It is 24 hours after our arrival to Peter's magnificent city. We have had a good sleep, a good breakfast and a good drive to Palace Square. This time the cannon does not startle us. It is high noon again, and we are inside the Hermitage, the World's greatest museum, watching the Neva fountains through the window...
The Hermitage consists of 5 spectacular buildings; the first one, closest to the Dvortsovy Most, is known as the Winter Palace, also known as the Palace of Catherine the Great. But it was actually built by Catherine's predecessor, Elizabeth I around 1760, designed by Rastrelli. Ascending the throne in 1762, Catherine dismissed Rastrelli and subsequent construction was supervised Yuri Felten, Ivan Starov and Quarenghi over a hundred-year period. Inside, it is much more an Italian museum than a Russian palace.
Here is a beautiful Majolica wall sconce collected by Catherine.
However, least you doubt that the Hermitage was an incredible palace -- this is the ceiling of Catherine's Throne Room...
And this is the inlaid parquet floor...
And this is her Throne...
One of the most important acquisitions at the Hermitage is the
Benoes Madonna painted by Leonardo DaVinci in 1478.
This long lovely Italianate gallery appears to be made of ceramic tiles; actually it is masterfully painted wood...
Another famous painting in the Old Hermitage is Raphael's
Madonna Conestabile. If you look closely you'll see that the Baby Jesus is reading a 'pocket' Bible...
Everywhere you looked there was magnificent beauty, even looking down.
Now we are in the Flemish section. Here is Rembrandt's
An Old Man.
Here, in this last picture, where Van der Goes'
Adoration of the Magi is ruined by an unkown modern passer-by, I was reminded of that incredible Russian film Russian Ark. Could he be taken for the Marquis de Custine?
A few years ago, during a 36-hour period in winter, when the museum was closed to the public, Director Alexander Sokurov, a true genius of a film-maker (Russia never seems to run out of geniuses) literally took over the entire Hermitage. The film is a long dream of a man walking through the enormous palace/museum, where he encounters various figures from Russia's turbulent history; the tour is conducted by Russophobe de Custine. It was filmed using a single 90-minute Steadicam sequence shot,so that the movie is taking place in real-time, with thousands of actors in period customes. A memorable happening that covers all 5 buildings, and takes us through rooms almost never seen by the public. To fully appreciate the magnitude of the Hermitage, consider this: There are almost 3 million objects on display there; if one spent 8 hours a day, seven days a week there, and spent one minute viewing each and every object, it would take 15 years to tour the entire building.
