Visited one of the oldest and largest museums in the world, e.g. Hermitage Museum made me excited. Founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great as the winter palace, became the official residence of the Russian monarchs. Now it's as art and culture museum contained over 2.7 million collection items in Saint Petersburg, Russia, unfortunately some of the building was under renovation during my visit. It's very windy, so we wore our coat, the bus stopped at the edge of the big square in front of the museum, let us walk and take picture at the square with the background buildings surrounding it including the huge museum.
The guide distributed the entrance ticket, we had to wait for the completeness of the group member, as the museum is so huge, the tour leader was afraid of losing the member as the time was very tight, only 3 hours for exploring it. The museum build with Baroque architecture style with green-and-white three-storey building. Entering the aisle we welcome by some souvenir stores, we had to take off our coat and leave it in the deposit counter. Some tour members were attempted to shop, but our guide prohibited and suggested to do it after exploring the museum. The elegantly aisle with the white arches and pillars were very beautiful decorated with yellow light. Some huge marble statues were decorated at the side of the aisle, we're not allowed to touch them.
Guidance by the local guide, we explored the ground floor which was designed by German architect Leo von Klenze using painted polished stucco, while the columns made of natural marble and granite. The first room we visited was the Egyptian hall in the eastern part of the Winter Palace, contained of classical modest antiquities collection. The most interesting one was the mummy including its coffin which was formed as a human and carved beautifully to save the dead body. Inside the coffin was carved Anubis, an incredibly ancient God, as the original God of the dead.
After going through red aisle, full of carved stone as the wall decoration on the left and right side, we arrived in a hall made of marble from floor, wall, up to the ceiling. No plain surface, all of them were carved and painted elegantly with soft colour, although no air conditioner it's cold because of the natural marble. We entered The Cabinet of Sculpture room which were full of white sculpture with Roman mosaic floor from the late 3rd century A.D. We passed through a small hall with an immense "Tsarina of Vases", weighing 19.2 tonnes, made of grey marble. It is a symbol of the extremely high professionalism of the stone-cutters of the Altai to work on the single five-metre block of Revnev jasper.
Continue to The Hall of Graeco-Etruscan Vases, a room with two rows of pillars made of gray granites. Some ancient vases kept in this hall provide a picture of the different centres of ceramic production in Greece and Italy. The wall and the ceiling were covered with painting inspired by the decoration of ancient pottery. Acanthus ornament and a meander pattern were embellished museum's mosaic floor. I didn't hear the local guide explanation, but busy to take some photos.
From ground floor we went up to the first floor via stairs on the red carpet, no escalator or lift here :-) Some senior people had difficulty to go up, they had to walk slowly climbing the stairs. A huge green Malachite Medici-shape vase enhanced by the gilded bronze elements - massive handles in the form of snake tails and hoops was put right beside of the end of the stairs. The Russian craftsmen who worked with malachite produced their pieces using "Russian mosaic" technique. They cut the malachite into thin slices and stuck them onto a base following the natural grain of the mineral so as to create the impression of a single piece of stone.
We also visited a room displaying Armour Set for Horse and Rider. Some armour clothes style including the helmet from 15th-17th centuries were displayed inside a glass cupboard. You could imagine how heavy the clothes, and how strong the army's physic during the ancient war, unfortunately we could not touch it unless it would ruin because of the age. We also explored porcelain collection, some of them were kept in a pyramid glasses with made of glass with golden frame.
Entered the central room of the New Hermitage called Italian School room, which was full of paintings and malachite creation. The room was guided by some persons to remind and warn the visitors not to touch the painting or sat on the furniture. The immense size, the striking ceiling decoration, the combination of rich red walls and the gleam of gilded frames and furniture, magnificent vases and lighting devices made of coloured stone together create an impression of truly palatial luxury. The display covers a period from the twilight of the great age of the Renaissance to the time when Rome became the school for the entire artistic world. Presented here are large-format works by artists of the Venetian, Roman, Bolognese and Florentine schools from the 16th and 17th centuries.
The most area I like was The Raphael Loggias as a copy of the famous Gallery created in the 16th century in the Vatican Palace by the architect Donato Bramante. Its walls and vaults were painted by Raphael's pupils with Bible stories. The decoration of the gallery embodies a typical Renaissance tendency to reveal connection between Classical Antiquity and Christianity. It's very colorful and beautiful pictures surrounding with golden frame. Unfortunately we didn't have enough time to see the painting one by one, also a guide was definitely needed to tell the story. Anyway the full painting on the wall and arches created a beautiful picture on the photo.
Last room visited was the Pavilion Hall, to admire James Cox’s Peacock Clock. The Golden Peacock Clock was a present from Grigori Alexandrovich Potemkin to Catherine the Great. It is the only large 18th-century automaton in the world to still be functioning in its original unaltered condition. The room was full of visitors from various group tours who would like to see the peacock closer around the big glass cupboard, it's really hard to get a full picture of the peacock, as the glass was full of golden frame.
The luxurious main staircase of the Winter Palace, known as the Ambassadors' Staircase or Jordan Staircase (a celebration of Christ's baptism in the Jordan River), was led us to end of the journey. Two broad flights of marble steps lead up to a landing embellished with grey granite columns. The 18th-century ceiling painting by Gasparo Diziani depicting Mount Olympus visually enlarges the interior that is transfused with light, gleaming gold and mirrors. The staircase (retaining the original 18th-century style) was adorned with statues, some of which were brought from Italy in Peter the Great's reign. It's very magnificent, imagine you could see the guest who would go for dancing ballroom through this staircase. It's really like the palace that we could imagine the grandeur and the beauty.
One could spend days in the labyrinthine rooms and anterooms and never see all the art on display, we had to rush, some rooms were skipped, anyway we had seen many great exhibits. The palace building was awesome, the collection was plentiful and the history was fascinating. It's a must visit when you travel to St. Petersburg. If you don't join a group tour, it would be better to rent an audio tour, so you'll understand what you see and enjoy the exhibits.
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