THE HERMITAGE

On Saturday, August 18^th, Andrea and I spent the day at the Hermitage, and even staying until 9:00 p.m. when it closes was insufficient time to see it all.

But that was alright.

Spending that much time walking through any museum is surely tiring, but when the great majority of text is in an unfamiliar language, the fatigue becomes even greater, faster.

Andrea discriminately saw what she set out to see, and I trailed after her, wandering through the rooms and down the halls with mouth mostly agape and camera clicking.

While the vast art collections are definitely impressive, it was the buildings themselves that impressed me the most. Books have been written about the Russian kings and queens and their architects and designers.

But it was the physical and unknown, probably unappreciated individual craftsmanship that went into constructing such a huge palace for Russian royalty – and which remains to this day through all the historic turmoil – that I found most spectacular.

And to think of the manual, daily labor required to keep up such a residence for the tsars, empresses, their families and court is utterly mind boggling.

The State Hermitage Museum (as it is officially called) is actually comprised of several buildings: 1) The Winter Palace (which comprises the largest portion and the section most familiar from photographs of its green exterior); 2) The Small Hermitage; 3) The New Hermitage; 4) The Large (or Old) Hermitage; 5) and the Hermitage Theatre and Winter Palace of Peter the Great. They are all connected.

I didn’t photograph them, but one of the things that greatly interested me (like the air conditioning system at St. Isaac’s Cathedral the day before) were little gold, circular contraptions near the floor. Andrea inquired with one of the museum staff for me, and they are part of a now defunct internal hot water system that was used in washing the floors! Kind of like those vacuum systems you sometimes see in modern homes, but more appropriate for the time!

And speaking of the floors, the intricate parquetry is different in every room and truly outstanding. And as I found in the grand Italian palazzos we visited, the door and window hardware fascinated me. To have that foundry contract just for the Winter Palace would have earned a mint for an enterprising merchant.

Lastly, I want to make a comment about the display of the “modern” art. The Hermitage is often heralded as a depository for Impressionism and the movements that came after. And while the Gaugin, Matisse, Van Gogh and Picasso collections singularly impressed me, I found it strange that these works and the works of Degas, Renoir, Monet… were relegated to the third floor.

The walls are plain. The ceiling is low. The floor is non-descript. It is a jarring disconnect from the pompous grandeur of the other rooms on the first and second floors.

To me, it is the equivalent of putting these works in the attic to be hidden like the odd relative you don’t want guests to suffer. 

Perhaps they are there for a good reason. There may have been air conditioning, but the windows were open, so I am not sure. Maybe the flat, fluorescent lighting to better see the painting is the reason, or because they simply ran out of display space below and will continue adding to the collection in what appears to be ongoing, unused space up there.

Below are selected photos from our interesting day at the Hermitage.

Dvortsovaya Square. To the left stands the Hermitage (not in photo.) On the far right is the old main headquarters of the Ministry of Defense.

The Alexander Column. The angel on the top is also one of the famous icons of SPB.  

Front baroque exterior of Hermitage from the Palace Square (taken at the base of the Alexander Column.) Through the arches and under the building, you enter a long open courtyard with walkways and trees. Typically, a long line of museum visitors would queue up there, but we had virtually no wait on this beautiful, un-museum day (clever, huh?)

The grand staircase leading up to the Grand Suite of ceremonial halls, designed by Rastrelli.

Will checking out the grand staircase.

First of the grand halls...

Overlooking the Neva River and the Dvortsovaya Embankment.

We miss our dog and cat.

Here Cricket! Come on little girl!

Rembrandt's Hall - a terrific collection of his work, as well as all the Northern artists.

One of Andrea's all-time favorite paintings - The Prodigal Son Returns. This is the one she said that inspired her to finally love Rembrandt's work when she was here so many years ago.

Typical window hardware.

I was enthralled by the chandeliers, wall trim and ceilings in just about every room.

Your typical room at the Hermitage...elaborate!

The parquet floor in the Italian room.

What I call the Italian Room, but the Hermitage calls the Leonardo da Vinci Hall (silly museum.)

Andrea checking out this little Italian masterpiece.

Will, Andrea and a statue by Michaelangelo.

What I call the Spanish Room with immense skylights in the ceiling. There are actually three of these skylight rooms at the Hermitage. During the siege of Leningrad, the skylights shattered, and rain and snow came pouring in and piling up, damaging the rooms and remaining artwork. Thankfully, the Russians are amazing at restoration work, as evidenced by the work they did at Peterhof.

Down what I call the Spanish Steps.

Up the Spanish Steps.

God buddies, forever!

Andrea helps a Russian family find their way. I call this my staircase (I spent a lot of time atop and below here) and my entrance (because there is a door that goes out to the Neva embankment, and I told Andrea that is the door I used when visiting my good buddy, the tsar.)

Typical, plain old door at the Hermitage leading into...

...Pavilion Hall. This is an amazing space. There is a  working peacock clock. The peacock is larger than I am. It is in a huge cage, and it's made from gold. To the right is the hanging garden.

This garden is called hanging because it sits on the roof of what was the horse stable below. During royal times, it had fancy flowers, trees and shrubs. During the siege of Leningrad, the remaining staff grew vegetables and fruit to stay alive.

The immense Throne Room.

This long hall is full of portraits of military officers. It is punctuated by large canvases of field marshals and war heroes. The special display at the end is Alexander 1, the tsar who commanded the troops that defeated Napoleon in 1812.

