Exhibits of the Hermitage. State Hermitage Museum

The State Hermitage (St. Petersburg) is one of the three most famous and largest museums in the world. Its history and collection are worthy of special attention. Almost every tourist who comes to Northern capital Russia, strives to get to the Hermitage. Let's talk about what is remarkable about the collection of works of art of this museum. And also about the most interesting projects and facts from the life of the Hermitage.

History of creation

The beginning of the museum's future collection was laid by Empress Catherine II. She bought works of art for herself; her most significant acquisition was the collection of the merchant Gotzkovsky. At first the collection was housed in palaces, but it grew quickly, and soon the empress realized that it was necessary to build a special building.

The real history of the State Hermitage begins in 1764, when the Small Hermitage was founded. But very quickly this building was filled with works of art, and in 1775 the building of the Great Hermitage appeared. By the end of the 18th century, the Hermitage housed one of the best and large collections works of art in Europe. The museum had a whole team of buyers working for it, searching all over Europe for outstanding exhibits. In the mid-19th century, the museum complex was replenished with another building and acquired its present appearance. Until 1917, the museum was not widely accessible; tickets could only be obtained at the palace ticket office and they were not distributed to everyone. After the revolution, the museum became a public property, part of the collection was distributed between different museums of the state, but the collection was also replenished by the import of valuables from private collections. The Soviet government sold some of the works abroad, trying to replenish the gold and foreign exchange reserves of the young state. During the Second World War, the Hermitage's valuables were evacuated to the Urals, but in 1945 the museum reopened to visitors.

Hermitage today

The modern State Hermitage Museum (St. Petersburg) is the largest cultural, research and museum complex countries. The Hermitage today is actively growing, museum representative offices have already been opened in 4 cities, and a new opening is being prepared in Yekaterinburg. The Hermitage staff carries out enormous educational and scientific work, and cooperates with all largest museums world, exhibitions are held in different countries. Much work continues to expand the collection; specialists are looking for worthy exhibits and negotiating with collectors. The museum today is a large complex, restoration work is being carried out here, examinations are being carried out, and a huge program is being implemented to attract visitors. At least 5 million people come here every year.

Hermitage buildings

The huge complex called the State Hermitage today includes 5 main buildings, not counting individual rooms in other buildings, for example, in the General Staff Building. The oldest room of the museum is the Small Hermitage. It was built in 1764-1766 by the architect J. Felten. The Small Hermitage complex also includes the famous Hanging Gardens and the Northern and Southern Pavilions. The complex is designed in a strict classicist style. In 1777, the same Y. Felten erected the Great Hermitage; it harmoniously combines with the previously built structures of the complex. Later, D. Kvarneghi added a building to this house in which Raphael’s loggias are located.

At the end of the 19th century, Leo von Klenze designed a special building for public visiting of the museum, called New Hermitage. The spectacular building in the historicism style harmoniously fits into the previously created complex. The most famous element of this building is the entrance portico with atlases. Another room included in the complex is the Hermitage Theater. It was built under Catherine II. Today, performances and concerts are given here, and exhibitions are shown. The State Hermitage, whose halls amaze with their splendor and scope, is a real symbol of St. Petersburg. And the complex of museum buildings is one of the main architectural dominants of the city.

Collection

Many volumes and catalogs are devoted to describing the Hermitage collection. Today the museum's collection numbers about 3 million exhibits. Only shown to the public small part meetings. Many objects and works of art are afraid of light and air, so they are stored exclusively in special conditions. Only narrow specialists have access to them. The largest repository of works of art in the country today is the State Hermitage. Painting, sculpture, graphics, historical monuments - the museum's collection allows you to imagine the entire history of human civilization. The collection includes several sections: culture and art of the primitive world, art of antiquity, painting of Europe from the 13th to the 20th centuries, decorative and applied arts, coins. However, the museum’s collection has obvious gaps, for example, in the Hermitage, as in Russia in general, there is not a single painting by Vermeer, there are no works by many significant Italians, and the art of the 20th century is poorly represented.

Main masterpieces

The State Hermitage, whose works and buildings are unique, is a huge museum. To view the entire exhibition, you need to spend many days. But, as in any museum in the world, there are masterpieces here that cannot be missed and which are a source of special pride. These include:

- “Danae” and “Prodigal Son” by Rembrandt;

- “Madonna Benois” and “Madonna Litta” by Leonardo da Vinci;

Unique Peacock watch;

- “The Lady in Blue” by Gainsborough;

- “Dance” by A. Matisse;

Frescoes from Buddhist temples;

Items of Pazyryk culture;

Sculpture “Eternal Spring” by Rodin;

Main staircase of the Winter Palace;

Collection of Russian interior items from the 19th - early 20th centuries.

This, of course, is only the very best; the museum has so many valuable works for different tastes that choosing the main masterpieces is very difficult.

Museum management

The State Hermitage at the stage of its creation was personally supervised by Empress Catherine II. Over its long history, the museum has replaced 17 directors. Today the director of the State Hermitage is Mikhail Borisovich Piotrovsky. In 1992, he came to the place once occupied by his father, an outstanding archaeologist and orientalist. He headed main museum country for almost 30 years. Mikhail Borisovich today strives to continue the established traditions of the Hermitage and does a lot for its development. Since the museum is a huge, diverse complex, the director has to deal more with administrative issues than with studying works of art. However, the director of the museum is a recognized scientist with worldwide authority.

Services and specialists

The State Hermitage is a complex multi-stage structure. There are departments related to work on certain periods of art history, for example, the department of the Ancient World. There are many expert departments, for example, the department of scientific and technical examination of monuments. The museum staff are the best specialists in their fields, many doctors of science and several academicians work here. The functioning of a complex such as the Hermitage is impossible without various technical and support services. In total, the museum employs several hundred people.

Hermitage projects

The State Hermitage, whose works every day about 300 thousand people want to see, in addition to exhibition and exhibition work, carries out many other projects. One of the museum’s largest projects is the creation of the “Old Village” restoration and storage center. This is a complex of five buildings into which part of the museum’s funds will be moved for restoration and high-quality storage. Another interesting initiative of the Hermitage is the creation of a heraldry museum in the Exchange building in St. Petersburg. The museum is also working to open its representative offices in other cities and countries. There are immediate plans to open Hermitages in Yekaterinburg. Another ambitious task of the museum is the formation of a collection fund of works of art of the 20th and 21st centuries, which are poorly represented in the Hermitage.

