Front view of the Winter Palace. Also main entrance to the Hermitage museum.
View of the Winter Palace across the River Neva.
HISTORY OF HERMITAGE
Set mainly inside the Winter Palace, (which used to be the official residence of the Russian Tsars) the State Hermitage Museum is one of the most oldest, largest & most famous museums in the world. Its vast collections are displayed in 5 linked buildings: The Winter Palace alone has 1057 rooms & 117 staircases!!
The baroque/ rococo Winter Palace was commissioned from Rastrelli in 1754 by Empress Elizabeth (daughter of Peter the Great).
After Catherine the Great took power, the empress ordered the construction of a "Hermitage" next to the Winter Palace. She started the Hermitage's famed collection in 1764 by purchasing more than two hundred paintings in Europe.
Trivial:HERMITAGE literally means "the dwelling of a hermit" - Catherine called her art gallery "hermitage", as very few people were allowed within to see its riches.
Spent a mind boggling 4.5 hours in the Hermitage & I think I covered like 1% of it's incredible collection. But this 1% is more than enough for me... I have seen enough priceless art to last a life-time.
FATCAT'S FAVOURITE PARTS OF THE HERMITAGE:
1. The Loggias of Raphael (The New Hermitage)
supervised by Christoph Unterberger in 18th century
Loggia: architectural feature originally of Italian design, which is often a gallery or corridor
definition courtesy of Wikipedia
This gallery/corridor is a reproduction of Raphael's celebrated Loggias, erected in the Vatican Palace.
Check out the DETAILS in the Fresco's!
2. The Large Italian Sky-light Hall (The New Hermitage)
designed by German architect Leo von Klenze, mid-19th
Owes its name to the vaulted ceiling with glass skylight windows. Features works by the famous Italian artists of the 17th and 18th centuries.
more
3. Painting of Pieter van de Venne and his family
Oil on canvas 1652
Dutch Baroque painter Bartholomeus van der Helst (1613-1670)
Look at the incredible details on the painting - the texture of the man black clothes, the folds on the woman's dress... on an oil painting!
4. Unknown Marble Statue
It's a statue of a woman holding her child... You can see the tender expression on her face.
The pureness of a sleeping child, perfectly captured
5. The Armorial Hall (Winter Palace)
designed by Vasily Stasov in the late 1830s
This very room was featured in an episode of The Amazing Race (I think it was a Road Block?)
Before I visited this place, the Hermitage was like in such a mysterious, far away land... almost a myth...
I marvelled at it in travel programs & told myself that one day, I WILL see this place for myself.
I DID IT!!!!!
