaneously, which made them more difficult.The watercolours were backed on thick drawing paper stretched on cardboard holders. The paper was separated from the hold-ers, and the remaining glue was removed from the folded mar-gins. The water and chemical treatment was applied in sev-

eral stages with a gradual increase in chemical concentration.These procedures resulted in counteracting the fading of the pa-per and the brown strip. So the backing paper was restored to its original colour, which revealed the delicate watercolour drawings,

including the background, and increased the contrast with the nat-ural colour of the paper. After the restoration, the watercolours became fit for display; they were on shown as part of the exhibition “The Thunder of 1812”.

Pages of the Gospel book. Before restoration The Gospel book. After restoration

Giuseppe Pietro Bagetti. The emperor Napoleon Watches the Great Army Cross the Neman on 23 June 1812. After restoration

Before restoration. Detail After restoration. Detail

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MICHAEL WOLGEMUT (1434–1519) ThE nATiviTy

Black ink, watercolour on paper. 42.4 × 31.8 cm

Restored by Ye. Rudakas

One of the few extant graphic works by Dürer’s teacher Michael Wolgemut was sent to the Laboratory in spring 2012 ahead of the exhibition “The Early Dürer” (Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg, Germany).The drawing was badly stained, with multiple layers of dust along the edges, with old, ingrained grime over the whole surface. There were large brown water stains over the figures and background in the top and bottom parts of the sheet. The drawing had been torn in two and glued together horizontally, with edges of the two parts overlaying each other and distorting the picture, which was especially evident in the middle of the sheet. The paper was frail, with many variously shaped tears and losses of paper, creases and folds leading in different directions, abrasions on the upper layer of the backing and the paint layer. On the reverse, there were nu-merous pasted horizontal strips of rag paper of varying thickness. These had been pasted at different times, over one another, and some of these pastings had been lost. An earlier insert connecting the torn parts of the drawing was at the same time filling a loss of the backing paper with part of the picture in the right-hand side of the sheet. Early uneven layers of glue of varying thickness were stretching the background paper and causing severe deformities: creases, deep folds, which had become stable and habitual over time.In order to repair and stabilise the frail backing paper, it was nec-essary, first of all, to remove the multiple pasted strips of paper and old glue. The restorer took into account the delicate technique used in the drawing (ferro-gallic ink), the water-soluble nature of the pigments and the general frail state of the paint. The tech-nique used to produce the drawing would not allow to moisten the sheet directly and required only conservative methods. To remove the multiple pasted layers, these consisted in a flexible combina-

tion of “dry” removal methods (by separation) and the applica-tion of warm water compresses and water solutions of methyl cel-lulose to selected areas in order to soften the old glue. After the paper strips had been removed layer by layer, the reverse of the drawing was revealed, which was completely covered in old glue. The glue had penetrated deeply into the backing paper, complete-ly saturating it in places and emerging on the front side as hard yellow blobs.It took many weeks of painstaking work to clear the surface of the sheet of glue centimetre by centimetre, without causing any damage to the delicate upper layer or thinning it out. Methods of restricted moisturising were used, while the drawing was kept on the restorer’s desk where the state of the paint layer was always closely monitored. After clearing and local washing, the backing paper proved to be frailer than it had looked during the visual ex-amination. The drawing became visible on the reverse. In some sections of the image, the backing paper was torn along the out-lines and was in danger of falling out. The most weakened parts of the backing were stabilised first, where the backing paper had become too weak, torn, thin and frail. The losses were filled and the numerous tears reinforced. The drawing was backed on a thin sheet of Japan paper. The backing page also strengthened the frail original backing paper and held in place the old deformities which

had been straightened out during restoration, but remained unsta-ble. For a month, the drawing was pressed under controlled local weight in order to stabilise it.The restoration was complete and the drawing made fit for exhi-bition in quite a short time. Between May and November 2012, it was displayed at “The Early Dürer” exhibition in Nuremberg. After it was returned to the Hermitage, its state of preservation was checked, especially that of the levelled sections with habitual old deformities. The state of the drawing has remained unchanged. At present, it is held at the Department of Western European Fine Arts.In 2012, the Hermitage restorer Ye. Rudakas was awarded the Vladimir Potanin Grant “for contribution to the development of the Hermitage” for the restoration of Michael Wolgemut’s draw-ing The Nativity.

26 LITHOGRAPHS PAINTED WITH WATERCOLOURS, FROM DRAWINGS BY FABER DU FAUR

First half of the 19th century32.0 × 52.0 cm

Restored by M. Gambalevskaya, O. Mashneva, N. Petushkova, Ye. Rudakas, Ye. Tatarnikova, Ye. Shashkova

The album had originally belonged to the Strelna Palace library. Christian Wilhelm von Faber du Faur was a German battle artist. He served as a French colonel in Marshal Ney’s Сorps and took part in the entire 1812 campaign. His series of drawings illustrat-ing the war in Russia were engraved in 1827–1830 and published as “Sheets from My Portfolio Sketched on the Spot during the Campaign in Russia of 1812”. The album was reprinted several times, and alongside the drawings by Albrecht Adam, it represents one of the most valuable pictorial sources for the war of 1812.26 sheets, damaged in various ways, form a single series, which was in need of restoration because of its poor state of preservation and because it needed to be prepared for the celebrations com-memorating the historic events of 1812.The album pages sent to the Laboratory contained lithographs painted with watercolours, with some details drawn in gouache, with varnish over the shadows. The backing paper had faded in places, occasionally to a brown colour, with rectangular brown spots in the upper section and large through areas of discoloura-tion. There were many hard creases, patterned tears and losses along the sheet edges. There were many stains of different ori-gins over the whole surface, including deep foxing. The brittle and fragile paper had suffered all the typical mechanical dam-age: deformation, hard creasing, bends, fixed distortion such as wrinkling, cockling, folds, numerous tears and losses of backing paper. The paint layer was damaged as well: there were abrasions with pigment loss, following in most cases the areas of distortion or creases. It was necessary to neutralise the discolouration, grime and stains, and to remove the disintegration products from the thin and brit-tle fine-fibred structure of the paper. Repeated careful and mild chemical treatment of selected areas helped to achieve the desired result. It was necessary to be especially careful when dealing with

the sheets on which the watercolour was in some places covered by a thin layer of water-soluble varnish. After the tears and creases were stabilised by patches and glue, and after the losses were filled in, the paper structure was reinforced by pasted patches and its flexibility restored. The restorers managed to bring the 26 fine prints back to life and to achieve uniformity as the end result of their work. The series was prepared for display at “The Thunder of 1812” exhibition.

Restorer Ye. Rudakas working

Michael Wolgemut. The Nativity. After restoration

A. Gnaut (from a drawing by Christian Wilhelm von Faber du Faur). Napoleon’s Retreat from Moscow. 1831. After restoration

A. Gnaut (from a drawing by Christian Wilhelm von Faber du Faur). Napoleon’s Retreat from Moscow. 1831. Before restoration

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MATTHIAS TRENTSENSKY AFTER L. VON KLEIST

ThE BATTLE oF nEuMARkT, 24 APRiL 1809

Lithograph, gouache, watercolours, white pigment, varnish. 36.5 × 50 cm

ThE BATTLE oF ARCiS-SuR-AuBE, 8 MARCh 1814

Lithograph, gouache, watercolours, white pigment, varnish. 36.5 × 50 cm

Restored by Ye. Shashkova

The lithographs were sent to the restoration lab ahead of the ex-hibition “The Thunder of 1812”. They were identical in execution, presentation and state of preservation. Lithographs with trimmed margins were painted over in bright pastose watercolours with white pigment and gouache, and the shadows in the lower part

of the pictures had a robust layer of varnish. On the reverse side, the lithographs were slightly faded with occasional spots and wa-ter stains. The front side had a strikingly bright and picturesque colour scheme, but the state of the sky was a little “ambiguous”. Where a glimpse of blue sky was meant to be seen between the clouds, there were dark stains dotted with greyish-brown spots. On one of the sheets, these stains were visible across the whole sky, breaking through the gouache layer with varying intensity.Before the start of restoration, L. Gavrilenko, head of the Labora-tory for Physical and Chemical Methods of Examination of Ma-terials at the Department of Examination and Authentication of Works of Art, carried out some tests which identified the source of the damage: the impact of the environment on the white lead paint used by the artist. Over time, the fluctuations of temperature and humidity, the lack of light, air pollution with sulphur- and chlorine-containing compounds and other damaging factors had caused

a change in the structure of white lead paint, producing the stains which distort the image. The method of treating these stains was based on the article by Sophie Lacore, first published by IPCRA in January 2000 and successfully tested by our restorers in a similar situation on a series of drawings by Vasily Sadovnikov. The main challenge was presented by the areas showing the sky, which was stained with numerous greyish-brown spots which had altered the colour of the paint layer. On the front side, the areas of paint con-taining the greatest number of grey spots where the white lead had faded were subjected to repeated treatment. It was applied for an extended period of time, repeatedly and in stages, usually by con-tactless method, although some individual stains were subjected to local treatment. Between the treatment sessions, the sheet had to be well aired and some of its areas washed. An additional chal-lenge was caused by the fact that the technique used (gouache, watercolours, white paint, varnish) was not water-resistant, which meant that any rash application of liquid could dilute the paint layer, alter it or damage the varnish.After the end of the conservation, the restorer Ye. Shashkova managed to localise the damaging spread of dark stains. The paint layer became clearer and the image of the sky became more con-sistent with the artist’s original concept.

laBoraTory for SCienTifiC reSToraTion of SCulpTure and Semi-preCiouS SToneS

Headed by S. Petrova

TWO MEDICI VASES

Russia, Peterhof Lapidary Factory, first half of the 19th centuryMalachite, bronze; mosaic; casting, embossing, gildingHeight 177 cm, diameter at the top 132 cm

Restored by A. Androkhanov, K. Chervonenko

The restoration project was completed with the financial support of individual members of the Hermitage Friends’ Club

The so-called Medici krater vases, which are usually on display in the Large Italian Skylight Hall in the New Hermitage, were made at the Imperial Peterhof Lapidary Factory, one of the key centres of artistic stone carving in Russia between the 18th and early 20th century. For a long time, both vases had been in a poor condition. The mas-sive square plinths had lost many of their malachite plates and were badly chipped and dented, with many traces left by previous restoration and renovation attempts. The task of the restorers was to stabilise the malachite plates and to fill in lost areas.First of all, the places where the malachite plates had been lost were cleared of wax, remnants of plasticine and stains. Then the restorers selected malachite which matched the special character-istics and patterns of the plates used for the vase plinth. This was a vase made of dark, “stripy” malachite with a symmetric pattern of plates, so it was especially important to choose malachite of the right tone. In order to fill in the losses on the vase with a “strip”

Matthias Trentsensky. The Battle of Neumarkt, 24 April 1809. After restoration

Matthias Trentsensky. The Battle of Arcis-sur-Aube, 8 March 1814. After restoration

The Medici Vase. After restoration

After restoration. Part of the vase

Before restoration. Part of the vase

Matthias Trentsensky. The Battle of Neumarkt, 24 April 1809. Detail. After restoration

Matthias Trentsensky. The Battle of Neumarkt, 24 April 1809. Detail. Before restoration

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pattern of mosaic plates, three different types of malachite were used (of different colour and with different patterns). The mala-chite blocks were sawn into three-mm-thick plates matching the size and direction of the patterns adjacent to lost areas. The se-lected malachite plates were cut to shape, put together in ac-cordance with the original pattern, fitted and glued to the base. The connecting seams, holes, and small losses were filled in using “macadam” mastic made with natural resins and containing vari-ously graded malachite grit. The areas of the restoration inlays were then finished to match the original texture: the filled-in areas were dressed and polished. The polishing was done using a canvas bag stuffed full of cotton waste and a polishing paste made of sul-phur, powdered tin and green crocus.As a result of the restoration, the vases became fit for display; their artistic image was restored and the danger of further dam-age to inlaid plates on the plinth was removed.

ThE AnnunCiATion RELIEF

Italy, 16th centuryGilded alabaster. 12.8 × 10.3 cm

Restored by Ye. Andreyeva and A. Androkhanov

The miniature relief with The Annunciation scene, made of alabas-ter in the 16th century by an unknown Italian master, was sent for restoration in 2010. There were traces of gilding on the protrud-

ing parts of the relief, and there were occasional traces of paint in the deeper recesses. The work of art was in a disastrous state and was not fit for display. The alabaster plate had been bent by the deformation of the thin wooden board to which the relief was bound with a thick layer of glue. There were many variously direct-ed cracks over the whole surface of the relief, including vertical cracks with considerable widening and occasional losses. The sur-face was considerably stained, with thick dust sediment in cracks and recesses. The overlaying shaped sections of a wooden frame were only preserved on top and on the left-hand side. The difficulty lay in the need to clear the surface of the relief from the most ag-gressive stains carefully and slowly, preserving the traces of gild-ing and taking into consideration the potential shifting of small fragments caused by numerous cracks.In order to prevent the relief from disintegration and avoid new cracks caused by the deformed backing, and to make the piece fit for display, the Restoration Commission of the State Hermitage decided to dismantle the relief. This was preceded by the investiga-tion of the composition of the old glue, which ensured the success of the operation.The relief was carefully removed from the wooden board and, upon consultation with the curator Ye. Karchyova, backed with revers-ible restoration glue onto a new foundation made of natural mar-ble, which is a carbonate rock like alabaster, but is more durable and therefore more fitting for the preservation of a thin and frag-ile item. The new foundation is a board which exactly replicates the shape of the reverse side and size of the relief.

STATUE OF PERSEPHONE

Second-century Roman copy of a Greek original from the 4th century BCMarble. Height 210 cm

Restored by Ye. Andreyeva, V. Klur

The restoration project was completed with the financial support of individual members of the Hermitage Friends’ Club

The sculpture was acquired by the State Hermitage from the col-lection of Marquis Gian Pietro Campana in 1852. It was restored in the 19th century; to the Classical female figure dressed in a long chiton and himation was added the head of another ancient statue wearing a diadem. There were many restoration additions in marble and plaster: the nose, the chin, part of the diadem, the left eyebrow, an inset on the left cheek, part of the neck, breast and shoulders and part of the back, the left foot, the right foot with ankle and part of the folds, the plinth. The numerous connecting seams between the ancient parts and the later additions were stained, filled with darkened wax and galipot mastic, the surface of the original mar-ble was in places overlaid with stained plaster pastings. The sur-face of the marble was covered with uneven stains. In order to make the statue fit for display, it was necessary to clear the surface of stains and late plaster pastings, to modify the outlines of the old restoration plaster additions, to clear and fill in the joining seams between the original fragments and the multiple late fillings.

Ahead of the restoration, the state of preservation of this ancient statue was subjected to a close study, which revealed numerous traces of previous restorations. A detailed description of the ar-tefact and its technique was made to be used in the preparation of catalogues of the Department of Classical Antiquity.Considering the composite nature of the stains on the surface of the marble and the restoration additions, it took some time to work out the cleaning methods. The surface of the statue was cleared from persistent, uneven stains and spots of various origins using the 1% surfactant solution and bristle brushes. After treat-ment, the surface was washed with distilled water and dried with muslin. The surface of plaster additions was mechanically cleared of many layers of dark mastic, using the dry method. The join-ing seams were cleared of yellow wax and galipot mastic using cotton-wool compresses dipped in acetone. The time of application was one to three minutes, until the mastic became softer. The old plaster mastics were mechanically removed from the joints using medical scalpels after first dampening the plaster with cotton-wool tampons dipped in distilled water. The numerous stains of the old dark-yellow mastic were removed from the surface of the diadem, hair, face, neck, and cloak on the front using cotton-wool compresses and isopropyl alcohol. The edges of late plaster ad-ditions were identified and corrected. The later plaster pastings were removed from the surface of the original marble. The sur-face of plaster fragments was treated in order to refine the shape and boundaries between the ancient part and the restoration ad-ditions. The mechanical method was used: plaster was removed

The Annunciation relief during cleaning The Annunciation relief. After restoration Statue of Persephone. Before restoration During cleaning After restoration

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from the marble surface with medical scalpels after dampening with distilled water. The joints were filled with mastic based on the 10% isopropyl alcohol solution of PVB polymer mixed with white marble dust and dry pigments (natural umber, light ochre, golden ochre, soot). The mastic was applied layer by layer, with each lay-er polished after drying with fine-grain sandpaper. The surface of plaster fragments was covered with mastic based on the 5% iso-propyl alcohol solution of PVB mixed with white marble dust and dry pigments. The surface of the plaster additions had been soaked in 1% and 3% isopropyl alcohol solution of PVB. The mastic was applied in layers, with intermediate finishing of each layer. This finishing made it possible to tone and refine the shape of the res-toration additions following the modelling, colour and texture of the original marble.The restoration made the sculpture fit for display and allowed it to become a fuller embodiment of the technique and advances of the time when it was created. The clearing of the surface revealed the modelling of this ancient monument and the traces of early restoration. The mastic and toning helped to unite the original fragments and the plaster additions into a single visual whole.

PROGRAMME OF PARTICIPATION OF THE STATE HERMITAGE IN RESTAURO, SALON OF THE ART OF RESTORATION AND CONSERVATION OF THE CULTURAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL HERITAGE FERRARA, ITALY

Programme coordinator: S. Petrova, Head of the Laboratory for Scientific Restoration of Sculpture and Semi-Precious Stones

The Restauro Salon of the Art of Restoration and Conservation of the Cultural and Environmental Heritage is the largest specialised exhibition in Italy dedicated to preserving historical and cultural artefacts. It has been open since 1991.In 2012, the State Hermitage Museum, along with the Hermit-age • Italy Foundation participated in the international restora-tion forum in Ferrara for the second time. The form of participa-tion has remained the same: an exhibit stand, master classes, and a restoration research seminar. The Department of Scientific Res-toration and Conservation was represented by the Laboratories for Restoration of Easel Painting and Sculpture and Semi-Precious Stones. Among the important moments during the event entitled The Hermitage at the Restauro 2012 Salon was the presentation of the completed restoration projects involving various Italian works of art: Cima da Conegliano’s The Annunciation, and a tab-letop with a Florentine mosaic entitled Lapis Lazuli Star. During the preparation of the exhibit stand, the main emphasis was on demonstrating practical working methods; the techniques for ar-tistic finishing of malachite and the restoration methods used at the State Hermitage were demonstrated during master classes entitled “Russian Mosaics”.The restoration research seminar, which was held on 30 March, opened with a presentation by I. Artemieva, Senior Research Fellow of the Department of Western European Fine Arts and Director of the Research Committee at the Hermitage • Italy Foundation, who spoke about The Annunciation, a canvas by the great Venetian Renaissance master Giovanni Battista Cima da Conegliano, one of the masterpieces of the picture gallery at the

State Hermitage, which was acquired for the museum in 1886 as part of the collection of the Princes Golitsyn. The presentation by K. Kalinina, Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Exami-nation and Authentication of Works of Art, was dedicated to the technological study of the painting materials used in that piece, the technique of transferring it to a new backing, and the materi-als used during its many previous restorations. She presented the results of the study of the structure of pigments and paint layers, methods of establishing the composition of the binding and filling agents, and materials to be used in restoration. The presentation by V. Korobov, Head of the Laboratory for Scientific Restoration of Easel Painting, contained a detailed report on the restoration process that helped The Annunciation to regain its original colour scheme characteristic of the best pieces by Cima da Conegliano. A Latin inscription was discovered at the bottom of the paint-ing, which was all that remained of the artist’s signature. Its vir-tual reconstruction was also one of the results of the restoration project. The “Russian Mosaics” master class was organised by A. An-drokhanov, a restorer at the Laboratory for Scientific Restoration of Sculpture and Semi-Precious Stones. The specialists and visi-tors were shown a presentation of the technique of Russian mosa-ics based on models and replicas of items made from malachite. The conservation work involved the use of natural malachite, mastics and resins, as well as tools based on nineteenth-century samples. A portable circular table for polishing malachite, cus-tom-made for the laboratory in Russia, was set up at the stand. All of this helped to present the techniques for the artistic finish-ing of stone and the approach to restoring the Hermitage items as vividly and faithfully as possible.Many visitors and participants were intrigued by the “Russian Mosaics” master classes held non-stop on each day of the exhibi-tion. A great deal of attention was attracted not only by the profes-sional work of the Hermitage restorers, the high calibre of which has been noted more than once, but the technology of malachite inlay, which was compared to the traditional Italian Florentine mosaics or the Roman stone inlays. Malachite as a material used

in the creation of works of applied and decorative art was of great interest both to specialists and to a wider audience in Italy, where that stone and Russian mosaic techniques are not as well known as they are in Russia.The participation in the work of the Restauro Salon makes it clear that further involvement on the part of the Department of Scien-tific Restoration and Conservation would be extremely beneficial and present opportunities for specialists to share their experience, and to showcase an important aspect of the work of the State Her-mitage: the restoration and conservation of its numerous exhibits and collections.

PARTICIPATION OF THE STATE HERMITAGE IN THE WORK OF THE ST. PETERSBURG SALON “CULTURAL HERITAGE: PRESERVATION, RESTORATION, RENOVATION”

On 28–29 June 2012, the State Hermitage Museum partici-pated in the work of the 6th Saint Petersburg Salon “Cultural Heritage: Preservation, Restoration, Renovation”. The Salon has been operating since 2007, and every year it presents or-ganisations, institutions and companies engaged in preserving historic and cultural monuments and training specialists in that field. In 2012, the participants in the exhibition at the Popov Central Museum of Communications were the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg State Museum of Urban Sculpture, Academy of Fine Arts, Stieglitz Arts and Industry Academy, St. Petersburg State University, State Research Institute for Restoration, Union of Restorers of St. Petersburg and the city’s restoration companies. The Salon was organised by Relikvia (Restoration. Conservation. Museums) magazine with the sup-port of the Union of Restorers of St. Petersburg. The 6th Cul-tural Heritage Salon was timed to coincide with a municipal holiday, the Day of the Restorer, which has been celebrated on 1 July since 2006. The State Hermitage Museum is a constant participant in the work of the Salon, where it presents the pro-jects of the Department of Scientific Restoration and Conserva-tion. For many years, the museum’s stand has been home to mas-ter classes on the use of laser technology in jewellery restoration presented by I. Malkiel, the head of the Laboratory for Scientific Restoration of Precious Metals.The Laboratory for Scientific Restoration of Sculpture and Semi-Precious Stones (headed by S. Petrova) participated in the work of the 2012 Cultural Heritage Salon. The participants and visi-tors at this exhibit were shown various restoration projects that have been completed in the laboratory, along with video clips on the restoration of Vladimir Beklemishev’s sculptural group Fugitive Slave and works of decorative and applied art made of malachite in the State Hermitage Museum. The video clips were prepared by S. Morozov, the senior electronics specialist of the Electronic Editions Preparation Sector (headed by I. Melniko-va). A. Androkhanov, a restorer at the Laboratory for Scientific Restoration of Sculpture and Semi-Precious Stone, held mas-ter classes entitled “Russian Mosaics”, in which he presented the traditional technique of manufacturing decorative objects from malachite, recreated on the basis of archival sources, re-search and experimentation. The technology of artistic finishing of malachite underwent further development and was adapted

to the restoration of applied and decorative art. The mastery of the Russian mosaics technique make it possible to complete restoration tasks such as restoring and stabilising mosaic com-positions, stabilising pasting mastics without causing any impact to the malachite inlay itself. The mastery of historical methods and approaches to working with malachite makes it possible to recreate the artist’s original concept and to make exhibits fit for display again. This practice is relevant in terms of contempo-rary restoration principles because the use of materials compat-ible with the original makes restoration procedures reversible. The informational materials on the restoration of sculpture and decorative stone items, as well as the master classes attracted a great deal of interest from many participants and visitors to the exhibit, specialists, students and graduates of relevant edu-cational institutions.

laBoraTory for SCienTifiC reSToraTion of applied arT oBjeCTS

Headed by A. Bantikov

SCULPTURE OF AN ARHAT

China, 11th centuryCeramic. Height 75 cm

Restored by N. Borisova

The sculpture of an Arhat, along with other ceramic sculptures, was discovered in the early 19th century in the mountain caves next to the burials of the Qing Dynasty Emperors (1644–1911), approximately 130 km away from Beijing. Many figures were broken or fragmented when found; the well-preserved sculptures were soon removed from China to many private collections and museums in North America and Europe. Scholars believe that the sculptures were made in the 11th century and note their expressive power in portraying the arhats.One of these remarkable masterpieces is at the State Hermitage Museum, and it was sent for restoration in 2011. The surface was covered with a thick layer of soil and natural stains and restora-tion mastics. The glazed surface was partly lost at the back of the head and the left arm. The right arm with part of the shoulder had been recreated using a hard dark substance with a partially preserved ornament in the lower part of the addition. The arte-fact had many deep cracks on the inside. The restoration addi-tions had been covered with loess. On the inside, it is easy to see how the sculpture was made: a dummy made of bamboo stalks was bound by cords and then covered in a rough layer of red clay, followed by the finishing white layer and glazing. Chemi-cal tests have established the nature of soil deposits and resto-ration mastics and glues. The archaeological deposits formed a thin hard layer, mainly made up of chlorides and sulphates (plaster) of low water solubility. Test clearings showed that the green glazing imitating the Arhat’s body was very thin and full of tiny cracks. The chipped sections at the back of the head and ear show that the ceramic layer under the glazing was rather

Master class “Russian Mosaics” given by the restorer A. Androkhanov

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fragile and brittle. The previous restorers had filled the deep holes with a substance made from wax and natural resin, which was also used to fill in the less deep and substantial losses on the surface of the bust. The added section of the shoulder was made of a very hard brown-grey substance based on wax and natural resin. It was not clear what the addition would have looked like originally; unfavourable conditions such as raised temperatures could have caused the resin and wax to soften and the shoulder to slide downwards. Judging by the fact that the sculptures of the arhats were not discovered until the early 19th century and that the substances used in the restoration were unknown in Europe at the time, it can be surmised that the sculpture had undergone restoration in China.The State Hermitage Restoration Commission adopted a restora-tion programme which included the clearing of the surface of the sculpture and the removal of all restoration additions.The removal of the late arm part proved to be very labour-inten-sive, as it was necessary to work by small sections, approximately 4 × 4 cm. The fragment undergoing treatment was heated by means of a Leister hot air generator to the temperature of 70–80°С, and then the softened substance was removed with a scalpel layer by layer. It took several minutes for the mass to harden, so the softening process had to be started all over again. After the addition had been removed, a through crack was discovered in the lower part of the torso. The crack at the shoulder also proved to be penetrating, and so a large ceramic fragment had been mount-ed under the shoulder on molten wax and resin mass. Since the removal of this fragment could have caused mechanical damage

During a previous restoration, the head was stabilised from in-side using the same substance as for the new arm, and fixed in place with lead pins. The same pins were used to pull together the edges of the deep cracks on the shoulder and back. The surface of the glazing around the glued seams and the pins, especially on the Arhat’s neck, was covered in small craquelure and chipped. Since the presence of lead pins posed no danger for the ceramics, it was decided to leave them in place. In the lower part of the drapery over the shoulder, the thick layer of mastic was concealing a pro-duction flaw.After the above conservation procedures were completed, the question was whether to reconstruct the Arhat’s shoulder. When the added arm was removed, it was revealed that this reconstruc-tion was very different from the original. Glazed ceramic was dis-covered under the addition, while the small extant fragments of the arm suggest that it would have been raised and pointing to the side; these fragments were not substantial enough to suggest the exact gesture. The search for analogues did not turn up anything comparable. Various reconstruction options were developed on the computer. After all of these were considered, the Restoration Commission decided not to reconstruct the arm but to provide par-tial filling to the lost sections of back and shoulder. These patches were made of plaster.At the moment, the restored sculpture has been returned to its proper place in the new display on the Art of China.

BLACK-FIGURE AMPHORA

Attica, c. 530 BCCeramic. Height 38 cm

Restored by T. Shlykova

The reporting year saw the end of the restoration of the remark-able example of ancient pottery – an Attic black-figure amphora painted in the manner of the Antimenes painter, which arrived at the State Hermitage as part of the collection of Marquis Gian Pi-etro Campana in 1862. The painting on the A side represents Dio-nysus with his retinue, and on the B side a chariot with warriors. The vase was in need of restoration because of its unstable state which was not fit for display. It has been preserved as a collection of many fragments glued together; the glue had lost its properties. The inside of the vessel was covered with a layer of plaster, and the outside had been repainted extensively, so the restorers were faced with a difficult challenge of uncovering the original surface of the artefact.After soaking in warm water, the amphora fell into fragments, and these were cleared of extraneous elements (plaster, mastic, and burned clay), which had doubtless been made specially for the res-toration of the vase. Thus, the extent of the losses became appar-ent and was evaluated as insignificant: all in all, 180 fragments had been preserved. The clearing of the repainting showed that it covered a significant area of well-preserved original painting. In order to ensure a precise and stable fit, the edges of the frag-ments were carefully cleared of the remnants of old glue.The test for the presence of water-soluble chlorine salt was posi-tive. The overlay paint, which was the most vulnerable element of the decoration, was stabilised ahead of the desalination in order to prevent potential peeling. The insoluble salt rinds were removed

to the object, the Restoration Commission decided to leave this construction in situ.The use of chemical solvents and acids was considered to be inap-propriate, so the removal of hard surface stains and restoration layers was carried out by means of a drill with rubber nozzles.After the surface had been cleared of stains and restoration addi-tions, it turned out that the head of the Arhat was a fragment of a sculpture rather than a bust as it had been previously believed.

Sculpture of an Arhat. Before restoration Sculpture of an Arhat. After restoration

Removing the added part of the arm

Black-figure amphora. Detail. Before restoration

Black-figure amphora. During restoration. Dismantled

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with a mild solution of citric acid. Water-soluble chlorine com-pounds were removed from the pores of the ceramic by lengthy soaking of the fragments in warm water and repeated drying; the fragments were then stabilised after desalination.The vase was pieced together by the method of building up the walls from the foot up, fragment after fragment. The challenge of this work, in addition to the great number of fragments and thin-ness of the walls, was presented by the fact that the edges of many fragments had been filed (the clearing revealed numerous chisel traces on the edges). The neck was pieced together separately, in parallel with the body. The fragmented handle was also assembled separately. As a result, there were four large blocks: the foot, body and shoulders, the neck, and two handles. The next stage, dictated by convenience and hence by the safety of the artefact, consisted in filling in the losses and applying mastic to the joints on the large assembly blocks of the amphora. Then, they were finally glued to-gether, and mastic was applied to the joints. The losses along the joints in the dark areas (figures of horses, pattern elements on the foot and neck) were toned so that they blended with the colour of the lacquer. The final stage of the restoration involved stabilising the tone and the whole surface of the vessel.As a result of the restoration, the original material was cleared of destructive salts, stabilised, its surface cleared of extensive stains and sediments, the boundaries of the lost areas were established, the original painting uncovered, which provides considerable new

potential for a precise and objective study and attribution of the amphora. The vase became fit for display and can become an origi-nal and valuable item in the exhibition of Attic pottery.

STAINED GLASS WITH THE PICTURE OF EMPRESS MARIA THERESA

Bremen, 1774

Restored by Ye. Krylova

A comparatively rare example of eighteenth-century stained glass, with exceptionally high-quality painting. The stained glass panel was based on a copper engraving, and the artist tried to reproduce the engraving technique as closely as possible by applying black grisaille using the Schwarzlot technique. The portrait of the Em-press is painted in brushstrokes of varied intensity, with a quill and brushes, with slight toning.Before restoration, the stained glass, which consists of one pane painted in the Schwarzlot technique (26.5 × 39.2 cm), had been broken into 21 pieces, with two fragments missing. There were

through holes in the joints between the broken fragments in three places. The edges of the glass were chipped, with losses and abra-sions of the paint layer. The lead frame was missing. Some of the broken fragments had been glued together by previous restorers, and there were remnants of glue on the separate pieces of glass. The glue on all the glass fragments had cracked and yellowed. The edges of the three central panes and one side pane of the panel had evidently been treated with a needle-point file, which created a gap between these panes and the glass segment on the side. The through holes had been filled in with yellow-brown glue. One pane had also been made to replace a lost fragment; it bore remnants of brown toning in cold paints. There was also a piece of yellow glass which had been pasted in over the largest of the holes.The tests to determine the composition of the old glue and cold paint on the glass were carried out by O. Novikova, Ph.D., Senior Research Fellow of the Examination and Authentication of Works of Art Department and showed that the glue was an old (degraded) animal glue, and that the paint consisted of a natural pigment ground on an oil and resin binding agent. It was decided to remove the glue in the places where it had lost its properties and to replace one lost fragment with a new one, with toning in glass ink and burning in a muffle furnace.The stained grass panel was disassembled, the glass cleared of old glue. Then, the broken glass was glued together using PVB-based restoration glue. A new pane was made and put in place where the original had been lost. The holes were filled in with mastic based on the same glue. A new lead frame was made.The stained glass panel is scheduled to be displayed at the Russian Restoration Exhibition at the Hermitage in 2014.

TABLE-TOP DECORATION SHAPED AS AN ELEPHANT SURROUNDED BY EIGHT DANCING FIGURES

Silver, wood. Height 65 cm; diameter 59 cm

Restored by A. Bantikov, A. Karpechenkov, M. Subbotina, A. Chulin

The artefact was partially dismantled when it was sent for restora-tion (two porcelain figurines, cups, cup baskets; 21 elements all in all).The silver elements had been partly deformed, covered in sul-phides, abraded and scratched. The silver holders which held the porcelain figurines in place on a moving disk had lost some of their prongs (27 in total), there were cracks and tears over the whole surface. Many of the fittings had been lost. The inner wooden frame was falling apart into separate planks. Four bronze legs were covered in corroded deposits. The Restoration Commission decided to replace the lost prongs, which were up to 0.2–0.3 mm thick at the base. A special chal-lenge was presented by the impossibility of using an abrasive tool in order to straighten and combine the bases of the prongs and newly-made parts. The necessity of replacing the holders required a combination of the Power Laser 2 tool with welding, using sev-eral welding spots and a burner in order to fill in the uneven areas, using the PSr 40 solder.

Another challenge was to make the old and newly-made prongs similar in texture and colour and the necessity to engrave the mounted prongs.The work was completed within a short period of time in full com-pliance with the restoration task, to a high professional standard.