Over its long history, the State Hermitage has grown big amount legends and myths. The total area of ​​the museum today is 233 thousand square meters. m, it has more than 1000 rooms, 117 stairs. In addition to hundreds of employees, the Hermitage officially employs 50 cats; their task is to catch mice that could damage works of art. Among the unique masterpieces of the museum is the Kolyvan vase made of jasper, which weighs 19 tons. In order to bring it into the hall, the wall of the museum had to be dismantled. If you spend only 1 minute examining each museum exhibit, then it will take about 11 years to cover all the collections. There are many legends about the museum; they say that women’s silhouettes are periodically visible at night in the windows of the museum, and in the depths of the palaces there are several treasures. During World War II, 12 bomb shelters were opened in the basements of the Hermitage, which saved many lives of Leningraders.

Practical information

The State Hermitage, whose address is St. Petersburg, Palace Square, 2, is known to any tourist and is the most visited museum in Russia. A ticket for an adult Russian costs only 400 rubles. Every first Thursday of the month you can visit the museum for free; there are many benefits for various categories of citizens. The Hermitage is open daily, except Mondays, from 10.30 to 18.00, on Wednesday and Friday - until 21.00.

In 1764, Catherine II acquired the collection assembled by the Berlin merchant I.E. Gotzkowski for the Prussian king Frederick II. Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky - a major figure in the trading world, the founder of the silk factory and the Berlin porcelain factory, was one of the commission agents of the Prussian king for the acquisition of works of art. Frederick II, who by this time had an excellent collection of modern French painting, instructed Gotskovsky to buy paintings by old masters for him. The merchant zealously took up the task entrusted to him and quickly compiled a large collection of paintings.

However, the Seven Years' War, which brought defeat to Prussia, forced the monarch to abandon the purchase. This put I.E. Gotzkovsky, who had financial obligations to the Russian state, found himself in a difficult situation. And then the enterprising merchant suggested that Russia, the winner of the war, purchase the paintings to pay off his debt. Catherine II appreciated the opportunity to strike a blow to the pride of Frederick II and present in a favorable light the state of the Russian treasury, whose losses in the war were no less than the Prussian ones. The meeting was not homogeneous artistic level, since I.E. Gotzkovsky did not have serious knowledge of art. It consisted of 225 paintings, mostly by Flemish and Dutch masters, along with several works by Italian artists XVII V. Among the best in the collection are “Portrait of a Young Man with a Glove in His Hand” by Frans Hals and “Revelers” by Jan Steen.

HISTORICAL REFERENCE

1754-1762 - construction of the Winter Palace.

1764 - Catherine II purchased the collection of I. E. Gotskovsky.

1764-1775 - construction of the Small Hermitage.

1771-1787 - construction of the Great Hermitage.

1783-1787 - construction of the Hermitage Theater.

1820-1827 - construction of the General Headquarters.

1826 - creation of the “Gallery of 1812” in the Winter Palace.

1842-1851 - construction of the New Hermitage.

1914 - organization of a military hospital in the Winter Palace.

1917 - storming of the Winter Palace by the Bolsheviks, declaring the Hermitage a state museum.

1920-1930 - transfer of nationalized private collections to the Hermitage.

1941 - evacuation of Hermitage exhibits to the Urals.

1942 - organization of bomb shelters in the basements of the Hermitage.

1945 - the return of evacuated collections to the Hermitage and its opening to visitors.

1948 - the Hermitage acquired a collection of paintings from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

1981 - opening of a branch of the State Hermitage in the Menshikov Palace.

STATE HERMITAGE

Art and cultural-historical museum, one of the largest museums in the world. Occupies five interconnected buildings on Palace Embankment: the Winter Palace (1754-62, architect V.V. Rastrelli), the Small Hermitage (1764-67, architect J.B.M. Vallin-Delamot), the Old Hermitage (1771- 87, architect Yu. M. Felten), New Hermitage (1839-52, architect L. von Klenze), Hermitage Theater (1783-87, architect G. Quarenghi). In the early 1980s. after restoration the Hermitage was transferred to Grand Palace Menshikov on Vasilyevsky Island (XVIII century). The foundation date of the Hermitage is considered to be 1764, when Catherine II bought a collection of paintings in Berlin, mainly Dutch and Flemish schools. A significant number of works were placed in the apartments of the Winter Palace, called the “Hermitage” (from the French ermitage - a place of solitude; later this name was changed to an art gallery). Large private collections of paintings were purchased abroad for the palace: Bruhl (1769), Crozat (1772), Walpole (1779), etc. The catalog of paintings of the Winter Palace already in 1774 numbered 2080 works. Along with paintings, the collection included collections of engravings and drawings, ancient antiquities, works of Western European decorative and applied art, glyptics, coins and medals, as well as books (Voltaire’s library). In the 19th century The Hermitage began to receive materials from archaeological excavations, as well as random finds, which, in particular, formed the basis of the famous Scythian collection. The Hermitage played an important role in the development of Russian culture. In the first half of the 19th century. a special museum building (New Hermitage) was built for him. Visits to the Hermitage were limited, excursions until late XIX V. were not allowed in the museum. The progressive Russian intelligentsia fought to expand access to the Hermitage. In 1917, a significant part of the Hermitage collection was evacuated to Moscow (returned to Petrograd in 1920). After October revolution 1917 The Hermitage collection increased significantly due to the nationalized collections of the Stroganovs, Yusupovs, Shuvalovs and others. All premises of the Winter Palace were gradually transferred to the museum. The entire activity of the Hermitage was reorganized, new departments were organized. During the Great Patriotic War 1941-45 a significant part of the Hermitage collection was evacuated, but the siege continued in the Hermitage even during the days of museum work. Nowadays the Hermitage consists of eight departments: primitive culture, the ancient world, the culture of the peoples of the East, the history of Russian culture (includes palace interiors and the “Gallery of 1812” - portraits of heroes of the Patriotic War of 1812, as well as former palace Menshikov), numismatics, Western European art (paintings of Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Titian, Giorgione, D. Velazquez, B. E. Murillo, P. P. Rubens, A. Van Dyck, F. Hals, Rembrandt, J. Ruisdael, H. Holbein the Younger, L. Cranach the Elder, J. Reynolds, T. Gainsborough, the Le Nain brothers, N. Poussin, A. Watteau, J. O. D. Ingres, E. Delacroix, C. Monet, O. Renoir, P Cezanne, P. Picasso, A. Matisse, R. Guttuso, etc., sculpture by Michelangelo, J. A. Houdon, O. Rodin, etc.; graphic collection, works of decorative and applied art).

