Our final day in Saint Petersburg was entirely dedicated to the Arts, starting with a visit to the State Hermitage Museum (also referred to as the Winter Palace). The palace was founded by Catherine the Great in 1764 and served as the residence for the Romanov Tsars. The bountiful artwork collection was established the same year and grew throughout the Imperial reign. The Hermitage also boasts a lavish selection of Impressionist and Post-impressionist artwork; the acquisition of which is deeply rooted in controversy. And in 1994, the museum disclosed the dubious details.
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| The Winter Palace |
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| Alexander Column |
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| At the Winter Palace |
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| Entrance to museum |
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Following World War II, members of the Red Army confiscated/stole private German collections and brought them back to the Soviet Union where they remained hidden and under watchful eyes (ideological retribution for Nazi pillaging of Russian art). The Soviet Union fell in 1991 and it wasn't until three years later when the State Hermitage released a statement about the stolen masterworks. They were to be featured in a new exhibit; some of which hadn't been seen in seven decades. While international relationships remain tenuous to this day, the Hermitage has improved relations with the West. Recently acquiring Auguste Renoir's
Bal au Moulin de la Galette (on loan) from the Musée d'Orsay (Paris) in exchange for Pierre Bonnard's
Mediterranean (a triptych, three panels of art placed side-by-side).
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| Palace decor |
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| Jordan Staircase |
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| Romanov Crest on Throne |
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To visit the State Hermitage's complete collection is not only a massive undertaking, but an impossible feat to accomplish in a few hours. The museum has an array of more than three million items; in fact, their website estimates one would need eleven years to view the entire exhibit (assuming each piece is observed for one minute). We didn't have eleven years or even eleven hours. Plus, our
30-day Russian Tourist Visas would long since expire if we attempted to see the selection in its entirety, and there is a absolutely no chance we would go through that process again. To better understand the extensive collection of artwork, we rented audio guides - similar to the
Louvre's Nintendo 3DS, although, not as interactive (the DS included maps. advantage Louvre).
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| Wall of Generals who died fighting Napoleon |
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| Pavilion Hall - Room Catherine the Great's Peacock Clock |
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| Raphael Loggias |
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With the audio devices and museum map, we made our way towards the exhibits inside the Winter Palace. We hatched a tentative plan and would start with the Winter Palace, but agreed more time would be dedicated across the Palace Square. The General Staff Building is opposite the Hermitage and is the location of the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist expositions. After a few hours we were ready to move on to the second building. Some of our favorite pieces in the Winter Palace included: Catherine the Great's
Peacock Clock, the
Raphael Loggias (copy of Raphael's fresco in the Apostolic Palace, Vatican City), Imperial throne room, sculpture of
A Dead Boy on a Dolphin, and Michelangelo's
Crouching Boy. Following a quick lunch, we continued to the General Staff Building where immediate confusion complicated our exposition navigation,
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| Leonardo Da Vinci - Benois Madonna |
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| Fresco ceiling |
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| Attention to detail |
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| Lorenzo Lorenzetti - A Dead Boy on a Dolphin |
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| Michelangelo - Crouching Boy |
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| Antonio Canova - Repentant Mary Magdalene |
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At the top of a stairwell where hallway branched in each direction, there were two signs, each pointing to the exposition - in opposite directions. I suppose we couldn't go wrong, but it brought back memories of getting lost in the
Souks of Marrakech, where we found adjacent signs with arrows depicting the same destination in contradicting paths. Our decision to go right paid off, the only painting in the area was the recently acquired Renoir (
Bal au Moulin de la Galette - but no photography allowed). Later, we resumed our tour in the other direction and found the post-War looted artwork. The next few rooms had masterpieces from Monet, van Gogh, Cézanne, and Seurat (to name a few). However, somewhere between the fourth and fifth hour we had to call it quits. There was too much to see and not enough time. We also had our final event of the Festival of the White Nights in the evening and wanted to enjoy a nice dinner before the production.
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| Which way to the exposition? Both you say... |
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| Claude Monet - Lady in the Garden |
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| Auguste Renoir - Child with a Whip |
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| Claude Monet - The Seine at Rouen |
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| Paul Cézanne - Smoker |
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| Paul Cézanne - Lady in Blue |
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We dined at one of our hotel restaurants as a matter of convenience and quick access to transportation. Also, we figured a facility of its prestige would hopefully translate to the kitchen. Having been in Russia for three days, we (I) had yet to satisfy a growing penchant for caviar. Julie's palate has an aversion to piscine, but she had taste nonetheless; resulting with instantaneous and expected dissatisfaction. I on the other hand, thoroughly enjoyed the appetizer; pancake, sour cream, cheese, and all - the Russian burrito if you will. We had the whole restaurant to ourselves until a lone diner was seated at a table behind us. The privacy made for a unique first-class experience and the theme would continue as we headed to one of the most expensive venues in Saint Petersburg.
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| Auguste Renoir - In the Garden |
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| Alfred Sisley - Villeneuve-la-Garenne |
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| Georges-Pierre Seurat - View of Fort Samson, Grandcamp |
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| Vincent van Gogh - The White House at Night |
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| Vincent van Gogh - Morning: Peasant Couple Going out to Work (after Millet) |
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| Alphonse-Marie de Neuville - Street in the Old Town |
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The evening's entertainment for the Festival of the White Nights featured Pyotr Tchaikovsky's
Sleeping Beauty at the extravagant Mariinsky II, a $750-million theater. Although, with three-quarters of a billion dollars spent, I expected a reclining seat with individual masseurs. The ballet itself was a four-hour excursion and included three intermissions, allowing us to explore the lavish building. The Mariinsky Ballet Company is among the best in the world and boasts graduates from the famous Vaganova Academy. Adding to the prestige, the Maestro Valery Gergiev, a world renowned composer and also the artistic director of Mariinsky Theater (and director of the Festival of the White Nights). Expectations were high, anything short of perfection would be a disappointment. That is, if we were more in-tune with high-brow culture, although, we did spend four-plus hours looking at art earlier in the day. Suffice it to say, the production was very enjoyable, yet we were exhausted after another long day of sightseeing and promptly fell asleep once we returned to our temporary abode.
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| Audience funneling into the theater |
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| The Russian Burrito (salmon caviar, couldn't afford sturgeon) |
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| Fancy pants for the ballet |
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On our final half-day we returned to some of our favorite attractions and walked Nevsky Prospect one last time. We started with the Hermitage and Palace square for better pictures given the favorable weather. Later, the reminder of our time was spent at our favorite building in the city,
Church of Our Savior on Spilled Blood. We enjoyed our last meal in Russia eating on a terrace overlooking the church and had shots of Wodka for a celebratory sendoff, From Russia with Love - Для твоего здоровья.
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| Marble wall |
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| Swarovski crystal |
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| Pyotr Tchaikovsky - Sleeping Beauty |
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| Curtain call |
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| Huzzah!!! A happy ending |
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| Alina Somova |
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| The End |
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| From Russia with Love |