SCULPTURE SLEEPing CuPid wiTh An ARRow

1769, model by I.H. Xavery from a 1765 original, mixture made by A. Chernov

MEDALLION WITH A PORTRAIT OF EMPRESS CATHERINE THE GREAT

1780s – early 1790s; model by J.D. Rachette based on a marble original by F. Shubin

ALLEGORICAL SCULPTURAL GROUP FREE LovE

1802; model by J.D. Rachette, moulded by F. Subbotin

Restored by N. Bolshakova, K. Lavinskaya

In the reporting year, some pieces of early unglazed porcelain were restored for the exhibition “Antique Style in Russian Im-perial Porcelain in the Second Half of the 18th Century” from

Black-figure amphora. After restoration

Stained glass panel showing Empress Maria Theresa. After restoration

Table-top decoration shaped as an elephant surrounded by eight dancing figures. After restoration

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the “Christmas Gift” series. These were made in the last third of the 18th century, the time of experiments with the composition of porcelain mixture used for making sculptural pieces. The com-position was varied, so that even the products of the same period can differ greatly. The early porcelain mixtures are very vulner-able and sensitive to changes in temperature and humidity, which influences their state of preservation and presents challenges for restorers.An individual restoration programme was drawn up for each of the exhibits. The Free Love sculpture was in need of a com-plex cleaning: compresses with different solvents in combination with cleaning by steam generator. Cleaning early unglazed por-celain is a long and time-consuming task which requires constant monitoring and close attention on the part of the restorer. Using a steam generator produces a good effect because it helps mois-ture to evaporate quickly from the pores of the pottery, since ex-cessive humidity is damaging for this type of porcelain.The restoration of the sculpture of Cupid with an arrow started with the removal of surface stains and earlier restoration materi-als by means of a steam generator. Then, compresses were used to discolour the halo effect on the pottery caused by the individual characteristics of the mixture and the technology used to make this piece. After the cleaning, the cracks were stabilised and lost fragments filled in.In order to remove the stains from the medallion with the por-trait of Catherine the Great, the restorers used filter paper pulp soaked in distilled water. This lengthy process, which required re-peated changes of paper and application of solvent compresses, was closely monitored by the restorer.The result of the restoration effort was the availability of these unique pieces for display and publication. The medallion with the portrait of Catherine the Great was published in the exhibition catalogue for the first time. Working with this group of items gave the restorers a unique experience of conserving early Russian un-glazed porcelain.

laBoraTory for SCienTifiC reSToraTion of oBjeCTS made of organiC maTerialS

Headed by Ye. Mankova

HORSE MASK WITH THE HEAD OF A WILD SHEEP

Altai, Pazyryk burial mound No. 2, 5th – 4th century BC

Restored by Ye. Chekhova

In the reporting year, the horse mask from the archaeological col-lection of Pazyryk finds was restored for the exhibition “Nomads of Eurasia on the Road to Empire” (Kazan, the Hermitage • Ka-zan Centre).The horse headdress with a head of a wild ram from mound No. 2 was fragmented and had undergone emergency assembly. It is a felt sheet that was placed on a horse’s head. The felt head of a wild ram was placed between the ears, and a felt figure of a bird was fastened on top of it with wooden pins; the felt was overlaid with leather. Judging by a set of holes, the mask was held in place on the horse’s head by laces. The leather which used to overlay all the felt parts was partially and unevenly preserved. Some of the fragments had retained their elasticity and flexibility, but for the most part, the leather was fragile, faded, peeling and crumbling at the edges, partly gelatinised with rigid and irrevers-ibly creased areas. The felt was also in various stages of pres-ervation; some of the felt was crumbling to dust (hair segments of different length). The structure which held the mask in place was only partially extant.The emergency assembly of the fragments was probably carried out in the 1940s or 1950s; there are no records to support this. Since all the felt parts had multiple tears and shredded areas, the sheet forming the base of the mask was backed on patches of thin silken cloth with different types of glue. The glue helped to pre-serve the sheet as a single whole and to stop the crumbling of the felt, but the glued areas had become rigid and lost their flexibility.

The extant leather fragments had been glued to a bobbin-net back-ing and also stitched with threads of different colours and thick-ness. The whip stitching of the leather fragments had created ad-ditional holes and further weakened the fragile edges. The glues had turned into a rigid film which further distorted the leather. They were hard to remove and adhered strongly to the surface of the leather fragments. The bobbin net used as a backing material for the leather pieces had been stitched to the felt in crude, highly visible stitches. The bobbin net used for backing also had a promi-nent texture and colour which added further queries to the under-standing of the original material.The restorers needed to create a base to replace the absent structure, which would help to bring all the parts together and facilitate the storage and display of the mask and provide ad-ditional protection from mechanical impact. The examination showed that it was impossible to separate the felt from the old glue, as the shredded areas were completely saturated with glue. Mechanical removal of the glue would only lead to fur-ther deterioration and losses. It was only possible to stabilise the damaged areas by patching the mobile tears using additional backing as the base. The old whip stitches on small tears in the felt in places where it was well preserved were replaced with stitches made within the material and so nearly invisible. It was

Horse mask with a wild sheep head. After restoration

Horse mask with a wild sheep head. Before restoration

Sculpture Sleeping Cupid with Arrow. Unglazed porcelain. 18 × 52 × 24 cm. After restoration

Medallion with the portrait of Empress Catherine the Great. Unglazed porcelain. 3.2 × 27 cm. After restoration

Allegorical sculpture Free Love.Unglazed porcelain. 37.8 × 31.5 × 25.9 cm. After restoration

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decided to remove nearly all the stitching from the leather frag-ments, especially since it was impossible to identify any traces of the original material connecting felt and leather. Nearly all the bobbin net which stabilised the leather fragments was left in place, especially in areas where the leather was securely held by the glue. Moreover, the bobbin net served as an intermediate layer between leather and felt. The crude stitches which bound the bobbin net to the felt were replaced with less visible stitches with minimal tension in the thread. Where the leather fragments were easy to remove from the old backing, they were disassem-bled, most of the old glue was removed, and the leather was made more pliable, and deformities were rectified, after which the leather was reattached to the old bobbin-net backing. The old bobbin net was covered with mastic which masked its char-acteristic texture.The mask was found in a flattened state. The felt retained creases and traces of flattening. In order to remove these folds and to fix the ears and ram’s head in a vertical position, it was necessary to back the internal part of these felt sections at the base. The spe-cially made stand made it possible to bring together all the parts of the mask. The stand was made at the Laboratory for Scientific Restoration of Furniture by the restorer V. Gradov.As a result of the repeat restoration, the mask has regained its original shape.

BOx WITH A LID

China, Western Han, 206 BC – 9 ADVeneer wood, foundation, textile, brown and red lacquer, bronze, gilding, glass, inlay. Height 4.7 cm; diameter 5.5 cm

Restored by M. Michri

This object is an archaeological find which has analogues in the lacquer items found in Han burials, in artefacts from Mawangdui, Changsha. It is a rare and expensive item which is two thousand years old. The box has a typical cylindrical shape and is richly decorated: there are painted patterns on the lacquer and bronze gilded overlays. These boxes were traditionally used by rich wom-en belonging to Chinese aristocracy.The object was in a disastrous state, deformed and partly dis-integrated. The lid had sustained the most damage; the box, which was nearly fully covered by the lid, was better preserved. The material was extremely fragile, and part of the lid had been lost. The lacquer was peeling away from the foundation, there was close-netted craquelure with raised edges and scaling; there were many losses and corroded crumbling areas. On the surface, there were various deposits, stains, oxide spots; it was impos-sible to see the pattern and the decoration. When it came to the Laboratory, the box was wrapped in kraft paper and packed in a cardboard box to protect it from UV exposure. It must have suffered from the impact of temperature and humidity fluctua-tions, which had a negative effect on its state of preservation. The insufficient humidity could have caused the lacquer to crack, disintegrate and fall apart.The restoration was preceded by technical and technological in-vestigation of the structure of the object, its decoration and de-gree of damage it had sustained. Materials were identified and microscopic photos taken. These tests revealed that the box had

been made using traditional methods. The combined techniques and uneven state of preservation called for an individual ap-proach to working out the correct conservation method. Varied-concentration PVB and alcohol solutions were used as the sta-bilising material for conservation. Its use had a positive effect on stabilising the craquelure on the lacquer and made it possible to avoid using different glues but apply the same solution to con-serve both the foundation and the decorative elements. The work resulted in stabilisation and conservation of the foundation, the lacquer, the metal, gilding; the stains and oxides were removed, the separate fragments pieced and glued together. The weak ar-eas were given a new backing. The losses in the foundation were partially filled in to give the box a stable mechanical structure and make it fit for display.The restoration stopped the disintegration of the artefact and re-vealed the decorative elements: the inlay and painted patterns; well-preserved gilding became visible on the bronze elements; there were remnants of a cosmetic preparation inside the box. The cleaning of the top of the lid revealed a special feature of its décor: it turned out that the corroded rind had concealed an inlay made of glass cabochons imitating cornelian and bronze.

Objects from this period and in such a state of preservation, using the technique of painted lacquer and decorated with gilded bronze and glass inlays are very rare in the museums of the world. The box is a unique exhibit and has a huge research and artistic value.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL ARTEFACTS

Restored by T. Baranova, N. Vasilieva, Ye. Mankova, M. Michri, K. Nikitina, Ye. Chekhova

The restoration of exhibits for the display “Nomads of Eurasia on the Road to Empire” started nearly a year before it was due to open. The Laboratory received over 80 archaeological arte-facts made of bone, horn, wood, lacquer, leather, birch bark and various combinations of different organic materials. The task was made more difficult by the fact that the majority of these items were made of bone, which is one of the hardest organic materials to conserve. Moreover, there were some artefacts from the Aimyr-lyg burial (Central Tuva) which had only recently been accepted by the State Hermitage and many of which had never been touched by restorers before.These objects included unique archaeological finds: hoops, clasps, combination holders, beads; finely carved pendants with decora-tions depicting predators and their prey woven together in intri-cate patterns; a cylindrical holder consisting of two parts with in-serts decorated with carved images of a feline predator tearing at a hoofed animal. The unique and delicate nature of these object de-termined the techniques used to restore them. They were cleaned of soil deposits layer by layer, using a microscopic tampon under a microscope, and the intricate carvings were gradually revealed. Some of the objects required soaking in conservation materials or stabilisation of cracks with mastic.Among the most challenging tasks was the restoration of four parts of a belt made of horn (2nd century AD, Aimyrlyg burial XXXI). The horn had cracked in many places and was porous and brittle on the inside. The material was stabilised after many saturations. Another interesting object was an amulet, probably made of a piece of broken lacquer cup, which was cleaned to re-veal ornamental stripes made in red lacquer over a glossy black background. The lacquer had not lost its characteristic sheen and durability. The same collection included two wooden cups, a cylindrical vessel made of thin wooden laths, two baskets made of birch bark. The wood of the cups was excessively dry, light, and porous. The birch bark baskets retained traces of old glue, and their surface had an uncharacteristic sheen. The glue that came to the surface as a result of drying processes was causing the upper layer of the bark to twist. This old glue was removed from the whole surface, and the tears and scaling areas were stabilised.Some of the objects which were undergoing restoration had long been kept in the Hermitage storage areas: bone bridle beads from the 7th century BC, the tip of a psalium, a fortune-telling plate and engraved wooden clasp from the Ivolginskoye site (1st cen-tury BC – 1st century AD); objects from the burials of Tuekta, Bashadar and Pazyryk, including a horn from a horse mask deco-rated with tiger figurines, plaques shaped as rosettes which used to decorate the edges of a saddle cloth, with gold foil ornaments. These objects were cleared of stains, traces of old glue, their

Lid. During restoration

Box with a lid. After restoration

Appliqué figure of a tiger with deer antlers – a saddlecloth decoration. 6th – 5th century BC. Leather. 12 × 13 cm. After restoration

Bead carved in the image of a boar’s head. 6th – 3rd century BC. Horn. 3.7 × 2.5 cm. After restoration

Belt elements. 2nd century B.C. Horn. 16.6 × 2.8; 16.6 × 2.5; 7.2 × 5.6; 7 × 5.6 cm. After restoration

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mobile parts were stabilised, tears and peeling foil fixed in place. The objects from the Sarkel site (9th – early 10th century) were also sent for repeat restoration: the old glue had deteriorated, the parts which had been glued together had come apart, and the mastic had crumbled away in places. Among others, there was an ornamental sickle holder made of bone.The leather appliqué objects from the Pazyryk mounds were also sent for restoration ahead of the exhibition: there was delicate lace appliqué depicting beasts and birds, and decorations cut out of very thin leather. These objects are very hard to preserve, as the leather tends to buckle during storage, with small tears and damaged areas caused by movement. After a discussion, the Res-toration Commission decided to place them between two plexi-glass sheets that could be pressed closer together or loosened with clamps. The restorers mounted and stabilised these items for dis-play and further storage.

laBoraTory for SCienTifiC reSToraTion of TexTileS

Headed by M. Denisova

FREEMASON CLASP

Russia, late 18th century28 × 36 cm

Restored by T. Grunina-Shkvarok

Ahead of the exhibition “The Wisdom of Astraea: Freemasonry in the 18th and First Third of the 19th Century – Objects from the Hermitage Collection”, the clasp was taken apart, cleaned by the dry and then by the humid method, stabilised on a stretcher when still moist, and dried; the deformities and leather shrink-age were removed. The object was restored to its original size. The metal elements were cleaned at the Laboratory for Scien-tific Restoration of Precious Metals. The lining was backed on silk by thermal pressing using polyamide fibre. The ribbons were untangled, backed on toned silk gauze. The clasp was reassem-bled. Fragments of the blue ribbon were straightened, backed on blue rib cloth. The rosette was reassembled following original folds. On the star, the inscription reading “30 July 1815” was uncovered.

EMBROIDERED PICTURE

Russia, 19th century73 × 81 cm

Restored by M. Denisova, Ye. Taravkova

The embroidery was cleaned in the water solution of Zhemchu-zhnaya detergent, after the painted elements had been stabilised in 2% solution of Ftorlon 42; the surviving lacquer fragments over foil were stabilised with PBMA. The embroidery was fully backed on cotton cloth using restoration stitches. The lost satin

was masked with similar material. Embroidery elements (sequins, metal thread, artificial pearls, etc.) were stabilised in the same places using the original technique.

FELT CARPET

Noin-Ula, late 1st century BC – early 1st century AD

Restored by M. Tikhonova

The carpet, which was to be included in the permanent display at the Oriental Department, was cleaned with a restoration hoover. Old darning, backing cloths, pattern additions were removed. Deformities were straightened using a marble press. The loose

Freemason clasp. Before restoration

Freemason clasp. After restoration

Freemason clasp. Ribbon. Before restoration

Freemason clasp. Ribbon. After restoration

Embroidered picture. After restorationEmbroidered picture. Detail. After restoration

Embroidered picture. Detail. Before restoration

Felt carpet. After restorationFelt carpet during cleaning

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elements (appliqué) were fixed. Cuts, tears and losses of the woollen and silk textiles were attached to toned woollen backing. The silk lining of the rim was doubled on cotton sheet by thermal pressing. The connecting seams were stabilised and the felt layer filled in where it had been lost.

FUNERARY DRAPE

Noin-Ula, late 1st century BC – early 1st century AD

Restored by L. Loginova, A. Ryadova

The drape, which was to be included in the permanent display at the Oriental Department, was taken apart into separate frag-ments. The backing muslin was removed wherever possible and left in place in the most damaged areas. The fragments were cleaned using the wet method and the Zhemchuzhnaya detergent, then stretched to dry in order to remove deformities. During the wa-ter treatment, some fragments were cleaned of cotton netting and glue, the fragments were stretched to dry.Backing cloths were prepared for the drape. The backing started from the lower rim of the drape, with fragments laid on the back-ing cloth one by one. The drape was attached to the backing cloth in matching thin single thread using restoration stitching and fol-lowing the direction of warp and weft. The embroidery threads were stabilised.

laBoraTory for SCienTifiC reSToraTion of furniTure

Headed by V. Gradov

EBONY CABINET

France. 17th century

Restored by A. Kashcheyev

The cabinet consists of two parts: the cabinet proper and the base. The need for restoration was mostly caused by the consid-erable weakening of the base which carries the weight of the cab-inet (around 300 kilos). The great amount of work meant that the restoration was divided into two stages; the restoration of the base was started in the first quarter of the reporting year. In-vestigations revealed that the structure no longer served its pur-pose because of the wearing out of glue layers and considerable damage caused by wood-fretter. The structure was completely dismantled following the joints. The carved ebony figures were also separated into parts, and the old glue was removed from the joints. After filling in the losses, the figures were glued together again. An additional structure was fixed to the lower part of the base, which will ultimately take most of the weight of the heavy upper part.

BLACK LACQUER CHINESE CABINET

China. 18th century

Restored by V. Kashcheyev

The restoration of the cabinet was completed in the fourth quar-ter of the reporting year. The challenges were caused by the many extended cracks (15–20 cm long) in the frame under the lacquer painting. These were caused by the disintegration of the compen-sation layer which had originally consisted of plant fibres and animal glue, which were traditionally used in China to counteract the movement of the wooden frame. The situation was further ag-gravated by the fact that the cabinet had undergone restoration in the 19th century. This repair involved the making of a new drop leaf and several drawers. The lost areas of the original foundation were filled in using the European technique (chalk), while imi-tation painting was used for losses in the original painting over gold. The same imitators also painted over all the painted surfac-es. The investigations and test clearings revealed that the original eighteenth-century painting, covered by the nineteenth-century repainting, was still over 80% extant. It was decided to uncover it as much as possible rather than to present small uncovered are-as, and to leave areas of nineteenth-century repainting only where the original had been totally lost. The work by V. Kashcheyev was highly praised by the Restoration Commission.Funerary drape. After restoration

Restorers at work. The stabilising process

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reSToraTion and ConServaTion

The hermiTage reSToraTion SChool

The training session on “Restoring Museum Pieces Made of Leath-er” was held as part of the Hermitage Restoration School Pro-gramme. It was organised on the basis of the Sverdlovsk Regional Local History Museum (SRLHM) in Yekaterinburg. The training was provided by the high-category restorer Ye. Chekhova (Labora-tory for Scientific Restoration of Objects Made of Organic Materi-als, Department of Scientific Restoration and Conservation, the State Hermitage). The training session was attended by eight staff members of Yekaterinburg, Ural and Western Siberian museums. Seven of them had already undergone preliminary training in the “Basics of Restoring Museum Pieces Made of Leather, Including Archaeological Artefacts” in 2011.The attendees presented their reports of the work done indepen-dently over the previous year and discussed the questions they had. The practical part of the session focused on the methods of remov-ing stains, clearing ethnographic leather artefacts and objects of applied art. The restorers used the time of the session to complete a restoration task, namely the removal of stains from seventeen ethnographic pieces from the SRLHM collection. This system of training sessions – from basic methods to more detailed practical work – had been highly commended in the past. There are plans to revisit this area in three or four years’ time to discuss the inde-pendent projects undertaken by the participants in the meanwhile.In November 2012, the Third International Conference “The Her-mitage Restoration School. 15 Years of Cooperation: Conclusions and Prospects” was held at the SRLHM (Municipal Society Hall, 46 Malysheva St.; Library, 69/10 Lenina Pr.). The conference was attended by the restorers from the Department of Scientific Resto-ration and Conservation and research fellows from the State Her-mitage, SRLHM, and other museums of the Ural region.The conference was opened with addresses by A. Badayev, Min-ister for Culture of the Sverdlovsk Regional Administration, O. Gubkin, Deputy Minister for Culture of the Sverdlovsk Region, V. Matveyev, Deputy Director of the State Hermitage responsible for exhibitions and development, N. Vetrova, General Director of the Sverdlovsk Regional Local History Museum, S. Adaksina, Deputy Director of the State Hermitage, Chief Curator. The State Hermitage restorers presented fifteen papers at the academic sessions of the conference on various issues of conservation and restoration, art history, and museum storage. The conference was concluded with a round table “The Hermitage Restoration School: Conclusions and Prospects”, which analysed the results of many years of work at the school, the assistance provided to the col-leagues in the Urals in preparing exhibitions, preserving the col-lections in museum storage areas. The future prospects of the programme were also outlined, and times and topics suggested for future training sessions. Moreover, the problems of technical equipment of the Ural restoration workshops and the necessity to resume the work of the State Attestation Commission for all restorers were also touched upon. The conference confirmed the viability and demand for the programme and the “handing down” of professional experience. A collection of papers was published after the conference.Between 1997 and 2012, 30 training sessions were held as part of the Hermitage Restoration School Programme. Over 100 restor-ers from different Russian regions and towns underwent training in the SRLHM workshops: Yekaterinburg, Verkhoturie, Revda,

Nevyansk, Nizhny Tagil, Krasnoufimsk, Verkhnyaya Sinyachikha, Perm, Kazan, Solikamsk, Cherdyn, Bereznyaki, Khanty-Mansi-ysk, Nefteugansk, Surgut, Novosibirsk, Chelyabinsk, Kemerovo, Barnaul, Ulan-Ude, Tyumen, Tomsk, Omsk, Orenburg, as well as Bashkortostan (Ufa), Udmurt Republic (Sarapul), Komi-Permyak Autonomous Area (Kudymkar) and the Republic of Kazakhstan (Almaty, Kostanay).

M. Michri, CuratorHermitage Restoration School Programme

Opening of the Third International Conference “The Hermitage Restoration School. 15 Years of Cooperation: Conclusions and Prospects” (12–15 November 2012, Yekaterinburg). The opening address by Natalia Vetrova, General Director of SRLHM

The 2012 training session “Restoring Museum Pieces Made of Leather” (taught by the high-category restorer Ye. Chekhova). Discussion of completed projects at the Restoration Workshop, SRLH

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JJ puBliCaTionS of 2012

COLLECTION CATALOGUES

Belgian and dutch painting. 19th – 20th Centuries. Collection catalogue. By Boris Asvarishch. The State Hermitage Museum. St. Petersburg: The State Hermitage Publishers, 2012. – 192 pp. Ills.The catalogue comprises all the works by Belgian and Dutch artists of the 19th – early 20th centuries kept in the Hermitage collection, considered the best among the collections of its kind outside these countries. It includes works by the most outstanding masters of that period, namely Louis Gallait, Hen-drick Leys, Ferdinand de Braekeleer, Alfred Stevens, Joseph Stevenson, Barend Cornelis Koekkoek, Herman ten Kate et al. A number of paintings are published for the first time.

daguerreotype. Collection catalogue. By Natalia Avetyan, Galina Miroliubova, Tatiana Petrova. The State Hermitage Museum. St. Petersburg: The State Hermitage Publishers, 2012. – 200 pp. Ills. The first complete academic catalogue of daguerreotypes from the Hermitage collection. The authors chose grouping all the works by collections of their previous owners over the ordinary grouping by authors. The time framework of the collection embraces the pe-riod from the early 1840s to the early 1860s. The catalogue includes 85 works, many of which are published for the first time.

french jewellery from the 18th and early 19th Centuries. Collection catalogue. By Olga Kostiuk. The State Hermitage Museum. St. Petersburg: The State Hermitage Publishers, 2012. – 440 pp. Ills.The catalogue presents 222 jewellery items made by French jewellers in the 18th – the first quar-ter of the 19th century; many of them are published for the first time. The Paris school – the leader in the French “luxury industry”, with all its brilliance and variety – is particularly well represented in the collection. The collection includes snuffboxes, other cases for holding snuff, needle cases, purses and notebooks, boxes for keeping fake beauty spots, samples of ceremonial weapons, and other objects.

persian manuscripts, paintings and drawings from the 15th to the early 20th Century in the hermitage Collection by adel adamova. – London: Azimuth Editions, 2012. – 412 pp. Ills.The English version of the catalogue of the collection of Persian paintings and drawings issued in the Hermitage in 2010 includes more than 400 works covering the period from the 15th to the early 20th centuries, as well as essays on Russian-Persian relations and development of Persian painting and graphic art. One of the high-lights of the collection and publication itself is the manuscript of Khamsa poem by Nizami, which was copied in 1431 and is illumi-nated with numerous miniatures.

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CATALOGUES OF TEMPORARY EXHIBITIONS

Carlo gavazzeni ricordi. Teatri d’invenzione a roma a Cura di valentina moncada testo di marco di Capua. Exhibition catalogue. The State Hermitage Museum. – Rome: Il Cigno GG Edizioni, 2012. – 168 pp. Ills.The catalogue which contains 59 works by the contemporary Italian artist and photographer Carlo Gavazzeni Ricordi offers the reader a new look at the eternal city of Rome which always attracts visi-tors’ and antiquity lovers’ attention.

a Second life. Coins and medals in european applied art. Exhibition catalogue. The State Hermitage Museum. St. Petersburg: The State Hermitage Publishers, 2012. – 140 pp. Ills.The catalogue presents objects of decorative and applied arts fash-ioned of various materials within which coins and medals of differ-ent epochs from the Classical age up to our times have been given new life.

“in Written Words alone…”. on the 150th anniversary of the Birth of academician nikolay petrovich likhachev. Exhibition catalogue. The State Hermitage Museum. St. Petersburg: The State Hermitage Publishers, 2012. – 600 pp. Ills.The exhibition catalogue was made to mark the occasion of the anniversary of Nikolay Petrovich Likh-achev, an outstanding collector, who has formed a unique collection of written texts, most of which are kept in the Hermitage. This edition is in a certain way compendium of data on written texts of the An-cient East, Classical age, various European and Eastern countries, and it represents a publication of the most prominent monuments from Nikolay Likhachev’s former collection.

edgar degas. place de la concorde. notes on the painting. By Albert Kostenevich. The State Hermitage Museum. St. Petersburg: The State Hermitage Publishers, 2012. – 152 pp. Ills. – (“Restored Masterpieces” Series).The book is dedicated to Edgar Degas’s masterpiece Place de la Concorde, which has recently been restored. This painting, which portrays multiple figures, hides quite a lot of mysteries. The author traces the genesis of the painting, its psychological backgrounds, and studies the art of the predecessors and the peculiarity of Dega’s realism who has created a surprising composition.

Santiago Calatrava. The Quest for movement. Exhibition catalogue. Translation from the English. Compiled by Ksenia Malich. The State Hermitage Museum. St. Petersburg: The State Hermitage Publishers, 2012. – 264 pp. Ills.The exhibition of works by the prominent Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava which was organised as part of the Hermitage 20/21 project has shown to the Russian viewer all aspects of his work for the first time ever: it comprised the master’s models of buildings, drawings, and sculptures. The exhibition catalogue displays a large number of photo materials which give the viewer an idea of what Calatrava’s projects look like in real life and how they can arrange and “spiritualise” the environment.

848. The Collection of georges matcheret and nadia Wolkonsky. Exhibition catalogue. The State Hermitage Museum. St. Petersburg: The State Hermitage Publishers, 2012. – 352 pp. Ills.The catalogue of the exhibition prepared within the framework of the Hermitage 20/21 project, in-cludes 848 postal envelopes, which were mostly designed by representatives of unofficial Soviet art in the 1970s – 1980s. The envelopes represent so-called mail art (postal objects as artists’ gestures) and are valuable works of art created by famous masters of the Soviet underground.

Tylos. The journey beyond life. rituals and funerary Traditions in Bahrain. 1st Century BC – 3rd Сentury ad. Exhibition publication. St. Petersburg: NP-Print, 2012. – 24 pp. Ills.This publication accompanied a temporary exhibition from the Bahrain National Museum which displayed the results of excavations of ancient necropolises. The brochure contains data on history, culture, and cults of Bahrain in the era of Tylos (end of the 1st millennium BC – first cen-turies AD), when the country was experiencing strong influence of the ancient civilisation.

The Book as art. Twenty years of the rare books from st. petersburg publishing house. Exhibition catalogue. The State Hermitage Museum. St. Petersburg: Rare Books from St. Petersburg, 2012. – 192 pp. Ills.The catalogue covers the results of twenty-year publishing activities of the Rare Books from St. Peters-burg, in collaboration with which the Hermitage has organised several exhibitions. One of the experi-ments of the publishing house are production of objects of art in their own right, which sometimes go too far away from the principles of an ordinary book and belong to the elite genre of bibliophilic books. The illustrated catalogue presents 103 prints and 45 books of the publishing house, 21 of which now make part of the funds of the Hermitage Research Library.

russian lithographic portrait of the 19th Century. Exhibition catalogue. The State Hermitage Museum. St. Petersburg: The State Hermitage Publishers, 2012. – 336 pp. Ills.This catalogue is dedicated to the nineteenth-century lithographic portrait, one of the rarest forms of visual arts. The publication includes 150 works done by the famous Russian artists who were engaged in lithography, namely Alexander Orlovsky, Alexey Ven-etsianov, Ilya Sokolov, Orest Kiprensky, and Alexander Briullov. The portraits depict members of the royal family, public officials, military men, writers, artists, and ladies from the high society.

paula modersohn-Becker and Worpswede artists. drawings and prints. 1895–1906. Exhibition catalogue. The State Hermitage Museum. St. Petersburg: The State Hermitage Publishers, 2012. – 44 pp. Ills.This catalogue introduces to the reader the works by the German artist Paula Modersohn-Becker and the Worpswede masters. Drawings and prints presented in the publication demonstrate the variety of themes and genres characteristic of the graphic pieces produced by the masters of the Worpswede group at their flowering period.

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medals of dishonour. Exhibition catalogue. The State Hermitage Museum. St. Petersburg: Fontanka-London, 2012. – 152 pp. Ills.The catalogue of the exhibition organised by the Hermitage in collaboration with the British Museum contains data on more than 250 satirical medals which reflect a negative view of historic events. Works created from the 16th century up to the present day are shown in the publication.

architectural library. Exhibition catalogue. The State Hermitage Museum. St. Petersburg: Chisty List, 2012. – 128 pp. Ills.Catalogue of the exhibition which continues the architectural line of the Hermitage 20/21 project. It compares drawings from collec-tions of different types – a dynamic and progressive collection of the working architect Sergey Tchoban, which is just over ten years old, and a long-standing collection of the State Hermitage Museum rooted in the acquisitions of Catherine II.

jake and dinos Chapman. The end of fun. Exhibition catalogue. The State Hermitage Museum. St. Petersburg: The State Hermitage Publishers, 2012. – 176 pp. Ills.The catalogue accompanied the exhibition of works by the Chapman Brothers, contemporary English masters who follow the genre of The Disasters of War which originates from Francisco Goya’s prints. The catalogue contains reproductions of Goya’s installations and his etchings with additions done by the Chapman Brothers.

dmitri prigov. St. Petersburg: Chisty List, 2012. – 112 pp. Ills.This publication dedicated to Dmitri Prigov accompanied the open-ing of the room displaying his works in the exhibition of modern art in the General Staff Building.

“an artist of all Schools”. Christian Wilhelm ernst dietrich (1712–1774). Exhibition catalogue. Written and compiled by Maria Garlova, Alexey Larionov, and Sergey Orekhov. The State Hermitage Museum. St. Petersburg: The State Hermitage Publishers, 2012. – 148 pp. Ills.The catalogue has been specially designed on the occasion of the exhibition dedicated to the 300th an-niversary of the birth of the German painter Christian Wilhelm Ernst Dietrich. The Hermitage owns a large collection of his paintings, drawings, and prints.

a Sentimental journey: Wedgwood in russia. Exhibition catalogue. The State Hermitage Museum. Texts written and compiled by Lydia Liakhova. St. Petersburg: The State Hermitage Publishers, 2012. – 208 pp. Ills.The catalogue celebrates the occasion of 100 years of the Wedgwood ce-ramics exhibition in the Imperial Academy of Arts. It includes 97 exhibits which both help the reader appreciate the high artistic level of the Her-mitage collection and demonstrate major aspects of Josiah Wedgwood’s oeuvre.

a Treasury of Books. 250 years of the hermitage library. Exhibition catalogue. The State Hermitage Museum. St. Petersburg: The State Hermitage Publishers, 2012. – 400 pp. Ills.The catalogue features the books from the collections formed throughout the entire history of the Her-mitage Library from the time of Catherine II to our days. It comprises European and Russian Bibles, ancient engraved albums and treatises on architecture, descriptions of journeys, geographic maps and atlases, books on warfare, heraldry, numismatics, manuscripts and publications with signed bindings, bearing owners’ emblems and autographs, as well as eighteenth- to twentieth-century fashion maga-zines, and bibliophilic books.

The hermitage in photographs – 2012. Exhibition catalogue. The State Hermitage Museum. St. Petersburg: The State Hermitage Publishers, 2012. – 184 pp. Ills.The catalogue features various moments from the diverse life of the museum.

antique Style in russian imperial porcelain in the Second half of the eighteenth Century. Exhibition catalogue. The State Hermitage Museum. St. Petersburg: The State Hermitage Publishers, 2012. – 272 pp. Ills.The exhibition catalogue reflects the influence of the ancient heritage on Neoclassical Russian porce-lain. Decorative sculptures, vases, services, authentic antiquities, Neoclassical European pieces of art, and contemporary works by the leading artists from the Imperial Porcelain Manufactory are presented in the publication.

ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE WAR OF 1812

vasily zhukovsky. “a Bard in the Camp of the russian Warriors”. The State Hermitage Museum. St. Petersburg: The State Hermitage Publishers, 2012. – 24 pp. Ills. Vasily Zhukovsky took part in the war with Napoleon as a soldier of the militia and wrote A Bard in the Camp of the Russian Warriors poem praising the valour shown by the Russian military leaders in the battles for their country. Many of the characters of this poem can be seen in the portraits displayed in the 1812 War Gallery. The book contains Zhukovsky’s poem illustrated with the portraits from the War Gallery.

“united we shall be, as one!..” The patriotic War of 1812 in the medals of alexey olenin and his Contemporaries. Exhibi-tion catalogue. The State Hermitage Museum. St. Petersburg: The State Hermitage Publishers, 2012. – 248 pp. Ills.The name of the catalogue cites a line inscribed on the reverse of one of the anniversary commemorative medals from the Hermitage col-lection. The catalogue focuses on immortalising the heroic deeds of the Russian Army and people in the Patriotic War of 1812 in med-als. It also pays tribute to the memory of Alexey Olenin, a prominent figure of Russian culture, on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of his birth.

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Toy Soldiers in the hermitage. By Georgy Vilinbakhov. The State Hermitage Museum. St. Petersburg: The State Hermitage Publishers, 2012. – 24 pp. Ills.Publication for the temporary exhibition marking the 200th anniversary of victory in the Patriotic War of 1812. The exhibits manifest the variety of the military uniform, accoutrements, outfit, and equipment according to the branch of the armed forces and ranks in Russian and French armies during the Napo-leonic Wars.

elizaveta renne. The military gallery in the Winter palace. The State Hermitage Museum. St. Petersburg: The State Hermitage Publishers, 2012 – 372 pp. Ills.This publication marks the 200th anniversary of the victory of Russia in the Patriotic War of 1812. It presents all the 336 portraits painted for the War Gallery by George Dawe and his assistants, and later by Franz Krüger and Peter Kraft. The portraits are accompanied by short biog-raphies of the generals who took part in the war, descriptions of their decorations, and other data.