Popular art encyclopedia. M., 1986

LEGENDS AND MYTHS OF THE HERMITAGE

There are many legends associated with the most famous museum in Russia. Some of these legends concern secret underground passages that supposedly connect the Hermitage buildings with other buildings in St. Petersburg. Among the buildings with which the Hermitage can be connected by underground passages, the ones most often mentioned are the General Staff, the Chapel and the mansion of M. Kshesinskaya, which today houses the Museum political history Russia. Even more stories are told about all sorts of secret doors and corridors inside the Hermitage buildings and about small hiding places-safes in the walls.

The ghosts of the emperors and their entourage who lived in the Winter Palace have not been forgotten: according to some museum employees, from time to time, most often in the evening, when there are no longer visitors in the halls, they allegedly catch their eye, and at night they sometimes touch the alarm system.

Various stories are told legendary stories and about the exhibits of the Hermitage. Many rumors, for example, circulated about a wooden figure - the so-called “Wax Person”, made by European and Russian craftsmen after the death of the emperor. Many people who saw her said that the wooden Peter stood up before their eyes, bowed, and then pointed his finger at the door, sending the uninvited guest out. In the 20th century, restorers who took the figure apart discovered that it actually had hinges, thanks to which it could be stood or seated in a chair. However, there is no mechanism in “Wax Person” that would allow the figure to move independently. However, the myth that once upon a time the wooden king could stand up, and perhaps still does so, continues to exist: there are even people who claim that the Hermitage workers “out of old friendship” let them see how this happens .

Another story is connected with the infamous painting by K. Malevich “Black Square”. Since the Hermitage acquired this painting, visitors have not tired of talking about the “dark” or “negative” energy emanating from it. Some people feel bad in front of the picture, others, on the contrary, get very excited from it. The museum staff themselves are not at all bothered by the Black Square, and among members of student and school clubs it is considered particularly chic to approach the painting and, looking at it as if in a mirror, straighten your hair.

Great (Old) Hermitage

The State Hermitage in St. Petersburg is the largest treasury foreign art in Russia. In the world, the Hermitage is considered one of the largest art, cultural and historical museums.

Beginning and title

Main entrance with Palace Square through the arches of the Winter Palace

Name Hermitage (ermitage) – translated from French means “a place of solitude, seclusion.” The foundation of the Hermitage is associated with the name of Catherine II: she conceived a special palace outbuilding - the Small Hermitage - as an intimate corner of the imperial palace, intended for relaxation and entertainment. The first paintings acquired were 225 paintings by Dutch and Flemish artists, which Catherine II acquired in Berlin in 1764. This private collection of Catherine II became the beginning of the Hermitage.

Start of collecting

F. Rokotov “Portrait of Catherine II” (1763)

The collections of Catherine II became the impetus for the passion for collecting in Russia. In the 18th century this hobby reached an unprecedented scale, which flattered Catherine’s pride, who tried to maintain the opinion of herself as an “enlightened empress.” She wanted to outshine Western rulers with the splendor of her palace; even the Enlightenment philosopher Diderot was involved in this process: he looked for and purchased paintings by Western European artists for Catherine.

In 1769, a rich collection of the Saxon minister Count Brühl (about 600 paintings), including Titian’s “Flight into Egypt”, views of Dresden and Pirna by Bellotto, etc., was acquired for the Hermitage in Dresden.

Titian "Flight into Egypt" (1508)

Titian "Flight into Egypt"

"Flight into Egypt" is Titian's first major work. It is based on the story from the Gospel of Matthew about the flight of the Mother of God and her Son to Egypt from King Herod. The Magi, having brought their gifts to the baby Jesus, did not return to King Herod, but an angel appeared to righteous Joseph in a dream and commanded: “Get up, take the Child and His Mother and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod wants to look for the Child in order to destroy Him.”(Matt. 2:13). Joseph carried out this order and at night with the Virgin Mary and the baby Jesus went to Egypt, where he remained until the death of Herod. The death of Herod was announced to Joseph by an angel, and the Holy Family returned " to the land of Israel“, but having learned that Herod’s son Archelaus reigned in Judea, he was afraid to go there and settled in Nazareth.

The artist depicted Mary and the Child, accompanied by St. Joseph. An angel leads a donkey, on which Mary and Christ are sitting, and numerous animals walk on the grass.

The format of the canvas (206 x 336 cm) made it possible to show a panorama of the area along which the holy family is heading to Egypt. The landscape is depicted with great care.

In 1772, Catherine II acquired in Paris the collection of paintings of Baron Crozat, composed mainly of paintings by Italian, French, Flemish and Dutch masters of the 16th-18th centuries. The collection included paintings: “The Holy Family” by Raphael, “Judith” by Giorgione, “Danae” by Titian, paintings by Rembrandt, Rubens, Van Dyck, Poussin, Watteau, landscapes by Claude Lorrain.

Raphael "Holy Family"

Raphael "Holy Family"

The second title of this painting is “Madonna with Beardless Joseph.” This is a very rare image of Joseph without a beard.

The Child Christ is depicted sitting on Mary’s lap in a moving position, half turned around. To the right of Mary stands, leaning on a staff, Joseph; he is immersed in thought about the fate of his son that has been revealed to him.

A fragment of the landscape is visible through the arched opening. The baby's facial expression, his pose, and Mary's hair indicate the influence of Leonardo da Vinci, so this work is classified as early period Raphael's works in Florence.

