St. Petersburg
During the night I was startled once or twice by the buzzing of a mosquito near my ear.
Ca.1.40am there began a severe and prolonged thunderstorm with torrential rain. I was troubled by painful feet. In the morning it was my turn to feel nauseous, but I got myself moving in time for breakfast
ca.9am.
Morning tour of the world-renowned Hermitage Museum and an afternoon excursion to Peter and Paul Fortress
We already did the “afternoon excursion to Peter and Paul Fortress” yesterday. We joined our group on the coach at 9.30am, and were dropped off on the east side of the Palace Square. We hung around in the Square for some time, then, via the garden on the southwest side of the Winter Palace,
Вера led us to the opposite side of the Palace, along the Palace Embankment, to the entrance to the Hermitage Museum. The museum occupies the Winter Palace and the connected adjacent buildings.
Click on the photos, below, for a larger view.
10:03:36 The General Staff Building on the Palace Square
10:03:36 Detail from the above photo: Triumphal Arch separating the two wings of the General Staff Building
10:03:50 The General Staff Building and Alexander Column on the Palace Square
10:04:32 The Winter Palace on the Palace Square
10:04:32 Detail from the above photo
10:05:18 Triumphal Arch of the General Staff Building
10:05:44 Angel holding a cross atop the Alexander Column
10:06:04 Pedestal of the Alexander Column
10:13:12
Panoramic sweep of the Palace Square
10:21:04 Walking along the Palace Embankment to the entrance of the Hermitage Museum on the opposite side of the Winter Palace
10:23:50 ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ ЭРМИТАЖ — State Hermitage [Museum]
Janet’s and my tickets (both sides) for the Hermitage Museum
Here are the plans of the three levels of the museum as they appeared on The Hermitage Museum website some weeks later, helping me to locate most of the photos I took on our way round.