CATALOGUES OF THE HERMITAGE EXHIBITIONS ON LOAN

rembrandt. Kuparilaatan mestari. master of the Copper plate. grafiikaa valtion eremitaasin dmitri rovinski-kokoelmasta. prints from the rovinsky Collection at the State hermitage museum. Valtion taidemuseo; Sinebrychoffin taidemuseo. – Helsinki, 2012. – 260 pp. Ills.Catalogue of the exhibition “Rembrandt. Master of the Copper Plate” which took place at the Sinebry-choff Art Museum in Helsinki, Finland. The publication presents 55 etchings by Rembrandt van Rijn from the unique collection of Dmitry Rovinsky, now kept in the Hermitage.

400 years of european masterpieces from the State hermitage museum. – Tokyo: Mitsumura Printing Co. Ltd., 2012. – 274 pp. Ills.Catalogue of the exhibition “The Face of an Era. Four Centuries of European Painting”, which was held in museums of Tokyo, Nagoya, and Kyoto, Japan. The publication includes paintings of the 16th to 20th centuries, which gives the reader an idea of the history of evo-lution of European art, as well as its diversity and supreme artistic level. Among other works on display is the remarkable Red Room by Henri Matisse, as well as paintings by Titian, Rubens, Rembrandt, Reynolds, Renoir, Monet, Cézanne, and Picasso.

Sensation & inspiration. impressionism. highlights from the hermitage. Ed. by Albert Kostenevich. – Amsterdam: Museumshop Hermitage • Amsterdam, 2012. – 280 pp. Ills.Catalogue of the exhibition “Impressionism: Sensation and Inspiration”. Among the masterpieces from the State Hermitage Museum displayed at the exhibition at the Centre Hermitage • Amsterdam were paintings, graphic pieces, and sculptures from the second half of the 19th – early 20th centuries ex-ecuted by renowned Impressionists.

Catherine the great. an enlightened empress. – Edinburgh: NMS Enterprise Limited, 2012. – 208 pp. Ills.Catalogue of the exhibition “Catherine the Great. An Enlightened Empress” which was held at the Na-tional Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. The catalogue presents 300 exhibits and eight essays written by Russian and British specialists on Russian history and art.

alexander the great. 2000 years of Treasures. – Sydney: Australian Museum, 2012. – 298 pp. Ills.Catalogue of the exhibition “Alexander the Great. 2000 Years of Treasures” which took place at the Australian Museum in Sydney. The exhibition and the catalogue are both dedicated to Alexander the Great, his campaign to the East and later influence of Hellen-ism on the world art. The exhibition covers the period of more than 2,500 years from the 5th century BC up to the 20th century AD.

nomads of eurasia on the road to empire. Exhibition catalogue. St. Petersburg: Slavia, 2012. – 272 pp. Ills.Catalogue of the exhibition, which took place at the State Historical, Architectural and Art Museum- Reserve Kazan Kremlin, Hermitage • Kazan Centre. The catalogue presents 749 exhibits from the Her-mitage collection, which date back to the period from the beginning of the 1st millennium BC to the mo-ment of formation of the Great Mongol Empire in the 13th century.

The last russian emperor. The family and Court of nicholas ii at the Turn of the 19th – 20th Centuries. Exhibition catalogue. St. Petersburg: Slavia, 2012 – 132 pp. Ills.The catalogue of the exhibition, which was held at the exhibition centre Hermitage • Vyborg, describes the private and social life of Nicholas II. The publication features 285 exhibits from the Hermit-age collection, which embrace the period from the 1870s to the col-lapse of the Russian Empire in 1917.

Two Centuries of french elegance. decorative art of the 17th and 18th Centuries from the State hermitage museum Collection. Exhibition catalogue. St. Petersburg: Slavia, 2012 – 152 pp. Ills.The catalogue of the exhibition which took place at the exhibition centre Hermitage • Vyborg shows major stages of the establishment and development of French decorative and applied arts through the example of the Hermitage collection, one of the best collections of French art in the world. Some of the exhibits had been previously owned by the royal family, while others had been part of private collections of the Russian nobility (the Stroganovs, Sheremetevs, and Gorchakovs) which were nationalised after the Revolution of 1917.

giovanni Battista piranesi. palaces, ruins and prisons. from the State hermitage museum Collection. – Yekaterinburg, 2012. – 96 pp. Ills.Catalogue of the exhibition which took place at the Yekaterinburg Museum of Fine Arts. The exhibition displayed 59 works by Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720–1778), one of the foremost Italian masters of etchings, who was also an engraver, draughtsman, and architect. The publication has also a print portraying the artist himself made by his contemporary Felice Polanzani.

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Titian. a fresh look at nature. Antonio Mazzotta; National Gallery Company. – London, 2012 – 88 pp. Ills.Catalogue of the exhibition “The Flight into egypt. Titian’s First Masterpiece” which took place at the National Gallery, London. Titian is an outstanding sixteenth-century Venetian painter, who was trained in Giovanni Bellini’s studio and studied the works by Albrecht Dürer. The painting The Flight into egypt, which has been recently restored by the Hermitage, demonstrates how the famous portrait painter saw nature and scenery. The painting had a revolutionary effect at its time because of its size, theme, colour scheme, and meticulous landscape representation.

Tiziano. la fuga in egitto e la pittura di paesaggio. A cura di Irina Artemieva e Giuseppe Pavanello. – Venezia: Marsilio, 2012. – 120 pp. Ills.Publication of the exhibition “Titian’s Unseen Work. The Flight into egypt and the Great Venetian Painting”, held at the Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice. The Flight into egypt, which has recently been restored in the Hermitage, was painted by Tiziano Vecellio, a renowned Venetian artist of the 16th century, and is the largest landscape not only among Venetian, but also all Italian paintings of the early 16th century.

The Small utopia. ars multiplicata. Fondazione Prada – Ca’ Corner della Regina; Germano Celant. – Milan, 2012. – 51–59 pp. Ills.The article in the catalogue of the exhibition “The Small Utopia. Ars Multiplicata”, which took place at the Venetian palazzo Ca’ Corner della Regina, introduces readers to the objects of Suprematist ce-ramics in the context of the Russian avant-garde.

REPORTS OF THE STATE HERMITAGE MUSEUM

reports of the State hermitage museum. lxx. The State Hermitage Museum. St. Petersburg: The State Hermitage Publishers, 2013. – 240 pp. Ills.This is an annual edition presenting the results of the museum’s recent research, restoration, preserva-tion and exhibition activities. The articles are primarily concerned with the Hermitage collections and individual works of art. Their authors specify and make more accurate attributions, datings and inter-pretations of the already published works. Other sections of the book deal with most important recent acquisitions of the museum, its newly-opened and replanned permanent exhibitions and new studies on the Hermitage’s history. The edition is published in Russian and English.

TRANSACTIONS OF THE STATE HERMITAGE MUSEUM

Transactions of the State hermitage museum. lix. Ceramics and porcelain in the far-eastern Coun-tries. problems of Style and interaction between east and West. Academic editor Tatiana Arapova. The State Hermitage Museum. St. Petersburg: The State Hermitage Publishers, 2012. – 184 pp. Ills. 22 pages of colour plates. This collection of articles is based on the results of the conference which took place at the State Hermit-age Museum on 11–12 November 2009. Various aspects of studying Far-Eastern ceramics and porce-lain, as well as characteristics of the Chinese and Japanese art styles, and interaction with European countries were discussed at the conference; moreover, themes of drawings made on ceramics were ana-lysed. The articles are divided into groups by the time line of the scenes described and are separated into geographical sections (first China and then Japan). The collection also contains articles covering the work of the Hermitage restorers and the Laboratory of Scientific and Technical Examination.

Transactions of the State hermitage museum: lx. The problems of Conservation, research and restoration of Cultural monuments. Based upon the proceedings of scientific practical confer-ences “The Problems of Conservation, Research and Restoration of Cultural Monuments” and “The Conservation, Research and Restoration of Cultural Monuments”. Held on 23–25 January 2006 and 24–27 April 2007 on the occasion of the centenary of the birth of Academician Dmitry Likhachev. The State Hermitage Museum. St. Petersburg: The State Hermitage Publishers, 2012. – 418 pp. Ills.This collection of articles covers topical issues of conservation of cultural heritage. It contains the ar-ticles written by archaeologists, restorers, and architects from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and France, which analyse the experience of restoration and display of some objects of cultural heritage; further-more, the results of monuments’ research are published. The collection is to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of Academician Dmitry Likhachev, whose work emphasised the issues of cultural heritage; it includes proceedings of the 2006–2007 conferences held in his honour.

Transactions of the State hermitage museum: lxi. materials and researches of the numismatic department. The State Hermitage Museum. St. Petersburg: The State Hermitage Publishers, 2012. – 358 pp. Ills.This collection, which was prepared to mark the 225th anniversary of the founding of the Münzkabinett (Numismatic Department of the State Hermitage Museum), honours the memory of the famous national numismatists Alexey Markov and Alexey Ilyin who headed the department in the first quarter of the 20th century. The materials of this collection cover a wide range of auxiliary historical disciplines from numismatics of the East, Classical Antiquity, Western Europe, and Russia to notaphily, medallic art, phaleristics, and heraldry.

Transactions of the State hermitage museum. lxiii. alexander the great. The life of the image in World Culture. Proceedings of the conference of 18 April 2007. Academic editor Anna Trofimova. The State Hermitage Museum. St. Petersburg: The State Hermitage Publishers, 2012. – 136 pp. Ills.This publication, which was timed to coincide with the exhibition “Alexander the Great. The Road to the East”, includes articles written by the Hermitage staff, as well as scholars from the Faculty of Ori-ental Studies of St. Petersburg State University, Saratov State University, Russian Institute of History of Arts, and State Russian Museum, dedicated to the epoch of Hellenism and influence of Alexander’s campaigns on the evolution of world culture.

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Transactions of the State hermitage museum. lxiv. personalities from peter the great’s Time-2012. To mark the 280th anniversary of the first Cadet Corps (1732–2012). Proceedings of the academic conference. The State Hermitage Museum. St. Petersburg: The State Hermitage Publishers, 2012. – 336 pp. Ills. The collection of materials of the annual conference, held in the Menshikov Palace, is dedicated to vari-ous aspects of history and culture under Peter the Great. It contains articles on Peter I, his contemporar-ies, and on the First Cadet Corps, which was housed in the Menshikov Palace from 1732 to 1918. Many pieces of art and archive materials, which served as a basis for the studies, have been introduced into scientific use for the first time.

Transactions of the State hermitage museum. lxv. first Stone Churches of old rus. Materials of the Seminar on Architectural Archaeology. 22–24 November 2010. Academic editor Denis Yolshin. The State Hermitage Museum. St. Petersburg: The State Hermitage Publishers, 2012. – 370 pp. Ills. 16 pages of colour plates.This collection of articles contains materials of the conference dedicated to the research of the Church of the Tithes and Saint Sophia Cathedrals in Kiev, Novgorod, and Polotsk. They discuss different aspects of studies of the first stone ecclesiastical structures of Old Rus, namely architectural types, building ma-terials and techniques, and iconography. The authors also focus on the problems of historiography and methods of an integrated study of historical and architectural monuments.

MONOGRAPHS

sergey androsov. from peter i to Catherine ii. people, Statues, paintings. St. Petersburg: Dmitry Bulanin, 2013. – 312 pp. Ills. The publication includes research articles written throughout more than twenty years, which are related to the history of St. Petersburg and people who lived and created art there, and which show the evolution of Russian culture, artistic taste, and collecting in the 18th century. Most of the articles are unfamiliar to a general audience. What is particularly interesting is the history of the famous ancient statue Venus Tauride, which was traced in the documents year by year.

anna a. ierusalimskaja. moshtcevaya Balka. an unusual archaeological monument on the northern Caucasus Silk road. St. Petersburg: The State Hermitage Publishers, 2012. – 384 pp. Ills.The monograph is a complete publication of materials on Mo shtce-vaya Balka, a medieval archaeological monument of uniquely con-served organic materials and tissues. The book describes all funeral finds and analyses each object in detail. The author of the book is an archaeologist who personally supervised the excavation of Mosht-cevaya Balka.

mark kramarovsky. man from the medieval Street. golden horde. Byzantine empire. italy. St. Petersburg: Eurasia, 2012. – 496 pp., 90 ills., 48 pages of colour ill.The book deals with the everyday culture of a common fourteenth-century citizen, an artisan, or suc-cessful merchant, a man from the medieval street, whose activities were reflected in a range of ar-tefacts, thoroughly selected by the author and detected through his own system of specific historical observations.

lilia kuznetsova. nineteenth-Century jewellers from Saint petersburg. Splendid Beginning of alexander’s Time. – Moscow: Tsentropoligraph Publishing House, 2012. – 319 pp. This is a second book by Lilia Kuznetsova, a leading research worker of the State Hermitage Museum. It is part of a three-volume publi-cation dedicated to the jewellery of the 18th – early 19th centuries, a byway of Russian culture so far.

boris marshak. Sogdian pottery of the 5th – 7th Centuries as historical and Cultural phenomenon (on the methods of the Study of pottery Complexes). St. Petersburg: The State Hermitage Publishers, 2012 – 384 pp. Ills.The book describes ceramics from the lower layers of the medieval city of Penjikent (Tajikistan), found in 1955–1963 by Boris Marshak (1933–2006), a well-known Russian archaeologist who supervised the Hermitage excavations in Penjikent for many years. The finds were systematised according to the set of techniques introduced by him. The book contains data on the history of fifth- to seventh-century Sogdian settlements, Penjikent in the first place, as well as on the evolution of pottery, the history of Sogdian econo-my, everyday life, arts, and culture. The manuscript was prepared for publication by Valentina Raspopova.

tatiana petrova. architect andrey Stackenschneider. St. Peters-burg: The State Hermitage Publishers, 2012. – 576 pp. Ills.The monograph describes the career of one of the foremost Russian architects of the mid-19th century Andrey Ivanovich Stackensch-neider (1802–1865) who contributed significantly to the creation of a new type of architecture in the age of Historicism. The author of the monograph thoroughly analyses the architect’s works, without which the present-day look of St. Petersburg is hard to imagine, and evaluates them from the perspective of contemporary art studies.

anna trofimova. imitatio alexandri. portraits of alexander the great and mythological images in hellenistic art. St. Petersburg: The State Hermitage Publishers, 2012. – 320 pp. Ills.This is the first monograph in the domestic and foreign art studies to examine the phenomenon of influ-ence of Alexander’s portraits on depictions of heroes and deities in Hellenistic art. The book discusses the historiography of the portraits of Alexander the Great and imitation problem in the context of the Hellenistic period, as well as analyses images of the main mythological characters that suffered influ-ence of Alexander’s iconography (Achilles, Heracles, Dionysus, Helios, giants, and water deities).

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ALBUMS/ART BOOkS

andrey alexeyev. The gold of the Scythian Kings in the hermitage Collection. The State Hermitage Museum. St. Petersburg: The State Hermitage Publishers, 2012. – 272 pp. Ills.The album is dedicated to art monuments of the 7th – 4th centuries BC from the unique Hermitage col-lection of Scythian antiquities. The majority of these objects are made of precious metals, mostly gold, and are richly decorated with depictions in the so-called Scythian animalistic style, one of the most expressive features of the artistic culture of ancient Eurasian nomads.

IN BREVI SERIES

liudmila barkova. Beauty Woven of mysteries. The State Hermitage. St. Petersburg: The State Hermitage Publishers, 2012. – 48 pp. Ills.The publication describes the world’s most ancient carpets which had sur-vived more than 2,000 years of permafrost in the Pazyryk Valley, Altai, and were found during the excavations of the Altai burials in 1949. These surviving objects give us an idea of the unique culture of Eurasian nomads who vanished from the face of the earth long ago.

Treasure gallery-1. By Yury Kalashnik, Marina Kozlovskaya, Yelena Korolkova, Olga Kostiuk, and Martha Kryzhanovskaya. 2nd revised edition. The State Hermitage Museum. St. Petersburg: The State Hermitage Publishers, 2012. – 64 pp. Ills. The book introduces to the reader the jewellery of different countries, nations, cultures, and epochs – from ancient times to the early 20th century, displayed in the Treasure Gallery-1 (known as Diamond Room).

COLLECTEd ARTICLES

museum and problems of Cultural Tourism. Proceedings of the 10th Round Table, 12–13 April 2012. St. Petersburg: The State Hermitage Publishers, 2012. – 188 pp. Ills.The collection comprises materials of the annual round table aimed at sharing the experience between Russian and foreign museums.

award Systems: russia and Scandinavia: Proceedings of the 2nd International Symposium on Orders. Managing editor Lydia Dobrovolskaya. St. Petersburg: The State Hermitage Publishers, 2012. – 174 pp. Ills.The collection of materials of the symposium held at the Hermitage in September 2010 includes works by noted specialists on phaleristics from three countries: Russia, Sweden, and Finland.


yekaterina khmelnitskaya. august Spiess and imperial porcelain manufactory: life dedicated to porcelain. – Moscow: Liubimaya Kniga, 2012. – 448 pp. Ills.The book is the most complete publication of works of art and sketches made by the sculptor August Spiess. It includes objects from the State Hermitage Museum and other twenty-two collections. Read-ers can learn about various aspects of the talent of the main model-maker of the Imperial Porcelain Manufactory in St. Petersburg who created designs for porcelain vases, different types of services, and statuettes, and brought them to life with equal success. Many drawings and sketches are published for the first time.

PAGES OF THE HERMITAGE HISTORY SERIES

The infirmary on behalf of his imperial highness the Tsarevich and grand duke alexei nikolaevich. Valentina Marishkina. The State Hermitage Museum. St. Petersburg: The State Hermitage Publishers, 2012 – 104 pp. Ills.This publication dedicated to the history of the hospital set up during the World War I in the Winter Palace is based on archive materi-als, including contemporaries’ recollections. The book also contains recently discovered materials and studies, which have already been published before, and is accompanied by an annotated name index and a large bibliography.

LIFE OF THE IMPERIAL RESIDENCE SERIES

tatiana pashkova. “Quarters” of emperor nicholas ii in the Winter palace. The State Hermitage Museum. St. Petersburg: The State Hermitage Publishers, 2012. – 184 pp. Ills.The first book from the new series covering various aspects of life and activities in the Winter Palace and the Imperial Hermitage. The publications of this series are based on the study of archive materials; richly illustrated, they can be of interest both for specialists and for all readers interested in Russian history. The book tells the audience about the Winter Palace quarters of Emperor Nicholas II and Em-press Alexandra Feodorovna, and recreates the everyday life of the family of the last Russian Emperor. The author makes an attempt to show the character of the owners through the structure of their dwell-ings and interior design.

POPULAR ACAdEMIC EdITIONS

GUIDE BOOkS

liudmila voronikhina. The hermitage. Western european art: a guide Book. The State Hermitage Museum. St. Petersburg: The State Hermitage Publishers, 2012. – 416 pp. Ills.This book opens a new series of the Hermitage popular academic editions and presents the Hermitage collection of works of Western European art, i.e. paintings, sculptures, and pieces of applied arts. The material is giv-en in chronological order and then divided into smaller groups according to different schools of art within chronological periods. The comments guide the reader around the museum halls.

menshikov palace: a guide Book. The State Hermitage. By Vladimir Meshcheryakov, Irina Saverkina, Yekaterina Andreyeva, Yelena Ignatyeva. – 2nd revised edition. St. Petersburg: Istoricheskaya Ilustratsia, 2012. – 64 pp., [32] pages of colour ills. : Ills. – Bibliography: pp. 58–64.The publication covers the history of the palace and can serve as a guide around the halls of the Men-shikov Palace.

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puBliCaTionS eleCTroniC ediTionS and video filmS

The hermiTage in SoCial neTWorKS

In 2012, the State Hermitage Museum presented itself in the social networks; today more than 64,000 Twitter users receive messages from the Hermitage. The Hermitage News is available to us-ers of the global international social network Facebook. The museum publishes information on cur-rent events and burning issues of the museum life, on its plans and projects, and on important dates in the history of world art and culture on Facebook and Twitter. Its presence in social networks is an efficient instrument in creating a positive image of the museum.

eleCTroniC puBliCaTionS and video filmS

The Hermitage gives ample opportunities for advanced study of the history of world culture through the project aimed at publishing educational programmes within the Virtual Academy series on the Internet. In 2012, the Art of the Italian Renaissance multimedia thematic album, created on the basis of paintings, sculpture, works of graphic, decorative and applied arts from the Her-mitage collection, was issued. Internet users gained access to the Imperial Porcelain Manufactory programme, devoted to the famous Saint Petersburg porcelain manufactory, the history of which is reflected in the collection of the Museum of the Imperial Porcelain Manufactory, which became part of the Hermitage funds. Thematic albums Rembrandt in the Hermitage and Ancient Rome have been updated and republished. The collection of video films expanded owing to the films on exhibitions prepared by the Hermitage in 2012, namely “‘The Thunder of 1812’. The Patriotic War of 1812 in the Hermitage Collections”; “A Treasury of Books. 250 Years of the Hermitage Library”; “Antique Style in Russian Imperial Porcelain in the Second Half of the Eighteenth Century. From the ‘Christmas Gift’ Series”; “Pages of the Russian Past in Portrait Lithography of the 19th Century”; “‘He was a Scientist from Top to Toe, Never Wishing to be Anyone Else, and He Never Was’. On the 150th Anniversary of the Birth of Academician Nikolay Petrovich Likhachev”; “Nicholas II. Chronicles of the Reign”. One can gain access to all the films and video reports on the events in the museum life on the Hermitage Youtube resource.

preSenTaTion of The WeB porTal Hermitage liNe: a neW eleCTroniC reSourCe of The STaTe hermiTage muSeum

On 5 December 2012, the Hermitage presented a new Internet resource Hermitage Line, created with support of the State Hermitage Museum and the Joint-Stock Investment Commercial Bank Tatfondbank.The website is planned to become a space for discussion of the activities and problems of Russian and foreign museums, their role in the life of the country, city, and each individual. Various materials (texts, photo reports, and videos) on exhibitions and exhibits, creative people and artistic projects, modern architecture and history will be published on Hermitage Line.The electronic resource Hermitage Line will become bilingual (Russian and English versions) and will be regularly updated. It will constantly interact with popular Internet networks. It is planned to make a version for tablets and other mobile devices in the future.

posthumous Bronzes in law and art history: International Colloquium, 26–27 May 2012. St. Petersburg. The State Hermitage Publishers, 2012. – 224 pp. Ills.The collection contains the materials of the international conference which took place in the Hermitage in 2012 and was dedicated to legal and artistic aspects of authenticity of posthumous castings of bronze sculptures.

problems of restoration of the monuments of Culture and art. proceedings of the 3rd regional Scientific practical Conference on the occasion of 15 years of the hermitage School of restoration. – Yekaterinburg, 2012. Tezis, 2012. – 188 pp. Ills.Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference “15 Years of Coop-eration. Results and Prospects”, which was organised as part of the programme The Hermitage School of Restoration in the Restoration Centre of the Sverdlovsk Regional Museum of Local Lore in Novem-ber 2012.

REPORTS OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPEdITIONS

report of the fieldwork of the expedition for 2011. Materials of the archaeological expedition in Penjikent. Issue XIV. The State Hermitage Museum; Akhmadi Danish Institute of History, Archae-ology, and Ethnography of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tajikistan. St. Petersburg, 2012. – 204 pp. Ills.

report of the archaeological Studies of the medieval fortress Cembalo (Balaklava) for 2011. Materials of the Southern Crimean archaeological expedition. By Svetlana Adaksina, Victor Myts, and Sergey Ushakov. The State Hermitage Museum; Crimean Branch of the Institute for Archaeology of the Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences; the National Reserve of “Chersonesos of Tauride”. St. Petersburg, 2012. – 210 pp. Ills.

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

gifts of the State hermitage to the irbit State museum of fine arts. 1975–2012. paintings and etchings of the european masters of the 17th – 19th Centuries, Books. Exhibition catalogue. Irbit State Fine Arts Museum. Irbit, 2012. – 72 pp. Ills.The catalogue of the exhibition “Gifts of the State Hermitage to the Irbit State Museum of Fine Arts in 1975–2012. Paintings, Etchings, Books” which took place in Irbit, Sverdlovsk Region, is dedicated to the history of cooperation between the Hermitage and the Irbit State Museum of Fine Arts. The exhi-bition displayed 86 paintings and etchings, as well as more than 400 books.

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ConferenCeSConferenCeS

In the Memory of Vladimir Lukonin25–26 JanuaryAnnual conference devoted to ancient and medieval Orient.

In the Memory of Boris Piotrovsky14 FebruaryAnnual meeting devoted to a wide circle of problems of archaeology and ancient history, and new discoveries in various spheres of research carried out in the Hermitage Museum.

Daguerrotype DocumentingWith the Paul Mellon Foundation15–16 FebruarySeminar within the International project concerned with the study of photography.

Conference Dedicated to 290 Years of the Heraldic Office and 20 Years of the Heraldry Department of Russia With the Heraldry Council of the President of the Russian Federation 21–22 FebruaryConference devoted to the history of Russian heraldry.

165 Years of the Hermitage Treasure Gallery20 MarchRound Table devoted to the history of the formation of the Hermitage Treasure Gallery and exhibiting jewellery in the Imperial Hermitage. One of the themes of the Round Table was the status of exhibitions implying special storage conditions (“special storage rooms”) in modern museums and the development of the Treasure Gallery of the Hermitage Museum.

The Protocol in Russia Association Meeting5 AprilDevoted to the place of diplomatic gifts in the system of international diplomatic ceremonies.

The Medieval Christian Architecture: west and East Tradition interaction Architecture and Archaeology Seminar5 AprilMeeting of the regular basis seminar devoted to architectural archaeology.

The 10th Round Table: Museum and Problems of Cultural Tourism12–13 AprilAnnual seminar of the Hermitage and other museums of Russia and other countries, devoted to the exchange of experiences in the sphere of tourism and cultural programmes.

St. Petersburg Egyptology Readings With the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Faculty of Oriental Studies, St. Petersburg State University24–26 AprilAnnual conference devoted to new developments in the study of Ancient Egypt.

The Mysterious Animals and Exotic Birds. Fantastic images in Ancient Art Round Table25 AprilRound Table devoted to iconography, history and art aspects of the study of fantastic animals in ancient art.

The Legacy of Nikolay Petrovich Likhachev: Text and Image Interpretation With the Department of Philology and History, Russian Academy of Sciences, and St. Petersburg Institute of History, Russian Academy of Sciences15–17 AprilIn connection with the “In Written Words Alone…” exhibition, dedicated to 150 years of Academician Nikolay Petrovich Likhachev. Devoted to the study of writing and written documents.

The 2nd Russian-Scandinavian Symposium on Vexilology. in hoc signo vinces21–22 AprilDevoted to different aspects of the study of banners.

Posthumous Bronzes in Law and Art History26–27 AprilInternational conference with the participation of scholars from the USA, Great Britain, France, Israel and other countries, devoted to legal, art history, and museological aspects of the problem of bronze casts made after the artist’s death.

Virtual Archaeology4–6 JuneConference devoted to the application of computer methods to archaeology.

The 4th International Congress of Peter the Great Cities. Capitals and Provinces. Dedicated to 300 Years of the Transfer of the Russian Capital from Moscow to St. PetersburgWith the International Dmitry Likhachev Foundation 8 June Annual meeting devoted to the study of the time of Peter the Great.

Round Table: From Federal Law no 94 to Federal Contract System. PerspectivesWith the “Tsarskoy Selo” State Museum-Reserve19 JuneMeeting devoted to the protection of museums’ rights and interests within Federal Law No 94 and the perspectives of transition to Federal contract system.

Worpswede Yesterday and Today: Lyrics, Motherland, SocialismWith the Goethe Institute in St. Petersburg19–20 SeptemberInternational conference on the occasion of the exhibition, “Paula Modersohn-Becker and Worpswede Artists. Drawings and Prints. 1895–1906”, devoted to Paula Modersohn-Becker and the Worpswede artists, as well as the history of the Worpswede colony and its contacts with other similar art groups, including those of Russia.

Museum and EducationWith St. Petersburg “Pro Arte” Cultural Foundation20–21 SeptemberInternational conference devoted to problems of education in today’s museums and training museum workers.

Two Centuries of Islamic Numismatics in Russia: General Results and Prospects24–28 SeptemberInternational conference, on the occasion of 225 years of the Münzkabinett, concerned with Muslim numismatics.

Methods of the Investigation of Photographic CollectionsWith the Paul Mellon Foundation9 OctoberInternational seminar within the international project concerned with the study of photography.

The Roerich Legacy With St. Petersburg State Museum-Institute of the Roerich Family10 October Devoted to the Roerich legacy.

Marc Chagall and St. Petersburg: Life, Work, and LegacyWith the International Dmitry Likhachev Foundation 11–12 OctoberInternational conference dedicated to 125 years of Marc Chagall.

Kerch, St. Petersburg and the Hermitage: Preservation and Renovation of the Crimean Cultural HeritageWith Kerch History and Culture Museum-Preserve 15–16 OctoberDevoted to the ancient history and archaeology of the Crimea.

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ConferenCeSConferenCeS

The 5th International Conference from the history of Stalinism. Life in Terror: Social Aspects of Repressions CycleWith the International Dmitry Likhachev Foundation 18–20 OctoberDevoted to the history of Stalinism and its consequences for today’s Russia.

Cultures of the Eurasian Steppe Zone and their Interaction with Ancient CivilisationsWith the Institute for the History of Material Culture, Russian Academy of Sciences 22–26 OctoberDedicated to the memory of the Russian archaeologist M. Gryaznov.

Methodology and practice seminar: Management of State Finances in the Sphere of Culture. urgent issues of State Management in the Sphere of Culture. new ways of State and Municipal Services for Cultural institutions 1–2 November

Greek Antiquity of the Northern Black Sea Region. Fifty Years of Berezan (Lower Bug) Expedition6–7 NovemberStudy of the archaic Crimea on the basis of archaeological finds.

4th Dmitri Prigov Readings. Word – Image – Performance 6–8 NovemberOn the occasion of the exhibition of Dmitri Prigov in the Hermitage.

Personalities from Peter the Great’s Time20–21 NovemberAnnual conference, in the Menshikov Palace, devoted to the time Peter the Great.

225 Years of the Münzkabinett – Numismatic Department of the Hermitage 21–23 NovemberDevoted to the history of the Münzkabinett of the Imperial Hermitage (now, Numismatic Department of the State Hermitage Museum) and the history of money circulation in Classical Antiquity, Orient, Western Europe and Russia, the history of medaling, phaleristics and history of numismatic collections.

Archaeological Session 26–27 NovemberFinal report of the archaelogical expeditions of the Hermitage for the 2012 excavation period.

Vladimir Levinson-Lessing Memorial Conference28 NovemberAnnual conference on the history, use and attribution of museum collections.

Electronic Museum: Creation, Storage and Management of Museum Information Resources30 NovemberMethodology and practice seminar devoted to the exchange of experience in creating electronic catalogues and data-bases.

Heraldry SeminarRegular monthly seminar on the problems of Russian, Western European and Oriental heraldry and adjacent disciplines.

muSeum and eduCaTion

20–21 SeptemberThe 5th conference in the “Museums in the 21st Century” cycle organised by the Hermitage Mu-seum with St. Petersburg “Pro Arte” Cultural Foundation starting from 2006 was participated by researchers of museums and educational institutions of St. Petersburg, Moscow, The Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Israel and the U.S.A.The papers and discussions were devoted to two aspects of the problem of museum education, viz. museum educational activities and training museum specialists. Not being educational in-stitutions proper, museums perform educational functions, the significance of which is on the increase nowadays. The topics discussed by the conference participants included combining tra-ditional and modern forms of museum education and making the museum attractive for today’s young people. The papers were devoted to contacts between museums, educational institutions and governmental structures, the role of museums in the system of art education, evaluation of public demands, etc. A vivid discussion was triggered by the problem of training museologists. In addition to being the city of museums, St. Petersburg has a number of art departments, which face the problem of the focus of museologists’ training vis-à-vis training in traditional areas of history and art. Contacts be-tween professors and students of museology departments and museums are not always satisfactorily organised. On the other hand, museums are not always satisfied with the professional level of uni-versity graduates, preferring to train specialists in museums. Probably, one of the ways to solve this problem is to offer museum specialists teaching in educational institutions.

TWo CenTurieS of iSlamiC numiSmaTiCS in ruSSia: general reSulTS and proSpeCTS

24–28 SeptemberConference on the occasion of 225 years of the Münzkabinett of the Imperial Hermitage (Numis-matic Department of the State Hermitage Museum). The aim of the conference was to demonstrate the dynamics of the evolution of Muslim numismatics in Russia during a period of over two hundred years, to sum up tentatively the results of the studies in this area and delineate possible ways of de-velopment with the perspective of international cooperation and exchange of experiences.The formation of the Hermitage collection of Oriental coins began under Catherine the Great. Nowa-days, it includes over 220,000 items, being one of the richest museum collections in the world. The study of the collection began as early as the 18th century. Subsequent research was a significant contribution to Oriental numismatics generally. For instance, the methods of studying coin hoards as complexes reflecting monetary circulation typical of a given period, created by the Hermitage curator of Oriental coins R. Vasmer (1888–1938), are still in use. Among more than fifty participants of the conference were experts on Oriental numismatics from the British Museum, Cambridge, Hamburg and Tübingen Universities, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Fayum University in Egypt and the Museum of the History of Georgia. The five-day conference programme included papers on a variety of topics, from the dating of the hoard of seventh-century Sassanian Arab drachmas to money circulation in Middle Asia in the 19th century.