In 1779, the Hermitage was replenished with a collection of paintings by the British Prime Minister Walpole: several masterpieces by Rembrandt (“The Sacrifice of Abraham” and “The Disgrace of Haman”), portraits by Van Dyck. And in 1781, the Hermitage acquired more than 5 thousand drawings from the Cobenzl collection in Brussels - the creation of a collection of graphics began.

The collection of the English banker Lyde-Brown was another significant acquisition. It included antique statues and busts, including Michelangelo's Crouching Boy.

Michelangelo "Crouching Boy" (1530-1534)

Michelangelo "Crouching Boy"

"Crouching Boy"- the only sculpture by Michelangelo from permanent exhibition Hermitage. Marble sculpture has a height of 54 cm. Catherine II acquired it in 1785.

It is believed that the sculpture was made by Michelangelo during the Spanish attack on Florence in 1529-1530. and therefore symbolizes the depressed state of the Florentines during this period.

Then, one after another, Catherine acquired other collections, including the libraries of Voltaire and Diderot. In 1796, the Hermitage already had 3996 paintings.

Further development of the Hermitage

Emperors Alexander I and Nicholas I also paid great attention development of the museum: they purchased not only collections, but also individual works by artists. In Rome, at the sale of the Giustiniani collection, Caravaggio’s “The Lute Player” and Botticelli’s painting “The Adoration of the Magi” (now located in Washington) were purchased.

In 1819, a “Madonna in a Landscape”, presumably by Giorgione, was purchased.

Empress of France 1804-1809 Josephine Beauharnais (the first wife of Napoleon I) gave Alexander I the Gonzaga cameo, and after her death the entire gallery of the Malmaison Palace was acquired.

"Cameo Gonzaga" (3rd century BC)

Cameo Gonzaga

"Cameo Gonzaga"– famous cameo(jewelry or decoration made using bas-relief technique on precious or floor precious stones or on a sea shell) made of three-layer sardonyx, related to the best examples antique glyptics(the art of carving colored and precious stones). It is the most famous cameo of the Hermitage. The author of the cameo is unknown.

Cameo represents companion portrait Hellenistic spouses, kings of Libya, Macedonia, Thrace and Bosporus of Cimmeria, Lysimachus I and Arsinoe II.

Under Nicholas I, the Hermitage was turned into a public museum: in 1852 it was open to the public, although to enter it one had to obtain a special pass from the court office. Nicholas I made a significant contribution to the replenishment art gallery Hermitage, but under Soviet rule, the most important of the paintings he bought were sold to the USA.

In 1845, according to the will of a diplomat and collector Tatishcheva Robert Campin's diptych “Trinity” was added to the collection. Our Lady by the Fireplace,” Van Eyck’s early diptych “The Crucifixion. The Last Judgment" and other works by old masters. Around the same time, Van Eyck's Annunciation, Sebastiano del Piombo's Pieta, and Gossaert's Descent from the Cross were purchased at an auction of the collection of King Willem II of the Netherlands. In Venice, they bought works by masters of the Italian Renaissance, including masterpieces by Titian (for example, “Carrying the Cross”) and Palma Vecchio.

New Hermitage

In 1852, a special building was built for public art museum– New Hermitage. It is part of the museum complex of the State Hermitage. The building is famous for its portico with ten giant statues of Atlanteans. By this time, the museum already stored the richest collections of monuments of ancient Eastern, ancient Egyptian, ancient and medieval cultures, Western and of Eastern Europe, archaeological and artistic monuments of Asia, Russian culture of the 8th-19th centuries. By 1880, the museum was visited by up to 50,000 people a year.

In the 19th century works by Russian painters began to arrive in the Hermitage. But in 1895 they were transferred to the Russian Museum, which was founded by Emperor Nicholas I.

Important sources of replenishment of funds in the second half of the 19th century. donations and purchases from domestic collectors are also becoming common. Materials from archaeological excavations are transferred to the museum. By the beginning of the 20th century. The museum already contained thousands of paintings.

During this time, the museum continued to be enriched. Most of the items received were nationalized private collections and the collections of the Academy of Arts: paintings by Botticelli, Andrea del Sarto, Correggio, van Dyck, Rembrandt, Canova, Ingres, Delacroix. From the main collection of the Winter Palace, the museum received many interior items, as well as Mughal treasures presented by Nadir Shah.

A. Canova “Penitent Mary Magdalene” (1809)

A. Canova "Penitent Mary Magdalene"

This sculpture entered the Hermitage in 1922 from the collection of Duke N.N. Leuchtenbergsky.

A. Canova quite rarely addressed religious themes. Of this group of works, the best known is the statue representing Mary Magdalene, a repentant sinner who became a saint. She is shown kneeling, her head bowed, her arms hanging limply. Next to the saint is a human skull, reminiscent of the frailty of life.

In 1948, the Museum of New Western Art was closed and its cultural heritage was redistributed between museums in St. Petersburg and Moscow. Thus, parts of the Moscow collections of Sergei Shchukin and Ivan Morozov, which contained a significant number of works by the Impressionists: Cezanne, van Gogh, Matisse, Picasso and others, were added to the Hermitage.

Impressionism(fr. impressionnisme, from impression- impression) - a movement in the art of the last third of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, which originated in France and then spread throughout the world, whose representatives sought to capture the most naturally real world in its mobility and variability, convey your fleeting impressions. Usually the term “impressionism” refers to a movement in painting, although its ideas have also found their embodiment in literature and music.

Claude Monet "Lady in the Garden" (circa 1867)

K. Monet "Lady in the Garden"

Claude Monet painted this picture, already being a recognized innovator in landscape painting. He began to paint a picture directly from life, or, as they began to say then, in the open air. And then Monet realized that when depicting an ever-changing nature main task becomes the transmission of solar illumination.

Monet chooses the morning hour, when light and shadow are more clearly separated than in the hot afternoon, and the colors remain bright and pure. In an effort to achieve maximum effect in the transfer of lighting, Monet thickens the shadows around objects. But his shadows are also filled with light. In his landscapes he tries, if possible, not to use black paint. In the film “Lady in the Garden” he still does not quite succeed.

Monet conveys the intensity of lighting using pure color. The painting is distinguished by a clear and strict composition.

