Eastern and Central Europe (Eyewitness Travel Guides)

144 NORTH EASTERN EUROPE

The New Hermitage

was designed by Leo

von Klenze to form a

coherent part of the

Large Hermitage. It

is the only purpose-

built museum within

the whole complex.

Theatre

During Catherine’s reign, there

were regular performances held

in Quarenghi’s theatre. Today,

it hosts exhibitions and concerts.

One of the most famous museums in the world, the Hermitage
occupies a grand ensemble of buildings. The most impressive is
the Winter Palace (see pp150–51), to which Catherine the Great
added the more intimate Small Hermitage. In the 18th century,
she built the Large Hermitage to house her collection of art.
The Theatre was built in the 18th century, the New Hermitage
between 1839 and 1851. The New and Large Hermitages were
opened by Nicholas I in 1852 as a museum. From 1918 to 1939
the Winter Palace was incorporated into the museum. The Neo-
Classical General Staff Building was added in the late 1990s.
Mid- and late-19th-century collections are being moved there.

. Raphael Loggias
Catherine was so
impressed by en grav-
ings of Raphael’s
frescoes in the
Vatican that in 1787
she commissioned
copies to be made
on canvas.

Atlantes

Ten 5-m (16-ft) tall

granite Atlantes hold up

what used to be the public

en trance to the Hermitage

museum from 1852 until

after the Revolution.

The Winter Canal

A gallery spanning the

canal connects the Theatre

to the Large Hermitage and

forms the theatre foyer.

Court

ministries

were located

here until

the 1880s.

The Large Hermitage

was designed by

Yuriy Velten to house

Catherine’s paintings.

The Hermitage 9
Эрмитаж
Ermitazh

For hotels and restaurants in this region see pp160–61 and pp162–3

STAR FEATURES

. Raphael Loggias
. Pavilion Hall
. Winter Palace
State Rooms