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The dissertation is concerned with the new trend in cultural studies, which the author defines as “his-torical semantics”. The cultural dimension of the latter has been revealed as a result of a complex research of archaeological and ethnographic sources. The dissertation presents an inventory of no-tions and terms pertaining to historical semantics, which make up the basis for combining empiric research with the theoretical idiom of cultural studies. Definitions of such basic notions as habit “behavioral stereotype” or semantic image “the sense of archaic life-style” introduce to the context of the research the understanding of a culture by its bearers, which opens perspectives for the study of the genesis and mechanisms of the transference of cultural information. Historical semantics deal with archaic world-view systems, which manifest themselves in stereo-types of cultural behaviour, and with the methods of cultural reproduction, that is, in a broad sense, with the technology of culture. The present study has disclosed two structurally different semantic systems based on the “life – death” concept, which, in turn, reveal the deep meaning of an archaic worldview.

diSSerTaTionS

irina Kalinina

hiSToriCal SemanTiCS in CulTural STudieS: reSearCh SuBjeCT and meThodS

For the degree of Doctor of Cultural Studies

The dissertation is concerned with the restoration and collection aspects of the career of the out-standing twentieth-century artist Pavel Korin. For the first time, the significance of Korin’s restora-tion work was shown in its connection with his other activities, as painter and collector. As a result of the study of the materials of the Korin Museum-House, new facts have become known about Korin’s work as a restorer and his theoretical views on restoration of Western European painting formed during his work in the State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts. Pavel Korin’s unique collection of Old Russian painting has been analysed in its entirety. Among the most typical restoration works discussed in the dissertation are the Toilet of a Woman by Julio Romano and the Portrait of Cardinal Pallavicini by Titian, formerly in the collection of the State Hermitage.

naTalia aveTyan

Sergey lvoviCh leviTSKy and Some proBlemS of The STudy of ruSSian nineTeenTh-CenTury phoTography

For the degree of Candidate of Art Theory and History

As a result of a study of the oeuvre of the outstanding Russian photographer Sergey Levitsky (1819–1898), carried out within a broad context of the history of Russian photography, a considerable number of Levitsky’s works, hitherto unknown, have been discovered, many of these ascribed to the artist and dated. A study of archival materials have revealed some facts of his personal and profes-sional biography; archival data have also been helpful in the evaluation of Levitsky’s works, both well-known and lesser known ones, as well as in the reconstruction of his techniques.The two problems connected with the study of Russian photography, discussed in the dissertation, are criteria of its artistic value and authorship. The most important result of the study is a theoretical foundation of the method of photography attribution, based on the scrutiny of furniture, workshop accessories and background. Of special significance is the technology of print making (material, technique, state of preservation, etc.)A supplement to the dissertation is a catalogue of Levitsky’s works in the collection of the State Hermitage made for the first time. The catalogue shows the major stages of Levitsky’s career, dem-onstrating his contribution to Russian nineteenth-century photography.

maxim lapShin

pavel Korin: arTiST, reSTorer, ColleCTor

For the degree of Candidate of Art Theory and History

virTual arChaeology

4–6 JuneThe international conference attended by experts from sixteen countries was concerned with the use of computer methods in archaeology, data processing, archaeological and historical reconstruction and visualisation of results. The programme included papers, presentations and workshops on the techniques of multidimensional modelling of historical landscape, archaeological monuments, sites and finds, GIS-modelling of natural and historical processes, monitoring of objects of cultural herit-age and virtual reality designing. The participants came to the conclusion that two approaches to “virtual archaeology” exist. One of these based on computer methods is virtual reality. The contemporary approach based on practical archaeology demands an expanded definition, which should take into account integra-tion of contemporary methods archaeological investigation implying the analysis of multidimension-al data accumulations resulting in tentative reconstructions of archaeological monuments, equal in significance to digital representation of excavation and historical research results. One of the most significant problems in this sphere is insufficient communication among experts. According to all the participants of the conference, the discussion should be continued on the Internet (Virtual Ar-chaeology Page).A volume of the conference papers has been prepared to appear in 2013.

ConferenCeS

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dition of the Research Institute of Multidisciplinary Social Studies (St. Petersburg State University) in the courtyards of the Winter Palace and Shuvalovsky Proyezd. The foundation structures of the Winter Palace and its extensions (the latter have not survived) as well as bricked-up basement ac-cesses were recorded.

Berezan (loWer Bug) expediTion

Head of expedition: D. Chistov

Archaeological exploration continued on the ancient settlement on Berezan Island. The season marked the 50th anniversary since the Hermitage started systematic works on the Berezan site in 1962. Excavations proceeded on Site O, investigated by the expedition since 1998. Our key achievements over the past several years include the unearthing of several Late Archaic public facilities (late 6th – early 5th centuries BC) which included at least two buildings (Complex 1 and Complex 2) of similar size and layout. The excavation site was extended south of Complex 2, by approximately 250 sq.m, in order to clear up the courtyard in front of the entrance. This task was only partly completed due to the extremely large size of the open area; remains of fences were found on the west and east; however, only a small part of the south segment was unearthed which gave no clear indication of the types of buildings located to the south of the complex. The cultural strata were explored to the continental rock level on c. 170 sq.m of the 2011 pit located north of Complex 2. The finds include archaeological remains (levelled by fire in the last quarter of the 6th century BC) underlying the walls of Late Archaic structures as well as the ruins of two rooms of a house dating back to the second half of the 6th century BC. The most remarkable fea-ture, however, was a rectangular half-dugout of the second quarter – middle of the 6th century BC. The structure had puddle clay walls lined with stone inside and solid floors coated with multiple lay-ers of clay. The location of the post holes suggests that the half-dugout may have had a gabled roof; the interior space had probably been divided by wicker partitions. Remains of clay stoves were found in the south-east and south-west corners.

BuKhara expediTion

Head of expedition: A. Omelchenko

Excavations continued in Paikend jointly with the Archaeology Institute, Uzbekistan Academy of Sciences, and focused on 4 sites: the Citadel, the area in front of the Citadel, Shahristan I and the South Suburb. Exploratory works in the Citadel were conducted on 4 areas. In the north-east, a small 1.5 m thick stretch of what seems to be the earliest fortress wall was found around the temple. The wall used to have arrow slits and rested on a platform of so-called flat-convex adobe bricks. The pottery obtained from the adjacent structure dated back to the late 4th – early 3rd centuries BC. At least 10 layers of flooring were registered in the intramural passage in the north-west corner of the Cita-del (the top layer dates from the 4th century). The walls were preserved to 6.5 m; the inner wall had a passage leading into the Citadel. Iron weapons and pottery dating back to the first centuries BC were retrieved from the lowest floor layer. Remains of an earlier mosque were found under the mosque dating to the second half of the 10th century in the south-west part of the Citadel; the former had had a typical layout, with a central courtyard surrounded by iwans (А. Atakhodzhayev dated the structure to the Abbasid period by the coins retrieved on the site). The new pit excavated north of the Citadel allowed to identify at least 3 major construction periods: early medieval resi-dential structures, tenth-century dwellings and household facilities (possibly early 12th century). A ceramic khumcha vessel with a sixth – seventh-century Sogdian inscription in ink was retrieved from the site.

arChaeologiCal expediTionSarChaeologiCal expediTionS

inTegraTed anTiQue expediTion

Head of expedition: S. Solovyov

The expedition continued working under the research programme “Acra: The Ancient City and Its Environs” (Zavetnoye Village, Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Ukraine) and the archaeologi-cal project with the University of Tubingen to perform excavations in Heracleia ad Latmos (Kapikiri, Milas Province, Turkey). The investigation focused on the sea-flooded part of Acra and was aimed at developing a situation map of the city and exploring its fortification and residential structures through underwater excava-tions and survey. The latter were carried out jointly with the Ukrainian Department for Subaquatic Heritage (Supervisor: V. Vakhoneyev) and the Russian Federation Ministry for Emergencies (Super-visor: D. Yefremov). As a result of the field works, an archaeological map of the submerged site was compiled with account of the present shoreline; the south-west and north-west defence walls as well as stone pavement in an area exceeding 30 sq.m were exposed; a 1.8 m deep survey shaft was sunk near the north face of the south-west defence wall and the stone basement of a 25 sq.m structure located east of the paved area was unearthed. The excavations yielded numerous ceramic items in-cluding fragments of fine Attic black-lacquer pottery and fragments of branded tare amphorae from Sinop, Heracleia, Thasos and Chios dating back to the mid-4th – early 3rd centuries BC.Excavations in Heracleia ad Latmos in ancient Caria were conducted jointly with the University of Tubingen (Supervisor: Richard Posamentir) with the aim to explore the historical precursors of the ancient town (Anneliese Peschlow, Christoph Gerber), and verify the layouts and structural features of the residual buildings (defence system, residential and public buildings – Richard Posa-mentir) of Heracleia, founded in the late 4th century BC by Mausolus of Halicarnassus, a Persian satrap and ruler of Caria; ceramic materials were collected and examined for subsequent publica-tion (S. Solovyov). The Heracleian expedition resulted in the first-ever extensive collection of clas-sical and Hellenistic pottery; the team also studied previously recovered materials held in the Didy-ma archaeological depository.

arChiTeCTural and arChaeologiCal expediTion

Head of expedition: O. Ioannisian

June–September. The Hermitage expedition jointly with the researchers of the Chernigov Na-tional Pedagogical University (Supervisor: Ye. Chernenko) explored the Transfiguration Cathedral in Chernigov, the oldest surviving monument of ancient Russian architecture (c. 1036 AD). The ex-pedition unearthed the foundations and lower parts of the walls of the north-east and south-east extensions previously studied by N. Makarenko (1923) as well as the lower parts of the masonry and foundations of the cathedral, the related cultural layers and the burials in the narthex. The exploratory works provided more accurate data on the architectural and structural features of the side-chapels and the cathedral itself, leading to significant corrections in the dating of the side-

chapels, previously believed to have been constructed in the late 11th – early 12th centuries. The north extension was found to date back to nearly the same period as the cathedral, i.e. the first half of the 11th century; the south side-chapel was built in the sec-ond half of the century and reconstructed in the late 11th – early 12th centuries. Furthermore, foundations of a previously unknown extension to the cathedral (the south narthex or gallery) were dis-covered in the south side-chapel. Its foundations may have been laid simultaneously to the construction of the cathedral, but most likely, the extension was never built.The detailed investigation of the cathedral and extension masonry made it possible to challenge some of the existing theories about early Russian architecture.September–November. Archaeological surveillance of the ground works related to façade waterproofing was conducted by the Her-mitage experts jointly with the North-West Archaeological Expe-

0 1 2 cm

Anthropomorphic plummet. Limestone. 6th century BC

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arChaeologiCal expediTionS arChaeologiCal expediTionS

upper dvina expediTion

Head of expedition: B. Korotkevich

Excavations continued on the Anashkino and Borokhnovo sites in the south of the Pskov Oblast (Region). In Anashkino, previously explored parts of the pit in the east sector of the site were re-unearthed and the control shoulder between them removed for stratigraphic analysis. Some features in the pre-continental layer were revealed which dated back to the early period of the site and had gone undetected by researchers. In Borokhnovo, works were completed on the ninth – tenth-century defence structures in the pit started in 2010.

anCienT ruSSian expediTion

Head of expedition: S. Tomsinsky

Archaeological explorations in Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda (Aleksandrov, Vladimir Oblast/Region) started in 2005. In the 2012 field season, works continued on the remains of the sixteenth-centu-ry buildings around the sixteenth-century Dormition Church and the eighteenth-century over-the-well chapel (Pit 1, Extension 10). In addition, investigations commenced on a large area bounded by the levee of the sixteenth-century grand-ducal and royal residence and left outside later monastery walls built in the 18th century (Pit 2). The team continued the exploration (begun in 2009) of an early sixteenth-century stone structure, possibly a residential facility, in the Tsarina’s Yard (Extension 10). For the first time since the beginning of the of Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda project, explorations were conducted on the surviving early sixteenth-century interiors (a basement room). The building had been destroyed by fire (possibly during Ivan IV’s reign) and never restored. Our studies have shown that the destruction of the building had a decisive impact on the subsequent construction history of his part of the palace complex.

Khumcha vessel with a sixth- to seventh-century Sogdian inscription

Shahristan I. West aspect. Rooms VIIIа-6 and VIIIа-7

Bronze seal with a family crest of a participant in the 1812 War

Basement room. Unearthed fragments of the wall masonry in the west corner of the building; a fragment of the “herringbone” brick floor in the basement; remains of the doorway and a fragment of a white stone stair

In Shahristan I, 14 m of a 1.5–2 m wide street (West Street) were explored. Stratigraphic analysis identified 18 levels; the lowest two contained early medieval materials. The surfaces paved with burnt bricks on both sides served as pavements for pedestrians and/or sufas for the shops lining the street. Excavations in Room VIII-1/4 in the west section of the residential community showed that the site had first been settled in the 6th cen-tury. The late eighth-century rooms VIIIа-6 and VIIIа-7 (dated by an Abu Muslim coin) were linked with a passage. Interestingly enough, the second room located farther from the entrance had 3 khum ves-sels dug into the sufas; 14 coins of various denominations were found on the floor.In the east of the residential community, a detailed investigation was carried out on the earliest parts of House I (judging by the coins, the foundations of the house date to the 6th century or slightly earlier). A hall measuring c. 42 sq.m was fully unearthed in the west part of the house; a narrow passage leads from the hall to a small room with sufas on all four sides and a podium in the centre. Buried under the eleventh-century community mosque in the south-east of the South Suburb lay the remains of what seems to have been

a bathhouse, with two spacious rooms featuring sufa-beds, baths of burnt brick and stoves for heat-ing water. The south room had niches plastered with a mix of clay and gypsum and painted red. Monitoring was conducted and precise coordinates determined for the known archaeological monu-ments (the Bronze Age settlement and graveyard Zaman-baba and the medieval settlements Dustmat-tepa and Shiburdan-ata) in order to develop a new archaeological map of Qorako’l, Bukhara District. The Hermitage restoration experts О. Viktorova and R. Kazimirova, in collaboration with the Bukha-ra State Museum-Reserve of Architecture and Art (Ark), completed the cleaning, reinforcement and mounting works on a fragment of a sixth to seventh-century painting depicting a cheetah which was obtained from the Uch-Kulakh Site, Bukhara District and selected for exhibition.

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arChaeologiCal expediTionS

Stretches of wall masonry were exposed in the west corner of the structure, which had partly re-tained their white stone interior lining, a fragment of “herringbone” floor in the basement room as well as remains of a doorway and part of a white stone staircase leading to the basement from the street. The unearthed masonry indicates that the original building may have measured c. 300 sq.m in area. No traces of direct fire impact were detected in the unearthed segment of the basement room. The room had probably been used to store food including jam which had spilt on the floor dur-ing or after the fire. The building had probably formed part of an early sixteenth-century passage gallery (explored in 2006–2007). On Pit 2, investigation was started on what may have been part of the household section of the residence.The most interesting finds of the season were a brick fragment with gold foil melted in the fire, whole and fragmented red clay wall tiles tentatively dated to the 16th century, whole early sixteenth-century black and white clay roof tiles and a bronze seal bearing the family crest of a participant in the 1812 War.

TranSKuBan expediTion

Head of expedition: S. Ostashinsky

Excavations (started in 2011) continued on the rock ledge near the Meshoko Brook. The site is locat-ed 1.2 km south-east of the Kamennomostsky Village (Maikop District, Adyg Republic). Exploratory works were conducted on a 32 sq.m area; remains of the floor and several post holes were found, and a rectangular dwelling pit sized approximately 3 × 3.5 m was partly unearthed. Two radiocarbon dates obtained for samples of the coal layer overlying the site indicate an origin of the first half of the 4th millennium BC. In addition, remains of two fireplaces (partly destroyed by later pits) with alternating layers of coal and ash and adjacent pads of burnt clay were located.7,000 items were retrieved, most of them pottery, flint and bone fragments. Individual finds in-cluded arrowheads of various shapes, grain bruisers, pendants made of animal teeth, fragments of clay stove bases, spindle whorls and walls of pottery vessels embellished with clay “pearls”, in-cised or moulded decorations. The materials obtained, the stratigraphic diversity (5 layers) and the C14 dates provide a unique opportunity to create a detailed chronological scale for the Eneolithic – Early Bronze Period in the North-West Caucasus.One landmark result of the past field season was the unearthing of the earliest cultural layer on the site. The objects retrieved from this layer were markedly different from those found in the overlying strata and mostly included split products and isolated flint items as well as geometrical microliths. Further exploration works will be required to provide accurate dating and cultural attribution.

golden horde (old Krym) expediTion

Head of expedition: M. Kramarovsky

In the 2012 season, the expedition focused on two sites: Pit 37-012, containing the surviving re-mains of the defence tower in the north-west sector of defence system (last quarter of the 14th cen-tury), and the Solkhat madrasah (first third of the 14th century).A 225 sq.m pit was divided into 9 exploratory units sized 5 × 5 m. Unit А-1 contained the remains of the west tower wall (rubble stone and lime mortar). The wall had been built on continental rock and although the face stones had not survived, its general outline was traced by the residual “bed” of the wall. A trench under the north tower wall was found in Unit А-2; the trench had been dug into light yellow stony ground, with continental rock at the bottom. In Unit B-2, remains of the west tower wall were located. Like in the other cases, the wall was built from stones fixed together with lime mortar; traces of lime mortar were preserved. In the areas where no masonry had survived a trench was made below the west wall in order to identify the junction point of the west wall and the main defence wall.


As a result, a 15 m stretch of the main fortress wall of the medieval Solkhat and the adjoining fortress tower were located. No traces of the main defence wall were found apart from several rubble stones found in situ inside the trench (“bedding”) beneath the wall. Almost no tower ma-sonry adjoining to the main defence line on the north had survived. The residual fragment measured 4.3 m in length and 1.2 m in width; the east jacket of the wall was 0.9 m high. The east (internal) façade was found in a better state of preservation than the west façade, from which just several jacket stones remained. Elsewhere the outlines of the tower can only be determined by the trench (1.2–1.5 m wide) dug in the light-yellow clay soil. Our findings suggest that the tower may have had a square layout with 8 × 8 m walls.The excavations retrieved iron and burnt clay objects as well as a small collection of Jochid coins (18 in total).The measurement works on the Solkhat madrasah were conducted for further in-depth study and museumification of the site.

myrmeKeyon expediTion

Head of expedition: A. Butyagin

Works continued on the site of the ancient city of Myrmekeyon located on the north shore of the Kerch Bay (Quarantine Cape). Most activities centred on Unit I (gross excavated area 450 sq.m) and a small land plot in the area of Site TS. The exploration programme was completed on the layers of Ash Pit 2 in the south sector of Unit I, surviving as small lenses, hollows and 3 pits cutting through the earlier layer. Two of the pits had small indentations at the bottom, one of which contained the upper part of a Heracleian amphora embedded in the ground shoulders up, the other comprised the lower part of an amphora. Dating from the 3rd – 2nd centuries BC, the ash pit overlies a dense layer of yellow loam soil which resulted from the levelled and rammed adobe originating from houses of the 4th century BC. The masonry and pavements of this period survived only in places and measure up to 2–3 m in length. Numerous fragments of red-figure vessels were retrieved (over 20 of these were fragments of large craters); one unique find made during the 2012 field season was a five-line letter in Greek on a fragment of an amphora wall. All the structures unearthed had been destroyed around the mid-4th century BC. Rock outcrops occurred along the side of the pit in the south sector of the site, with outcrops of layers

Fragment of a red-figure crater. 4th century BC

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containing Late Archaic materials (early 5th century BC) located in close proximity. A pavement of flat stones which had formed part of an ancient street proceeded northward from that point. In Site TS, most of the late medieval layer was found to overlie the rock; in places, the layer is dis-rupted by pits and trenches of the nineteenth-century port quarantine. Nevertheless, a bronze Julia Domna coin (198 AD) and some red-lacquer pottery of the Roman period were found in a rock crevice.

nymphaeum expediTion

Head of expedition: O. Sokolova

Exploratory works continued on the Bosporan city of Nymphaeum, located 17 km south of Kerch, on the north-east fringe of the Eltigen (Geroyevskoye) Village (Crimean AR, Ukraine). Most field research was conducted on Site М on the south slope of the Nymphaeum Plateau. Explorations continued on the overlying layer to the south of the propylaea unearthed in 1996–2000. Elements of the second (south) propylaea (preserved in situ) were cleared up. Most of the materials date from the 4th – 3rd centuries BC; some fragments, however, can be dated to the 5th century BC. 14 house-hold pits, mostly originating during the first centuries AD, were investigated in the 2010 extension to the pit along the west boundary of Site M (Units 1–6). Conservation activities were undertaken on the necropolis. Pit 1 was started to explore a vault-like burial structure, the roofing of which can be traced on the section of the robber pit. 5 large stone blocks surviving from the destroyed vault of the tomb were found, one of these with a bucranium relief. A new cultural layer was detected and identified by pottery items as dating from the 5th – 3rd centuries BC. The second area was found to contain two stone boxes (fully robbed), one of which comprised fragments of a bronze strainer and a kyathos.The expedition evacuated part of the ground heap. A barrier and an information board were installed at the entrance to the archaeological site on the west. Multiple clay, stone, glass, bronze and iron objects retrieved from the city site (692 items as per field records) and necropolis (9 items as per field records) were transferred to the Kerch Museum.

penjiKenT expediTion

Head of expedition: P. Lourie

Works continued on two sites. The Khisorak Site in the upper part of the Zeravshana Valley opposite the Madrushkat Village has been under exploration since 2010. In the past field season, works con-tinued on the manor houses in Shahristan (the City) and two hills of the fortress (Citadel). The pit in the Shahristan was extended to the south of two rooms unearthed in 2011; exploratory activities were performed on the corridor, a capella-like room and a courtyard with an awning. In Citadel I, excavations continued in the south-west sector of the hill. A fragment of a mural depicting running gazelles was found under a layer of plaster in the previously unearthed “capella”. Some new fea-tures were explored, namely a large, possibly open-air household facility in the corner of the citadel and (partly) a reception room with a sufa in the centre of the south wall. A passage with an excel-lently preserved wooden threshold was located in the corner of the hall. Citadel II is an isolated hill with a castle built on a corridor layout; in the 2012 field season, exploratory works targeted its west sector. One of the vaulted structures had partly retained second-floor walls and the vault. The fill included a large amount of organic matter such as carved wooden beams, decorative bricks and a dried-out mummified dog. The room to the west of it had a window and a passage to the west; more organic matter was found near the floor level. An open iwan was located behind the capital wall; the team investigated its walls, parts of the awning and the first floor as well as some shaped bricks lost from the entablature. The residence of “the Rog elder” (mentioned in a document from Khisorak) was identified in the east part of the Rog Village.


In Penjikent, works continued on sites ХХVI and ХХVI-С in the east part of the site and in Kaynar under the west slope; excavations were also resumed on the suburban manor houses to the south of the town where investigations of the largest hill were completed (the spaces between the manor houses and a street with pedestrian pavements along the river were exposed). Restoration and exca-vation works were conducted on the sixth-century Kaynar palace. The north part of the complex and the rooms near the fortress wall were found to be linked via a passage. In the south part, works com-menced on the area between Kaynar and the upper citadel of Penjikent. The remaining murals in the palace “capella” were cleared up and copied (the works were performed under the grant from the US cultural office in Tajikistan); a fragment of a mural with tulips (top layer) was restored. To the west, the upper parts of the walls embellished with identical murals were cleaned up. On the ХХVI-С site, explorations continued on the East Street and the adjacent household on the west; a chronological analysis was performed on the south extension and the ground floor rooms in the previously explored part of the house. The west wall of the square was unearthed. Site ХХVI was extended southward. Excavations continued on a rich aristocratic residence between the fortress wall and the street in the west. A first-floor room with a vaulted grain storage chest, remains of the second-floor walls, two large vaulted rooms (5.5–6.5 m tall) located in parallel to each other along the E–W axis and a corridor running N–S parallel to the street were exposed. A rich decorative mural frieze, with red predominating, was copied in the previously unearthed room. One especially valuable finding was a gold ring with a black stone insert depicting a human figure facing left.

Running Gazelles. A painting from Room 2, Citadel II, Khisorak Site, with a reconstruction outline superimposed on the walls of the room (by A. Stepanov)

Gold signet ring. Penjikent, Item XXVI, Room 44, filling. Photo by the author

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norTh-WeST expediTion

Head of expedition: A. Mazurkevich

The expedition targeted the archaeological campsites Serteya I and Serteya II (Velizh District, Smolensk Oblast/Region) and the Dubokray group of monuments at the bot-tom of Sennitsa Lake (Nevel District, Pskov Oblast/Region). During the 2012 field season, further investi-gation was performed on the wooden structure in Serteya I composed of a horizontal layer of large processed fir sticks (up to 3m long) with sharpened ends. Radiocarbon dating suggests that the structure can be dated to the mid-3rd millennium BC. A large fragment of a fishnet with about 50 plummets was retrieved from the same site. The net fragments were ex-tracted as a single monolith and cleaned up in laboratory settings. The well-preserved plum-mets were made of small pebbles or pieces of clay neatly covered with birch bark wicker.Exploratory works were completed on the in-situ wooden structure composed of upstand-

ing pine sticks (rectangular in section) tied together with ropes. The lower ends of the sticks were sharpened; the sticks measured c. 70 cm in length, their upper ends had been broken off in antiquity. Embedded in the aleurite to the depth of up to 50 cm, the structure used to be arranged in a semi-circle in the centre of the channel between two lakes. A bone endpiece with residual string binding was found near. The previously found fragments of one bone and one flint endpiece had also been used for fish hunting. Isolated pottery fragments of the Usvyat and Zhizhitsa cultures as well as some pig coprolites were retrieved.Further underwater explorations on Serteya II targeted the cultural strata of Structure 1. Several levels of wooden floor repairs were traced dating back to various reconstruction periods. The sand contains numerous small coals, calcified bones, flint flakes and scales. Similar sediments were found


on each of the floor levels. Other finds included fragments of ropes of different weave types, including one whole roll of thick rope. Other finds retrieved from the different flooring levels included pottery fragments, flint tools and flint production waste as well as wooden artefacts. Underwater explorations continued on Dubokray I (Sennitsa Lake) and the structure composed of large stones arranged in a circle with several protrusions (rays). Agglomerations of ceramic mate-rial and coals were found. The pottery dates back to the 4th – 5th millennia BC. A systematic survey showed that the material was deposited in several spots at the central elevated point of the structure.A new monument (Dubokray X) was discovered as a result of underwater explorations and shown to contain remains of a feature composed of large stones. Of especial interest is the north-west part of the monument where stones are arranged in two strictly parallel lines. The topographical plan and surface reconstruction data indicate the area to be the highest point of the monument. It was also the site from which the only agglomeration of finds (a bone endpiece, a stone axe and fragments of a clay Late Neolithic pot) was retrieved.

SlaviC-SarmaTian expediTion

Head of expedition: S. Voronyatov

Excavations proceeded on Sinin VIII, Pogar Dis-trict, Bryansk Oblast/Region (gross excavation area 96 sq.m). No large structures were discovered; how-ever, the team discovered some important materials providing a better chronological picture of the site. The Early Roman period of the settlement is repre-sented by pottery of the post-Zarubintsy Pochep group and Yukhnovo culture (late stage) and can be reliably dated to the 1st century AD by the Late Laten fibula (made of wire) found on the site. The Late Ro-man period is represented by the Kiev-type pottery with a small amount of fragmented Chernyakhov pot-tery first found in the Bryansk Oblast. The discovery of two fragments of a black clay Chernyakhov vessel made it possible to reconstruct a three-handle vase typical of the fourth-century Chernyakhov culture. In-dividual finds representing both these periods includ-ed spindle whorls of various shapes and fragmented iron knives.Survey works were conducted in Suzemka District, Bryansk Oblast/Region, at the point of discovery of the Usukh treasury with items from the circle of the third-century champlevé enamels. An unexplored monument was found near the former Usukh Village which produced some Bronze Age pottery.

0 1 2 cm

Finds from Serteya II. 3rd millennium BC

Fibula. Bronze. 1st century AD

Black clay vessel (reconstruction). 4th century

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STaBian expediTion

Head of expedition: A. Butyagin

Excavations continued on the thermae of the Ariadne Villa, one of the so-called Stabian villas. The three-year-long exploration works on the thermae were almost completed. Most of the activi-ties focused on the east sector of the courtyard with a small garden, the remainder of which had been unearthed in 2011. The courtyard walls were covered with frescos on a red background; a fully-preserved floor mosaic with a cross-shaped pattern was found. The ground in the corner was not removed to prevent the walls from collapsing. The principal area of investigation was the cubuculum with two bed niches to the north-east of the courtyard. The team unearthed the cubiculum to the floor level, fully exposing the walls with more graffito in ancient Greek and Latin. Of especial interest is the painting representing a gladiator (myrmillo) and a roughly sketched figure of his opponent. A mosaic of black and white mar-ble cubes was unearthed on the floor. A small mosaic representing a two-handled vase survived near the door opening into the south-east corridor as did the meander bands on the floor.A corridor bounding the thermae on the south-east was fully explored apart from a small area of ground in the north part, re-tained to protect the layer from collapsing. The floor of the cor-ridor had a concrete surface; the walls bore frescoes with a red background. The south-east wall in the central part of the corri-dor was found to have a breach resulting from eighteenth-century excavations.

Tien-Shan expediTion

Head of expedition: A. Torgoyev

Exploratory works continued on two monuments: the Krasnaya Rechka Site in the Chuyskaya Valley (Kyrgyzstan) and the Kultobe Site in the centre of the Turkestan City (South Kazakhstan). The Krasnaya Rechka team targeted two areas: the Buddhist temple and the stratigraphic pit near the west fortress wall of the central quadrangle.In the Buddhist temple, exploration of the rectangular shrine sized 8 × 7 m was completed. Frag-ments of seated figures were unearthed on the pedestal in the south-west corner. A small fragment of a picture painted in red and representing Buddha sitting on a lotus was uncovered on the wall of the shrine. The fill of the shrine was found to contain fragments (some small, some fairly large) of wall sculptures. Fragments of the face and head of the large sculpture (unearthed in 2011) and of the smaller figures standing in front of Buddha were found on the floor in the altar niche. The entry

to the niche was completely cleared up; this may have been equipped with a small stair as the floor level in the niche is above that of the shrine.Further exploratory works were undertaken on the lower levels of the stratigraphic pit. The earliest layer, resting on the continental rock, can be dated to the 8th century. The clean-up works on the continental rock resulted in the discovery of 3 burials dating to a period yet unknown but obviously preceding the construction of the town. The Kultobe team mainly focused on the architectural and archaeological features of the early cita-del and the ancient precursor of Yasi-Turkestan. The citadel had grown around a cross-shaped build-ing with later additions. Several fortification jackets and the city fortress wall had been subsequent-ly adjoined to the outer front of the building. This is the first time that the development of a small town has been reliably traced in the Middle Syr-Daria Region. The town was destroyed by fire (most likely, in the middle of the 1st millennium AD) and entered a new historical phase directly related to the city of Yasi in the 9th century AD.

CenTral aSian expediTion

Head of expedition: N. Nikolayev

Works continued on the Xiongnu gravesite of Orgoyton, Buryatia Republic. The horizontally laid stone slabs that had formed the fence of the structure overlying the burials were removed and the bounda-ries of the grave cut defined. On the ancient daylight surface level, the grave exceeds 16 m from north to south (not including the dromos); the north wall measures over 14.5 m in length, the south wall is 12.9 m long. More accurate data was obtained on the design of the internal partitions including those between the dromos and the grave cut. The dromos was found to contain 3 upright stelae aligned with the central stela in the north wall of the fence. The stelae in the dromos may have had different semantic functions from those used in the fence around the barrow. Further investigations will be re-quired to fully understand the territorial, chronological, social or other factors that led to the use of the stelae in the fence and dromos of “princely” Xiongnu mounds on the right bank of the Selenga River.

Face of the large Buddha sculpture (reconstructed by fragments). Clay, painting. 8th – 9th centuries. Krasnaya Rechka Site. Tien Shan Expedition

Palm of a minor figure from the altar niche. Krasnaya Rechka Site. Buddhist temple in the south extension

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SouTh-eaST Crimean expediTion

Head of expedition: V. Gukin

Exploratory works continued on the port area of the medieval town of Sudak. Two surface stone houses were unearthed and fully explored on Pit VIII (Structures 1 and 2) which had functioned for over 250 years. Structure 2 was identified as dating from the first half of the 13th century; Structure l had been added to Structure 2 during the Mongol rule. Both ancient build-ings had integrated heating systems or sufas (following the Far-East traditions of residential con-struction). The dwellings overlie earlier cultural strata containing the remains of ninth- to twelfth-century stone structures. The ceramic materials associated with the earlier structures display some

marked chronological changes. The most prevalent findings were tenth- to eleventh-century Constantinople containers as well as fragments of amphorae made in the north of the Black Sea Re-gion (8th – first half of the 9th centuries) and tall-necked pitchers dating from the second half of the 9th – 11th centuries. Items of particular interest included an amphora and a pithos (both whole) found in situ inside the structures as well as a fragment of a pithos with a brand and a Greek inscription. The few glazed ceramic items obtained from the site shows the distinct features present in the pottery originating from Constantinople, Mediter-ranean Region and Asia Minor. The most important metal arte-facts included an Italian misericord, a processional cross for out-door use and a hook for animal carcass splitting; the stone objects included a casting mould for lead rings. Numerous bronze, glass and bone items were retrieved. The coin findings make it possible to roughly date the layers in Pit VIII to the 10th – end of the 15th centuries at the earliest.

SouTh Crimean expediTion

Head of expedition: S. Adaksina

The South Crimean Expedition and the Crimean Office of the Archaeology Institute (Ukrainian Academy of Sciences) continued exploratory works on the Cembalo Fortress (14th – 15th centuries) in Balaclava. The 2012 field season followed up the activities performed in 2008–2011; works were pursued along the fortress’s east defence line, between the Barnabo Grillo Tower and the Portal Tower.The newly uncovered site is located inside the east curtain, beneath the road leading towards the

Barnabo Grillo Tower. The buildings on this slope were arranged in terraces. The pit measures about 200 sq.m in area. The explored built-up residential zone was extended to the west and north-west compared with the 2011 field season; part of the curtain along the fortress’s east defence line between the Portal Tower and Barnabo Grillo was unearthed.The most remarkable findings include a fragment of a red clay cup with light yellow-green glazing; the fragment carries part of a narrative painting representing a bearded man in embroi-dered clothes and a number of plant shoots.Some interesting stratified material was obtained which provides valuable information on housing construction principles and the infrastructural development of the medieval Cembalo Fortress.