An accurate and emotionally rich interpretation of reality became an integral feature of French impressionism, which began in the 1860s with Monet and his associates Pissarro, Sisley, and Renoir.

The painting entered the Hermitage in 1930 from State Museum new Western art in Moscow.

But during this period of time the Hermitage also suffered losses. The Diamond Room of the Winter Palace was transferred to the Moscow Kremlin, serving as the basis for the Diamond Fund. Part of the collection of paintings by old masters (including some works by Titian, Cranach, Veronese, Rubens, Rembrandt, Poussin) was transferred to the Moscow Museum of Fine Arts.

In 1929-34. Sales of paintings took place, as a result of which 48 masterpieces left Russia forever: the Hermitage lost the only work by Van Eyck, the best works of Raphael, Botticelli, Hals and a number of other old masters.

During the Great Patriotic War, the bulk of the Hermitage collection (more than 2 million items) was evacuated to the Urals. The basements of the Hermitage buildings turned into bomb shelters. And, although it did not work as a museum, the Hermitage staff continued to conduct scientific work, organize lectures on art history. Soon after the war, all evacuated cultural property returned to Leningrad, and the Hermitage was again open to visitors. Not a single exhibit was lost during the war.

On the contrary, the Hermitage began to receive captured art from Berlin museums, including the Pergamon Altar and a number of exhibits from the Egyptian Museum. In 1954, a permanent exhibition of these receipts was organized, then the Soviet government, at the request of the GDR government, returned them to Berlin in 1958. At the beginning of 1957, the third floor of the Winter Palace was opened to visitors, where works from the Museum of New Western Art were exhibited.

The current state of the Hermitage

Currently, the Hermitage museum complex consists of five buildings connected to each other on Palace Embankment:

• Winter Palace of the architect B. F. Rastrelli;

Winter Palace.

• Small Hermitage by architects J. B. Vallin-Delamot, Yu. M. Felten, V. P. Stasov. The Small Hermitage complex includes the Northern and Southern Pavilions, as well as the famous Hanging Garden;

Small Hermitage

• The Great Hermitage by architect Yu. M. Felten;

Great (Old) Hermitage

• The New Hermitage by architects Leo von Klenze, V. P. Stasov, N. E. Efimova;

New Hermitage (located behind the Bolshoi)

• The Hermitage Theater by architect G. Quarenghi, which was erected above the partially preserved Winter Palace of Peter I;

Also included in the complex of buildings of the State Hermitage are service buildings:

• Spare house of the Winter Palace;
• The Hermitage garage of the architect N. I. Kramskoy.

The museum's collection includes about 3 million works of art and world cultural monuments, from the Stone Age to the 21st century.

Art

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Someone calculated that it would take eight years to walk around the entire Hermitage, devoting only a minute to examining each exhibit. So, when going for new aesthetic impressions to one of the main museums of the country, you need to stock up on enough time and the appropriate mood.

The main Hermitage Museum is a collection of five buildings, built at different times by different architects for different purposes, and connected sequentially to each other, but visually different in color of the facades (this can be seen especially well from the arrow Vasilyevsky Island): Winter Palace - the creation of Bartalameo Rastrelli, created by order of Empress Elizabeth, then comes the Small Hermitage, then - enfilades of halls of the Old Hermitage (former living quarters of the imperial family), smoothly flowing into the building of the New Hermitage (designed by the European “museum” architect Leo von Klenze to house the rapidly growing collection) and the Hermitage Theatre.

Must-see masterpieces are marked on the museum plan with arrows and pictures - in principle, this is the traditional route for most guides and tourists.

Below is the optimal list of Hermitage must-sees.

The classic excursion route through the main Hermitage museum begins with the Jordan Staircase, or, as it is commonly called, the Ambassadorial Staircase (it was along it that noble guests of emperors and envoys of foreign powers passed to the palace). After the white and gold marble staircase, the road bifurcates: a suite of state rooms goes forward and into the distance, and to the left is the Field Marshal's Hall. The main halls, stretching along the Neva, look somewhat deserted and today are used to host temporary exhibitions. On the left begins the second suite of state halls, leading up to the Throne Room, which, in contrast to the main staircase, looks rather modest.

Part of the first floor, which can be reached by going down the October Staircase (straight from the Impressionists), is dedicated to the art of the ancient inhabitants of Asia - the Scythians. In room number 26, fairly well-preserved items made of organic material are presented, found during excavations of the royal necropolis in the Altai Mountains, the so-called fifth Pazyryk mound. The culture of Pazyryk dates back to the VI-III centuries. BC e. - the era of the early Iron Age. All the things found were preserved in excellent condition, thanks to the special climatic conditions - an ice lens formed around the mound, resulting in a kind of “natural refrigerator” in which things can be stored for a very long period. Archaeologists discovered a burial chamber, which was a wooden frame four meters high, inside which were placed the mummified bodies of a man and a woman, as well as a horse burial located outside the frame. Items found during excavations indicate the high social status of the buried. In ancient times, the mound was robbed, but the horse burial remained untouched. The cart was found disassembled, presumably drawn by four horses. A special pride of the collection is a perfectly preserved felt carpet depicting a fantastic flower, a man on horseback and a larger woman, apparently a deity. Archaeologists have not come to a consensus as to when and why this carpet was made; detailed studies have shown that it was subsequently added, perhaps specifically for burial. Other interesting exhibits located in the showcase opposite are felt figurines of swans stuffed with reindeer fur. The swans have alien black wings, presumably taken from vultures (funeral birds). Thus, the ancients endowed the swan with the property of transcendence, turning it into an inhabitant of all three levels of the universe: heavenly, earthly and aquatic. A total of four felt figurines of birds were found, which suggests that the swans were related to the cart in which they were supposed to take the souls of the dead to the afterlife (during excavations, the swans were found between the cart and the carpet). “Imported finds” were also discovered in the mound, for example, horse saddlecloths trimmed with Iranian woolen fabric and fabric from China, which suggests contacts between the Scythian population of the Altai Mountains and cultures Central Asia and the Ancient East already in the VI-III centuries. BC e.