Ground floor
1. Jordan Gallery
2. Room of Ancient Egypt
3. Room of the Great Vase
4. The Pompeian Room
5. The Twenty-Column Hall
6. The Council Staircase
7. The Augustus Room
8. Room of the Culture and Art of the Hellenistic Era
9. Treasure Gallery I. Room 1
10. Treasure Gallery I. Room 2
11. Treasure Gallery I. Room 3
12. Treasure Gallery I. Room 5
13. Room of the Culture and Art of the Ancient Cities of the Northern Black Sea Area
14. The Hercules Room
15. Room of the Art of the Classical Period
16. The Athena Room
17. Room of the Art of the Archaic and Early Classical Periods
18. The Dionysus Room
19. Ancient Courtyard
20. The Jupiter Hall
21. The Palaeolithic Room
22. Room of the Neolithic and Early Bronze Ages
23. Room of the Bronze Age
24. Room of the Bronze Age
25. Room of the Culture and Art of the Nomadic Tribes of the Altai in the 6th to 4th century B.C.
26. Room of the Culture and Art of the Nomadic Tribes of the Altai in the 6th to 4th century B.C.
27. Gallery of the Culture of the Peoples of Eastern Europe in the Iron Age
28. Treasure Gallery II. Room 2
29. Treasure Gallery II. Room 4
30. The Urartu Room
31. Room of the Culture of the Tribes of the Northern Caucasus in the Early Middle Ages
32. Room of the Culture and Art of Ancient Western Asia
First floor
33. Main Staircase of the Winter Palace
34. The Field Marshals' Room
35. The Peter the Great (Small Throne) Room
36. The Armorial Hall
37. The War Gallery of 1812
38. The St George Hall
39. The Great Church
40. The Picket Room
41. The Alexander Hall
42. Room of German Art of the 16th Century
43. Room of French Art of the 15th to 17th Century
44. The Poussin Room
45. The Lorrain Room
46. Room of French Art of the 18th Century
47. Room of French Art of the 18th Century
48. Room of French Art of the 18th Century
49. Room of French Decorative and Applied Art of the 17th Century
50. Room of French Decorative and Applied Art of the 17th Century
51. Room of French Decorative and Applied Art of the 18th Century
52. The White Hall
53. The Gold Drawing-room
54. The Boudoir
55. The October Staircase
56. Room of British Art
57. Room of British Art
58. Room of the Culture and Art of Russia in the First Half of the 18th Century
59. Room of the Culture and Art of Russia in the First Half of the 18th Century
60. Room of the Culture and Art of Russia in the Second Half of the 18th Century
61. Room of the Culture and Art of Russia in the Second Half of the 18th Century
62. The Library of Nicholas II
63. Exhibition: "The Decoration of the Russian Interior in the 19th Century: The Boudoir of the 1840s-1850s"
64. Exhibition: "The Decoration of the Russian Interior in the 19th Century: The Gambs Room"
65. The Malachite Room
66. The Small Dining-room
67. The Concert Hall
68. The Great (Nicholas) Hall
69. The Portrait Gallery of the House of the Romanovs
70. Room Displaying "Unknown Masterpieces"
71. Room Displaying "Unknown Masterpieces"
72. The Pavilion Hall
73. The Hanging Garden
74. The Western Gallery
75. Upper Landing of the Council Staircase
76. Room of Italian Art of the 13th to Early 15th Century
77. The Leonardo da Vinci Room
78. Room of Italian Art of the 16th Century
79. The Titian Room
80. The Veronese Room
81. The Majolica Room
82. The Raphael Loggias
83. The Knights' Room
84. The Twelve-Column Hall
85. The Small Italian Skylight Room
86. The Italian Cabinet
87. The Large Italian Skylight Room
88. The Spanish Cabinet
89. The Small Spanish Skylight Room
90. The Gallery of the History of Ancient Painting
91. The Main Staircase of the New Hermitage
92. Room of Flemish Art
93. The Van Dyck Room
94. The Rubens Room
95. Room of Netherlandish Art of the Late 16th and 17th Centuries.
96. The Western Gallery
97. The Tent-Roofed Room
98. The Rembrandt Room
Second floor
99. Room of French Art of the 18th and Early 19th Centuries
100. Room of French Art of the Late 18th and Early 19th Centuries
101. The Renoir Room
102. The Monet Room
103. The Van Gogh Room
104. The Gauguin Room
105. The Matisse Room I
106. The Matisse Room II
107. Room of French Art of the Early 20th Century
108. The Picasso Room I
109. The Picasso Room II
110. Room of German Art of the 19th Century
111. Room of European and American Art of the 20th Century
112. Room of European Art of the 20th Century
113. The Kandinsky Room
114. Room of Chinese Art of the 17-18th Centuries
115. Room of Chinese Art
116. Room of the Art of the Tangut State of Hsi Hsia in the 12th to 14th Century
117. Room of Artefacts from the Monastery of the Cave of the Thousand Buddhas, Dunhuang
118. Room of Wall Paintings from the Bezeklik Monastery (Central Asia)
119. Room of Indian Arms and Applied Art
120. Room of Indian Miniatures
121. Room of Ancient and Mediaeval Indian Sculpture
122. Room of Tibetan Art
123. Room of Mongolian Art
124. Room of Artefacts from the Noin Ula burials (Northern Mongolia)
125. Room of the Art of Byzantium in the 4th to 15th Century (Saltykov Staircase)
126. Room of the Art of Byzantium in the 4th to 9th Century
127. Room of the Culture and Art of Byzantium in the 4th to 12th Century
128. Room of the Art of Byzantium in the 10th to 15th Century
129. Room of the Culture and Art of Sassanid Iran in the 3rd to 7th Century
130. Room of Isalamic Art of the Near East
131. Room of the Culture and Art of Iran from the 16th Century to the First Half of the 19th
132. Room of the Culture and Art of Iran from the 16th Century to the First Half of the 19th.
We proceeded along the Jordan Gallery (1) to the Main Staircase of the Winter Palace (33).
10:35:34 Jordan Gallery
10:35:34 Jordan Gallery
— same view, cropped and enlarged
10:36:16 Approaching the Main Staircase of the Winter Palace
10:37:00 Main Staircase of the Winter Palace
10:37:58 Main Staircase of the Winter Palace
10:38:16 Ceiling painting: Mount Olympus
10:38:16 Ceiling painting: Mount Olympus — part of same view, rotated and straightened up
On the first floor we entered the Field Marshals’ Room (34)—
10:44:06 Entering the Field Marshals’ Room
10:45:46 The Field Marshals’ Room
10:46:12
—then the Peter the Great (Small Throne) Room (35)—
10:46:58 The Peter the Great (Small Throne) Room
10:47:58 The Peter the Great (Small Throne) Room
—then the Armorial Hall (36)—
10:48:24 The Armorial Hall
10:48:48 The Armorial Hall
10:49:08 The Armorial Hall
10:49:54 The Armorial Hall: bowl of the mineral aventurine, made by craftsmen of the Yekaterinburg Lapidary Works (19th century)
—then the War Gallery of 1812 (37).