Pithos. Clay. 9th – 12th centuries

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SouTh KuBan expediTion

Head of expedition: T. Ryabkova

Exploration works were completed on Division Kurgan 1 (Kostromskoy Kurgan) near the Severny Village, Mostovsky District, Krasnodar Krai/Region.A three-year-long study showed that the Kostromskoy Kurgan had been built above a redesigned Bronze Age mound. The ground may have been cleared up to the continental rock, after which а bar-row had been constructed that looked like a hill measuring about 28 m in diameter. The artificial pad on the surface of the hill (mentioned in N. Veselovsky’s report several times) was well-rammed. The pad had obviously carried a cage-like structure as a corner of the frame and the wooden blocks above it were located in the segment of the mound untouched by Veselovsky’s trench. Veselovsky’s data about the logs located inside the timber frame were confirmed; the logs had been used as sup-ports for the frame (3 of these were traced). The presence of a tabernacle was not confirmed as the imprints of the burnt wooden blocks on the surface of the pad were haphazard rather than arranged in any regular pattern. The thin black layer overlying the feature suggests that some kind of felt cloth (?) may have been used. Veselovsky’s reports about horse carcasses found outside the frame also turned out to be a mistake; the frame was surrounded by rectangular block-like structures rising slightly above the surface of the pad. Moreover, the position of the frame corner shows that either the burial ground exceeded the size quoted by N. Veselovsky (3.2 × 3.2 m) or his description (“a pit was discovered beneath the tabernacle under rammed soil matching the quadrangle base of the taber-nacle in size”, 1897) was incorrect. Sacrificial complexes with horse and cattle skulls were located in the north-west and north parts of the barrow at the borders of the pad. Our explorations showed that the mound had been constructed according to a detailed plan, probably over a lengthy period of time. Investigatory activities between Division Kurgan 1 and 10 failed to locate any structures near the barrow of Division Kurgan 1. The 2012 field works showed that the small barrow near of Division Kurgan 1 was also a burial mound. A human burial in a shallow grave, almost completely destroyed by robber excavations, was found under the barrow, with skeletons of bridled horses laid


near the grave in a semi-circle on the ancient surface level in the west. Both mounds are likely to have been constructed in the late 7th century BC. A collection of pottery fragments and items made of animal bones found during the 2011 field season in close proximity to the Division Kurgans suggested the presence of a settlement in the area. In 2012, its boundaries were tentatively outlined; a topographic plan was compiled; a new shaft was started resulting in a large collection of pottery and metal items. The ceramic materials make it possible to date the settlement to the Early Meotian period (late 7th – 6th centuries BC).

SouTh SiBerian expediTion

Head of expedition: K. Chugunov

Excavations continued on Kurgan 1 forming part of the Bugry Gravesite in the Rubtsovsk District, Altai Krai/Region. The shoulder of the centrally located Grave 1 was removed and exploratory works on the grave were undertaken. The grave was found to contain fragments of a bridle set and showed traces of illegal excavations; a supporting system for a robber trench, plank structures and frag-ments of a wooden shovel were found. In the Tyva Republic, works continued on the Chinge-Tey I funerary complex. The excavations pro-ceeded on three sectors of the mound; the stonework of the peripheral structures of the monument (north-west feature) was studied. The complex was identified as a funerary structure and found to contain an embedded ceramic vessel with an ornament common in the Kokel culture of the early 1st millennium AD. In Sector ABV stonework was dismantled along line AB towards the centre of the kurgan. In Sector APR, another stone box burial was explored (Grave 5). A leather belt with was bronze plaques and fragments of a gorytos with a bow and arrows was found near the body. These uniquely preserved items make it possible to reconstruct similar objects previously found in fragments. Apart from these artefacts (extracted as monoliths), a deer stone was retrieved from under the façade stonework of the mound.

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major ConSTruCTion and reSToraTion of The BuildingS

ConSTruCTion of The “STaraya derevnya” reSToraTion, ConServaTion and STorage CenTre

At the end of 2012 the second phase in the construction of the “Staraya Derevnya“ Restoration, Conservation and Storage Centre was put into operation. The new premises will accommodate the museum’s restoration laboratories, the holdings of the scientific and storage departments, exhibi-tion, lecture and concert halls. According to the project the State Hermitage Museum repository represents a complex of buildings including several blocks: the Storage Block, the Restoration and Conservation Block, the Lecture and Exhibition Block, the Technical Block, the Laboratory Block,

the Administrative Block, as well as auxiliary blocks.The first phase of the Centre’s project (construction of four build-ings), was completed on 16 May 2003. Since then the new muse-um repository has been operating on the “open storage” principle. Currently the main building houses different collections from the Department of Western European Fine Arts, Department of West-ern European Applied Arts, Department of the History of Russian Culture, Oriental Department, Department of the Archaeology of Eastern Europe and Siberia, Laboratory for Scientific Restoration of Easel Painting, Laboratory for Scientific Restoration of Time-pieces and Musical Mechanisms and Laboratory for Scientific Restoration of Applied Art Objects. The Museum of the Horse and the Theatre of Tapestries have opened in the Centre. Over several years classes have been held here for children with special needs within the educational programme “The Past at the Fingertips”.The second phase of the construction includes six blocks. The gen-eral designer and the prime contractor is the Finnish Lemminkain-en company, the architectural design is by the Russian Trofimovs Creative Workshop, the engineering design is carried out by the

major ConSTruCTion and reSToraTion of The BuildingS

LenNIIProekt company in collaboration with the employees of the State Hermitage Museum. The dominant of the complex is the building with a granite portal decorated with Onega and White Sea petroglyphs, which have become the emblem of the State Hermitage Museum “Staraya Derevnya” Restoration, Conserva-tion and Storage Centre. The corridors and transportation hubs of every floor inside the block have their own colour. Thus the seven floors have seven rainbow dyes. The restoration and storage centre includes 54 repositories with a total area of 7,954 sq.m. The open storage area is 1,114 sq.m. The storage unit with the enhanced safety level occupies an area of 507 sq.m; 3,807 sq.m accommodate restoration laboratories, including the Laboratory for Scientific Restoration of Applied Art Objects, with the sectors of metal artwork, ceramic art and stained-glass artwork, Laboratory for Scientific Restoration of Photos, Laboratory for Scientific Restoration of Textiles, Labo-ratory for Scientific Restoration of Furniture and Carriages, Labo-ratory for Scientific Restoration of Mural Painting, the bookbind-ing sector of the Laboratory for Scientific Restoration of Graphic Works. The Department of the Archaeology of Eastern Europe and Siberia (1,797 sq.m), Antiquity Department (1,200 sq.m), De-partment of the History of Russian Culture (3,095 sq.m), Oriental Department (1,267 sq.m), Department of Western European Fine Arts (734 sq.m), Department of Western European Applied Arts (1,069 sq.m) plan to have their own storage spaces here.The Lecture and Exhibition Block houses two large span exhibition halls, with two rows of windows and anterooms occupying a total area of 1,000 sq.m, and a 240-seat lecture and concert hall.

Mikhail Piotrovsky and Olga Golodets, Vice-Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation

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major ConSTruCTion and reSToraTion of The BuildingSmajor ConSTruCTion and reSToraTion of The BuildingS

reSToraTion of The hanging garden

In 2012, after a seven-year period of restoration work, the Hang-ing Garden has blossomed anew. A tremendous amount of work has been done to make this happen. Before the start of the Hang-ing Garden’s restoration it was necessary to carry out a thorough integrated engineering survey (in 2003–2004), which involved looking into the causes of the soaking of the structures and the dampening of the rooms under the garden. The survey of the foun-dations, basements and vaults in the central part of the Small Hermitage was conducted as well. As a result two reasons were identified: the capillary water rise due to the lack of the founda-tion waterproofing and the water inflow across the garden sur-face (explained by the damage to the waterproofing of the drain ditches and the paths). Measures had to be taken for draining the walls and the vaults, inspecting the sewerage systems and other utilities, identifying the places of waterproofing defects and the sources of the flooding of the Small Hermitage basements by ap-plying the geophysical (non-destructive) methods. Russian and

Dutch specialists from Fundamentproekt and the evers Partners company participated in this work. The difficulties of the laying out and the upkeep of such gardens in our severe climate determine the unique character of the completed work. The words “great leakages and dampness” are the most fre-quently used in the archival documents related to the history of the Hanging Garden’s construction. Oddly enough, the major leakage followed immediately after the latest in the series of routine repairs. There was a reason for that. Since in the course of the reclamation works the old waterproofing sys-tem was removed, the constructions had plenty of time to get moisturised again. While slowly concen-trating at the lower levels, the water kept accumulating until it had reached the critical point only to start flooding the lower premises. The best time for carrying out the restoration work was scheduled after the careful study of the archival documents including the plans, sectional views, as well as the lists of plants from the palace nursery-gardens (namely Taurida Gardens and the gardens on Yelagin Island) intended for planting in the Hanging Garden. On 7 February 2006 the project received the approval from the bodies of the protection of historical monuments of St. Petersburg. In 1840 the architect Vasily Stasov was put in charge of the general reconstruction of the Small Hermitage building. He designed the new floor system under the Hanging Garden, known as the en-trenching floor (or light septal vaults), which rested directly on the capital brick arches. The addition

The Hanging Garden. 1990s

The Hanging Garden. After restoration

of more space under the garden helped find the solution to two problems by providing the protection of the lower premises from the through leakages and the ventilation of the interior structures, since the entrenching vaults form the actual labyrinths under the garden. Stasov improved the water dis-posal system from the garden surface; the water flows down the paths into the drain ditches for the plants, then runs into the water intake chambers through the water drain pipe found on the bottoms of the drain ditches and further on to the sewage. This system is now fully restored.Some unforeseen problems occurred in the course of the restoration work. The waterproofing and the water disposal system project required the engineers to design the system of transverse and longitudi-nal slopes on the garden surface. The transverse slope (1 сm per metre) is visible, while the longitudi-nal slope is insignificant (approximately 1 сm per 5 metres). Demonstrating clear geometry, the drain ditches for the plants take the shape of an oblong rectangular. Workers with the measuring tools started to place the curb Dutch bricks along the perimeter of the drain ditches in strict accordance with the design’s brickwork dimensions. On the completion of the first section it was found that as a result of the optical illusion, the small longitudinal slope makes the fringe of the drain ditch look wavy, or, in other words, curved. Consequently, the longitudinal slopes had to be abandoned. Given the length of the gar-den, the leveling along the whole length of the garden resulted in the serious deviation from the design dimensions. Much of the completed work needed adjustment. At some places the leveling concrete was added to reach 10 сm, while in others it had to be cut off, which was far more complex.In the course of works some curious incidents happened. After the long period of the restoration work some jobs remained to be completed. The decision was made to bring them all together in the contract entitled “Finalising the Hanging Garden’s Restoration”. When the operations under the contract had already started, it was revealed that the door leading into the garden had been forgotten to install. It was easy to understand. Surrounded by the museum rooms and located in the very centre of the Her-mitage, the Hanging Garden inconveniences the performance of works. Prior to the restoration work the garden’s surface mark considerably increased and the doors of the side galleries had to be walled up to prevent the penetration of water into the museum rooms. That was the main reason which prompted the start of the restoration. The employees and the persons in charge of the engineering and architectural control got into the garden through the window of the Pavilion Hall with the permission of the security service. The supplies were delivered by the load hoist, and the restorers entered the garden through the roof, for which temporary scaffolds were built. They would go up and down, carrying their instruments, which used to happen many times a day. One could often hear the following conversation, “How did you get into the Hanging Garden, through the roof?” “No, the usual way, through the window”. Generally speaking, everybody got used to do without the doors… Later the employees joked that one more con-tract entitled “Finalising the finalising works in the Hanging Garden” was to be drawn up. The Hanging Garden has a unique small scale climate, imitating that of more southerly latitudes. The closeness to the Neva partially counterbalances the temperature differences; it is closed from four sides and receives the warmth from the walls and the rooms beneath. Besides, its stretching from north to south allows for maximum insolation. The trees and bushes blossom here earlier and this period continues longer than in the city and its suburbs. The list of plants from the 1843 register was given careful thought. Considering the conditions of St. Petersburg the plants are absolutely winter-hardy and have a lateral root system, which does not cause any damage to the waterproofing. In those days such plants were the latest fashion in Europe. It was then that our favourite lilac (Syringa vulgaris) ap-peared to become the trademark of the Hanging Garden. The lilac bushes, which died during the siege, were replaced in 1945 by shrubs from the Nikistsky Botanical Garden. In 2011 the famous Madame Lemoine and General Pershing kinds of lilac of the 1890 selection were planted.During the restoration of the Hanging Garden the similar materials and technologies from the time when the Hanging Garden had been created were used. For example, the pigeon-houses were made of wood after the models which have survived to our time and after the archival drawings by Char-lemagne (1826). The design of the birds’ houses is the same as in the 19th century. In particular cases, when it was impossible to carry out restoration with the use of the historical materials, the modern technology achievements were used. The coating for the garden paths was difficult to choose. The waterproofing of the surface became a matter of top priority for the restorers, so did the coating thickness. As a result, every centimeter had to be fought for. The lower is the garden level relative to the side premises, the higher the reliability is. By tradition the garden paths were covered with sand. For obvious reasons we find this unacceptable. As early as in 1885 the garden paths were asphalted, but the documents do not indicate what kind of asphalt was used. The usual asphalt-based asphalt is of low decorative value. In the late 19th century the ornamental and even mosaic kinds of asphalt were manufactured; today coloured asphalt is still made. The Catherine Park in Pushkin may serve as a vivid example, yet the technology requires such asphalt to be laid with the use of heavy equipment,

Allegory of Sculpture (copy). By Antonio Tarsia (?). Italy, 18th century

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reSToraTion of The eaSTern Wing of The general STaff Building

In 2012 the large-scale restoration work was simultaneously conducted in the area of 30,000 sq.m, both inside and outside the Eastern Wing of the General Staff Building. It may be said without ex-aggeration that the work on the reinforcement of the foundations and the walls was unique, since the builders had to work in a confined space in order to strengthen the existing foundations and to transplant them on the new piles. The installation of lantern lights has become a turning point in adjusting the monument of architecture to perform new functions. Each construction is of special design and is an in-situ reinforced concrete construction. The two-level construction of most of the lantern lights takes the shape of a quadrilateral pyramid. In producing the lantern lights the most labour-intensive and complex operation was the concreting of a thin-walled structure and making the formwork, thus obtaining the face surface with no finishing work required. Today the work on the concreting of the lanterns, lift shafts, stairs, as well as the installation of lantern lights has been completed. The full range of operations for the deepening and waterproofing of the basements was carried out. The waterproofing of all constructions has been done. The roof with translucent coat-ing, the metal structures of expositional gates and revolving walls were fully assembled in the three former yards, which according to the project have become part of the Great Suite.The large scope of work was dictated by the restoration of the complicated façades abounding in such decorative elements as columns, stucco mouldings, French balconies, gilded bronze balusters and marble handrails. Such a variety of details, materials and forms calls for different kinds of work: masonry restoration (granite, Putilovsky limestone), plasterwork, façade stucco décor and gilding. The restoration work of the front and back façades is nearing completion.Inside the building the scientific restoration of the stuccowork, gilding, art parquet, marble man-telpieces, gilded wooden doors, artificial marble and monumental painting is being carried out

such as rollers and vibro packers. Were this equipment raised into the Hanging Garden, the light entrenching vaults would not be able to stand this load. Besides, the vibration in the museum condi-tions is absolutely unacceptable. Finally the decision was made in favour of the so-called stone carpet. In fact, this is a cinder track, but the small particles of the stone are bonded by means of polyurethane, which provides additional waterproofing. The coating from 8 to10 mm in thickness was applied by hand. This work was carried out by the Dutch company POKSI. In spring the surface of the paths is going to be additionally treated with a special protective coating. While choosing the waterproofing system, the historiсal material (sheet lead) had to be discarded. Unfortunately, while being reliable, this material is toxic. Since the water from the garden surface runs into the municipal sewerage, we are not allowed to use it. Artificial rubber, the modern material with exceptional strength character-istics, was selected for providing the garden’s waterproofing.At this stage the restoration shop Nasledie has already completed the restoration of five marble sculptures. All the copies were made by the direct copying method and were polymer-concrete cast (polyster resin with marble chips). The copies of the sculptures were installed in the Hanging Garden of the State Hermitage. Currently the restoration shop Nasledie is working on the cop-ies of other seven sculptures (Apollo, Diana, Venus by Аntonio Таrsia and Flora, Ceres, Ваcchus, Volcano by D.-А. Chibei), as well as four flower vases. The work on the restoration of the Hanging Garden was supervised by the Chief Architect of the State Hermitage V. Lukin. The Hanging Gar-den’s restoration project was developed by the Art-ekspert in collaboration with the research insti-tute Georekonstruktsiya-Fundamentproekt involving the Leading Architect of the State Hermitage S. Mishin. The dendro-project and the minor forms project were designed by the RM Nasledie in col-laboration with the architects of the State Hermitage L. Akmen, and М. Dubrovskaya. The finalising work was carried out in accordance with the Sobor design documents. The restoration companies Art ekspert, RM Nasledie, Muzeinyie Tekhnologii and Neolik took part in the restoration work.

The Hanging Garden. After restoration

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reSToraTion and ConverSion of The Small hermiTage inTo an exhiBiTion Complex

In 2012 the Department of the History and Restoration of Architectural Monuments of the State Hermitage in collaboration with the architectural firm Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) of Rem Koolhaas developed the concept of the conversion of the Small Hermitage into an exhibi-tion complex. An exhibition hall with a circuit gallery with a total area of 1500 sq.m, meeting modern requirements for displaying museum objects, is to be accommodated in the former premises of the Imperial riding-school. A spacious entrance area of 600 sq.m will occupy the former stables. The project provides for the 600 sq.m area for the reception and unpacking of exhibits, the 440 sq.m area for the storage of showcases and exhibition constructions, as well as the operational restoration workshop. Beta-Kom (architect D. Yengovatov) maintains the research and design documentation “The Exhibition Complex” related to the modern use of the Small Hermitage building.The building of the Small Hermitage was constructed according to the design of the architects Jean-Baptiste Vallin de la Mothe and Yury Velten in 1764–1775. It was the Small Hermitage that started the formation of the complex of the Hermitage buildings, which along with the Winter Pal-ace comprised a uniform architectural ensemble which had taken final shape by the middle of the 19th century. The premises under the Hanging Garden were used as the wood-sheds and coach-houses. In 1840–1843 the architects Vasily Stasov and Nikolay Yefimov carried out the recon-struction of the building. The riding-school and the stables were accommodated on the lower floor under the garden. In 1938 the architect А. Sivkov developed the project of converting the riding-school and the former stables into exhibition rooms as part of the museum display. The premises were reconstructed for keeping the coaches and the Pergamon Altar (“Pergamon”): some walls and partitions were dismantled, so were the stalls, the stoves and fire-places were disassembled and the new window apertures were installed. Since Sivkov’s designs fitted perfectly the concept underlying the new project, it was decided to preserve the original space planning solution with some elements of the architectural décor. First and foremost, it was thought necessary to restore the survived parts of the nineteenth-century design: the granite columns with the square abutments of the stables, huge windows with metal frames on the mezzanine storey (by the architect N. Gor-nostayev). Some of Stasov’s inner window apertures will be opened. It is planned to carry out the restoration of the whole range of the twentieth-century architectural parts: the mezzanine storey floors made of coloured cement tiles, the wooden enclosure and the stairs in the riding-school made according to Sivkov’s design.The new concept provides the possibility for the independent operation of the exhibition hall with a separate entrance as a public zone. For that purpose it was decided that Shuvalovsky Proyezd, located east of the Small Hermitage and connecting Millionnaya Street to Dvortsovaya Embank-ment, should be open for visitors. To make possible the constant free movement of the Hermitage employees under Shuvalovsky Proyezd an underground walkway connecting the basements of the Large Hermitage to the North Pavilion was designed. The underground walkway enables to preserve the foundations of the house of Admiral Kryuis (the 1720s). The basements of the Small Hermitage allow for the preservation of the survived parts of the engineering equipment from the 19th century: an Amosov stove and the stables’ water-supply system.

Discussing the model for the new design of the Small Hermitage building. 10 September 2012

Riding-school. Photo from the early 20th century

in the former state rooms and living quarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where the decora-tion designed by Carlo Rossi back in the first third of the 19th century for Chancellor Nesselrode has survived to our time. Created by the first-class masters, the monumental painting of the General Staff Building un-derwent a series of restoration work. Nevertheless, the decorative paintings in many rooms were in a very unsatisfactory condition. The works by J.B. Scotti are in fact glue paintings where pigment is applied to plaster by using glue foundation. The restorers discovered that the repainting had been done in the later periods with the use of tempera, acrylic paints (which darken and are exposed to hydrogen sulphide), casein paints and even oil paints. The thicker the new layers, the more dam-age they cause to the original painting. The use of breadcrumbs found on the painted ceilings by the restorers in some rooms was an established historical practice. However, upon the completion of the clearance process not a single crumb should remain in the painting. Otherwise they provide growth-supporting microenvironment for microorganisms which have bad influence on the paint-ings. The peeling of paint, decomposing plaster, leakages, and the numerous cases of restoration repainting made the restorers take an individual approach to every hall (a total of 26). A tremendous amount of preliminary work was performed including a survey for identifying the original decora-tion, a search for archival documents, carrying out expert chemical and physical examinations. Currently the restoration of the monumental painting is nearing completion. The restoration of the flooring is nearly finished, so is the laying of the new flooring where necessary.Work has nearly been completed on the installation of the systems of heating, ventilation, condition-ing, electric supply, safety system and communications. The installation of the atrium and the roof service system is half way towards its completion.

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reSToraTion of The façadeS of The eleCTriC and dog yardS of The neW hermiTage Building

Between 1839 and 1852 the New Hermitage building was erected as the first special museum building in Russia, according to the de-sign of the Bavarian architect Leo von Klenze, with participation of Vasily Stasov and Nikolay Yefimov. Besides the atlantes and herms executed from Serdobolsky granite and zinc sculpture, the building façades are adorned by different terra-cotta details. A to-tal of 4,000 burnt clay components after 25 models were created for the façades of the New Hermitage. Among their creators were P. Svintsov, N. Ustinov, A. Loganovsky, A. Terebenev, D. Jensen, K. Klein and I. Reimers. Among the numerous decorations are the statues of eagles, аcroteria and reliefs fixed on the walls. On the first-floor level a frieze with floral ornamentation stretches along the perimeter of the whole building. On the final cornice, over the frieze lion masks are placed along the whole length of the building. The last major overhaul of the yards’ façades was done in the 1960s.In the course of the restoration work of the façades the chlori-nated polyvinyl сhloride covering was removed from the surface of the walls, the strength of the plaster covering was checked and the fragments which did not hold up well were replaced. The tech-nical evaluation of the roof, gutters, оpenings, eaves and rain water pipes was made and the components in an unsatisfactory condition were replaced. The façades were painted with silicate paints in the colour range approximated to the original colour scheme from the second half of the 19th century.On conducting the survey of the terra-cotta décor of the yards’ fa-çades including the palmettes, the bases and capitals of the pilas-ters, the lion masks and the details of the large and small friezes, the state of their preservation was recognised as unsatisfactory. Therefore, the full range of the restoration work of the ornamen-tal ceramic adornment of the façades was carried out using the practical methods developed by the Department of the History and Restoration of Architectural Monuments of the State Hermitage.In the course of the restoration work two main tasks were per-formed. One of them was to plaster a through-crack located on the southern façade of the Dog Yard. Since the crack has a tendency to move, the method of filling it in layers with special mortars and sealers was developed, which prevents the penetration of mois-ture inside the building. The second task consisted in the recrea-tion of the lost parts of the terra-cotta décor. When in 2000 work proceeded on the recreation of the sculptural representations of two-headed eagles (lost in the post-revolutionary years) on the corner pavilions, the Department of the History and Restoration of Architectural Monuments in collaboration with the architec-tural terra-cotta specialists carried out a full range of thorough examination of the genuine fragments of the terra-cotta, which led to the development of methodology for the recreation of terra-cotta décor. This methodology allowed to reconstruct the lost ele-ments of the façade decoration. Architectural control over the restoration of the façades and sculptural and ornamental decoration was exercised by V. Lukin, Chief Architect of the State Hermitage, and T. Prazdnikova, the researcher of the Department of the History and Restoration of Architectural Monuments.The work was carried out from June to December 2012 by the restoration company Renessans-Restavratsiya.

Part of the large frieze on the Electric Yard façade of the New Hermitage building. Before restoration

Part of the large frieze on the Electric Yard façade of the New Hermitage building in the course of works on the clearance of the paint layers

Part of the large frieze on the Electric Yard façade of the New Hermitage building. After restoration

reSToraTion of The pedeSTal of The norThern and eaSTern façadeS of The WinTer palaCe Building

Besides bricks it was the bedded slab of carbona-ceous rock quarried in the south-eastern environs that since 1710 has been one of the main construc-tion materials of St. Petersburg. In the modern res-toration practice it is commonly referred to as the Putilovsky stone, the Putilovsky limestone or the Putilovsky slab. Throughout the 18th – early 20th

century they were used for facing the basement walls of the buildings, pavement, porches, column bases, different kinds of enclosures, door pillars and cantilevers.While carrying out the restoration of the Putilovsky limestone slabs and blocks, which face the pedestal and column bases on the northern and eastern fa-çades of the Winter Palace, the specialists of the res-toration companies carried out a full range of works including the clearance, restoration putty, the re-placement of huge losses and water-repellent treat-ment of stone. The restoration of the portico of the Jordan Entrance created great difficulty, since its facing is executed in the technique not exactly char-acteristic of the Putilovsky limestone. Actually the Putilovsky stone is bedded rock and in order to avoid exfoliation, the slabs are routinely laid with the bed-

ding side of stone parallel to the ground. The slabs facing the portico were placed vertically, which over time resulted in the stone exfoliation along the clay courses and in their exfoliation off the brick portico base. During the restoration work the slabs, which had lost adhesion with the brickwork of the portico, were dismantled and the accumulated mud was cleaned of their surface. Then they were re-placed in the composite grout. The considerable losses of the surface were reconstructed with the help of the Putilovsky stone, which approximates the qualities and the colour scheme of the original stone.At the level of the semi-basement on the Winter Palace eastern façade the ruined semicircular frames and the grills of the window apertures, along with the historical devitrification, were reconstructed.As the work was in progress on the eastern façade, the gates created to the design of Yury Velten, which covered the gate arches leading from the Chyorny Proyezd to the Kitchen and the Church Yards of the Winter Palace, were reconstructed.The restoration work of the pedestal and column bases under the architectural and supervisory guid-ance of the Department of the History and Restoration of Architectural Monuments was carried out by Museum Technology (the northern façade) and Beta-Kom (the eastern façade) companies.

Semi-basement casing of the eastern façade of the Winter Palace. Before and after restoration

Part of the facing of the portico pedestal of the Jordan Entrance. Before and after restoration

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refurBiShmenT projeCT of The lighTing of The menShiKov palaCe yard

In September 2012 the work was carried out on the replacement of the existing lighting system of the Menshikov Palace yard with the lighting from the light-emitting diode light sources. The objective of the replacement is the creation of the uniform intensity of illumination in the entire area of the yard with due account for the level of illumination, as well as energy efficiency. By means of modern light-emitting diode fixtures with high light efficiency and the design optic system, the required lighting in-tensity was achieved. The light source has directional distribution of light flux and so does not disturb either visitors or the Hermit-age employees.The installed light-emitting diode fixtures, which reduce energy output and are also far smaller compared with the previous light fixtures, are expected to have long-term service and do not re-quire additional maintenance charges.

neW STage of The reSToraTion of The SCulpTureS on The pedeSTalS of The WinTer palaCe roof ramparTS

The restoration work was carried out from June to September 2012. By the time the construction of the Winter Palace was completed in 1762, its balustrade was adorned by 176 sculptures cut in stone, after the drawings of Francesco Bartolommeo Rastrelli, by the Rus-sian carvers under the supervision of the Viennese master Johann Frantz Dunker and the German carver Baumgen. The stone sculptures of the palace existed for a little over one hundred years. Their destruction was caused by the fact that the non-durable stone was permanently affected by weather-ing. The condition of the sculptures changed for the worse due to the significant overheating during the fire of 1837. The repeated restoration work could not remedy the situation and in 1892 the deci-sion was made to replace the stone sculptures by copper ones. The professor of the Academy of Arts M. Popov was entrusted with the task of creating models for the new sculptures. The work on the replacement of the sculptures was completed in 1894.Despite the more solid material and the use of new technologies in creating the copper sculptures, a series of technical miscalculations entailed the destruction of the copper covers and the ruin of the metal frame in the cavity of the sculptures.Since the first third of the 20th century the restorers have made continuous attempts to save the sculptures from further destruction. It was not until 2003–2004, after the thorough survey of a cer-tain sculpture in a critical condition, that the specialists of the Department of the History and Resto-ration of Architectural Monuments in collaboration with the restorers and designers developed the methodology for the restoration of the copper sculptures of the Winter Palace.The systematic restoration started in 2004. The restoration process begins with the soldering of the copper sheets from the backside of the sculptures. The destroyed grouting, which served as counter-weight, is removed from the cavity of the copper covers. The lower third of the metal frame, which is in the grouting, is removed, since in the humid environment metal fully loses its strength characteris-tics. It is replaced by a strengthened construction capable of enduring significant wind load without additional counterweight in the cavities of the sculptures. The ferrous metal frame is covered with an anticorrosive coating. Dielectric pads are replaced at the points of contact of the ferrous metal of the frame and the copper covers of the sculptures. The copper surface is cleared of the layer of natural patina, which under the environmental stress conditions contributes to the faster destruction of the metal. The open splits of the copper covers are soldered by lead-tin solder. The drain holes formed in the cavities of the sculptures are made for condensation drainage. The external surface of the sculptures is covered with special paint containing inhibitors for corrosion of copper. When choosing the colour of the sculptures, the specialists deliberately suggested a greyish-green colour, so that the restored sculptures would not stand out and be close in their range of colours to the non-restored ones, the surface of which is covered with natural patina.

Specialists surveying the cavity of the copper sculpture of the Winter Palace

Thanks to the combined efforts of the restorers and researchers the processes causing the destruction of the sculptures, which crown the building, were stopped.The restoration of the sculptures was carried out under the architectural and supervisory guidance of T. Prazdnikova, the research worker of the Department of the History and Restoration of Archi-tectural Monuments, and the specialists of Museum Technologies.By now 157 out of the total of 176 sculptures have been restored. The remaining 19 sculptures are scheduled to be restored during the 2013 restoration season. This will complete the total volume of the restoration work of the Winter Palace copper sculptures.

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STruCTure of viSiTS To The STaTe hermiTage in 2012

Total number of visitors 2,882,385

including:

free admissions* 975,050

russian nationals 804,640

foreign visitors 969,427

internet ticket holders 32,091free admission pass for specialists holders 28,098

group guides 73,079

over 1,000,000 people visited the hermitage exhibitions outside the museum.

There were over 3,850,000 hits of the hermitage website.

* The State Hermitage offers free admission rights to children, school pupils and students (regardless of citizenship), senior citizens of Russia and a number of other categories of Russian nationals entitled to special benefits

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The number of guided tours to the hermitage organised in 2012 was 35,576including:

general tours round the museum 6,950

Tours to the Treasure gallery-1 6,201

Tours to the Treasure gallery-2 4,398Tours to the Winter palace of peter i 482Tours to the imperial porcelain manufactory museum 145

School thematic tours 4,154Thematic tours and series of tours for adults 3,246

Classes for school children 795

Classes at student clubs 662

Special tour programmes 13

Special educational programmes 179

number of lectures delivered 367including:at the hermitage 228

in vyborg and Kazan 87

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The STaTe hermiTage leCTure CenTre

In 2012 over 23,000 people visited the State Hermitage Lecture Centre. The majority of the lectures were delivered in front of a full audience and some (in cases of a full house) were repeated at the request of the public. Still extremely popular are lectures of the three-year course “The University of World Art History”, where the audience consecutively studies the history of art. There has been a noticeable shift in the average age of the audience: one can see more students and young people. The programme of the lectures is reviewed and if necessary updated on an annual basis. Nearly half of the repertoire of the themed, in-depth lectures is being changed every year: thus in 2012 seven out of the eighteen cycles of lectures were delivered for the first time: “The Art and Culture of the Great Silk Route Countries” (5 lectures); “The Masters of Holland and Flanders” (10 lectures); “The Treasures of the Hermitage Funds – Told by the Oriental Department Curators” (4 lectures); “Eternal Memories of 1812…” (4 lectures); “The Artistic Image of the Christian Church” (4 lectures); “In Memory of the Numerous Victories” (2 lectures); and “At the Service of the Northern Semiramis” (2 lectures).Six cycles comprising several lectures that were extremely popular among the Lecture Centre vis-itors were delivered according to additional expanded programmes: “How does an Egyptologist Work”; “1000 years of French Art. 10th to 20th Centuries”; “The Image of Britain, From the His-tory of British Art”; “The Mythology of Ancient Egypt”; “The Masters of the ‘Golden’ Age of Paint-ing. 17th Century”; and “The Art of Medieval India”. The lectures of the “In Memoriam” series that have become very popular over the last three years are always a success. Seven new lectures were delivered in 2012: “Theodore Rousseau and the Bar-bizon Movement. On the Occasion of the 200th Anniversary of Birth”; “Gustav Klimt. On the Oc-casion of the 150th Anniversary of Birth”; “Jackson Pollock. On the Occasion of the Centenary of Birth”; “Francesco Guardi. On the Occasion of the 300th Anniversary of Birth”; “The Great Mys-tery of Love…Rembrandt and Saskia. On the Occasion of the 400th Anniversary of Saskia’s Birth”; “Marc Chagall. On the Occasion of the 125th Anniversary of Birth”; and “Yves Klein. On the Occa-sion of the 50th Anniversary of Death”.It is also a tradition to deliver lectures based on temporary exhibitions: in 2012 those were the lec-tures linked to the jubilee exhibition: “Lomonosov and the Time of Elizabeth I”; as well as to the exhibition “Herculaneum Antiquities”. Due to the full house the lecture about Carlo Crivelli was delivered twice. The tradition of giving on-site lectures is also ongoing: a specially designed cycle of eight lectures dedicated to Russian culture called “From the History of Russian Culture. Memorable Dates and Events”, was delivered at the “Kolomna” society for blind people. The lecture exchange project with the Lecture Centre of the Moscow Kremlin Museums has been successfully running for the last five years: four lectures are delivered in Moscow by the staff of the Methodologic Sector of the Education Department, and the methodologists from Moscow are hosted by the Hermitage in spring.