Main museum complex, Winter Palace, II floor, halls 151, 153

If you are a little tired of the variety of paintings and sculptures, you can distract yourself a little by switching to a small hall of French art of the 15th-17th centuries, where ceramics by Saint-Porcher and Bernard Palissy are presented. There are only about 70 Saint-Porcher pieces in the entire world, and in the Hermitage you can see as many as four examples. The Saint-Porcher technique (so named after its supposed place of origin) can be schematically described as follows: ordinary clay was placed in molds, and then an ornament was squeezed out using metal matrices on the molds (as many ornaments as there are matrices), then the recesses were filled with clay of a contrasting color, the product was covered with a transparent glaze and burned in the oven. After firing, decorative painting was added. As you can see, as a result of such an intricate and labor-intensive process, an extremely elegant and fragile thing was obtained. In the showcase opposite, another type of ceramic is presented - circle ceramics by Bernard Palissy, the most famous ceramist of the 16th century. Colorful, unusual, so-called “rural clays” - dishes depicting the inhabitants of the water element - immediately catch your eye. The technique for making these dishes still remains a mystery, but art historians believe that they were made using casts from prints. It was as if a stuffed sea reptile was coated with fat, and a piece of clay was placed on top and burned. A stuffed animal was pulled out of the baked clay and an impression was taken. There is an opinion that the reptiles, when clay was placed on them, were only immobilized by ether, but were by no means dead. Casts were made from the resulting impression, which were attached to the dishes; everything was painted with colored glaze, then covered with transparent glaze and fired. Bernard Palissy's tableware was so popular that he had a countless number of followers and imitators.

Main museum complex, Winter Palace, 2nd floor, halls 272‒292

If you walk along the enfilade of state rooms along the Neva, you will find yourself in the spare half of rooms with residential interiors - here there are strictly classical interiors, and living rooms decorated in the style of historicism, and rockish-intricate furniture, and Art Deco furniture, and Gothic wooden two-tier library of Nicholas II with ancient volumes, easily immersing you in the atmosphere of the Middle Ages.

Main museum complex, Winter Palace, 2nd floor, halls 187–176

Few people get to the third floor, to the department of Eastern countries. If you go a little further from the world of Matisse-Picasso-Derain, resisting the temptation to go down the wooden stairs, you will find yourself in the Oriental department. In several halls of the exhibition “Far East and Central Asia” there are located partially lost, partially restored with the help of computer technology wall frescoes, which are hundreds of years old. They represent the incredibly refined art of painting cave and above-ground Buddhist temples from the Karashar, Turfan and Kuchar oases, located along the route of the Great Silk Road. The frescoes provide unique evidence of the unity of the Buddhist world in India, Central Asia and China in the pre-Mongol period. Several years ago, some of the frescoes from the collection were transported to the Staraya Derevnya restoration and storage center, where they are now exhibited.

Main museum complex, Winter Palace, III floor, halls 359‒367, exhibition “Culture and Art of Central Asia”

Works by the Impressionists (Monet, Renoir, Degas, Sisley, Pizarro) are presented on the third floor of the Winter Palace. One of the true pearls of the collection is Claude Monet’s painting “Lady in the Garden of Sainte-Adresse” (Claude Monet, Femme au jardin, 1867). Based on the girl’s outfit, you can definitely determine the year the picture was painted - that’s when similar dresses came into fashion. And it was this work that graced the cover of the catalog for an exhibition of Monet’s works from around the world, which took place several years ago in Paris at the Grand Palais. The collection is also replete with works by post-impressionists Cézanne, Gauguin, Van Gogh and others French artists beginning of the 20th century: Matisse, Derain, Picasso, Marche, Vallotton. How did this wealth end up in the museum's collection? All the paintings were previously in the collections of Russian merchants Morozov and Shchukin, who bought works by French painters in Paris, thereby saving them from starvation. After the revolution, the paintings were nationalized Soviet state and places them in the Moscow Museum of New Western Art. In those years, Alfred Barr, the founder of the New York Museum, was visiting Moscow. contemporary art, for whom the Shchukin and Morozov collections served as the prototype for his future brainchild. After the war, the museum was disbanded due to its anti-national and formalistic content, and the collection was divided between the two largest museums in Russia - the Pushkin Museum in Moscow and the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. The then director of the Hermitage, Joseph Orbeli, who was not afraid to take responsibility and take away the most radical works of Kandinsky, Matisse and Picasso, deserves special gratitude. The second part of the Morozov-Schukin collection can be admired today in the Gallery of Art of Europe and America of the 19th-20th centuries. Moscow Pushkin Museum, which is on Volkhonka.

Main museum complex, Winter Palace, III floor, halls 316‒350

Just as all roads go to Rome, so all roads through the Hermitage go through the Pavilion Hall with famous watch, familiar to everyone from the screensaver of the TV channel “Culture”. The peacock of wondrous beauty was made by the then fashionable English master James Cox, purchased by Prince Grigory Potemkin-Tavrichesky as a gift to Catherine the Great, delivered to St. Petersburg disassembled and assembled on the spot by Ivan Kulibin. To understand where the clock is located, you need to go to the fence and look at the peacock’s feet - there is a small mushroom in the center, and it is in its cap that the clock is located. The mechanism is in working order, once a week (on Wednesdays) the watchmaker enters the glass cage, and the peacock turns and opens its tail, the rooster crows, and the owl in the cage spins on its axis. The pavilion hall is located in the Small Hermitage and overlooks hanging garden Catherine, - was once there real garden with bushes, trees and even animals, partially covered by a glass roof. The Small Hermitage itself was built by order of Catherine II for lunches and evenings in an intimate circle of friends - “hermitages”, where even servants were not allowed. The design of the Pavilion Hall dates back to a later, post-Catherine period and is made in an eclectic style: marble, crystal, gold, mosaic. In the hall you can find many more extremely interesting exhibits - these are elegant tables placed here and there around the hall, inlaid with enamel and semi-precious stones (mother of pearl, garnet, onyx, lapis lazuli), and Bakhchisarai fountains of tears, located symmetrically opposite each other on both walls. According to legend, the Crimean Khan Girey, bitterly mourning the death of his beloved concubine Dilyara, ordered the craftsmen to build fountains in memory of his grief - drop by drop, water falls from one shell to another, like tears.