10:52:14 The War Gallery of 1812
10:52:30 The War Gallery of 1812
10:54:04 Equestrian portrait of Alexander I (Franz Krüger, 1837, oil on canvas)
10:55:06 The War Gallery of 1812
10:56:36
10:57:50
From there we went up to the second floor, to the Room of French Art of the 18th and Early 19th Centuries (99) and several other rooms—
11:00:34 Room of French Art of the 18th and Early 19th Centuries
11:02:36 Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841–1919): Party in the Country at Berneval (1898)
11:03:12 Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841–1919): In the Garden (1885)
11:03:32 Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841–1919):Man on a Stair and Woman on a Stair
(ca.1876)
11:04:54 Ferdinand Roybet (1840–1920): An Odalisque (1880s)
11:06:28 Claude Monet (1840–1926): Garden in Bordighera, Impression of Morning (1884)
11:08:02 Vincent Van Gogh (1853–1890): Memory of the Garden at Etten (Ladies of Arles) (1888)
11:09:06 Vincent Van Gogh (1853–1890): The White House at Night (June 1890)
11:10:06 Paul Gaugin (1848–1903): Pastorales tahitiennes (1892)
The door out of the Gaugin Room (104) led to a balcony overlooking the first-floor Alexander Hall (41), which in turn led to other second-floor rooms,
e.g. the Matisse Rooms (105, 106) and the Picasso Rooms (108, 109).
11:11:22
11:11:54 The Alexander Hall
11:12:38 Maurice Denis (1870–1943): Figures in a Spring Landscape (Sacred Grove) (1897)
11:13:24 Henri Matisse (1869–1954): Lady on a Terrace (1907)
11:13:58 Henri Matisse (1869–1954): Dance (1910)
11:14:46 Henri Matisse (1869–1954): Music (1910)
11:15:24 Henri Matisse (1869–1954): Nude (Black and Gold) (1908)
11:16:40 Henri Matisse (1869–1954): Family Portrait (1911)
11:18:28 André Derain (1880–1954): Martigues (Harbour in Provence) (1913)
11:19:20 Charles Guérin (1875–1939): Nude (1907)
11:20:12 Pablo Picasso (1881–1973): Two Sisters (The Visit) (1902)
11:21:08 Pablo Picasso (1881–1973): Friendship (1908)
11:21:44 Pablo Picasso (1881–1973): Composition with a Skull (1908)
11:22:30 Pablo Picasso (1881–1973): Young Woman (1909)
11:23:00 Pablo Picasso (1881–1973): Violin and Guitar
(ca.1912–1913)
11:23:56 Pablo Picasso (1881–1973): Musical Instruments (1912)
11:25:14 Henri Rousseau (1844–1910): Luxembourg Garden. Monument to Chopin (1909)
We went back down to the first floor, to one of the Rooms of British Art (56)—
11:29:02 Michael Dahl (?1659–1743): Portrait of a Lady
(ca.1715)
11:30:10 Thomas Gainsborough (1727–1788): Lady in Blue (1780)
—then to the White Hall (52)—
11:32:24 The White Hall
11:34:00 Mahogany bureau with a figure of Apollo (David Roentgen and Peter Kinzing, 1783)
11:35:10
11:35:34
—then to the Gold Drawing Room (53), then another room—
11:36:26 No photography in the Gold Drawing Room, but my finger slipped!
11:38:32
11:38:58
—then the Boudoir (54) and another room beyond that.
11:39:46 The Boudoir
11:40:22 The Boudoir
From here, 11:40:22 (the Boudoir, 54) to 11:50:34 (the Small Dining Room, 66), I can’t find the locations on the plan — but there are several rooms on the plan that are not numbered.
11:46:22 Constantine’s Trophies: Tapestry from
The Story of Constantine the Great series, cartoon by Peter Paul Rubens, Paris, France (the Raphael de la Planche manufactory, 1633–68, wool and silk)
11:47:36
11:47:54
11:48:34
11:49:34
We went through the Small Dining Room (66), where on the night of 25/26 October 1917 (Julian Calendar) ministers of the Provisional Government were arrested, and the clock stopped.
11:50:34 The Small Dining Room
11:51:42 «В ЭТОЙ КОМНАТЕ В НОЧЬ С 25 НА 26 ОКТЯБРЯ (7–8 НОЯБРЯ) 1917 ГОДА КРАСНОГВАРДЕЙЦЫ, СОЛДАТЫ И МАТРОСЫ, ВЗЯВШИЕ ШТУРМОМ ЗИМНИЙ ДВОРЕЦ, АРЕСТОВАЛИ КОНТРРЕВОЛЮЦИОННОЕ БУРЖУАЗНОЕ ВРЕМЕННОЕ ПРАВИТЕЛЬСТВО.» — “In this room the night of 25–26 October (7-8 November) 1917, the Red Guards, soldiers and sailors, took by storm the Winter Palace, arrested the counterrevolutionary bourgeois Provisional Government.” The clock stopped at 2.10am, the time that the Revolution took place, on 26 October 1917 (Julian Calendar)/8 November 1917 (Gregorian Calendar).
