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| Winter Palace, The Hermitage, Dvortsovaya Square |
When the Curator of the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg
was asked, whether he considered the Hermitage Museum the Number One Art Museum
in the world, he diplomatically answered: I cannot say whether it is number
one, but I am quite sure that it is not number two.
Only the Louvre in Paris houses more items than the
Hermitage, which houses three million pieces. It would take a few years to see
them all, even if one only spends a few minutes to admire each of them. Not that
quantity is a determining factor in the realm of art, but the quality and
importance of the pieces are the determining factor. Even on that note, the
Hermitage sits right at the top with large collections of Rembrandt, Goya,
Matisse, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Murillo, Monet, Manet, Raphael and more.
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| Murillo |
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| Goya |
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| Monet |
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| Van Gogh |
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| Matisse |
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| Picasso |
Huge
collections of Italian Art, Rodin Sculptures, Tapestry, China, Bronzes and too
much more to mention. It is in a word overwhelming – unless one concentrates on
a few selected targets and enjoys them as much as possible amongst streams of
visitors, who not only undergo strict security checks but also are herded
through the exhibitions in small groups and are constantly scrutinised by
observant babushkas (ladies who sit and watch everyone at each door in each
room) who charge at anyone who appears even most remotely to touch anything.
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| Babushka (?) watching ... |
The venue is spectacular. Several Palaces constructed by a
series of Tsars and Tsarinas form several immense interconnected city blocks with
hanging gardens and elaborate courtyards. The main entrance to the primary
museum, the Winter Palace, faces Dvortzovaya Place, the largest square in St
Petersburg, scene of many tsarist, Bolshevik , soviet and Russian spectacles.
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| Hermitage facing the Neva River |
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| Peter and Paul Fortress, where all the Tsars are buried. Canterbury Cathedral of Russia |
The opposite side of these magnificent buildings faces the River
Neva with an unobstructed view of the oldest part of St Petersburg, the Peter
and Paul Fortress.
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| Staircase in the Hermitage |
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| Hallway |
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| Example of Exhibition Rooms |
The interior of the palaces almost defies description.
Instead of stark rooms and minimalist appearance such as the Guggenheim Museum
in Bilbao (where the building and not the contents is the prime attraction)
these ‘exhibition halls’ are opulent. Luxurious, architecturally intriguing and
designed in Barroc, Neo Classical and Rococo Styles it merits its own
admiration if not shock. Gilded surfaces, frescoes, wall paintings, intricately
and inlaid carved portals, chandeliers, parquet floors of rare woods – the whole
imperial splendour makes for a fitting backdrop for a wealth of priceless
treasures within.
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| Hall in one of the Palaces of the Hermitage |
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| Detail of above Hall Decorations |
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| Detail |
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| Detail of one of the flowers on the decorated walls |
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| Chandelier in Hermitage |
Of course, as all of St Petersburg’s main attractions, it
has a long Tsarist history which starts with Peter the Great. He had married a poor countrywomen by the name
of Martha later changed to Catherine, who rose to being Tsarina after his death
(the Cinderella of Russian story). One of Peter’s daughters, with the rare (in
Russia) name of Elizabeth, turned out to be the Imelda Marcos of her day, especially
after she attained the throne after a few intermediate Tsars had died
(Catherine I, Peter II, Anna and Ivan VI)
Elizabeth build the first of many succeeding palaces on the
shore of the Neva, the total of them is now called Hermitage. She hired the
Italian architect Rastrelli, to erect the 1100 room cottage.
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| Tapestry |
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| Rembrand |
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| Rembrand |
Elizabeth started the collection as something she wanted to
show off to her friends on ‘private’ occasions.
Elizabeth accumulated 17.000 imperial gala outfits; she
never wore anything twice. Apart from spending money like in buckets on herself
and her palaces, she bought imperial style ‘trinkets’, like priceless art from
all over the world that she sometimes bought ‘wholesale’. She later built an adjoining palace now called
the Old Hermitage, which she exclusively used to house art treasures that did
not find room anymore in the previously built 1100 rooms. The rest is history –
with each reign, the collection grew in size and importance – truly a world
heritage.
Elizabeth was never officially married, but secretly wed Count
Alexei Grigoryevich to share her glittering life style – somehow.
Of course, I did not see three million pieces of art. I only
had about three hours to get a glimpse of some of the highlights of the
Hermitage.
Here, at the Winter Palace, started the Russian Revolution
with the storming of the Winter Palace in 1917 by revolutionary crowds.
Fortunately the anarchistic tendencies during the revolution spared the
treasures of the Palace (albeit created chaos and havoc throughout the
country). As the nobility was chopped liver, the Duma/Bolsheviks confiscated
their treasures as well which were moved to the Winter Palace/Hermitage. Thus
the museum grows over centuries and decades to its present impressive wealth.
During WWII the Hermitage served as a hospital.
I was, of course, part of a tour. One American tour
participant asked the guide, how much ‘the new government after the Tsar was
deposed’ had paid the nobility to take over their art work. Ah, knowledge (if any) about Russian history
in most of the world is limited to Glasnost and Putin – the rest is just that
for them: history.
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| Catharina the Great |
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| Catherina the Great, before the really got heavy |
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| Far right, Paul I |
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| Wife of Paul I, Maria Feodorovna |
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| Ivan V |
Those last Romanovs, Nicholas II and Alexandra, have their
some of their portraits in the Hermitage, along with about every other
Emperor/Tsar’s picture. The entire clan’s history is violent, fascinating,
shocking, admirable and tragic. It is difficult for me to look at the
representations of Nicholas and Alexandra as human beings, not as powerful if
inept Tsars, and think about their horrific death at the hands of the Bolsheviks
to erase the Romanovs once and for all. When these portraits were taken they
were suffering personal tragedy (Rasputin fatal influence, the worry and
secrecy about hemophilic son Alexei etc.) already, and did not know that they
were doomed.
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| Alexandra Feodorovna, wife of the last Tsar Nicholas II |
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Nicholas II, last Tsar
1868-1918
reigned 1894-1917
Shot point blank by Bolsheviks in the cellar of Ekaterinburg in the Urals, together with his wife and children, close servants and dog 17 July 2018 |