Main museum complex, Small Hermitage, II floor, room 204

The usual path from the Throne Room lies straight to the clock with a peacock, which is immediately along the gallery with the applied arts of the Middle Ages to the left. But if you turn right and walk a little, you can see very interesting collection Dutch painting of the 16th-17th centuries. For example, here is an altar image by Jean Bellhambe dedicated to the Annunciation. Once in the possession of the church, the triptych is valuable because it reached in full force to the present day. In the center of the triptych, next to the Archangel Gabriel, who brought the good news to Mary, the donor (customer of the painting) is depicted, which for Dutch painting of the 16th century. was a very bold step. The central part is built as if in perspective: the foreground is occupied by the scene of the Annunciation, and in the background the Virgin Mary is already busy with her everyday affairs - sewing diapers in anticipation of the birth of a baby. It is also worth paying attention to two group portraits of the corporation (guild) of the Amsterdam shooters by Dirk Jacobs, which in itself is a rarity for any museum collection of paintings located outside the Netherlands. Group portraits are a special pictorial genre, characteristic specifically for this country. Such paintings were painted at the request of associations (for example, shooters, doctors, trustees of charitable institutions), and, as a rule, remained in the country and were not exported beyond its borders. Not long ago, the Hermitage hosted an exhibition of group portraits brought from the Amsterdam Museum, including two paintings from the Hermitage collection.

Main museum complex, Small Hermitage, II floor, room 262

Currently, there are 14 surviving works in the world by the famous Renaissance painter Leonardo da Vinci. The Hermitage contains two paintings of his indisputable authorship - “Benois Madonna” and “Madonna Litta”. And this is a huge wealth! Outstanding Artist, humanist, inventor, architect, scientist, writer, in a word, genius - Leonardo da Vinci is the cornerstone of all art of the European Renaissance. It was he who started the tradition of oil painting (before that, more and more tempera was used - a mixture of natural color pigments and egg yolk), he also gave birth to the triangular composition of the picture, into which the Madonna and Child and the saints and angels surrounding them were built. Also be sure to pay attention to the six doors of this hall, inlaid with gilded metal parts and tortoiseshell.

Main museum complex, Great (Old) Hermitage, II floor, room 214

The main staircase of the New Hermitage rises from the historical entrance to the museum from Millionnaya Street, and its porch is decorated with ten Atlases made of gray Serdobol granite. Atlases were made under the direction of the Russian sculpture Terebenev, hence the second name of the staircase. Once upon a time, the route of the first visitors to the museum began from this porch (until the mid-twenties of the last century). According to tradition, for good luck and to return, you need to rub the heel of any of the Atlases.

Main museum complex, New Hermitage

You won’t be able to pass by this hall; “The Prodigal Son” is one of the last and most famous paintings Rembrandt - is indicated on all plans and guidebooks, and in front of him, just like in front of the Parisian La Gioconda, whole crowds always gather. The picture glares, and you can only get a good look at it with your head raised, or a little from afar - from the landing of the Soviet Staircase (named not in honor of the country of the Soviets, but in honor of the State Council, which met nearby, in the hall on the first floor). The Hermitage has the second largest collection of Rembrandt paintings, rivaled only by the Rembrandt Museum in Amsterdam. Here is the infamous “Danae” (be sure to compare it with Titian’s “Danae” - two great masters interpret the same plot) - in the eighties, a museum visitor splashed sulfuric acid on the canvas and stabbed it twice. The painting was carefully restored in the Hermitage workshops over the course of 12 years. There is also the beautifully mystical “Flora,” which supposedly depicts the artist’s wife, Saskia, in the role of the goddess of fertility, as well as the less popular, therefore almost intimate painting, “David’s Farewell to Jonathan.” It depicts the farewell of the young commander David and his faithful friend Jonathan, the son of the envious King Saul. The men say goodbye at the Azel stone, which translated means “separation.” The subject is taken from the Old Testament, and before Rembrandt there was no tradition of iconographic depiction of scenes from the Old Testament. The painting, filled with subtle, light sadness, was painted after the death of Rembrandt’s beloved wife and reflects his farewell to Saskia.

The largest art and cultural-historical museum in Russia and one of the largest in the world first appeared in 1764 as the private collection of Catherine II. The museum was opened to the public in 1852 in the New Hermitage building, specially built for this purpose. Today, the main exhibition part occupies five buildings located along the Neva embankment.

The beginning of the story

The history of the State Hermitage collection officially begins with the reign of Catherine II. But her great predecessor Peter I also made his contribution. During his reign, many exhibits appeared in the private imperial collection, which are now in the Hermitage. For example, the famous “Scythian gold” - precious jewelry in the form of animals, stored in the Golden Pantry. They were bought by Prince Gagarin for Peter's Siberian collection.

Up until Catherine's era, there were almost no additions to the imperial collection, or they occurred by chance. A striking example serves as a collection of “Mughal gold”. In the middle of the 18th century, the Shah of Iran conquered the Mughal Empire, which was located in India. With the embassy, ​​he sent Tsarina Anna Ioannovna gold jewelry and other jewelry literally showered with diamonds, rubies, and sapphires. They were transported to St. Petersburg on elephants. However, the gifts were already received by Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, who ascended the throne as a result of a palace coup. Elephants worried the residents of St. Petersburg for a long time, periodically escaping from their enclosures. And the gifts were accepted and safely forgotten; they were transferred to the Hermitage collection after the revolution. At the end of the 20th century, it turned out that there were almost no Mughal treasures left in Iran, and the largest collection of jewelry from their era was in Russia.

The Hermitage in Tsarist times

One of the most important periods in the history of the museum is undoubtedly associated with the name of Catherine II, who is rightly called its founder. TO Winter Palace, on her instructions, an extension was made, which was called the Hermitage. Dinners were given here for a circle of close associates. The guests discussed politics and art. In this part of the palace there was a special set of rules, such as: “leave all ranks outside the doors”, “argue without heatedness”, etc. The private collection of paintings of Catherine II was also kept here; it began with the acquisition of the collection of the businessman I. E. Gotskovsky , which included works Dutch artists. During the reign of Catherine II, the collection was replenished with paintings by Titian, Rubens, Raphael and other great masters, and the only sculpture in Russia by Michelangelo, “Crouching Boy,” was purchased. All over Europe, the empress's emissaries purchased tens and even hundreds of paintings for her, often simply buying up already established collections. In addition to many paintings, more than 10,000 coins and medals, more than 10,000 drawings, countless engravings, stones and books appeared in the Hermitage.