JJ SpeCial programmeS

The greaTer hermiTage aSSemBly. on The ThreShold of The hermiTage juBilee in 2014

“The Age of Catherine the Great. The Birth of the Great Museum”

A literary and music theatrical performance

Presented on 18 November 2012 at the Hermitage Theatre, this literary and music performance is the second of a series of special cultural events preceding the 2014 Hermitage celebrations (the first one was “The Hermitage before the Hermitage. Peter the Great, the First Russian Collector”, 2011). Four themed events of the series are united under the title “The Greater Hermitage Assembly”, a name reminiscent of Empress Catherine II’s tradition of grand court receptions now available to the general public, friends and fans of the Hermitage. They highlight the museum’s history on the thresh-old of its 250th anniversary. The second Greater Hermitage Assembly was dedicated to Empress Catherine II, founder of the Hermitage. Performed on the Hermitage Theatre stage in the authentic

architectural and artistic environment of Catherine’s time, this theatrical performance was a kind of story of how Catherine II’s interest in art, music and theatre had led to the creation of her “soli-tary retreat” and the biggest collection of paintings, drawings, books and rarities that is now known as the Hermitage Museum to the whole world. This “story” was presented in the form of a dialogue between actors illustrated by changing images on a huge screen acting as a backdrop. The dialogue was accompanied by music and dance num-bers emphasising certain moments. Thus a dance performed by the Ensemble of Baroque Dances to the music of a hymn by an eighteenth-century composer Marc-Antoine Charpentier was a pro-logue to the performance. Baroque dances served as living illustrations to different themes, like, for example, the history of Catherine’s “hermitages” and the theatre itself; while musical pieces by European and Russian composers of Catherine’s time played a role of a framework and introductions to the themes, and, most importantly, helped create the artistic and historic atmosphere of the nar-ration. The same purpose was served by the works of a few poets from Catherine’s epoch selected for the performance. The focus and highlight of the performance were two authentic costumes of Cath-erine II and Grand Duke Alexander Pavlovich that personified the invisible presence of the museum founder at the festival of memories. They were provided for the show by the curator of the Depart-ment of the History of Russian Culture N. Tarasova and the story of the costume of Catherine’s time became an impressive postscript to the performance. The jubilee themed performance was prepared and realised by the Sector for Special Programmes of the Education Department with participation of the staff of the Theatre and Education Depart-ment. The text (dialogue) based on a thorough study of academic publications, historical texts, mem-oirs and letters of Catherine II and her correspondents was written by the staff members of the Sec-tor for Special Programmes L. Torshina and V. Snegovskaya who also selected the poems and wrote the script. A distinguished actress of Russia, Tatiana Kuznetsova, actors Alexander Anisimov and Alexander Lushin masterfully “realised” the scenario on stage. The success of the event and grateful response of the audience were largely due to the brilliant performance of the musical pieces by the ensemble of soloists of the State Hermitage Orchestra as well as to the participation of the Historic Dances Theatre “The Small Trianon” (Art Director Ya. Bubnova, Choreographer Ya. Voinova).

Evenings in the Rooms of the Hermitage. Art Masterpieces and Music

A programme of the education Department with participation of the State Hermitage Orchestra

In 2012, the Hermitage offered a new project to the public, dedicated to the 250th anniversary of the museum in 2014. The project’s task was to present to the public the remarkable art works that are the pride and glory of the Hermitage, in its own unique setting that made the impression much stronger. It was prepared by the Sector for Special Programmes of the Education Department that had already had an experience of successfully combining visual arts and live music in the pro-grammes called “Art and Music. Associations” that ran between 2008 and 2012. However in that

From the history of the theatre in Catherine’s time “Uniform” dress of Catherine II which personified the Empress’s presence at the event marking the occasion of the Hermitage’s foundation

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case the visual material and the subject of the talk about visual arts were electronic reproductions on the screen. The new project offered by the Sector for Special Programmes combines “live” music with the “live” art masterpiece in the “live atmosphere” of the great museum. It is a kind of present to the St. Petersburg public on the threshold of the museum’s jubilee.The new special programme received a most enthusiastic response from the museum’s audience. The evening silence of a room in the closed museum, comfortable conditions of the event (chairs are brought in for the audience, in case of a lack of light the pictures are delicately and carefully lit), the immediate interaction with the genuine works and art masterpieces, an interesting talk by an art historian, sounds of music in the atmosphere of exceptional beauty and elegance of the Hermitage rooms’ interiors provide for the project’s popularity. The first programme took place twice in 2012, both times with huge success: in spring (during the season of 2011/12) and in autumn, during the new season of 2012/13. The programme consisted of five evenings held in the Skylight Hall (“Venetian Palaces”. Italian Music of the 18th Century); at the exposition of the French art of the 17th century (“The Golden Age” of French Art. Pierre Mignard. Magnanim-ity of Alexander the Great. Music of Versailles); at the Snyders Room (“The Festival of Life”. Stalls by Frans Snyders. Music of European Baroque); at the exposition of the French art of the late 19th and early 20th centuries (The Montmartre of the “Beauti-ful Era”. “Femme Fatale” by Van Dongen. French Music of the Early 20th Century); at the Matisse Room (“Arab Motifs”. Henri Matisse. Arab Coffee House. Music of the Muslim East).Within the time framework set for every meeting, an hour long story about the pictures, prepared by the staff of the Education Depart-ment, was told, after which the ensemble of soloists from the State Hermitage Orchestra played music for 45–50 minutes according to the special programme matching the topic. The monumental panels by Tiepolo that once adorned the Palazzo Dolfin in Venice, together with the music by Vivaldi and his Venetian contemporar-ies, helped the audience feel the uplifting and festive atmosphere of the Adriatic capital in the first half of the 18th century and under-

stand the specificity of the Italian Baroque. The audience could see the world of Louis XIV’s court that was different from that of Venice but still no less theatrical, in Magnanimity of Alexander the Great by Mignard. Musical works by court composers like the music by Jean-Baptiste Lully for the ballet “Ailing Cupid” gave an opportunity to see the “historical” composition of a French artist in a new way and to appreciate special accents in the characteristics of the famous ancient hero, the role of whom in the painting is played by the Sun King himself, who eagerly took part in stage performances. The magnificent Stalls by Snyders with their large sizes, plentitude and complex interaction between objects in space seem to ask to be accompanied by orchestral music. However the music of the 17th century was prevailed by chamber forms and Baroque effects gained a specific angle there. Every form of art had its own logic of development and it was not always easy to match paintings to music within a certain period. In those cases this contrast between the languages of painting and music was intentionally dealt with (and explained to the audience) in an unusual way. One of the evenings was dedicated to the Montmartre of the “beautiful era”, the images of which found a vivid reflection in the paintings of Kees Van Dongen as well as in the music by Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel and Erik Satie. Music by the contemporary St. Petersburg composer Vya-cheslav Gayvoronsky and improvisations of the soloists of the Hermitage State Orchestra on the mu-sic themes of the Muslim East became an impressive supporting element for the Moroccan paintings by Matisse. In this case in both music and paintings, disregarding the fact that they are a century apart, the image of the East was delivered using the ultramodern image of European avant-garde. “Evenings at the Hermitage Rooms…” gave the St. Petersburg public an opportunity not only to see the masterpieces of the famous museum enriched by the accompaniment of music, but also to hear lots of rarely performed musical pieces.

JJ programmeS of The youTh eduCaTion CenTre

“ConSTruCTive anaTomy or a neW paradigm in arChiTeCTure”

An educational programme for the exhibition “Santiago Calatrava. The Quest for Movement”

In the year reviewed a series of events was organised and held by the staff of the Youth Education Centre of the State Hermitage dedicated to the exhibition called “Santiago Calatrava. The Quest for Movement”, that took place in the Nicholas Hall of the Winter Palace starting from 27 June within a framework of the Hermitage 20/21 project. Among those were meetings with architects and exhi-bition curators as well as a student contest for the best architectural model. A few days before the opening of the exhibition, Alexey Lepork, a research worker of the State Her-mitage and an art historian, delivered a lecture entitled “Santiago Calatrava. Charted Beauty” for the youth of St. Petersburg.On 28 June 2012 Santiago Calatrava himself delivered a long-anticipated lecture at the Hermitage Theatre. The architect began the lecture with the story about his realised projects and then took a pencil and showed how his ideas on paper came to life. “A project of a chair is as difficult to create as a project of a house”, pointed out the Spanish architect, “You need a great deal of love and a scale is of no importance. Working on a project of yours is an existential experience. You must be ready for any surprises. A building surprises us because it is impossible to “grasp” light and shade and the movements of theirs. To a degree my work is similar to the one of a composer. I aim at creating something beautiful. During the process I get rid of certain things inside me. At the end of a project of mine I am a completely different person”. From 11 July to 1 August 2012, employees of the Youth Education Centre Anna Sirro and Pavel Deyneko delivered a cycle of lectures “A New Paradigm in Architecture” within the framework of the educational programme for the exhibition that aroused much interest among both the special-ists and less architecture-savvy audience. Despite summertime the Youth Lecture Centre in the Gen-eral Staff Building was overfull. The first lecture in the cycle “From Coral Reefs to Orange Peels” dealt with the work of the greatest architects of the early and first half of the 20th century: Antoni Gaudi, Frank Lloyd Wright, Eero Saarinen and Le Corbusier who preferred the beauty of curvilinear forms and bends to straight lines of endless colonnades or geometry of glass façades that were the architectural heritage of the past. The lecture “In Harmony with Nature” dealt with the question of interaction between nature and architectural space using the works of representatives of the so-called organic architecture: Imre Makovecz, Bart Prince and others. A special surge of interest among the audience was caused by the third lecture of the cycle “Higher Mathematics and Architecture”. Using several projects of modern European architects such as Nor-man Foster, Greg Lynn and Nicholas Grimshaw as an example, the lecturer attempted to answer the question of whether the creation of a new architectural space is a free artistic process or should be fitted within the strict framework of mathematical formulas. The lecture “Santiago Calatrava. The Quest for ‘The Glimpse of God’” was the final one in the cycle “A New Paradigm in Architecture”. A brief look at the architectural trends given in previous lec-tures allowed the creation of a basis for an in-depth study of artistic searches of Santiago Calatrava. The educational programme for the exhibition “Santiago Calatrava. The Quest for Movement” was concluded by a round table discussion called “Architecture as Gesture” that took place on 25 Sep-tember 2012 in the General Staff Building. Among the participants of the discussion were art and architecture historian Alexey Lepork, architects Nikita Yavein, Daniar Yusupov and Oscar Madera as well as Dmitry Ozerkov, the Head of the Modern Art Department of the Hermitage who is in charge of the Hermitage 20/21 project within the framework of which the exhibition of Santiago Calatrava took place. The architects and architecture historians answered the questions of stu-dents, art historians and St. Petersburg public that concerned practical and theoretical aspects of the possibility and necessity for constructing beautiful and impressive but often difficult to run buildings. During the discussion the question of appropriateness of gesture architecture in cities with a tra-ditional historical image was considered. It is known that the traditional image of St. Petersburg is regarded sacred by its community, which is why our city withholds from experiments of modern architecture. The neo-expressionism of Santiago Calatrava is one of many vibrant architectural

“Arab Motifs”. The Matisse Room. A. Glagola

“The Montmartre of the ‘Beautiful Era’”. The Van Dongen Room. L. Torshina and the quartet of soloists of the State Hermitage Orchestra

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novelties of the turn of the Millennium, one of many trends produced in another world by a “non-St. Petersburg” mind. The students also gave their views on architecture. For several months a group of students from St. Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering worked on a project “Con-structive Anatomy” under the supervision of experienced architects. Geared to the works of San-tiago Calatrava, they produced original models based on the transformation of the human body lan-guage, movements and gestures into the language of engineering constructions, balance and tension.

“a viSion of hell By The Chapman BroTherS: originS and influenCeS”

An educational programme for the exhibition “Jake and Dinos Chapman. The end of Fun”

Exhibitions of contemporary British artists Jake and Dinos Chapman usually provoke polarised re-sponses in the public, from admiration to complete rejection. For the exhibition “Jake and Dinos Chapman. The End of Fun” that took place at the General Staff Building in autumn 2012 within the Hermitage 20/21 project framework, the Youth Education Centre of the State Hermitage had prepared a special educational programme. It started back in September, a month before the exhibi-tion’s opening, with a series of lectures that presented these well-known artists of the “Young British Artists” generation in the context of their national roots and ties to the traditions of classical and modern European culture. All lectures were accompanied with coloruful and expressive music and video clips, and invariably ended in a storm of discussion which was equally interesting to the public and to the staff of the State Hermitage Museum. The first lecture analysed the concept of “horror” as an aesthetic category in classical art. The sec-ond lecture covered the period from the 1960s to the beginning of the 2000s. From the lecture on the English gothic novel, students were able to learn about the work of the most famous writers of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, who made their mark in this genre. The fourth lecture was devoted to the horror movie industry. The concluding fifth lecture in the series specifically focused on the Chapman Brothers’ ouevre in order to show how the cultural history of the 19th and 20th centuries influenced the emergence of the provocative British art duo. It was decided to turn another lecture titled “Horror as a Product of Consumption in Modern Popular Culture” into a discussion with the audience. Thus the team of the Youth Centre prepared their audience, who constantly at-tend classes at the Hermitage, for perception of the new exhibition of the Hermitage 20/21 project. On 19 October, an hour before the opening of the exhibition, Jake and Dinos Chapman met with the youth of St. Petersburg. The meeting proved to be interesting and useful for both parties

“do you KnoW you SpeaK frenCh?”

“Museum Night 2012” at the “Staraya Derevnya” Restoration and Storage Centre

On 19 May 2012 a programme “Do You Know You Speak French” organised by the Youth Education Centre of the State Hermitage and tied to the “Museum Night 2012” took place at the “Staraya Derevnya” Restoration and Storage Centre. About 100 most active members of the Hermitage Student Club participated in a special tour-quest which focused on the numerous items of French applied art. Then the students of the “Creative Photography” section (Director I. Lebedev) showed their photographic interpretations on the theme of French painting. The students of the “Artistic Workshop” section (Director N. Kruglova) demon-strated freestyle imitations of pictures by the Impressionists and masters of the early 20th century, including the ones displayed at the Hermitage, using felt techniques (wool felting).The programme was concluded by the Super Brain Ring. Students could estimate the level of their knowledge of the French language and art. Four teams, consisting of the most erudite and active members of the Student Club, took part in this fun competition. From now on they are sure to re-member what the words “eau-forte”, “lambrequin”, “bosquet” or “dessus de porte” mean; what the name of the court furniture maker of King Louis XIV was; what the difference between “assem-blage” and “collage” is. It was all so interesting, funny and informative and so genuinely “French”!

meeT yamal! – 2012

On 15–16 December 2012, the Youth Education Centre of the State Hermitage hosted the “Meet Yamal” programme. Since 2005 the Hermitage Student Club has a section “St. Petersburg–Hermitage” founded espe-cially for the students from the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug studying in St. Petersburg univer-sities and colleges of higher education. This time the programme included a performance of the “Northern Lights” creative group of stu-dents from the Institute of the Peoples of the North at Herzen State Pedagogical University of Rus-sia, an exhibition of objects of applied art and photography telling about the nature and natives of the Far North, and a tour organised by the student-members of the Yamal section. A happy New Year wish by Yamal Iri, the national equivalent of Santa Claus, and a performance by the “Syoetei Yamal” folk song group who had specially come to St. Petersburg for the occasion, came as a pleas-ant surprise. Folk games were played in the rooms of the museum: the “Vet Lov Tin” riddle, the se-cret of five horses, and the “stick and palms” game; there were organised a master class on making tassels (learning the principles of plaiting used in mats) and master classes on making bracelets and traditional dolls of the peoples of the North. At the end of the first day everybody had a chance to learn the dances of the peoples of the North. On 16 December a documentary film “Horoto Nomad Camp” was shown and the work of the “St. Pe-tersburg–Hermitage” Student Club Section discussed.

The day of The hermiTage CaT 2012

On 21 April a special annual event “The Day of the Hermitage Cat” dedicated to the cats that live in the museum took place. At midday the results of the school contest “Cat Kingdom. Cats Big and Small at the Museum” were announced at the Great Courtyard of the Winter Palace. A special prize was awarded to a student of the Gymnasia No 190 Victoria Pyzina. Also a contest “My Hermitage Cat” was held at the Great Courtyard where everybody had a chance to draw their own image of a Hermitage cat. A 122.5 me-ter long magic scarf of Hermites, specially knitted for the “Day of the Hermitage Cat”, joined eve-rybody in a game in Palace Square and then led them to the Hermitage cellar where the works of the school contest participants were displayed. In the rooms of the museum visitors could play the “Hunting for Lions, or Travel with a Hermitage Cat” game: the aim of it was to help a Hermitage cat to find its predecessor, a lion, in works of art from the Hermitage collection. A display of a mummified Egyptian cat lasting for two days in the Room of Ancient Egypt became the climax of the game. Paintings by professional artists inspired by these gracious animals as well as works of students attending creative sections of the Student Club at the Hermitage Youth Centre were on view in the attic of the Winter Palace. The Festival was prepared with support of Swashbuckler Enterprises, Inc., the Purina PetCare Department of Nestle Russia LLC.

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game QueST “diSCover your europe in The hermiTage”

On 22 September 2012 a game quest “Discover your Europe in the Hermitage” took place in the museum within the framework of the 5th International Festival “Days of Europe”. The Festival was organised with support of the European Union Office, consu-lates general and cultural centres of the EU countries. The State Hermitage participated in the Festival for the first time and of-fered everybody, regardless of their age, an opportunity not only to have a fascinating time in the Hermitage halls and see the mas-terpieces of its painting collections, but also to learn many inter-esting facts about the history and modern life of the European Union countries. The Volunteer Service (consisting of students from various Euro-pean universities completing part of their practical training) was entrusted to develop the programme of the Hermitage part of the Festival.The EU Office faced the programme developers with a complex task to introduce the Festival participants to the art and culture of all 27 EU countries. The realisation of the EU volunteers’ ideas became possible due to their close cooperation with the School Centre, a methodic department of the museum, the staff of which has long experience in the organisation of educational and game projects. Materials on the Hermitage exhibits that were part of the game’s route as well as interesting information on Euro-pean countries had been prepared for several months. As a re-sult there came a new event for children and youth that laid the foundation for the tradition of holding the “Discover your Europe in the Hermitage” Festival. Among the game participants were schoolchildren and their par-ents, school groups with teachers, students, people of different ages and nationalities. More than 500 sets of the game-journey were distributed in a matter of hours. The game participants were given a special map of the route through the Hermitage rooms and questions. Thanks to the interesting task, the Hermitage visitors got a chance to have a glimpse into the history of the EU countries, to recall famous figures of art and culture, to learn about heraldic symbols, time zones, state government systems, royal houses, music, inventions and many other things. The quest participants received a memorable prize – a symbolic personal-ised euro-passport with information on European countries.

leCTure CenTreS of The hermiTage • Kazan and The hermiTage • vyBorg

In the year reviewed 87 lectures on 79 topics were delivered by the Hermitage staff in the lecture centres of the Hermitage • Kazan and Hermitage • Vyborg within the frameworks of 17 themed programmes. The audience of both lecture centres amounted to 6,000 people. Behind these figures there are great efforts made by the organisers of the lecture process in the exhibition centres and by the staff of the Sector for Special Programmes of the Education Department (curator A. Asanova) who developed the lecture programmes and performed the methodologic training of the lecturers; of course, much was contributed by the lecturers themselves, the employees of the Education and Storage Departments. In the year reviewed 72 lectures on 12 themed programmes were delivered at the lecture centre of the Hermitage • Kazan according to the approved seasonal schedule. Firstly it was a compulsory pro-gramme traditionally linked to the Hermitage exhibition that took place at the centre: a cycle com-prising three lecture topics (six lectures) for the exhibition “Nomadic Empires of Eurasia”. Three lecture cycles (nine topics, eight lectures) were dedicated to the jubilee dates of 2012. One of them “From the History of the Imperial Residences. Alexander II at the Winter Palace” continued a long-term programme “The Hermitage. History and Modern Days”, dedicated to the 250th anniversary of the museum. A special programme “The Thunder of 1812…” was dedicated to the 200th anniver-sary of the victory of Russia over Napoleon in the Patriotic War of 1812. Another cycle of lectures marked the 300th anniversary of Lomonosov’s birth. The core of the programmes, united under the name “Essays of World Art”, comprised eight lecture cycles including: “Holland–Russia”, “An Island on the Map of European Art. Britain, Periods and Artists”, “English Character Reflected in the Mirror of Art”, “Monumental Ensembles of the 20th Century”, “A Costume in Art. Museum and Theatre”.A relatively successful attempt was also made in Kazan to conduct a “lecture dialogue”: two cycles entitled “The Greek Miracle” and “Classics and Modern Days” were united under one topic – “Clas-sic Antiquity and Modern Western European Art”. The altering of lectures from the two cycles al-lowed them to demonstrate the emergence of classical trends in the art of Antiquity along with their interpretation and understanding in the art of Western Europe. Unlike the vast lecture centre of the Hermitage • Kazan, the activities of the lecture centre in the Hermitage • Vyborg are aimed mainly at senior school pupils and students of the Vyborg Arts School. Taking into account the age of the audience, the Vyborg lecture programmes were designed with the view of school programmes, and the lectures were delivered by the person who acted both as a teacher and as a lecturer and was actively involved with his audience. In 2012, cycles of lectures were read at the lecture centre of the Hermitage • Vyborg according to the following programmes: “A Trip to the Middle Ages. Byzantium and the West. Essays on Christian Culture” and “Selected Pages from Russian History”. Since the autumn of 2012 a special programme of interactive classes for a young audience, mainly pupils of the 3rd and 4th forms, “A Palace. Art Décor of the Halls” was launched at the lecture centre of the Hermitage • Vyborg.The themes of the lecture programmes, the schedule for delivering lectures and methods of present-ing the material were all selected with a view of the specifics of the lecture centre and the audience, which contributed to the successful operating of the lecture centres both in Kazan and Vyborg.

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The parties agreed to establish a working group to coordinate and organise joint activities, prepare and agree on long-term cooperation as part of the museum project development, and also to prepare separate development projects.The parties plan to run the Hermitage 20/21 programme in Vilnius, an exhibition of twentieth- and twenty-first-century art, and also to organise, together with the Jonas Mekas Centre of Fine Arts, an exhibition featuring representatives of the Fluxus Art Movement and its founder George Maciu-nas at the State Hermitage Museum.The Declaration of Intent came into effect from the moment of its signing and will remain current until 1 January 2015.

deClaraTion of inTenT Signed BeTWeen The STaTe hermiTage and The naTional arT muSeum of BelaruS

On 8 March 2012, the State Hermitage General Director Mikhail Piotrovsky and the Director of the National Art Museum of Belarus Vladimir Prokoptsov signed a Cooperation Agreement.The agreement covers research and educational projects: academic exchanges between experts in cultural studies, museum studies, restoration; research conferences, seminars, round tables on museum studies and culture; exhibitions; special consultations; the publication of results of joint research projects, including those involving other academic and cultural centres; support for uni-versity-level programmes, academic exchanges between students of St. Petersburg and Minsk State Universities; preparation of educational programmes and films relating to the issues of artistic cul-ture; support for cooperation programmes between the Hermitage and other research and cultural centres in the Republic of Belarus.

CooperaTion agreemenT Signed BeTWeen The STaTe hermiTage and The royal CaSTle muSeum, The royal lazienKi muSeum and The adam miCKieWiCz inSTiTuTe, WarSaW

On 23 February 2012, the State Hermitage General Director Mikhail Piotrovsky and Andrzej Rot-termund, Director of the Royal Castle Museum, Tadeusz Zielniewicz, Director of the Royal Lazienki Museum, Paweł Potoroczyn, Director of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, Warsaw, Poland, signed a Cooperation Agreement in the Hermitage. Bogdan Zdrojewski, the Minister for Culture of the Republic of Poland, and Wojciech Zajaczkowski, the Ambassador of the Republic of Poland to the Russian Federation, were present at the signing of the agreement.The decision to sign a Cooperation Agreement with a view to implementing joint projects in the areas of research, training programmes and academic visits, organising and taking part in seminars, con-ferences, and exhibitions, and publishing of new materials was made by the parties during a working meeting in Warsaw on 27 November 2011. This cooperation will primarily include research on the residence of the Romanovs in Poland, the col-lection of King Stanislaw August Poniatowski, and materials connected with Grand Duke Constan-tine Pavlovich and Poland. The parties approved the participation of Hermitage employees in the conference entitled “The Roy-al Lazienki Palace: New Evidence, New Meaning” to be held in the Royal Lazienki Museum and a visit by the Council of the Royal Lazienki Museum to the State Hermitage Museum.The parties will develop joint exhibition projects, including the concept and content of an exhibit dedicated to Classicism in Russia and Poland.

general agreemenT Signed BeTWeen The STaTe hermiTage and ojSC aiKB TaTfondBanK

On 18 June 2012, the Hermitage General Director Mikhail Piotrovsky and Chairman of the Board of OJSC AIKB Tatfondbank Ildus Mingazetdinov signed a General Agreement in Kazan on the terms of preparation and implementation of a three-year cooperation programme relating to the museum’s electronic edition project called Hermitage Line, which is part of the events marking the 250th an-niversary of the Hermitage.The parties agreed that OJSC AIKB Tatfondbank shall be the General Partner of the Hermitage Line electronic project and will place information on its participation on the online portal.OJSC AIKB Tatfondbank shall be included in the number of corporate members of the Hermitage Friends’ Club and given the right to take part in relevant programmes.The State Hermitage and OJSC AIKB Tatfondbank will present the joint project in St. Peters-burg, Kazan, and gradually launch it in all the regions where the General Partner is carrying out its operations.The parties expressed their interest in creating co-branded programmes, including the transfer of rights to use images of the museum buildings and exhibits in the manufacture of numismatic and internal corporate executive products.

CooperaTion agreemenT Signed BeTWeen The STaTe hermiTage and The villa ruSSiz foundaTion, iTaly

On 23 October 2012, the State Hermitage Museum General Director Mikhail Piotrovsky and Villa Russiz Foundation President Silvano Stefanutti signed a cooperation agreement in the Hermitage Theatre in the presence of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Autonomous Region Assessor for Cultural and International Relations Elio De Anna and the Italian Consul General in St. Petersburg.The agreement is to be the basis for a programme of academic and cultural cooperation focusing on wine and its thousand-year history with special studies, publications, exhibitions, and a variety of events. Among the suggested topics are winemaking as a creative act and wine as an object of ar-tistic production, the relationship between them and the arts (arts and crafts, design, architecture), wine as an integral part of the culture, customs and traditions of nations and civilisations, its role in mythology and literature.The supervision of the programme has been assigned to Vladimir Matveyev, State Hermitage Museum Deputy Director and member of the Academic Committee at the Hermitage • Italy Centre, and Dr. Silvano Stefanutti, President of the Villa Russiz Foundation. The Hermitage • Italy Centre will take a direct part in this cooperation.As part of the signing event, the Friulano for the Hermitage wine was officially launched. This white wine is produced in Villa Russiz’s own vineyards and in honour of the approaching 250th anniversa-ry of the State Hermitage Museum will be delivered free of charge to the museum for special events for the next five years between 2012 and 2015. The bottles will be personalised with special labels Friulano for the Hermitage and logos of the museum and the foundation.

deClaraTion of inTenT Signed BeTWeen The STaTe hermiTage and The adminiSTraTion of vilniuS, liThuania

On 17 May 2012, the State Hermitage General Director Mikhail Piotrovsky and the May-or of Vilnius Arturas Zuokas signed a Declaration of Intent in the Hermitage Museum. The parties took into account their experience of working together on feasibility studies with a view to establishing a new modern Vilnius Museum of Art, running a competition for the best architec-tural design for the museum, and their shared interest in cooperation for enriching the cultural life of Vilnius.

SpeCial developmenT programmeS

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memorandum of CooperaTion Signed BeTWeen The STaTe hermiTage and adoBe SySTemS

On 24 October 2012, a Memorandum of Cooperation was signed at the State Hermitage Museum between the State Hermitage and Adobe Systems to develop, introduce and promote Digital Pub-lishing Solutions.Adobe Digital Publishing Suite was the platform used as a special experiment to create an electronic version of the catalogue for the “Santiago Calatrava. The Quest for Movement” exhibition which ran from 27 June to 30 September 2012. The Adobe Systems digital publishing solutions made it possible to simplify the process of developing the catalogue significantly, and will enable the State Hermitage to create online electronic versions of its future catalogues for temporary exhibitions and publications focusing on permanent displays.Adobe Systems is a global leader in developing innovative programming solutions for any type of data, including text-based information, graphic images, video and web content.

agreemenT Signed BeTWeen The STaTe hermiTage AND THE GovERNMENT of CATALoNIA To CREATE THE HERMITAGE • bARCELoNA muSeum CenTre

On 31 October 2012, the State Hermitage Museum and the Government of Catalonia confirmed their intention of establishing a Hermitage • Barcelona Museum Centre in Barcelona. The agree-ment was signed by State Hermitage General Director Mikhail Piotrovsky and the Catalonian Min-ister for Culture Ferran Mascarell i Canalda.The Centre will be located in the historical buildings at the Barcelona Port. As at its other branch-es, the State Hermitage Museum will present exhibitions from its own collection, collections from other museums, and also works by contemporary Russian artists. The Centre will be added to the already dynamic network of satellites to the State Hermitage Museum in Europe and will give it a new focus.The framework agreement needs to be signed, the buildings need to undergo restoration, a plan and timetable needs to be prepared for exhibitions and other cultural events, and an appropriate fund and infrastructure need to be established.The suggested date for the opening of the State Hermitage Museum branch in Barcelona is 2015, after the end of the celebrations of the museum’s 250th anniversary.

CooperaTion agreemenT Signed BeTWeen The STaTe hermiTage, fLoRENCE MAYoR’S offICE AND THE HERMITAGE • ITALY fouNDATIoN

On 4 July 2012 the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence hosted the signing ceremony for an Agreement on Cultural Cooperation between the State Hermitage Museum, the Florence Mayor’s Office and the Hermitage • Italy Foundation. The agreement was signed by the General Director of the State Hermitage Museum Mikhail Piotrovsky, the Vice Mayor of Florence Sergio Givone, the Vice May-or of Ferrara Massimo Maisto (acting as a representative of the Hermitage • Italy Foundation). This agreement envisages joint restoration projects, the exchange of masterpieces and specialists between the museums.

CooperaTion agreemenT Signed BeTWeen The STaTe hermiTage, The muniCipal governmenT of Turin and The Turin muniCipal muSeum foundaTion

On 13 February 2012, Mikhail Piotrovsky, General Director of the State Hermitage Museum, Dr. Piero Fassino, Mayor of the City of Turin, and Dr. Maurizio Braccialarghe, Cultural Counse-lor and President of the Municipal Museum Foundation of the city of Turin signed a Cooperation Agreement on the nature and procedure of joint implementation of the programme of cultural and scientific cooperation between the State Hermitage Museum, the Hermitage • Italy Foundation, the Municipal Government of the city of Turin and the Municipal Museum Foundation of Turin.The programme is expected to include the following joint projects:– Training programmes and exchange of experience between research fellows and specialists in the fields of art history, cultural heritage, conservation, restoration, museum studies, history and cul-ture and museography;– Academic conferences, seminars and round tables (followed by the publication of materials and proceedings) dedicated to the problems of cultural and art history, museum studies, conservation and restoration, organisation and running of research programmes;– Special joint programmes in the field of applied and decorative arts considering the importance of such collections in museums, including the Palazzo Madama in Turin;– Organising exhibitions showcasing the results of joint research, both in the State Hermitage Museum and in the municipal museums of Turin;–Special exchange, research and academic programmes in the areas of restoration, conservation and analysis of works of art, especially objects of applied and decorative art;– Cooperation aimed at participation in European competitions in areas of mutual interest.The academic aspect of the programme will be managed by Professor Mikhail Piotrovsky, General Director of the State Hermitage Museum and President of the Academic Committee of the Hermit-age • Italy Foundation, and Dr. Enrico Pagella, Director of the Palazzo Madama.

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SeSSion of The naTional aSSoCiaTion of proToCol SpeCialiSTS

On 5 April 2012, a session of the National Association of Protocol Specialists was held at the State Hermitage.The session involved topics of relevance for protocol experts: the heraldic aspects of protocol, and the place of diplomatic gifts in the system of international diplomatic ritual.Georgy Vilinbakhov gave a paper on the heraldic aspects of protocol procedures using the example of the re-interment of Empress Maria Fedorovna. Then the Hermitage research staff discussed dip-lomatic gifts received by the members of the Royal Family and kept at the Hermitage.

The 7Th day of maeCenaS aT The hermiTage

On 13 April 2012, the Hermitage Theatre hosted the 7th Art Patron and Benefactor Day, which has already become a traditional festival even outside St. Petersburg. This year, the Hermitage welcomed guests from Moscow, Sakhalin and Smolensk regions, Finland, Sweden, and Germany. The idea of the festival is to promote charitable projects. In 2012, the restoration of the unique Royal Doors in the Church of the Savior-on-the-Spilled-Blood was completed without any budgetary funding, a monument to Pyotr Bagration, a hero of the Patri-otic War of 1812, has been funded a contribution from the philanthropist A. Ebralidze, and a monu-ment to another legendary military leader, Admiral Pavel Nakhimov is due to be opened thanks to the charitable support from SMU-303 (Construction Office).New sports and health facilities are now under construction as part of the Gazprom for Children pro-gramme, which is currently being implemented in North-Western Russia by the Gazprom Transgaz St. Petersburg company.The charitable programme of the North-Western division of Sberbank of the Russian Federation has been expanded and diversified. Vodokanal of St. Petersburg, Etalon-LenSpetsSMU and other companies are carrying out their own cultural and museum-based projects.The State Hermitage Museum has recently received a unique gift: a collection of medals commemo-rating the Patriotic War of 1812, made from designs by Alexey Olenin, a prominent civil servant and social figure. The donor was Ivan Emanuel, a scientist and businessman and a direct descendant of General Georgy Emanuel, a hero of that war, whose portrait hangs in the military gallery of the Winter Palace. Other uniquely wonderful gifts to the museum include a Latin edition of Horace’s Odes with a remarkable marble cover (a project of the Rare Books from St. Petersburg publishing house).As always, the Hermitage festival welcomed children in need of help, including those staying in the SOS children’ village in Pushkin. The Peacock Clock was specially wound for them. The fa-mous Terem Quartet was invited to the event and presented their charitable programme for the children.According to tradition, a new issue of the Russian Maecenas almanac was published to mark the day, with a special focus on materials dedicated to philanthropic and charitable activities.

The STraSSer grand CloCK To Chime again in The WinTer palaCe

On 29 October 2012, the State Hermitage, supported by JTI, launched the project of restoring a unique technological artefact of the turn of the 19th century, Strasser’s Grand Clock, which is also known as the Mechanical Orchestra. Visitors to the museum will be able to see the Grand Strasser Clock in 2014. It is one of the most significant projects marking the preparation for the State Hermitage Museum’s 250th anniversary. “We are bring-ing back to life an amazing masterpiece of our collection. Visi-tors will be able to hear the unique sound which no one has heard for almost 200 years”, observed the State Hermitage Museum General Director Mikhail Piotrovsky. A four-metre-high struc-ture, encased in mahogany, serves as the casing for a precise as-tronomical clock and an extremely complex musical mechanism comprising two complementary organs that can play fourteen musical pieces, including those by Mozart and Haydn.The music is recorded on large wooden cylinders. Its particular

value is its original arrangement. Today these works are played differently and the Mechanical Or-chestra enables us to hear them exactly as they were conceived and performed 200 years ago.Deciphering the cylinders may well throw up a few surprises, say State Hermitage Museum spe-cialists. “We know that one of the pieces recorded on the cylinders was specially commissioned by Strasser from Anton Eberl, a composer popular at the turn of the 19th century. The cylinder con-taining one of the few surviving works by Eberl has yet to be deciphered. It is possible that we will discover a true masterpiece”, said the Head of the Laboratory for Scientific Restoration of Time-pieces and Musical Mechanisms Mikhail Guryev. By 2014, restorers are hoping to reconstruct the body of the clock, the wooden elements of the musical mechanism, the mechanical part of the organ and recreate the mahogany stand. At present, the contents of the Grand Clock have been dismantled into small parts, and the wooden cylinders are being deciphered and transferred to the computer.

