The State Hermitage.

[Olga]

The State Hermitage.

The State Hermitage is one of the world biggest art and culture museums.
Founded in 1764, the Hermitage comprises eight departments: the Primitive Culture, the Culture of Antiquity, the Culture of the East, the History of Russian Culture, the Numismatics, the West European Culture, the Department of Science and Education, and the Restoration Department.
There are over 350 halls in Hermitage. The museum keeps about 3 million monuments of culture and art. Empress Catherine II initiated the collection of the Hermitage. In the end of the 19th century the museum was opened to public.
Paintings of such great masters as Leonardo da Vinci, Titian, Raphael, Rembrandt, Poussain, Manet, Renoir are in the ownership of the Hermitage. The Hermitage is famous its collection of Scythian golden articles.

[Olga]

It seems that the best architects of St Petersburg who were active in different periods - the brilliant master of the Baroque Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli, the refined  representative of Classicism Jean-Baptiste Vallin de la Mothe, the austere Yuri Velten, the majestic Giacomo Quarengi and the well-known German architect Leo von Klenze - united their efforts to produce one of the most magnificent ensembles in the city, the complex of the Hermitage palaces.

The halls and rooms of the Winter Palace, Small, Old and New Hermitages and the Hermitage Theater not only house today priceless treasures of the museum which rightly ranks with the most famous and representative museums in the world, but are also notable as magnificent examples of architectural styles.

The interiors of the Winter Palce, built by Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli between 1756 and 1762 as an official royal residence for the Russian Imperial family, were redesigned several times. Only some of them, including the Main (Ambassador or Jordan) Staircase, which was used by foreign ambassadors and other important guests coming for court receptions, have largely retained their luxurious and elaborate Baroque decor. The state reception rooms rebuilt by the architect Vasily Stasov after the devastating fire of 1837 acquired the elegant austerity of Classicism. These interiors are remarkable for their subtle blend of white marble of the walls with the gilded chandeliers and varicolored parquet floors.

The Main (Jordan) Staircase.

The State Hermitage.

 

[Olga]

The living apartments which were created bu Alexander Briullov anew, are notable for the variety and wealth of decoration, typical of the Historical Style then becoming fashionable.

The Boudoir

The State Hermitage.

[Olga]

A characteristic example of this unusual variety of styles united by the desiner's play of imagination and taste, is the Pavilion Hall in the Small Hermitage, a work of the eminent St Petersburg architect Andrei Stakenshneider. It was also he redesighned the rooms of the Old Hermitage which now house the collection of Italian art of the Renaissance.

The Pavilion Hall

The State Hermitage.

[Olga]

An amazing beauty, harmony and commensurate proportions - the best qualities which distinguished the style of Catherine the Great's court architect Qiacomo Quarenchi - mark the interior of the Hermitage Theater.

The State Hermitage.

[Olga]

The huge, top-lit halls of the New Hermitage, decorated with vases and ornate table-tops of semiprecious stones and provided with cosy sofas and settees, were from the very beginning intended for the public. The second floor was used to display the collection of painting, while the halls of the ground floor faced with colored artificial marbles housed the collection of sculpture. The New Hermitage, built to the design of the Munich architect Leo von Klenze and opened to visitors in 1852, completes the Hermitage complex.

The Gallery of the History of Ancient Paintings
Architect Leo von Klenze. 1940s

The State Hermitage.

[Olga]

The Jupiter Room
Architect Leo von Klenze. 1940s

The State Hermitage.

[Olga]

The Knight Hall
Architect Leo von Klenze. 1940s

The State Hermitage.

[Olga]

The Large Italian Skylight Hall
Architect Leo von Klenze. 1940s

The State Hermitage.

[Olga]

The White Hall
Architect Alexander Briullov
Late 1830s - early 1840s

The State Hermitage.