Paul I, alien to the views of his mother and having a strong dislike for her, nevertheless continued to collect art, mainly Italian. However, he ordered the letter “P” to be placed on all paintings in the collection. Thus, scientists were able to establish exactly which paintings arrived at the Hermitage before early XIX century.

The reform carried out by Count Dmitry Buturlin is associated with the reign of Alexander I. The collection was divided into several parts, and each of them had a custodian. During the era of Alexander I, the Hermitage collection was replenished with Spanish and English paintings. But the most valuable acquisitions are associated with the central episode of his reign - the War of 1812. Like many representatives French nobility, Countess of Beauharnais, ex-wife Napoleon Bonaparte, was concerned about maintaining privileges after the victory of the Russian army. She decided to give a gift to Alexander I, who refused to accept it for a long time, but Josephine insisted. Thus, the famous “Cameo Gonzaga” ended up in the Hermitage collection.

Nicholas I, passionate about military affairs, left behind 600 paintings depicting battle scenes. During his reign, in 1826, the famous Military Gallery of 1812 was created. The emperor himself was fond of painting and often allowed himself to inscribe images of soldiers on the canvases of masters of battle painting. During his tenure, some exhibits from the collection were given away or destroyed. However, thanks to him, the New Hermitage appeared and the ensemble of existing buildings was reconstructed.

And in 1852 the museum first opened to visitors under the name “Imperial Hermitage”. Over the next half century, his collection was replenished with varying degrees of intensity. One of the famous acquisitions of that time was the “Benois Madonna” by Leonardo da Vinci, purchased in 1914.

The Hermitage in the 20th century

The history of the Hermitage in the 20th century is more reminiscent of an action-packed detective story, among the heroes of which are museum employees, Soviet authorities And Russian army. During the revolutionary period, the Hermitage collection was surprisingly not damaged. Serious leaks from it began in the first years of Soviet power.

First, in the 1920s, the collections of the museums of the Union republics were replenished at the expense of the royal collection. The Hermitage partially compensated for these losses with proceeds from nationalized private collections. But in general, the pre-war years of its history will pass under the auspices of maneuvering between the strict demands of the authorities to open the storerooms in order to sell exhibits to the West, and the sincere desire of the employees to preserve the most valuable things. Titian's "Venus in front of a Mirror", "Saint George" and "Madonna of Alba" by Raphael, "Cleopatra's Feast" by Tiepolo and many other masterpieces of French and Italian painting. The confrontation between the Soviet agency Antikvariat, which was engaged in the sale of valuables, and the Hermitage employees is clearly illustrated by the episode with the Oriental department, which was headed by Joseph Orbeli. A commission from the Antiques agency came to the Hermitage to pick up Sasanian silver for sale. Its representatives were never able to get inside. They say that Orbeli threatened to swallow the key and bury the collection of the Oriental Department for a long time behind the heavy doors of the museum. A scandal broke out. Director of the Hermitage Boris Legrand and Joseph Orbeli took a gamble. They wrote a letter to Stalin, who eventually supported them. The letter from the leader became the defense of the museum. All attempts by “Antiques” to confiscate an item, even one that did not belong to the Oriental department, led to nothing. Any exhibit that was planned to be confiscated unexpectedly ended up in storage in the Oriental department.

Thanks to the Hermitage staff, during the periods of the largest “sales” from the Hermitage collection, it lost a minimum number of the most valuable exhibits. But the price for this turned out to be very high. IN different years more than fifty museum employees were repressed.

During the Great Patriotic War, the collection was evacuated to the Urals, but the museum buildings were significantly damaged. The damage that was caused to it is evidenced by the list of building materials needed for restoration. It included 100 tons of cement, more than 60 tons of gypsum, 30 kilometers of fabrics, etc.

After the end of the war, work at the Hermitage began with redoubled force. The museum had to accept trophy works of art, in huge quantities exported from Germany. As you know, Hitler was going to open a museum, collecting all the best that he managed to capture in Europe. At the time of the capture of Berlin by Soviet troops, the museum was preparing to open. Quite by accident, its future director was captured and told about the location of the storerooms. Works of art were exported from Germany by train.

Pearls of the European collection

Diptych by Robert Campin, “Benois Madonna” by Leonardo da Vinci, “Judith” by Giorgione, “ Female portrait» Correggio, «St. Sebastian Titian", "The Lute Player" by Caravaggio, "The Return prodigal son"Rembrandt, Gainsborough's Lady in Blue."

Over the following years, some returned to European collections. But much remains on Russian territory to this day. Today the Hermitage exhibition presents trophy paintings Manet, Van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec and others. However, it is likely that the contents of some of the repositories are still unknown to either the general public or the scientific community. Disputes surrounding the trophy works are still ongoing.

Today the Hermitage is also a major research center.

Complex of buildings of the Hermitage Museum

Winter Palace

The residence of the Russian emperors, built according to the design of Bartolomeo Rastrelli. Work on its construction began during the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna and was completed under Peter III in 1762.

Small Hermitage

Castle. Built under Catherine II by Yu. M. Felten and J. B. Wallen-Delamot.

Great Hermitage

The palace, built by Yu. M. Felten in 1787 to store the expanded collection of Catherine II.

Hermitage Theater

Built by order of Catherine II by the architect Giacomo Quarneghi to display performances and hold masquerades.

New Hermitage

The building was built under Nicholas I by the architect Leo von Klenz specifically to display exhibits of the imperial collection.

In recent years, special museums have appeared in famous museums around the world. exhibition halls related to the Hermitage. Its new branches were opened: the Porcelain Museum and the Guard Museum in the General Staff building.

Retelling the entire history of the Hermitage is the same as recounting the history of Russia, such an important phenomenon in the life of the country is this museum. Being directly associated with many events national history, The Hermitage has always remained a home. No matter what happened, someone always lived here. And everyone left something of their own behind.