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SpeCial developmenT programmeSSpeCial developmenT programmeS

ninTh inTernaTional feSTival “muSiCal hermiTage”

Between 18 and 26 February 2012, the Hermitage Theatre hosted the 9th International Musical Hermitage Festival organised by the State Hermitage and the Hermitage Academy of Music with support from the St. Petersburg Government Committee for Culture. Bands from different countries prepared performances representing different genres and trends of classical, jazz and experimental contemporary music.The Festival was opened by a trio of brilliant young musicians: the English violinist Hugo Ticciati, the Israeli pianist Michael Tsalka, and the Russian cellist Dmitry Yeremin. Hugo Ticciati also gave a solo performance accompanied by the State Hermitage Orchestra.The Polish pianist Leszek Mozdzer and the Swedish double bass player Lars Danielsson present-ed the Pasadoble jazz programme. Scandinavian jazz was performed by the Norwegian band Dag Arnesen Trio. The British jazz singer Norma Winstone gave her first vocal performance in Russia as part of the programme “Stories Yet to Tell”, accompanied by the Italian pianist Glauco Venier and German clarinet player Klaus Gesing.The Festival ended with the traditional Belcanto concert: following many years of tradition, the eter-nal music from the most beloved and famous Italian operas was performed by the winners of one of the most prestigious competitions for young musicians held in Spoleto: Daniele Antonangeli (bari-tone), Roberto Cresca (tenor) and Anna Maria Carbonera (soprano), conducted by Mats Liljefors (Sweden).The Festival was supported by the Consulates General of Norway and Sweden in St. Petersburg and the Institutes for Culture of Poland and Italy.

TWelfTh inTernaTional feSTival “muSiC of The greaT hermiTage”

The 12th International Festival “Music of the Great Hermitage” was organised by the State Hermitage Museum and the Hermit-age Academy of Music with the support of the General Consu-late of the Netherlands in St. Petersburg, the General Consu-late of Sweden in St. Petersburg and the Netherlands Institute in St. Petersburg. The 12th Festival opened with classical music. On 10 July, one of the most famous youth groups in Europe, the Great Sympho-ny Orchestra of the Free University of Amsterdam performed in Russia for the first time on the stage of the Academic Capella. The musicians in the orchestra are students and graduates of the Amsterdam Conservatory. In many ways, this orchestra owes its masterful performances to its lead conductor Daan Admiraal, who has headed the orchestra since 1975 and who is a recipient of the Order of Orange-Nassau, the highest national order of the Netherlands. Under his guidance, young musicians performed

works by John Adams, George Gershwin, Dmitry Shostakovich.On 12 July, luminaries of Russian jazz Andrey Kondakov and Vladimir Chekasin, along with the American drummer Bruce Cox, presented a programme entitled “Jazz-Rock Free”.The programme continued with a performance by the International group Mynta, which includes musicians from Sweden, Cuba and India. This ensemble’s sound integrates “Northern ice” with “hot Indian spices”, Scandinavian folk songs and Cuban violins, African and Latin rhythms, blended together in the mesmerising, magical rhythms of ancient Indian instruments.The evening was concluded with a performance by Musica Nuda, a famous Italian duet of singer Petra Magoni and bassist Ferruccio Spinetti. The very name “naked music” is an expression of the group’s ambition – to strip music down to the very essence, the core of its appeal, rhythm and voice. On 13 July, the Courtyard of the Winter Palace was filled with the Cuban rhythms of the famous Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club. Its history goes back to the 1940s. That was the name of a club in Havana, where young Cubans gathered to dance and make music together. After the revolution the club was closed, and it was only fifty years later, in 1997, that the Cuban guitarist Juan de Marcos

Gonzales and the American musician and composer Ry Cooder brought together all who had played in the club in order to record an album of the same name. This project unexpectedly received wide-spread recognition, and a year later its fame grew even further after the release of Wim Wenders’ documentary. Since then, despite changes in membership, the Orquesta Buena Vista has remained an example of the Cuban love of life and a welcome guest at festivals all over the world. Four of the legendary original members took the stage, in addition to young musicians and the inimitable singer Omara Portuondo.The concert was organised with the help of the C.A.T. Company (Moscow). The General Partner of the Festival is Heineken International LLC. The official partners of the Festival are: Phillips, On-ego Shipping, Lufthansa. The General Informational Partners of the Festival are Radio Hermitage and Time Out Petersburg magazine.

elevenTh inTernaTional feSTival “grand WalTz”

The State Hermitage Museum, the Union of Museum Workers of St. Petersburg and the Len-ingrad Region, and the Domus Producer Centre presented the 11th International Grand Festival (20–30 July 2012). The concerts were held on the stage of the Hermitage Theatre, the Armorial Hall of the Winter Palace, the Great Palace of Peterhof, the Catherine Palace in Tsarskoye Selo, and, of course, the Rose Pavilion in Pavlovsk.The Festival’s programme included evenings of symphony and chamber music, both instrumen-tal and vocal performed by masters who had already made a significant mark on musical culture: soloists from the Vienna State Opera, Michael Heim and Marcela Cerno, Isabella Ma-Zach and Camillo Dell’Antonio, the famous Russian conductors Alexander Kantorov, Alexey Karabanov, Dmitry Khokhlov, Mikhail Sinkevich, Igor Ponomarenko, the soloist of the Mariinsky Theatre Olga Trifonova, and world-famous musicians like the pianist Vladimir Mishchouk and violinist Sergey Stadler. The Festival also featured the State Symphony Orchestra Klassika, the Rimsky-Korsakov Central Concert Orchestra of the Russian Navy, the Andreyev State Academic Russian Orchestra and the IPOrchestra.Support for the Festival was provided by the Bank of Moscow JSC, which has a long-term partner-ship with the State Hermitage Museum.

SixTh inTernaTional feSTival “dediCaTion To maeSTro”

The International Festival “Dedication to Maestro” is a tribute to the memory of great composers, artistic and cultural figures, and musicians. The Festival’s trademarks are its venue and its range of genres.The 2012 Festival included concerts of classical and jazz music, and a gala performance by ballet artists. Musical pieces by Schubert, Brahms, Alyabiev, Glinka, Tchaikovsky and Mussorgsky were performed in the Hermitage Theatre by the Three bassi profondi, Vladimir Miller, Mikhail Kruglov, and Sergey Kryzhnenko.The gala performance by the Mariinsky Ballet dancers accompanied by the St. Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra Klassika conducted by Alexander Kantorov included fragments from ballets by Russian and world composers.A concert by the symphony IPOrchestra conducted by Igor Ponomarenko was held in the Hermitage Theatre to mark Eduard Artemiev’s 75th anniversary.The St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra conducted by Saulus Sondeckis played in the Armorial Hall of the Winter Palace; the solo recital was given by the violinist Liana Isakidze.The Festival ended with a concert of Tchaikovsky’s works performed by the St. Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra Klassika conducted by Alexey Karabanov in the Large Italian Skylight Hall of the New Hermitage.The Festival’s traditional General Sponsor is Promsvyzabank.

Concert of the Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club in the Great Courtyard of the Winter Palace

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inTernaTional adviSory Board of The STaTe hermiTage muSeum

eighTeenTh annual meeTing

The Eighteenth Meeting of the State Hermitage Museum International Advisory Board was held in St. Petersburg on 31 August – 1 September 2012.Traditionally, the discussions deal with most pressing issues of the museum’s development. Working sessions were held in the Conference Hall of the State Hermitage Museum. As usually, themes for discus-sion were developed by the Director of the State Hermitage Museum Prof. Mikhail Piotro-vsky. This year the questions introduced for the consideration of the International Advisory Board included evaluation of the museum’s activities (cri-teria and success indicators), organisation of effective visitor circulation during the tourist season, as well as a five-year plan of redesigning the museum website. The Board members also discussed provocation as one of the functions of contemporary art, and plans for exhibiting contemporary art in the new museum space of the General Staff Building.Members of the Advisory Board had a tour of the new temporary exhibitions opened in the Her-mitage. Prof. Piotrovsky intro-duced the project of displaying paintings dedicated to the bat-tles of the 1812 Patriotic War, in connection with the 200th an-niversary of the Russian victory over Napoleon. The guests were also invited to see the East-ern Wing of the General Staff building, where the first phase of reconstruction had already completed.On 1 September the Members of the International Advisory Board had a tour of the Church of the Savior-on-the-Spilled-Blood, and visited Kronshtadt where they saw the Naval Cathe-dral and St. Petersburg Flood Protection Barrier Complex.

parTiCipanTS of The 18Th meeTing of The STaTe hermiTage muSeum inTernaTional adviSory Board:

Michael Brand Director, J. Paul Getty Museum

Michael Conforti Director, Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts

Gabriele Finaldi Director Adjunto de Conservación e Investigación, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid

Max Hollein Director, Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main

Henri Loyrette Président directeur général, Louvre, Paris

Alfred Pacquement Directeur du musée national d’art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris

Hermann Parzinger President, Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin

Annamaria Petrioli Tofani Former Director, Uffizi, Florence

Henk van Os Former Director, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Mikhail Piotrovsky General Director, State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg

Svetlana Philippova Secretary to the International Advisory Board Head, Hermitage Friends Office

CurrenT memBerS

Neil MacGregor Chairman, Director, The British Museum, London

Stuart Gibson Secretary to the International Advisory Board Former Director, Hermitage UNESCO Project, USA

reTired memBerS

Reinhold Baumstark Former Director, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Munich

Irène Bizot Ancien Administrateur général, Réunion des Musées Nationaux, Paris

Mounir Bouchenaki Director general of ICCROM-International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property, Rome

J. Carter Brown Director Emeritus, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

Wim Crouwel Former Director, Museum Boymans van Beuningen, Amsterdam

Wolf-Dieter Dube Former Director, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin

Horst Gödicke Representative of the Director-General of UNESCO, Paris

Alan Hancock Director, PROCEED, UNESCO, Paris

Anne d’Harnoncourt Director, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia

Michel Laclotte Directeur honoré du Musée du Louvre, Paris

Ronald de Leeuw Director, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Edmund Pillsbury Former Director, Kimbell Museum, Fort Worth

Françoise Rivière Assistant Director-General for Culture, UNESCO, Paris

Paolo Viti Direttore Activita Culturale, Palazzo Grassi, Venice

Members of the State Hermitage International Advisory Board in the General Staff Building

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gueSTS of The hermiTage

4 April 2012 Visit of Mr. Sauli Niinistö, President of Finland

17 May 2012 Visit of Mr. Eric Holder, the Attorney General of the United States

22 June 2012 Visit of Mr. Almazbek Atambayev, President of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan

29 June 2012 Visit of Mrs. Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State of the United States

8 October 2012 Visit of Her Royal Highness Mary, Crown Princess of Denmark(to mark the launch of the exhibition “Wild Swans: Découpages and Costumes Designed by Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II of Denmark for the Film Adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s Fairy Tale”)

2 July 2012 Visit of Her Royal Highness Princess Consort Sabika bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa(to mark the launch of the exhibition “Tylos. The Journey beyond Life. Rituals and Funerary Traditions in Bahrain in the 1st Century BC – 3rd Century AD”)

14 November 2012 Visit of Mr. Denis Sassou Nguesso, President of the Republic of Congo


Sabika bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa, Princess Consort of Bahrain

Sauli Niinistö, President of Finland Visit of the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton, Michael McFaul, Mikhail Piotrovsky

Visit of Mr. Denis Sassou Nguesso, President of the Republic of Congo. Mr. Sassou Nguesso with his spouse

Visit of Mr. Almazbek Atambayev, President of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan

Her Royal Highness Mary, Crown Princess of Denmark

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SevenTh inTernaTional ChariTaBle gala reCepTion

29 June 2012 saw the annual traditional Charitable Gala Recep-tion which was dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the victory in the Patriotic War of 1812 on this occasion. The guests invited to the event included stars of the contemporary art world Santiago Calatrava and Tony Cragg, representatives of old Russian families like the Romanovs, Yuryevskys, Golitsyns, Rodziankos, Directors of the Hermitage Foundations in the USA, UK and Russia, Directors of the leading museums of the world, representatives of Christie’s and Sotheby’s auction houses, heads of sponsor companies, art collectors, philanthropists and journalists.In the St. George Hall (Large Throne Room), the General Direc-tor of the State Hermitage Museum Mikhail Piotrvosky gave a welcome speech to the assembled guests, followed by the “Art-ist in the Hermitage” award ceremony, presented this year to the prominent contemporary artists Santiago Calatrava and Tony Cragg, whose works were currently on display in the Hermitage. The evening continued with a concert which consisted of musical pieces written in the age of the Napoleonic Wars, performed by the Russian Horn Orchestra (conducted by Sergey Polyanichko) and the Mariinsky Choir (headed by choirmaster Andrey Petrenko).Next, the guests viewed a one-day exhibit in the Armorial Hall entitled 1812, which was specially prepared for the Gala Recep-tion and served as a “taster” for a major Hermitage project en-titled “The Thunder of 1812”, and the exhibit “Santiago Cala-trava. The Quest for Movement”, which had recently opened in the Nicholas Hall.The menu for the grand dinner served in the Jordan Gallery of the Winter Palace was made up of Russian dishes from the 19th cen-tury, which owe a great deal to French cuisine. During the din-ner, the guests were invited to the Great Courtyard of the Winter Palace to view an exhibit entitled Luke by Tony Cragg opened on that very day as part of the “Sculpture in the Courtyard” project.After the dinner, a ball was held in the Armorial Hall, with the participation of performers from the Mariinsky Theatre and the “Most Graceful” lady guest received a diamond pendant (a prize from the Smolensk Diamonds Company) from Victoria Yastrebova, the prima ballerina of the Mariinsky Theatre.By tradition, the famous Peacock Clock struck midnight. The “grace cup” awaited the guests in the Hanging Garden, opened for the first time after restoration.This Gala Reception is intended to draw attention to the public fund-raising campaign in support of the specialised fund for the management of the Endowment Fund intended for the develop-ment of the State Hermitage Museum. The fund was founded with a donation from one of its creators, Vladimir Potanin.Support for the Gala Reception was provided by Gazprombank OJSC, JTI International, Arktikmorgeo, Neftegazmontazhservis LLC, the INTARSIA Group of Companies, the Hennessy Social and Cultural Foundation, the Blavatnik Family Foundation. The informational partner is the TATLeR magazine.

Pierre de Labouchere with his wife, Mikhail Piotrovsky

Mikhail Piotrovsky, Prince Dmitry Romanov with his wife

Georgy Vilinbakhov, Paul Rodzianko, Sergey Bugayev (Africa)

Olga SviblovaYekaterina Sirakanyan


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hermiTage friendS organiSaTionShermiTage friendS organiSaTionS

1 MarchMeeting in the Hermitage Friends’ Club entitled “A Visit to Jupiter” was dedicated to the 150 years of the arrival of the Marquis Campana collection to the Hermitage. Dr. Liudmila Davydova, curator of Greek sculpture of the Classical Antiquity Department, talked about the acquisition of this collection.

23 April Visit of the UK Friends delegation (The Furniture History Society, 28 people) and the Canadian Friends of the Hermitage (The Art Gallery of Calgary, 15 people) to St. Petersburg. A special programme, Mon-day in the Hermitage, was organised for them. Our Friends from abroad were given a unique opportunity to visit the Hermitage on the day the museum is closed to visitors. Specialists in history of furniture from Great Britain were able to view in detail the permanent exhibition of Russian and Western European furniture.

14 MayVisit of the Canadian Friends of the Hermitage (The Royal Ontario Museum, 24 people). Monday in the Hermitage programme offered to the Friends a unique opportunity to see the collection when the mu-seum is closed for public. The guests were offered a tour round the museum guided by the curators of the Education Department, with the demonstration of the Peacock Clock in operation.

16 MayPresentation of the joint projects of the State Hermitage Museum and Philips Company for 2012–2014. The State Hermitage Museum General Director Mikhail Piotrovsky announced the start of a Russian-wide competition The Hermitage in a New Light aimed at creating a concept for lighting the façade of the General Staff Building. Arjan de Jongste, General Director of Philips Company in Russia, talked about the results of lighting project of the Arch of the General Staff Building. Guests were shown a film about the collaborative projects of the State Hermitage Museum and Philips Company that were implemented in 2009–2012.

friendS’ evenTS. 2012

8 JuneFinal event of the fifteenth anniversary season in the Hermitage Friends’ Club. The meeting was dedi-cated to the 165th Anniversary of the Hermitage Treasure Gallery. The evening programme opened with the word of welcome by the General Director of the State Hermitage Museum Prof. Mikhail Piotrovsky. The guests were then invited to the Hercules Room to hear a short talk by the Head of the Treasure Gal-lery Yelena Kashina on the history of the Hermitage Treasure Gallery and its collection. Following it, Dr. Igor Malkiel, Head of the Laboratory for Scientific Restoration of Precious Metals, showed the Friends a film on the restoration of some of the Gallery’s objects. In the end of the meeting, the Friends had an opportunity to visit the exhibition of the Diamond Room with the curators of the Hermitage Edu-cation Department, and see some of the objects that were brought back to life with their help.

25–27 JuneThis year five representatives from the Hermitage Museum Foundation in the USA attended the tradi-tional International Charity Gala Reception at the Winter Palace. A special programme, Monday in the Hermitage, was organised for them during their stay in St. Petersburg, which included a demonstration of the Peacock Clock in operation and a visit to the “Staraya Derevnya” Restoration, Conservation and Storage Centre.

11 and 13 September Visit of a delegation of the British Friends of the Hermitage (a group of porcelain specialists and lov-ers, 10 people). A special programme was organised for them that included a visit to the exhibitions and storages of German, English, French and Russian porcelain, as well as meetings with the curators of the Western European Applied Arts Department, Western European Fine Arts Department and His-tory of Russian Culture Department.

18 OctoberOfficial event dedicated to the 15 years of partnership between the State Hermitage Museum and an inter-national law firm Baker & McKenzie. Since 1997 Baker & McKenzie has been a corporate member of the Hermitage Friends’ Club and has sponsored programmes for work with disabled children. Starting from 2000, the company has supported the programme of the Hermitage School Centre entitled Our Hermitage. At the Hermitage Theatre, guests of the evening were presented the results of the conservation project Cornflowers and Stems of Oats once made by the craftsmen of the famous Carl Fabergé firm. This project was completed by the Hermitage conservators with the support of Baker & McKenzie.

23 OctoberOpening of the new 2012–2013 season in the Hermitage Friends’ Club. The event “Contemporary Art: Provocation or...” took place in the General Staff Building. Prof. Mikhail Piotrovsky, the General Director of the State Hermitage Museum, opened the evening for the Friends with a few words about the provoca-tive function of contemporary art. Then, the museum Friends were given the unique opportunity to view all of the temporary exhibitions of contemporary art that were taking place at that time in the General Staff

Final event of the fifteenth anniversary season in the Hermitage Friends’ Club

Presentation of the joint projects of the State Hermitage Museum and Philips Company for 2012–2014

Meeting in the Hermitage Friends’ Club entitled “A Visit to Jupiter” dedicated to the 150 years of the arrival of the Marquis Campana collection to the Hermitage

Official event dedicated to the 15 years of partnership between the State Hermitage Museum and an international law firm Baker & McKenzie

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hermiTage friendS organiSaTionS

Italian Friends at the Hermitage

foundaTion hermiTage friendS in The neTherlandS

Despite the economic crisis, the number of Friends stayed more or less on the level of 2011: 5,500 members. The number of Peter and Catharina Friends was also kept on the same level.This year the Friends received two printed newsletters; these newsletters gave information on the exhibitions in Amsterdam as well the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. 2012 was not an ordinary exhibi-tion year for the Hermitage • Amsterdam, due to the fact that the famous Van Gogh Museum had to close down for several months. In order to help the Van Gogh Museum and to have the masterpiec-es available for the numerous tourists of the Amsterdam city, the schedule of the Hermitage exhibi-tions was changed. It was decided to extend the successful “Rubens, Van Dyck & Jordaens. Flemish Painters from the Hermitage” exhibition for three more months and to postpone the “Gaugain, Bonnard, Denis” exhibition until 2013. This made it possible to house the Van Gogh masterpieces for seven months in one of the wings of the Hermitage • Amsterdam museum. In 2012, two special Friends’ Days were organised for the Dutch Friends, one in June, on the day be-fore the public opening of the new “Impressionism: Sensation and Inspiration” exhibition; the other was organised in October in conjunction with the opening of the Van Gogh exhibition. Both Friends’ Days were organised exclusively for the Friends and consisted of an introduction into the new exhibi-tion, and the Board informing the Friends on the projects they had supported in Amsterdam as well as in St. Petersburg. Furthermore on the Friends day the Friends had the possibility to have dinner in the restaurant of the museum. This special Friends’ dinner attracted more than 100 Dutch Friends each time.New in 2012 were digital newsletters mailed to the Dutch Friends, the so-called “Friends greeting newsletter”. In these newsletters last minute news were published.The Foundation Hermitage Friends in the Netherlands contributed in 2012 to the following projects. For the exhibition “Rubens, Van Dyck & Jordaens” in Amsterdam, two paintings were restored with the support of the Dutch Friends: Lioness and Two Lions by the Rubens school and Lucius Albinus Giving his Carriage to Vestals by Bertholet Flemalle.The restoration of gilded frames for the works by Dutch Masters initiated in 2010 continued.For the future exhibition “Peter the Great, an Inspired Tsar” scheduled to open in the Hermitage • Am-sterdam in March 2013, the Dutch Friends supported the restoration of the uniform of Tsar Peter the Great, making it possible to bring this unique costume to Amsterdam.The Board meetings were held on 7 February, 20 March, 11 September and 19 November 2012.The Chairman of the Board Mr. Hein Blocks was replaced by Mr. Ernst Veen, former Director of Her-mitage • Amsterdam; and the treasurer Mr. Renze Hasper was replaced by Mr. Joost Leeflang. A new coordinator of the Dutch Friends organisation was hired: Lisette Forbes Wels-de Leeuw suc-ceeded Jacqueline Lantain, who left the organisation.

foundaTion hermiTage friendS in The neTherlandS

P.O. Box 11675, 1001 GR AmsterdamThe Netherlands Tel.: (31) 20 530 87 55Email: [email protected]

Awarding ceremony for sponsors and patrons of the State Hermitage. Mikhail Piotrovsky and Olga Monakhova, Director of the International Chodiev Foundation

Building: “The Wild Swans. Découpages and Costumes Designed by Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II of Denmark for the Film Adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s Fairy Tale”, “Architectural Library: Architectural Drawings from the State Hermitage and Sergey Tchoban’s Collections”, “‘There is No One to Help them’. Tragedy in the Graphic Works of Francisco Goya”, and “Jake and Dinos Chapman. The End of Fun”. Friends were also welcome to ask their questions to the curators of these exhibitions.

29 October Presentation of the long-term project for the restoration of a unique monument of the world technologi-cal thought in the 18th – 19th centuries: the Grand Strasser Clock. This project is being implemented by the State Hermitage Museum with the support of the JTI Company.

8 December International Hermitage Friends’ Day. Hermitage Friends from around the world are annually invit-ed to the museum for this celebration. The programme of this event is always unique and interesting. This year, the Friends were traditionally the first to see the new space of the State Hermitage Museum – the new premises “Х” at the “Staraya Derevnya” Centre. Prof. Mikhail Piotrovsky, the General Director of the State Hermitage Museum, welcomed the Friends and awarded the sponsors of the museum with Honorary Diplomas and personal membership cards of the Hermitage Friends’ Club. Then, Friends were given an opportunity to independently see over the new premises of the Restoration and Storage Centre, as well as to enjoy a concert programme and ballroom dancing in the Main Vestibule of the new building. The evening programme ended with a banquet for the Friends.

10 DecemberPresentation ceremony of the Hermitage Friends Association in Italy, creation of which was officially announced in summer 2012. In the Hermitage Days 2012 the Association made a statement in Russia by organising a special visit for the delegation of the Italian Friends as part of a special programme Monday in the Hermitage.

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hermiTage muSeum foundaTion (uSa)

The Hermitage Museum Foundation (USA), Inc. (“HMF”) is a corporation which contributes to the preservation and promotion of the museum’s collection of more than three million objects and its historic buildings. The HMF raises funds for restoration and conservation projects as well as securing the donation of art and artifacts for the museum. The annual Hermitage Dinner held in New York City supports the Art from America TM effort to secure post-War American art for the museum’s collections. In addition, the HMF hosts educational outreach programs; supports exhibi-tions both in the U.S. and Russia; curatorial exchanges, and organizes an annual White Nights tour to the museum and St. Petersburg.The HMF’s activities in 2012 continued to strengthen its commitment to the Hermitage Museum and to Russian-American relations.In January the HMF Junior Committee organized a visit to the opening of the Sol LeWitt – Alfred Jensen Exhibition, “Systems and Transformation” at Pace Gallery. Twenty participants enjoyed an impromptu walk-through talk and concluded the evening at a casual dinner.In April the Junior Committee hosted, in conjunction with Depesha Magazine, a private tour of the museum at FIT exhibition, “IMPACT: 50 Years of the CFDA” followed by a VIP dinner to ben-efit the HMF’s Art from America TM campaign with a guest of honor, designer Thom Browne. Patricia Mears, Deputy Director of the Museum at Fashion Institute of Technology, and co-curator of the IMPACT exhibition, guided the twenty guests of the HMF, sharing insights about select objects in the show as well as the key ideas behind the exhibit’s conception and installation.The HMF’s fifth White Nights Tour welcomed guests to St. Petersburg in late June for six days of specially organized tours of the Hermitage Museum as well as highlights of the city and country-side. The White Nights program is designed to coinciding with the annual Gala Banquet in the Win-ter Palace. This year, the impressive Gala Dinner took as its theme the 200th anniversary of the vic-tory over Napoleon in the War of 1812. The evening’s activities culminated in a ball in the Armorial Hall featuring Mariinsky dancers leading the guests through the polonaise, the mazurka and more. As a final crescendo, guests were conducted to the newly restored Hanging Garden for an informal jazz concert and champagne.During this six-day program, the guests spent considerable time in the museum, enjoying private viewings of exhibition and collection highlights; paintings, sculpture, applied arts treasures, furni-ture, and the ceremonial opening, on the Jordan Staircase, of the magnificent exhibition “Santiago Calatrava. The Quest for Movement”. A special invitation to the Rare Book Library gave an op-portunity to view centuries-old volumes in rare materials and unusual designs created for Imperial presentation and other purposes, and the Porcelain Storage visit was another interesting event.On 9 November, as part of its program surrounding the Fall Board meeting and the Hermitage Dinner, HMF invited three individuals to speak to supporters of the HMF at the Explorers Club in New York. The speakers were: the celebrated artist and one of the recipients of the 2012 HMF, Erik Bulatov; Eames Demetrios, Principal of the Eames Office; and Dr. Tamara Rappe, Head of the Department of Western European Applied Arts, State Hermitage Museum. The diversity of their presentations made for a memorable evening attended by more than sixty guests.On 10 November, under the Honorary Chairmanship of Eli Broad, the HMF honored American con-temporary art icon Jeff Koons together with Erik Bulatov, one of today’s most important Russian artists at the 3rd Annual Hermitage Dinner co-hosted by Simon de Pury, the legendary Chairman and Chief Auctioneer of Phillips de Pury & Company. He also conducted an auction of works donated especially for the Dinner by artists including Damien Hirst, Michal Rovner, David Levinthal, Jeff Koons and Martin Mull. HMF Awards were presented to Jeff Koons, introduced by Mr. Broad, and Erik Bulatov, introduced by Igor Tsukanov, for their lifelong artistic achievements and contributions to contemporary art. Introduced by Vitaly Komar, philanthropist and collector Neil K. Rector was recognized for his gift of Russian artist Oleg Vassiliev’s Artistic Vision 2009 to the Hermitage Mu-seum’s contemporary art collection in St. Petersburg. This important gift inaugurated the Hermit-age Museum Foundation’s Art from America™ initiative. In early December, Peter Schaffer, President of the HMF, hosted an elegant cocktail party at A La Vieille Russie on Fifth Avenue in New York, to bring attention to the forthcoming exhibition “Houghton Revisited” due to open in 2013 at the Houghton Hall in Norfolk, England. Attending the event were members of the HMF Board and Advisory Board, collectors and art lovers from New York and the West Coast. Lord Cholmondeley, Mr. Schaffer, and Dr. Thierry Morel, an HMF Advi-sory Board member and our guest curator, gave a brief outline of what the exhibition was about and

urged all of the assembled guests to come to Norfolk for this once in a lifetime exhibition: the tem-porary return of the Walpole Collection, which had been purchased by Catherine the Great in 1779, to its original Palladian home. The HMF is a full Sponsor of the “Houghton Revisited” exhibition. In its scale and ambition the exhibition will serve as a fitting commemoration of the 250th anni-versary of Catherine the Great’s accession to the throne, and more broadly the distinguished history of Anglo-Russian cultural relations. In December, the HMF sponsored the visit of Helen Drutt English, internationally renowned collec-tor and scholar in the applied arts and a member of the HMF Advisory Board, to St. Petersburg, the Hermitage Museum and a number of other institutions. The primary purpose of her trip was to share her knowledge of contemporary applied arts with various specialists and student groups. Her lectures at the Vladimir Palace and at the Academy of Fine Arts were both extremely well received. Her visit coincided with the publication of the December Antiqvariat Magazine which in-cluded a comprehensive article about Mrs. Drutt English and her collections.The HMF held its semi-annual full board meetings on 1 June and on 9 November 2012 at the law offices of Baker & McKenzie, New York City. The HMF Newsletter (Volume 3, Issue One) was re-leased in June. In addition, the HMF is working on a number of other exhibition efforts as part of its Art from America ™ initiative.

hermiTage muSeum foundaTion (uSa)

505 Park Avenue, 20th FloorNew York,NY 10022 USATel.: (1 212) 826 3074Fax: (1 212) 888 4018www.hermitagemuseumfoundation.org

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Canadian friendS of The hermiTage

1500 Bank Street, Suite 302Ottawa, ON K1H 1B8, Canada Tel.: 1 (613) 236-1116Toll Free: 1-(866) 380-6945Fax: 1 (613) 236-6570Email: [email protected]

The STaTe hermiTage muSeum foundaTion of Canada inC.

900 Greenbank Road, Suite 616Ottawa, ON K2J 4P6, CanadaTel.: 1 (613) 489-0794Fax: 1 (613) 489-0835

hermiTage foundaTion uK

Pushkin House5a Bloomsbury SquareLondon WC1A 2TATel.: +44 20 7404 7780Email: [email protected] www.hermitagefoundation.co.uk

The STaTe hermiTage muSeum foundaTion of Canada inC. and The Canadian friendS of The hermiTage

In 2012, the State Hermitage Museum Foundation of Canada was happy to once again award schol-arships to six of Canada’s most promising young artists, allowing them to participate in the Art Semester at the Hermitage program of the Youth Education Center in August of 2012. The success of the program was best expressed by the students themselves in their letters of appre-ciation to their sponsors.During April and May of 2012 Canadian Friends of the Hermitage, associated with the Royal On-tario Museum and the Calgary Art Gallery, visited St. Petersburg and Moscow. The warm hospitality and efficiency of the Hermitage staff made this visit truly inspiring. Program Monday in the Hermit-age organized as a special privilege for the Hermitage Friends allowed the guests to see the museum and enjoy its treasures without the distraction of large crowds. As a result of these tours, donations were made towards the restoration project Conservation of the Drawing by Wolgemut “Nativity”. At the Annual Meeting held on 23 November 2012 the Board of Directors approved a new Mission Statement for the Foundation: “Enriching the lives of Canadians through a vibrant program of edu-cational and exhibition exchanges between the State Hermitage Museum and Canadian universities, art galleries and museums”.With the retirement of Robin Young as Executive Director in 2012, the administration of the Cana-dian Friends of the Hermitage has been integrated with the Foundation, with Robert Kaszanits serv-ing as President of both organizations. Robin Young has been appointed to the Board of Directors of the Hermitage Foundation.

hermiTage foundaTion (uK)

On 14 May 2012 a group of UK Friends – specialists from the Furniture History Society visited the museum to take part in the exclusive Monday in the Hermitage programme. The Friends had an opportunity to meet museum curators and specialists, and to see the collections of Russian and Western European furniture without distraction of the crowds, on the day when the museum is closed for visitors. “Tony Cragg. Luke”. For the summer months (from 29 June 29 to 26 July), this bronze sculpture was displayed in the courtyard of the Hermitage from the Cass Foundation, UK. The artist himself visited the unveiling at the June Gala dinner.In September, a specialist group of international porcelain collectors visited the Hermitage, organ-ised by UK Trustee Adrian Sassoon and led by Rosalind Savill, former Director of the Wallace Col-lection and world renowned expert on Sevres porcelain.In September “Medals of Dishonour”, an exhibition that originated from The British Museum, co-curated by Yekaterina Lepyokhina from the Hermitage, Felicity Powell and Philip Atwood from the British Museum, sponsored by The Metabolic Foundation, USA and organised with the help of the Hermitage Foundation UK was shown at the Menshikov Palace. It combined a selection of medals from the British Museum collection and 13 recently commissioned contemporary medals with sev-eral medals from the Hermitage numismatic collection that had not been displayed in the original exhibition at the British Museum.In October, the new exhibition space in the General Staff Building was introduced to the public with the exhibition “The End of Fun” by The Chapman Brothers. The exhibition was funded entirely by The Hermitage Foundation UK, from money raised at the annual charity banquet and auction held in March 2012 at the Connaught Hotel in London. The main piece of the exhibition was the infamous showcases depicting Nazi SS officers mutilating one another. Also exhibited, in other galleries in the General Staff Building, were a display of drawings by Jake and Dinos Chapman entitled Injury to Insult to Injury and the Chapman Brothers series of The Disasters of War, adapted from original etchings by Goya, with their own additions to the works. The “Visiting Curators” scheme continued successfully, thanks to the generosity of the Foundation’s Trustee Elena Heinz and sponsorship from Sotheby’s. During the year, Yekaterina Lopatkina came to develop her knowledge on contemporary installations. Julia Balakhanova came to research the vast collection of Emblem Books in the Glasgow University Museum. Two curators from the Ar-moury, Ilya Yermolayev and Dmitry Lyubin had a very full and busy two-week visit, seeing different museums every day and travelling to the Royal Armouries in Leeds. Later in the year, three curators from different departments visited London: Julia Semyonova and Anastassia Bukina from the Clas-sical Antiquity Department, and Marina Gavrilova from the Oriental Department. Mikhail Dedinkin, Deputy Head of Western European Fine Arts Department, came to London to continue talks with the Hampton Court Palace about a planned exhibition on the drawings of Capability Brown in the Hermitage collection.In December, the publication of the new catalogue raisonee from the Islamic department, Persian Manuscripts, Paintings and Drawings, was celebrated with a book presentation party given by the Intercontinental Hotel, Park Lane. The author Dr. Adel Adamova was present. The publication was made possible by a generous donation from Mrs. Sedigeh Rastegar, as well as contributions from Maryam Eisler and Mr. and Mrs. Farhad Diba.In March 2012, Geraldine Norman retired as Chief Executive of the Hermitage Foundation UK after over 12 years of loyal support and hard work. Katya Galitzine took over as the new Chief Executive of the London based charity.