11:52:08 The Small Dining Room
Next, we went into the Malachite Room (65)—
11:52:58 The Malachite Room
11:54:22 The Malachite Room
11:54:46 The Malachite Room
—then the Concert Hall (67).
11:55:36 The Concert Hall
11:56:42 The Reliquary of St. Alexander Nevsky (1747-52, the St. Petersburg Mint — silver; cast, chased and engraved) in the Concert Hall
From there we entered a long corridor: the Portrait Gallery of the House of the Romanovs (69).
11:57:54 Portrait of Nicholas II by Ilya Repin (1895, oil on canvas)
11:57:54 Same portrait, straightened up
11:58:38 Nikolai Bodarevski: Portrait of Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna (1907, oil on canvas)
11:59:28 The Portrait Gallery of the House of the Romanovs
11:59:46
12:00:08 Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich (1832-1909) — by Ernest von Liphart
12:00:22
12:01:50
12:03:16
12:03:36
12:04:00, according to one camera: Louis Tocqué, Portrait of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna (1758, oil on canvas)
12:04:02, according to the other camera
12:04:56
12:08:12
From there we went to the Pavilion Hall (72).
12:10:00 The Pavilion Hall
12:11:06
12:12:00
12:11:48 “We’ve been there!”
12:12:36 The Peacock Clock
12:13:18 Mosaic floor
12:13:44 Looking out at the Hanging Garden
12:14:02
12:14:48
12:15:22
12:15:38
The Pavilion Hall (72) looked out onto the long Hanging Garden (73).
12:16:08
12:16:44
12:16:32
12:18:42
12:18:56
The Pavilion Hall led on to the Upper Landing of the Council Staircase (75), the most noticeable feature of which was a great malachite vase, and on the opposite side was a door to the Room of Italian Art of the 13th to early 15th century (76).
12:19:46 Malachite vase on the the Upper Landing of the Council Staircase
12:20:24 Room of Italian Art of the 13th to early 15th century
12:21:14
From there we went into the Room of Italian Art of the 16th Century (78).
12:22:04 Giovanni Battista Cima da Conegliano
(ca.1459–ca.1517): The Annunciation (1495)
12:22:24 Giorgione
(ca.1477/8–1510): Judith and Holofernes (1505)
12:23:12 Sebastiano del Piombo (Sebastiano Luciani) (1485–1547): Christ Carrying the Cross
And we went through the Titian Room (79)—
12:24:34 Titian (Tiziano Vecellio)
(ca.1488–1576): The Penitent Mary Magdalene
—on the way to the Leonardo da Vinci Room (77).
12:26:20 Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519): Madonna and Child (Madonna Benois)
12:27:10 The Leonardo da Vinci Room
12:28:28 Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519): Madonna and Child (The Litta Madonna), tempera on canvas (transferred from wood)
12:29:16 Giampietrino (Gian Pietro Rizzoli) (active 1508–1549): The Repentant Magdalene (oil on wood)
— not as penitent as Titian’s!
After that we went along the Raphael Loggias (82)—
12:31:32 Entering the Raphael Loggias
12:32:12 The Raphael Loggias, with the vaults painted with scenes from the Bible—
12:33:06 The Raphael Loggias, with the vaults painted with scenes from the Bible—
12:33:30 The Raphael Loggias, with the vaults painted with scenes from the Bible—
12:34:44 —and the walls decorated with grotesque creatures
12:34:54
—turning right about halfway down to pass through the Small Italian Skylight Room (85)—
12:37:50 Carlo Dolci (1616–1686): St. Cicilia (1670)
—into the Large Italian Skylight Room (87)—
12:38:40 The Large Italian Skylight Room
12:40:08 Giovanni Antonio Canal (Canaletto) (1697–1768): Reception of the French Ambassador in Venice (1740s)
—then turning left to enter the Gallery of the History of Ancient Painting (90).
12:41:26 The Gallery of the History of Ancient Painting, looking left
12:41:38 The Gallery of the History of Ancient Painting, looking right
On the opposite side of the Gallery was the Main Staircase of the New Hermitage (91), but we didn’t go that way.
12:41:58 The Main Staircase of the New Hermitage
12:42:08 The Main Staircase of the New Hermitage
12:42:50 Antonio Canova (1757–1822): Kiss of Cupid and Psyche (1794–1797) — in the Gallery of the History of Ancient Painting
We went by way of the Spanish Cabinet (88)—
12:45:48 Alonso Sánchez Coello (1531/1532–1588): The Portrait of Infanta Catalina Micaela of Austria (1583–1585) — I thought it looked more like
Rowan Atkinson!