This is Armorial Hall. Huge. Gold. Silver.

This is Peter the Great's Little Throne Room off Armorial Hall.

The Malachite Room, where everything is wrought in malachite, except the fireplace screen.

For Bill Gitlin, DDS - a bad photo of an 18th Century dental instrument used to keep open a patient's mouth. How do you say, "tooth ache" in Russian, Bill? 

From the third floor, you get a sense of the majesty of the rooms.

And then on the third floor, you have these plain rooms. This room contained all Matisse paintings.

This room held part of the Picasso collection.

FRIDAY CHURCH RIOT

On Friday, August 17, I visited two of the three churches I had intended to hit: Kazan Cathedral and St. Isaac's Cathedral.

Around 3:00 p.m., I began to notice around town young people wearing colorful winter balaclavas over their faces on one of the very few, warm, sunny summer days we have enjoyed since arriving in SPB on August 1.

It was only after returning home late that night and turning on the TV news that I learned that the political performance artists (or feminist punk rock band) who call themselves “Pussy Riot” had been sentenced to two years in prison for having danced crazily with pink, red, and gold balaclavas back in February of this year inside a Moscow orthodox church for a “music” video they produced decrying Vladimir Putin and his re-election.

Thus the title of this blog…

A lot of ground was covered this day, and below are selected photos.

Kazan Cathedral is modeled on St. Peter’s in Rome, but certainly much smaller. It was completed in 1811 to house the miracle-working Our Lady of Kazan icon. And in this, the 200^th anniversary of Napoleon’s withered retreat from Russia, it must be acknowledged that this cathedral stood for years as a monument to the defeat of France’s Grande Armee by Field Marshal Prince Mikhail Kutuzov under Tsar Alexander I. During the Soviet period, the cathedral was a shrine to anti-religion and atheism, but since 1990, the icon has returned and the bells ring again.

Small altar upon entering the cathedral.

View from west to east inside Kazan Cathedral.

Looking up at the Kazan Cathedral dome above the grand chandelier.

When the Kazan Cathedral was a pantheon to atheism during the Soviet period, this would have been unheard of: Now Tsar Nicholas II and his crown prince son, Alexei, are considered saints.

Real devotion: people not only pray before religious paintings and icons, they kiss them, activating a small army of nuns  who scurry about washing off lipstick and lip marks from the paintings and icons.

Religious paintings with real gold relief that are found in great abundance in orthodox churches.

Long line for the famed Lady of Kazan icon.

Kissing the Kazan.

Church of the Spilled Blood along the Gribadoeva Canal, which I had hoped to visit but did not on Friday, August 17. Eventually I will get there!

Will along the adorable Griffin Bridge that crosses the Gribadoeva Canal near the Economics & Finance University. There are two griffins on each side of this little foot bridge. It is one of SPB's icons.

Looking down the Gribadoeva Canal from the Griffin Bridge.

Looking down Gorokhovaya Ulitsa toward the Admiralty at the very end.

Crossing the street in front of the Admiralty, looking at the main fountain in Alexandrovsky Park on the way to St. Isaac's Cathedral.

St. Isaac’s Cathedral is a masterpiece of architecture and engineering. It was designed to “wow,” and it does through sheer scale and precious materials. One of the little things I found fascinating is its 17^th Century air cooling system: air blowing high above is channeled down to ground level where along the supporting structures are little golden doors that can be opened to usher in the cool air flowing down from above.

While it may not be the tallest structure in SPB, from its colonnade that runs around the drum of the dome, you can see the entire surrounding city without obstruction. It happens quite often when one is traveling and visiting so many historic places, but to stand on this ground that had two churches prior to the one completed here in 1858 and to see photos of this church during the Russian Revolution, the siege of Leningrad and after The Great Patriotic War forces one to pause and consider one’s mortality and insignificance as a speck in the spectrum of space and time.

From the colonnade atop St. Isaac's Cathedral, looking over Alexandrovsky Park at the Peter Paul Fortress on far left, the Admiralty tower peak and the Hermitage.

Work along one of the four lesser domes at St. Isaac's.

Close up of worker high above the ground!

Will atop St. Isaac's Cathedral.looking out to Holy Trinity Cathedral.

Looking down on Nicholas I square from St. Isaac's Cathedral.

Exterior of immense bronze doors on south side of St. Isaac's.

Looking up inside St. Isaac's dome. If you look closely, you can just see the white dove that hangs inside.

The iconostasis inside St. Isaac's Cathedral.

Inside what is officially called the St. Isaac Museum.

Interior bronze doors.

Exterior of St. Isaac's Cathedral from the Nicholas I park on the south side.

Statue of Peter the Great in Alexandrovsky Park. This statue is known as the "Bronze Horseman."

The plaza at the Bronze Horseman, looking out toward the Kunstkammer on the left, one of the two red spits , and on the right, the Peter and Paul Fortress.

Silhouetted Bronze Horseman rides again!

Statue of Nicholas 1. From here, I visited the super luxurious Astoria Hotel, where Hitler had hoped to spend New Year's Eve 1941 (sorry Adolph.) The list of luminaries who actually stayed at the Astoria are engraved on gold plates that run alongside the elevators in the lobby. I then proceed to eat a very good and quite filling Indian dinner at Tandoor on Admiralteiskky Prospekt before walking all the way home.

The past weekend was busy with an excursion to the Hermitage on Saturday and the Ethnography Museum. I will post those photos and comments soon.