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hermiTage friendS organiSaTionS

aSSoCiaTion of The friendS of The hermiTage muSeum (iTaly)

The Associazione Amici del Museo Ermitage (Italia) was founded in Florence on 4 July 2012. Its of-ficial presentation took place in Palazzo Vecchio, in the Hall of Lorenzo the Magnificent, during the ceremony of signing the Agreement on Cooperation between the State Hermitage Museum and the municipal government of Florence. The agreement was signed by the General Director of the State Hermitage Museum Mikhail Piotrovsky and the Vice Mayor of Florence for Culture Mr. Sergio Givone. A gala reception was organised to celebrate this event in the Salvatore Ferragamo Museum and Bardini Museum, where Cav. Francesco Bigazzi, the President of the Association, introduced to Prof. Piotrovsky new Friends – first members of the new Association that has joined the inter-national family of Hermitage Friends’ organisations already existing in Amsterdam, New York, Toronto and London.The Bardini Museum opened its doors for the official inauguration of the Association that was estab-lished largely owing to the support of such internationally important members as Ferruccio Ferraga-mo and the first Italian Friends of the Hermitage: Marchesa Diletta Frescobaldi, Claudia Cremonini, Professor Mina Gregori, Avv. Marco Ramadori – Presidente Codacons, Prince Roberto Troubetskoy, Prince Girolamo Strozzi, the Honorary Consul of the Russian Federation in Florence, actor Giorgio Albertazzi, Goppion S.p.A. and La Compania Italiana, and other representatives of Italian cultural community. On the eve of its first anniversary, the Association is proud to number already fifty Patrons and one hundred Friends, such a rapid and steady growth being directly related to the numerous initiatives of the Association.In November 2012, the Association contributed to the publication of “Imperial Portraits and Pro-files in the Antique Manner. Sculpture of Quattrocento at the Museum Stefano Bardini” by An-tonella Nesi, Director of the Bardini Museum. In December 2012 a delegation of over 50 Italian Friends visited the Hermitage to participate in the celebration of the Hermitage Days. In January 2013 the new campaign will start to raise funds for the restoration of two large paintings that had suffered from the earthquake in the Emilia region. Other plans include: a charitable reception at the Medicean Villa di Artimino on 27 June 2013; conference “The Hermitage: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow” at Palazzo Strozzi on 15 April 2013 presided by Prof. Anna-Maria Petrioli Tofani; conference “Culture Promotes Exchange” on 16 April 2013 at Palazzo Vecchio in cooperation with the association “Exploring Eurasia”, with the participation of representatives of culture and busi-ness community from all over Italy; opening of the exhibition of Quinto Martini at the Hermitage on 24 May 2013 where five sculptures of the Tuscan master will be donated to the State Hermitage Museum; “Picnic on the Volga” in September 2013 organised for the Italian Friends of the Hermit-age in collaboration with Hermitage • Kazan Сentre; and in December 2013 a large Italian delega-tion will once again visit St. Petersburg to attend the celebration of the Hermitage Days and to bring a special protective showcase for the Hermitage masterpieces.

aSSoCiazione amiCi del muSeo ermiTage (iTalia)

Via Santo Spirito n. 11Palazzo Frescobaldi50125 Firenze, ItaliaTel./Fax: +39 055 5387819Email: [email protected]

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hermiTage friendS’ CluBhermiTage friendS’ CluB

The State Hermitage Museum is inviting you to participate in its special international programme – the Hermitage friends’ club.

The State Hermitage Museum was the first museum in Russia to organise a Friends’ society back in November 1996. Since that time, to be a Friend of the Hermitage has become a good tradition. Many international and Russian companies, charitable organisations, foundations and individuals have already become Members of the Hermitage Friends’ Club.

We invite you and/or your company to join the international Hermitage Friends’ Club and thus contribute to the preservation of the priceless treasures which form the Hermitage’s legacy, guaranteeing that they are available to future generations.

The main development programmes of the Hermitage are:

� Restoration and renovation of the museum buildings, halls and premises;

� Restoration of exhibits;

� Improvement of visitor services;

� Academic research and education programmes;

� Purchase of new exhibits.

The donation may be made in the form of money or goods, services, materials, or special discounts for “in-kind” donations.

Different levels of Individual and Corporate Membership are offered depending on the sum of your donation for one of the development programs.

The State Hermitage Museum gratefully receives donations from its supporters, and grants special privileges to the Hermitage Friends.

all Hermitage friends receive personal membership cards of the Hermitage friends’ club.

personal membership card entitles its holder (according to the Membership Level chosen) to participate in the special programme of visiting temporary exhibitions of the State Hermitage Museum, including the permanent displays and the Hermitage branches and centres in Russia and abroad (St. Petersburg, Vyborg, Kazan, Amsterdam).

The Holders of the Personal Membership Cards receive invitations to participate in special events arranged exclusively for the Hermitage friends’ club members.

� The Internet café offers a 30% discount to the Hermitage Friends;

� Shops and kiosks offer a 20% discount to the Hermitage Friends;

� The museum Internet shop (www.shop.hermitagemuseum.org) offers a 10% discount to the Hermitage Friends;

� Members of the Hermitage Friends’ Club are welcome to enter the Hermitage Museum from the Komendantsky Entrance of the Winter Palace, where they can use the cloakroom.

Some of the privileges granted by the Hermitage to corporate members of the international Hermitage Friends’ Club in proportion to the level of their charitable contribution:

� The Corporate Members are added to the “List of Sponsors and Patrons of the State Hermitage Museum”, which is published in the Hermitage’s Annual Report and on the official web-site of the State Hermitage Museum (www.hermitagemuseum.org)

� An Honorary Diploma is awarded to the Corporate Member to certify its support in the development of the Hermitage

for organisations making especially significant contributions, the director of the Hermitage grants additional benefits.

all memBerShipS are reneWaBle annually

For further information on the Hermitage Friends’ Club, please contact:

friendS’ offiCe

Komendantsky Entrance to the Winter Palace(from Palace Square)Tel.: (+7 812) 710 90 05Fax: (+7 812) 571 95 28Email: [email protected]

poSTal addreSS:

The State Hermitage Museum34 Dvortsovaya Emb.190000 St. PetersburgRussia

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finanCial STaTemenTS of The STaTe hermiTage muSeum

The STaTe hermiTage muSeum expendiTureS By SourCeS of inCome in 2012(in thousands of roubles)

Revenue from the Federal

Budget

Other Revenue

Including

Business undertakings

TotalTOTAL

expenditureDonations

and other

revenue

finanCial STaTemenTS of The STaTe hermiTage muSeum

expendiTureS in 2012(in thousands of roubles)

1. Payroll 1,180,632,4 31.4%

2. Purchase of equipment and materials 631,207,2 16.8%

3. Building services, transportation and communication 97,674,6 2.6%

4. Building and equipment repairs 159,833,7 4.3%

5. Expenses for police brigades 18,490,3 0.5%

6. Acquisition of art works 68,400,3 1.8%

7. Other current expenses 477,732,5 12.7%

8. Capital repair and construction 1,123,317,8 29.9%

Total expenditures: current and capital expenses 3,757,288,8 100%which amounts to USD thousand (at 31,1 roubles per dollar exchange rate) 120,813,1

inCome in 2012(in thousands of roubles)

1. Receipts from the Federal Budget 3,424,642,7 79.2% including Federal Budget subsidies, 2,714,417,7 62.8%

Federal Budget investments 710,225,0 16.4%

Other receipts including: 899,314,1 20.8%2. Proceeds from exhibitions 683,741,0 15.8%

3. Recompense for participation in exhibitions 90,581,6 2.1%

4. Donations and other revenue 29,345,6 0.7%

5. Grants 812,0 0.02%

6. Earnings from cultural, educational and theatrical programmes 23,445,8 0.5%

7. Fees for reproducing pictures from the Hermitage collection 7,646,1 0.2%

8. Earnings from selling catalogues and souvenirs 8,844,5 0.2%

9. Earnings from renting out property owned by the Hermitage 11,785,7 0.3%

10. Other income 43,111,8 1.1%

Total receipts 4,323,956,8 100%which amounts to USD thousand (at 31,1 roubles per dollar exchange rate) 139,034,0

12 3 4 5 6 7 8

81 2 3 4 5 6 7

9

Payroll 327,332,3 595,837,0 586,930,1 8,906,9 923,169,3

Payroll social security 91,028,6 166,434,5 163,744,6 2,689,9 257,463,1

Total payroll 418,360,9 762,271,5 750,674,7 11,596,8 1,180,632,4

Purchase of materials 104,923,2 1,685,3 1,419,0 266,3 106,608,5

Building services 62,658,3 13,456,0 13,456,0 0,0 76,114,3

Transportation and communications 18,740,9 2,819,4 707,7 2,111,7 21,560,3

Repair of equipment 93,155,7 362,1 362,1 0,0 93,517,8

Repair of buildings 66,315,9 0,0 0,0 0,0 66,315,9

Police brigades 18,451,2 39,1 39,1 0,0 18,490,3

Acquisition of art works 68,400,3 0,0 0,0 0,0 68,400,3

Other current expenses 411,370,2 66,362,3 59,575,6 6,786,7 477,732,5

Total current expenses 844,015,7 84,724,2 75,559,5 9,164,7 928,739,9(excluding payroll)

TOTAL CURRENT EXPENDITURES 1,262,376,6 846,995,7 826,234,2 20,761,5 2,109,372,3

Capital building activities 637,948,2 0,0 0,0 0,0 637,948,2

Capital repair 485,369,6 0,0 0,0 0,0 485,369,6

Equipment purchases 522,099,4 2,499,3 491,2 2,008,1 524,598,7

TOTAL CAPITAL EXPENDITURES 1,645,417,2 2,499,3 491,2 2,008,1 1,647,916,5

TOTAL EXPENDITURES OF THE HERMITAGE 2,907,793,8 849,495,0 826,725,4 22,769,6 3,757,288,8which amounts to USD thousand 93,498,2 27,315,0 26,582,8 732,1 120,813,1 (at 31,1 roubles per dollar exchange rate)

10

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prinCipal paTronS and SponSorS of The STaTe hermiTage muSeum in 2012 prinCipal paTronS and SponSorS of The STaTe hermiTage muSeum in 2012

Ms. Jayne Wrightsman (USA)

Mr. Vladimir Potanin (Russia)

Mr. George Sosnovsky (USA)

Mr. Leonard Blavatnik (UK)

Mr. Yevgeny Satanovsky (Russia)

Ilya & Emilia Kabakov (USA)

Vladimir V. Potanin Charitable Foundation (Moscow)

Smolensk Diamonds Group

Open Joint-Stock Company Kristall Production Corporation (Smolensk)

Coca-Cola Export Corporation (Moscow)

Coca-Cola HBC Eurasia Ltd. (St. Petersburg)

Korean Air Lines Co., Ltd. (Republic of Korea)

INTARSIA GROUP (St. Petersburg)

International Chodiev Foundation (Moscow)

JSC “AIKB Tatfondbank” (Kazan)

CJSC “JTI Marketing & Sales” (Moscow)

Philips Company in Russia (Moscow)

Aksel Motors Co. (St. Petersburg)

BMW (Germany)

Delzell Foundation (USA)

Social-Cultural Foundation “Hennessy” (Moscow)

“Heineken Breweries” LLC (St. Petersburg)

The Bank of Moscow

Art-Color Ltd. (St. Petersburg)

Beta-Kom (St. Petersburg)

“Ilim Group” (St. Petersburg)

Open Joint Stock Company Promsvyazbank (St. Petersburg)

Novotel St. Petersburg Centre Hotel

CafeMax St. Petersburg CSJC (St. Petersburg)

Bronze Horseman Ltd. (St. Petersburg)

LLC “Samsung Electronics Rus Company” (Moscow)

Vitrinen- und Glasbau REIER (Germany)

The PRO ARTE Foundation (St. Petersburg)

The Imperial Porcelain Manufactory (St. Petersburg)

Restoring Ancient Stabiae Foundation (Italy)

Grand Hotel Europe in St. Petersburg

Slavia Publishing House (St. Petersburg)

“Pro Animale für Tiere in Not e.V.” (Germany)

Prettycat Group Ltd. (St. Petersburg)

The company “Ivanko” (St. Petersburg)

“RADIOGUIDE” (St. Petersburg)

Fazer Group (St. Petersburg)

“OMC – SPb Catering” Ltd. (St. Petersburg)

DELIA, Ltd. (St. Petersburg)

GLENDO-RUS Co. (St. Petersburg)

The Veterinary clinics network “ELVET” (St. Petersburg)

The KHEPRI, Ltd. (St. Petersburg)

St. Petersburg Mint

The Likeon – Museum Concepts and Projects Ltd. (St. Petersburg)

Trading House Menachem (St. Petersburg)

“Guide-Intour” (St. Petersburg)

Arctur Travel Ltd. (St. Petersburg)

“Rusinco” Ltd. (St. Petersburg)

“VODOHOD” (Moscow)

ITC Enterprises LTD (Moscow)

Hotel Astoria (St. Petersburg)

Schwamborn GmbH (Germany)

CJSC “Opera” (St. Petersburg)

“Camfil International Aktiebolag” (Moscow)

“Astra Marine” Ltd. (St. Petersburg)

“Museum Technologies” Ltd. (St. Petersburg)

Intrust Bank (St. Petersburg)

LION Art Servis (St. Petersburg)

Komintel, Ltd. (St. Petersburg)

Gazprombank (St. Petersburg)

BP (British Petroleum)

informaTion SponSorS of The STaTe hermiTage muSeum

Russ Outdoor SPb (St. Petersburg)

LLC “Northern Capital Gateway” (St. Petersburg)

Joint-Stock Company “Aero-Advertising” (St. Petersburg)

PLADIS (St. Petersburg)

Sign City (St. Petersburg)

The LADOGA Group JSC (St. Petersburg)

“Vertical” (St. Petersburg)

“Tochka Opory” (St. Petersburg)

“Russian Jeweller” Ltd. (St. Petersburg)

Metropress Ltd. (St. Petersburg)

SeveroWest Media Ltd. (St. Petersburg)

Radio Hermitage (St. Petersburg)

“Amfora” Co.Ltd. (St. Petersburg)

Mr. Andrey Maslivets, entrepreneur (St. Petersburg)

offiCial Supplier of informaTion ServiCeS To The STaTe hermiTage muSeum

NIKOLAEV e:Consulting (St. Petersburg)

offiCial Courier of The STaTe hermiTage muSeum

‘Westpost’ Ltd. (St. Petersburg)

offiCial legal adviSor of The STaTe hermiTage muSeum

Baker & McKenzie – CIS, Limited (St. Petersburg)

offiCial parTner of The STaTe hermiTage muSeum

Renaissance St. Petersburg Baltic Hotel (St. Petersburg)

offiCial parTner of The STaTe hermiTage muSeum

LLC “St. Petersburg CY Hotel Leasing” (St. Petersburg)

offiCial CaTerer of The STaTe hermiTage muSeum

“Nash Piter” Company (St. Petersburg)

hermiTage friendS organiSaTionS aBroad

Foundation Hermitage Friends in the Netherlands

Hermitage Museum Foundation (USA)

The State Hermitage Museum Foundation of Canada, Inc.

Canadian Friends of the Hermitage

Friends of the Hermitage (UK)

Associazione Amici del Museo Ermitage (Italia)

210 211

STaff memBerS of The STaTe hermiTage muSeum

ClaSSiCal anTiQuiTy deparTmenT

A. Trofimova Head of the Department, Candidate of Art Theory and History

Ye. Ananyich Deputy Head of the Department

Yu. Semenova Chief Curator

A. Kuznetsov Academic Secretary

A. Butyagin Head of the Northern Black Sea Area Sector

Ye. Khodza Head of the Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome Sector, Candidate of Art Theory and History

arChaeology of eaSTern europe and SiBeria deparTmenT

A. Alexeyev Head of the Department, Doctor of History

Yu. Piotrovsky Deputy Head of the Department

A. Mazurkevich Chief Curator

A. Furasyev Academic Secretary, Candidate of History

Ye. Korolkova Head of the Sector of the South of Eurasia, Candidate of Art Theory and History

R. Minasian Head of the Sector of the Forest and Forest-Steppe Zone of Eastern Europe, Candidate of History

orienTal deparTmenT

N. Kozlova Head of the Department

M. Gavrilova Chief Curator

A. Nikolayev Academic Secretary, Candidate of History

A. Bolshakov Head of the Ancient East Sector, Doctor of History

O. Deshpande Head of the Far East Sector, Candidate of History

STaff memBerS of The STaTe hermiTage muSeum

direCToraTe of The STaTe hermiTage muSeum

M. Piotrovsky General Director, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Full Member of the Russian Academy of Arts, Professor of St. Petersburg State University, Doctor of History

G. Vilinbakhov Deputy Director for Research, Chairman of the Heraldic Council at the President of the Russian Federation, Professor of the Stieglitz St. Petersburg State Academy of Art and Industry, Doctor of History

S. Adaksina Deputy Director, Chief Curator

M. Antipova Deputy Director for Finance and Planning

A. Bogdanov Deputy Director for Maintenance, Senior Lecturer of St. Petersburg University of State Fire Service, Candidate of Technical Sciences

V. Matveyev Deputy Director for Exhibitions and Development, Candidate of Art Theory and History

M. Novikov Deputy Director for Construction

offiCe of The direCToraTe

M. Dandamayeva Academic Secretary, Candidate of History

M. Khaltunen Personal Assistant to the General Director, Candidate of Cultural Studies

V. Kovalenko Secretary to the Deputy Director for Research

O. Zalutskaya Secretary to the Deputy Director and Chief Curator

M. Matiyash Secretary to the Deputy Director for Finance and Planning

O. Korolkova Secretary to the Deputy Director for Maintenance

Yu. Marchenko Secretary to the Deputy Director for Exhibitions and Development

D. Oreshnikova Secretary to the Deputy Director for Construction

direCTor’S adviSerS

Yu. Kantor Adviser for Special Projects and PR, Doctor of History

A. Galkin Adviser for Security

Ye. Sirakanian Adviser for Special Programmes, Charity Projects and Sponsorship

P. Lurie Head of the Middle Asia and the Caucasus Sector, Candidate of History

A. Pritula Head of the Near East and Byzantium Sector, Candidate of Philology

WeSTern european fine arTS deparTmenT

S. Androsov Head of the Department, Doctor of Art Theory and History, Foreign Member of Ateneo Veneto (Venetian Academy of Sciences), Full Member of the Academy of Arts in Carrara

M. Dedinkin Deputy Head of the Department

M. Garlova Chief Curator

Ye. Abramova Academic Secretary

R. Grigoryev Head of the Print Room, Candidate of Art Theory and History

I. Grigoryeva Head of the Cabinet of Drawings

B. Asvarishch Head of the Sector of the 19th – 20th Century Painting and Sculpture, Candidate of Art Theory and History

N. Gritsay Head of the Sector of the 13th – 18th Century Painting, Candidate of Art Theory and History

WeSTern european applied arTS deparTmenT

T. Rappe Head of the Department, Candidate of Art Theory and History

O. Kostiuk Deputy Head of the Department, Candidate of Art Theory and History

L. Bulkina Chief Curator

S. Kokareva Academic Secretary

T. Kosourova Head of the Applied Arts Sector, Candidate of Art Theory and History

M. Lopato Head of the Sector of Precious Metals and Stones, Doctor of Art Theory and History

hiSTory of ruSSian CulTure deparTmenT

V. Fedorov Head of the Department

N. Guseva Deputy Head of the Department, Candidate of Art Theory and History

I. Zakharova Chief Curator, Candidate of History

A. Solovyov Academic Secretary

G. Miroliubova Head of the Sector of Visual Arts, Candidate of Art Theory and History

S. Nilov Head of the Winter Palace of Peter I Sector

N. Tarasova Head of the Sector of Decorative and Applied Arts, Candidate of Art Theory and History

numiSmaTiC deparTmenT

V. Kalinin Head of the Department

Ye. Lepekhina Deputy Head of the Department

O. Stepanova Chief Curator

K. Kravtsov Academic Secretary, Head of the Sector of Ancient Coins and Coins from Asia and Africa

L. Dobrovolskaya Head of the Sector of Numismatic Monuments from Europe and America, Candidate of History

arSenal

D. Liubin Head of the Department, Candidate of Art Theory and History

M. Zaychenko Chief Curator

I. Yermolayev Academic Secretary

V. Danchenko Head of the Military Heraldry Sector, Candidate of History

Yu. Yefimov Head of the Arms and Armoury Sector

imperial porCelain faCTory muSeum

A. Ivanova Head of the Department

T. Kumzerova Chief Curator

modern arT deparTmenT

D. Ozerkov Head of the Department, Candidate of Philosophy

Ye. Lopatkina Deputy Head of the Department

K. Malich Academic Secretary

menShiKov palaCe

V. Meshcheriakov Head of the Department

A. Dutov Deputy Head of the Department

Ye. Ignatyeva Chief Curator

I. Saverkina Head of the Research and Exhibition Sector, Academic Secretary, Candidate of History

G. Rodionova Head of the Education Sector

general STaff

A. Dydykin Head of the Department

I. Astrov Head of the General Staff History Sector

S. Yashmolkin Head of the Visitors Sector

hiSTory and reSToraTion of arChiTeCTural monumenTS deparTmenT

V. Lukin Head of the Department, Chief Architect of the Hermitage, Candidate of Architecture

arChiTeCTure and arChaeology SeCTor

O. Ioannisian Head of the Sector, Candidate of History

D. Yolshin Academic Secretary, Candidate of Art Theory and History

reSearCh liBrary

Ye. Makarova Head of the Library

O. Zimina Deputy Head of the Library

N. Martynenko Deputy Head of the Library

I. Gogulina Head of the Funds Sector

R. Klimchenkova Head of the Catalogue Sector

A. Markushina Head of the International Exchange Sector

A. Samsonova Head of the Service Sector

R. Shavrina Head of the Bibliography Sector

T. Tarayeva Head of the Completion and Inventory Sector

G. Yastrebinskaya Head of the Library Branches Sector

manuSCripTS and doCumenTS deparTmenT

Ye. Yakovleva Head of the Department

Ye. Solomakha Deputy Head of the Department

eduCaTion deparTmenT

L. Yershova Head of the Department

N. Vasilevskaya Head of the Excursion Bureau

N. Kozlovskaya Head of the Methodic Sector

S. Kudriavtseva Head of the Youth Centre and Student Club, Candidate of Art Theory and History

O. Kuznetsova Head of the Guide Service Sector

L. Torshina Head of the Sector for Special Programmes

SChool CenTre

I. Diubanova Head of the Centre

B. Kravchunas Head of the Art Studio, Candidate of Art Theory and History

N. Krollau Head of the Methodic Sector, Candidate of Cultural Studies

exhiBiTion deSign deparTmenT

B. Kuzyakin Head of the Department

V. Korolyov Head of the Sector of the Exhibition Design and Installation

A. Plotnikova Head of the Exhibition Equipment and Management Sector

puBliShing deparTmenT

Ye. Zvyagintseva Head of the Department

N. Petrova Deputy Head of the Department

I. Dalekaya Head of the Pre-Printing Preparation Sector

Ye. Nasyrova Head of the Sale Sector

V. Pankov Head of the Printing Sector

A. Rodina Head of the Editors Sector

V. Terebenin Head of the Photography Sector

eleCTroniC ediTionS preparaTion SeCTor

I. Melnikova Head of the Sector

regiSTrar deparTmenT

N. Grishanova Head of the Department

A. Aponasenko Deputy Head of the Department

Ya. Ivanova Head of the Sector of the Registration of Temporary Accepting and Leasing of Museum Exhibits

O. Shcherbakova Head of the Sector of Control for the Preservation of Museum Items

N. Ternovaya Head of the Sector of the Forming of Data Base on the Hermitage Collections

212 213

STaff memBerS of The STaTe hermiTage muSeumSTaff memBerS of The STaTe hermiTage muSeum

Yu. Yefimova Head of the Sector of the Registration of Museum Exhibits of Precious Metals and Stones

deparTmenT of The organiSaTion of regiSTer and STorage of The “STaraya derevnya” CenTre

T. Zagrebina Head of the Department

Yu. Gromova Deputy Head of the Department

SeCTor of neW aCQuiSiTionS

V. Faibisovich Head of the Sector, Candidate of Cultural Studies

SeCTor of exhiBiTion doCumenTaTion

O. Ilmenkova Head of the Sector

TreaSure gallery

Ye. Kashina Head of the Department

Ye. Geyko Deputy Head of the Department

SCienTifiC reSToraTion and ConServaTion deparTmenT

T. Baranova Head of the Department

Ye. Chekhova Deputy Head of the Department

laboratory for scieNtific restoratioN of easel paiNtiNg

V. Korobov Head of the Laboratory

laboratory for scieNtific restoratioN of tempera paiNtiNg

I. Permiakov Head of the Laboratory

laboratory for scieNtific restoratioN of mural paiNtiNg

A. Bliakher Head of the Laboratory

laboratory for scieNtific restoratioN of orieNtal paiNtiNg

Ye. Shishkova Head of the Laboratory, Candidate of Art Theory and History

laboratory for scieNtific restoratioN of grapHic works

T. Sabianina Head of the Laboratory

laboratory for scieNtific restoratioN of sculpture aNd semi-precious stoNes

S. Petrova Head of the Laboratory

laboratory for scieNtific restoratioN of applied art obJects

A. Bantikov Head of the Laboratory

laboratory for scieNtific restoratioN of obJects made of orgaNic materials

Ye. Mankova Head of the Laboratory

laboratory for scieNtific restoratioN of teXtiles aNd water-soluble paiNtiNgs

M. Denisova Head of the Laboratory

laboratory for scieNtific restoratioN of precious metals

I. Malkiel Head of the Laboratory

laboratory for scieNtific restoratioN of timepieces aNd musical mecHaNisms

M. Guryev Head of the Laboratory

laboratory for scieNtific restoratioN of furNiture

V. Gradov Head of the Laboratory

laboratory for scieNtific restoratioN of cHaNdeliers

P. Khrebtukov Head of the Laboratory

laboratory for scieNtific restoratioN of pHotos

T. Sayatina Head of the Laboratory

examinaTion and auThenTiCaTion of WorKS of arT deparTmenT

A. Kosolapov Head of the Department, Candidate of Technical Sciences

S. Khavrin Deputy Head of the Department

scieNtific aNd tecHNical eXamiNatioN laboratory

A. Kosolapov Head of the Laboratory, Candidate of Technical Sciences

laboratory for pHisical aNd cHemical metHods of eXamiNatioN of materials

L. Gavrilenko Head of the Laboratory

laBoraTory for BiologiCal ConTrol

L. Slavoshevskaya Head of the Laboratory, Candidate of Biology

laBoraTory for ClimaTe ConTrol

T. Bolshakova Head of the Laboratory

perSonnel deparTmenT

V. Khrushch Head of the Department

A. Babenko Head of the Passport and Visa Sector

O. Chertova Head of the Sector of Employment Relationship

Ye. Odintsova Head of the Personnel and Social Payments Sector

ChanCery

O. Yushina Head of the Department

N. Diumina Head of the Typing Sector

Ye. Solovyova Head of the Office Work Sector

legal deparTmenT

M. Tsyguleva Head of the Department

TheaTre and eduCaTion deparTmenT

N. Orlova Head of the Department

S. Mitskevich Deputy Head of the Department

ouTer CommuniCaTionS deparTmenT

N. Kolomiyets Head of the Department

hoSpiTaliTy ServiCe

N. Silantyeva Head of the Department

O. Ratnitsyna Head of the Sector of the Administrators of Entrance and Recreation Zones

enTranCe zone ServiCe deparTmenT

A. Leonenko Head of the Department

SeCTor of informaTion infraSTruCTure and reCreaTion zoneS

N. Trofimova Head of the Sector

SeCTor of TouriSm and SpeCial programmeS

O. Arkhipova Head of the Sector, Candidate of Art Theory and History

preSS ServiCe

L. Korabelnikova Head of the Service

SpeCial evenTS SeCTor

A. Soldatenko Head of the Sector

marKeTing and adverTiSing SeCTor

A. Lisitsyna Head of the Sector

SeCTor of projeCT finanCe

Ye. Fedorov Head of the Sector

friendS of The hermiTage SeCTor

S. Philippova Head of the Sector

SeCTor of SoCiologiCal reSearCh

V. Selivanov Head of the Sector, Doctor of Philosophy

righTS and reproduCTion SeCTor

A. Mikliayeva Head of the Sector

“STaraya derevnya” CenTre for reSToraTion, ConServaTion and STorage

V. Dobrovolsky Head of the Centre

A. Terentyeva Deputy Head of the Centre

planning and BudgeT deparTmenT

V. Chudinova Head of the Department

N. Grigoryeva Deputy Head of the Department

BooK-Keeping

Ye. Mironova Chief Book-Keeper

I. Belova Deputy Chief Book-Keeper

O. Kuklina Deputy Chief Book-Keeper

STaTe purChaSeS deparTmenT

N. Dubinina Head of the Department

SoCial developmenT deparTmenT

T. Voronova Head of the Department

SafeTy of laBour and eCology deparTmenT

A. Pavlova Head of the Department

mainTenanCe of The general STaff Building

N. Yakubenko Head of the Department

T. Romanovskaya Deputy Head of the Department

mainTenanCe of menShiKov palaCe

I. Prokofyeva Head of the Department

Chief meChaniC deparTmenT

R. Baburin Chief Mechanic

I. Baranshchikova Deputy Chief Mechanic

Chief poWer engineer deparTmenT

V. Smirnov Chief Power Engineer

O. Targonsky Deputy Chief Power Engineer

Ye. Vizner Deputy Chief Power Engineer

CapiTal ConSTruCTion deparTmenT

A. Vidineyev Head of the Department

reSToraTion and repairS deparTmenT

A. Moskaleva Head of the Department

B. Volkov Deputy Head of the Department

eleCTroniC TeChniQue, alarm SySTemS and CommuniCaTion deparTmenT

P. German Head of the Department

N. Khobotov Deputy Head of the Department

mainTenanCe deparTmenT of The “STaraya derevnya” CenTre

S. Gusev Head of the Department

B. Pozhemetsky Deputy Head of the Department

CompuTer SeCTor

A. Grigoryev Head of the Sector

Supplying of TeChniCal eQuipmenT for BuildingS and exhiBiTionS deparTmenT

O. Bogdanova Head of the Department

Ye. Riabova Deputy Head of the Department

SeCuriTy ServiCe (muSeum SeCuriTy ServiCe)

A. Khozhainov Head of the Department

T. Danilova Deputy Head of the Department

A. Subarnov Deputy Head of the Department

operaTion deparTmenT of The SeCuriTy ServiCe

S. Taranov Head of the Department

security service (imperial porcelaiN factory museum)

A. Gavrilets Head of the Service

security service (“staraya derevNya” ceNtre)

O. Boyev Head of the Service

security service (geNeral staff buildiNg)

N. Kisilyov Head of the Service

security service (meNsHikov palace)

V. Kozlov Head of the Service

first departmeNt for security of tHe museum compleX (first museum security departmeNt)

V. Zababurin Head of the Department

A. Inozemtsev Deputy Head of the Department

secoNd departmeNt for security of tHe museum compleX (secoNd museum security departmeNt)

V. Arkhipov Head of the Department

S. Trofimov Deputy Head of the Department

tHird departmeNt for security of tHe museum compleX (tHird museum security departmeNt)

O. Chebotar Head of the Department

N. Burmak Deputy Head of the Department

fourtH departmeNt for security of tHe museum compleX (fourtH museum security departmeNt)

V. Katkov Head of the Department

I. Garin Deputy Head of the Department

gallery moniTorS deparTmenT

I. Belousikova Head of the Department

Ya. Kostochkin Deputy Head of the Department

TranSporT deparTmenT

G. Salnikov Head of the Department

A. Zavadsky Head of the Garage

Civil defenCe and emergenCy SeCTor

A. Maksimychev Head of the Civil Defence Staff

214 215

direCToraTe

Personal Assistant to the General [email protected]

Secretary to the Deputy Director for [email protected]

Secretary to the Deputy Director, Chief [email protected]

Alexey Bogdanov,Deputy Director for Maintenance,Chief [email protected]

Mariam Dandamayeva, Academic [email protected]

email addreSSeS of The STaTe hermiTage muSeum

muSeum deparTmenTS

Press [email protected]

Rights and Reproduction Sector A. Mikliayeva, Head of the Sector

[email protected]

Development [email protected]

Education DepartmentL. Yershova, Head of the Department

[email protected]

School [email protected]

Web-master of the State Hermitage [email protected]

Electronic Editions Preparation SectorI. Melnikova, Head of the Sector

[email protected]

Computer SectorA. Grigoryev, Head of the Sector

[email protected]

REFERENCE EDITION

The STaTe hermiTage muSeum annual reporT. 2012

Photographs by:Pavel Demidov, Alexander Koksharov, Alexander Lavrentyev,

Oksana Meleshkina, Alexey Pakhomov, Andrey Terebenin, Vladimir Terebenin, Leonid Volkov

Translated from the Russian by: Maria Artamanova, Ksenia Beletskaya, Alexandra Davydova, Tatiana Dodonova, David Hicks, Yury Kleiner, Natalia Magnes

English text edited by Julia RedkinaDesigned by Irina Dalekaya

Computer layout by Nina Sokolova

Подписано в печать 09.08.2013 Усл. печ. л. 27,0. Тираж 800 экз. Заказ 55

Издательство Государственного Эрмитажа.

190000, Санкт-Петербург, Дворцовая наб., 34

Отпечатано в ООО «Типография „НП-Принт“». 197110, Санкт-Петербург, Чкаловский пр., 15