—and the Rembrandt Room (98)—
12:52:46 Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606–1669): Abraham’s Sacrifice (1635, oil on canvas)
—down by the Council Staircase (75, 6)—
12:54:18
—to the Twenty-Column Hall (5) with granite columns and stone mosaic floor—
12:57:16 The Twenty-Column Hall
12:58:02 Mosaic floor of the Twenty-Column Hall
—then into the Room of the Great Vase (3) — a huge jasper vase 2.57 metres high.
12:59:16 The Room of the Great Vase
We proceeded along a long corridor lined with Roman bas-reliefs—
13:00:50 Ganymede and the Eagle (Roman work, 1st century AD, marble)
13:01:34 Orestes killing Aegisthus and Clytemnestra (Roman work, second half of the 2nd century AD, marble)
13:02:14 Artemis (Roman work, early 2nd century AD, marble)
—through the Room of Ancient Egypt (2)—
13:04:08 Egyptian funerary text (“book of the dead”)
13:04:20 Another Egyptian funerary text (“book of the dead”)
13:04:32 Egyptian mummy-case
13:04:58 Egyptian mummy-cases
—and into the Great Courtyard of the Winter Palace, which had an exit to the Palace Square.
13:18:26 Great Courtyard of the Winter Palace. Sculpture: Enrique Martinez Celaya, The Tower of Snow (2011, bronze)
“We were the only ones to return to the hotel,” Janet wrote. All the others went their own separate ways, so we were the only ones on the coach. “[John] had done really well in the museum, bless him,”
Janet continued. “He was really suffering when we left, though. Back at the hotel we had a wash-and-brush-up then went down to the bar for a drink.” I had a glass of «Балтика
7», brewed locally, on draught. (It’s available back home, in bottles, at Wetherspoons.) “We decided we’d get the Metro to a stop near St. Isaac’s, but in the end [John] realised he really did
NOT feel well enough to go out. I was
SO disappointed. I mulled over the idea of going off on my own but finally realised it wouldn’t be a good idea. [John] returned to the room and I decided to go to ‘Norman’s’ for another bottle of
Pepsi Diet plus a bar of chocolate to take home to try. I took 200 Roubles… I had a good browse around. I got the
Pepsi and saw the bar of chocolate I wanted, then decided that if I had enough left I would get [John] something — probably some crisps — in the hope that he would eat them and it would cheer him up a bit. I knew he was upset we couldn’t go out. I don’t blame him. It’s amazing that we’re here. He does
REALLY well, puts up with a lot of pain and discomfort and lack of mobility and very rarely complains. I chose a biggish packet of Russian crisps that I guessed would be ‘salami’ flavour. Back at the hotel, [John] was really chuffed with them (sausage flavour!) and ate them. I was
SO pleased. And I felt better for my little ‘jolly’! It really didn’t bother me at all going in the shop on my own. I enjoyed the experience and the novelty of browsing around a small Russian supermarket.…”
The first item must be the carrier bag, then there’s Пепси Лайт (Pepsi Light), very cheap at 39.90, Чипсы (“chipsy”,
chips [British English: crisps]), and Шоколад (“shokolad”, chocolate).
15:40:42 «Охотничьи колбаски» (“hunting sausages” — the same, then, as the Polish “Kielbasa Myśliwska” that I enjoyed a long time ago from the delicatessen counter that used to be on Freeman Street market, Grimsby) «чипсы к пиву» (“chips [British English: crisps]
for beer”). Sausage-flavoured crisps…
15:47:46 …from “Norman’s”
“The cleaner stumped up so we went down to the bar for a drink,” Janet wrote — I had another «Балтика
7». “[John] was feeling better.… We then returned to our room and the cleaner had finished. [John] lay on the bed with his feet elevated and is now sound asleep. it is 5.50pm. Tomorrow we have a day excursion to Pushkin. We leave at 9am so I’ve booked a wake-up call for 7am… At 7.15pm we went for dinner. We were put at a different table. Only us. [John was] really
NOT well. Could barely eat his meal. We were back in our room before 8pm. [John] crashed on the bed and I had a shower and updated this. I then channel-hopped. Fascinating. Gratifying to know that Russian telly is as crappy as ours!… Since we returned from dinner [John] has been lying on his bed reading.” I was reading
Wind and Flame, a history of the Pentecostal movement by Donald
Gee, published in 1967.
