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State Hermitage: along the galleries and through the centuries

This story has started its countdown in 1764, when empress of Russia Catherine the Great purchased the collection comprising 225 paintings from Berlin merchant Gotskovsky for her court museum. She nicknamed this museum “Hermitage”, thus underlining its role as a “hermit’s dwelling”, a kind of a refuge for the tsarina from her court duties. With the course of time collection of the museum grew in number and thematically and today presents more than 3 million pieces of art representing cultural trends of different countries, peoples and ages. Among these pieces one can find amazing subjects of Roman antiquity, immense masterpieces by Leo da Vinci as well as that of Rembrandt or Pablo Picasso. In the world family of grand museums Hermitage occupies an honored place together with Louvre in Paris, National Gallery and British museum in London, Prado in Madrid or Metropolitan museum of fine arts in Washington. Don’t be much surprised hearing about “Old Hermitage”, “Small Hermitage”, “New Hermitage” or “Hermitage Theatre” – these are the names of different buildings forming the complex of Hermitage museum. The exposition of the museum is divided into 6 departments: Dept. of Western European Art: Dept. of Primitive culture; Dept. of Russian Culture; Dept. of Antique art; Dept. of Oriental art; Numismatic department.

At the sources of the Northern Capital. Peter and Paul Fortress

The history of the foundation of Peter and Paul fortress dates back to the early 18 century. It was the period of the Northern war between Russia and Sweden. At that time Russia waged its struggle for restoration of the lands of Great Novgorodian Principality conquered by Sweden in 17 century. In 1702-03, when the battle scene shifted to the banks of the Neva River, attention of the young Russian tsar Peter 1 was caught by small island Janis saari (“Hare’s island”). Located in the wide estuary of the river, it enjoyed a perfect defense position. Thus it was decided to build a fortress called “Saint-Petersburg” on that spot. Founded in May, 27, 1703, in 1712 it was renamed after Peter and Paul cathedral located on its territory. In 1740 it obtained the reputation of one of the strongest fortresses in Europe. However, it was never called upon to fulfill its military duty: it came into history as “Russian Bastille”, or political prison. Prince Alexis, son of Peter the Great, was its first prisoner: he opposed progressive reforms of his father, was imprisoned and secretly executed here. The fortress is shaped as an elongated hexagon with 6 bastions called after Peter the Great and his closest associates: Menshikov, Naryshkin, Golovin, Trubetskoy and Zotov. From the north the fortress was protected by the Crownwork, and in 1730-40 from the eastern and western sides of the fortress 2 ravelins, Alexis and John, were added. Peter and Paul cathedral (1712-1731, arc. Tresini) is the structural center of the fortress. It is the highest architectural construction in the city – its height is about 400 feet and it is a burial place for Russian royalty – starting from Peter 1 up to the tsar buried recently – Nicolas 2. In the early 19 century on the territory of the fortress stone building of the Mint had been erected. It operates till nowadays.

A trip to “Russian Versailles”

In the annals of Russian history Peterhof is marked as an oldest tsar’s residence in the suburbs of Saint-Petersburg. Today it is a park and palace complex presenting a harmonious combination of baroque, classical and empire styles, unity of regular and landscape parks. “Russian Versailles” is located 28 kilometers south from St. Petersburg. Idea of the Tsar Peter the Great to create an ensemble that would meet the goals of representation of the new Russia on the international scene had been converted into a fact by whole Pleiad of gifted architects: Braunstein, Leblond, Miketti, Zemtsov, Rastrelli, Quarengi, Menelas, Shtaekenshnider. With the course of time Peterhof turned into a big treasure-house: Upper and Lower Gardens are attired with pieces of marble and bronze sculpture, their palaces store significant collections of paintings, sculpture, sculptures, works of applied art. Water-supplying system applied in Peterhof is of unique value: 146 fountains receive water, which goes by gravity with no mechanical devises used. Having been a “visiting card” of Russian Empire throughout 2 centuries, Peterhof preserves its attractiveness to our days: annually 6 million tourists visit this gleaming kingdom of sparkling water and gold.

Triumph of late classicism as seen by Monferrand (Saint Isaac’s cathedral)

Saint Isaac’s cathedral is known to be the latest monument of Russian classicism. It was executed in 1858 to the project of the French architect Monferrand. The building had 4 predecessors, it had been constructed for forty years by some 400 thousand workers and nowadays it occupies the fourth place in the world among the biggest cupola constructions. During 60 years St.Isaac’s cathedral had been the main cathedral in Saint-Petersburg. Its role in the architectural composition of the city is underlined by abundant exterior and interior decorations. Porticos, windows and domes of the cathedral are adorned with 112 monolithic columns of red granit. On the pediments one can see high reliefs depicting scenes from the life of Jesus Christ as well as that as Isaac of Dalmatia, in the portico niches – reliefs devoted to Bible parables. Tops of the pediments are crowned with sculptural groups of evangelists, corners of the building are marked with statues of angels holding torches. We know for certain, that for the interior decoration of the palace they used 43 various kinds of minerals, as well as 14 different types of marble. In the main altar of the cathedral there’s one of the biggest stained glass panels in the world – “Christ in Glory”, murals on the vaults performed by such outstanding masters of that era, as Brullov, Bruni, Basin and others. Finally, some more numerals: in St. Isaac’s there’re 62 mosaic panels and about 300 sculptures.

Trip to the village of the Russian Tsar (Tsar’s village)

In the early 18 century one could make 28-kilometer trip south of Saint-Petersburg and come to the place called “Saari-mois” (translated from Finnish as “elevated land”). This place was destined to become a nucleus of the future suburban residence of the tsars of Russia. In 1718 architect Braunstein builds stone chambers for the wife of Peter the Great, Catherine. Palace and adjoining park would be for this reason named after her. Later, at the time of tsarina Elisabeth, the palace became a main imperial residence. In the Tsar’s village – this was anew name for Saari-mois – wide scale construction works had been carried out. Creative contributions in the construction of the new palace were brought by most outstanding architects of the time – Zemtsov, Kvasov, Chevakinsky. In 1752 the Catherine palace was completely reconstructed in fancy baroque style which became a distinguishing feature of architect Rastrelli. Architects Kameron and Stasov later reconstructed interiors of the palace in the classical style. The palace divides the park territory into 2 parts: eastern – Catherine park and western – Alexander park. Regular and landscape parts of the Catherine park provide an opportunity to trace the development of Russian park layout. There one can find different monuments of park architecture: Upper and Lower Baths, Hermitage (don’t confuse it with that in Saint-Petersburg!), Grotto, Admiralty, Turkish Bath and others. The Cameron gallery occupies special place in the park. Together with Agate rooms, Hanging garden and pandus it forms a single composition - a fine work of architect Cameron.

“Italian villa” in the northern surroundings

32 kilometers south of Saint-Petersburg, in one of the biggest landscape parks of Europe, on the bank of Slavyanka river stands Pavlovsk palace. The chief exponents of Classical style in Russia – Brenna and Cameron, had constructed the building upon the model of Italian villa. Initially the palace was destined to be a suburban residence for the heir to the Russian throne, Paul. But soon after his enthronement Pavlovsk palace obtained a gala status. During World War 2 this place was occupied by the Nazi and suffered fire. Happily, many details of moulding and architectural décor preserved. In 1950 reconstruction works has started in the palace, and today we can see 45 halls of the palace, reminding of mysterious personality of tsar Paul 1, whose life tragically stopped in Michael’s castle on March,11, 1801. In the exposition of the museum there are unique collections of antiques, tapestries, pieces of applied art.