part i. hermitage the hermitage is one of the greatest museums in the world. it is the largest...
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THE HERMITAGE
Part I
The Hermitage is one of the greatest
museums in the world. It is the largest museum in Russia.
It contains more than 2,9 million works of art representing different ages, countries
and nations.
The Hermitage collections include not only pictures, drawings, engravings, sculptures, but items of decorative and applied art as well.
The Hermitage’s collections include works by Leonardo da
Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael and Titian, a unique collection of
Rembrandts and Rubens, many French Impressionist
works by Renoir, Cezanne, Monet and Pissarro, numerous
canvasses by Van Gogh, Matisse, Gaugin and several sculptures by
Rodin
The experts say that if you were to spend a minute looking at each exhibit on display in
the Hermitage, you would need 11 years before you’d seen them all.
All in all there are six departments at the Hermitage:
1. West European Art2. Oriental Culture3. Antique Culture4. Russian culture
5. Prehistoric Culture6. Numismatics
The Hermitage museum comprises 5 buildings, they
are:The Winter palace
The Small HermitageThe Old HermitageThe New Hermitage
The Hermitage Theatre
The Winter Palace was official residence of Russian emperors. Magnificently located on
the bank of the Neva River, this Baroque-style palace is perhaps St. Petersburg’s most
impressive attraction.
The green-and-white three-storey palace is a marvel of Baroque architecture (is known as the Elizabethan
Baroque) style and boasts 1,786 doors, 1,945 windows and 1,500 elegantly and lavishly decorated
halls and rooms, many of which are open to the public. The principal façade is 250 m long and 30 m
high.
The Winter Palace was built between 1754 and
1762 for Empress Elizabeth, the daughter
of Peter the Great. Unfortunately, Elizabeth died before the palace’s completion and only
Catherine the Great and her successors were
able to enjoy the interiors of Elizabeth’s
home.
Many of the palace’s impressive interiors have been remodeled since then,
particularly after 1837, when a huge fire destroyed most of the building.
The Winter Palace was
built by architect
Bartolomeo Rastrelli.
Bartolomeo went to Russia in 1715 with his father, Italian sculptor Carlo Bartolomeo Rastrelli.
His ambition was to combine the latest Italian
architectural fashion with traditions of the Muscovite baroque style. He was appointed to the post of senior court architect in 1730. His works
found favour with female monarchs of his time.