The Hermitage/Winter Palace

[chatelaa]

I'm going to start off by saying I am totally ignorant on this topic, so I could use as much information as possible.

Since I have never been to Russia, I am totally confused about what exactly the Hermitage is; that is, I know it's a museum, but is it also the Winter Palace?  Is a WING of the Winter Palace?  Is it across the way from the Winter Palace?  Attached to the Winter Palace?

I looked it up on the Web (Google) and the Official Web site of the Hermitage isn't clear (at least it isn't clear about it as far as I understand it).  According to them, there's a 'Little Hermitage', a "Great Hermitage', a 'New Hermitage' and the Winter Palace.  Are these all separate buildings?

Then, on another site, it has the following:  The Winter Palace (The Hermitage)....as though it's one and the same.

Historically, did the Hermitage exist during the reign of Nicholas II?  I remember reading the the poet Marina Tsevetaeva (sp?)--her father was the original founder/curator of the Hermitage?

I'm counting on you historians to clear the fog from my brain.

---Adele

[Jane]

Adele, I will be very brief, because I know that there are many on this board who will be able to give you some great details about the history of the Winter Palace/Hermitage, so I'll just sketch a quick outline.

When the Winter Palace was still used as a residence, there were separate (attached) extensions known as the various hermitages you refer to (New, Little, etc).  My understanding from what I have read is that there were basically art galleries/treasure repositories.  On the roof of one was a garden where cows were once kept to provide fresh milk to one of the empresses (Paul's wife Maria?  Anyone?  Help me out here).  I believe they were open to the public, but I am not sure.  After the revolution, the whole complex eventually became what we know today as the Hermitage, but techincally the Winter Palace is just a part of it.  

I am sorry I am not much help here, I am posting away from home, where I have boatoads of books on the subject.

Jane

[chatelaa]

Jane,
 Thanks so much!  This is very helpful and maybe others can add to the topic!  (Amazing!  Cows!)......--Adele

[Antonio_P.Caballer]

In my opinion the Winter palace is not in the best condition. Rooms that were used by the romanovs were all destroyed or at least emptied of every original piece of furniture. There´s some exceptions to this but not many. The problem was not, as you can think, the ransake during the revolution, but mainly the 1920s sales by the soviets. You would need only to see Alain de Gourcuff´s book about the palace interiors to understand what i mean. the original furniture is lost as well as the realm of a home. Only some pieces formerly in another palaces can be found scattered in white washed rooms...

[Aidan]

 Having seen many of the 19th century watercolours
of the palace interior I think some rooms are probably
better without their Victorian clutter.Some effort should
certainly be made to re-instate the original furnishings
in the more important state rooms however.When I was
there last summer I was glad to see that both the
canopy and throne had both been re-instated in St.
Georges Hall.This gave a focus to one of the most impo
-rtant rooms in the Winter Palace.I wish that the same
could be done to the Nicholas Hall which is now
cluttered up with exhibits.It is understandable that the
museum needs to use these rooms for exhibition
spaces,but clerely a balence needs to be struck.I have
to say that I do not consider much of the mid to late
19th century furniture which occupied those interiors a
great loss asthetically. I have a strong preference for
Russian Empire furniture.
While the Winter Palace has many fine interiors,there
seems to be an over relience on vaulted ceilings,pre-
sumably as fire prevention in the wake of the fire of
December 1837.I would be more intersted in finding
out more about the palace interiors pre 1837.My guess
is that they must have been constantly changing since
Rastrelli`s time.
I have often wondered why the original colour scheme
of the exterior has not been restored.It was I think,
yellow and white and would blend in much better with
the General Staff building across the Palace Square.

[BobAtchison]

The interior decoration of the former rooms of Nicholas and Alexandra is still there at the Winter Palace - walls, ceilings, etc.  They are now being used as exhibition rooms for Russian furniture of the 18th-20th centuries.  They could be restored as they were - much of the furniture survives but was sold....

Bob

[BobAtchison]

I thought the original colors were a sandy sepia and white - am I wrong?

Bob

[Nick_Nicholson]

Bob,  

You are correct.  The original 18th century Winter Palace was cream and white with gilt ornamentation.  When it was first built, remember that the General Staff Building, the Hermitage, the New Hermitage, etc.  had not been constructed, and the Palace stood independantly.  

The staff building was constructed by Rossi during the reigns of Alexander I and Nicholas I.  The staff building was painted yellow and white (the scheme for all official government buildings in the Kremlin, even today).

By the time the staff building was complete, and the Winter Palace needed a paint job, Nicholas I declared that all residences of members of the Imperial family should be painted a dark red, which recalled early Muscovite palaces.  As a result, for most of the nineteenth and through to the early 20th, the Winter Palace was painted a dark red with beige trim and gold.

After the revolution, the palace was repainted the lovely pale blue-green it is today.  That color was taken from other buildings designed by Rastrelli, who preferred it -- the Stroganov palace is the same color.

In the mid-nineteenth century, the strong red and yellow buildings must have been quite something.

To read more about this, find a copy of Geraldine Norman's history of the Hermitage, which is teriffic.

Best, Nick

[Aidan]

As regards the colours of the facades,I was simply
going by illustrations of 18th and early 19century
paintings in books.I know the the exterior was painted
an ugly reddish winey colour in the late 19th century
as was the whole of the palace square.I saw a picture
of the general staff building being re-painted as it is
today in an architectural magazine from 1932.
Of Nicolas and Alexandra`s roomsthe one which stands
out for me is the library.It would not require too much
effort to restore that room as it was pre-1917.It it true
that the contents of that library was bought by the
Library of Congress?
Though I am not a fan of the neo-rococo interiors,I have
a particular fondness for the private diningroom behind
the malachite chamber.I also admire the neo-rococo
foyer,if that`s what it is,next to the private theatre.I
think it dates from the turn of the century.It`s a room I
would like to know more about.

[BobAtchison]

Nick wasn't the rule extended that all governent buildings had to the that awful red - or was it just palaces??

Obviously it wasn't applied to Tsarskoe Selo or Peterhof.

The Michael Palace - was it painted red too?

I had heard the story somewhere that Alexander III somehow had a huge amount of the paint and made a government decree to use it on gov buildings.  I guess that was wrong!

Bob

[Nick_Nicholson]

Bob,

I don't know.  The Catherine Palace, The Alexander Palace, and Pavlovsk were all spared the wash of red.  Perhaps it didn't apply to historic buildings?

When Grand Duke Serge bought the Belosselsky Palace, it was changed from Rastrelli green to the red it still is today, and the Vladimir palace was red as well.  The Marble Palace was not (NO ONE would be silly enough to paint a marble facade), and so I wonder.  I'll have to go back into Norman's book for details when I get home today.

Hmm. I really should think before I repeat things I've been told.

Nick

[Antonio_P.Caballer]

The interior decoration of the former rooms of Nicholas and Alexandra is still there at the Winter Palace - walls, ceilings, etc.  They are now being used as exhibition rooms for Russian furniture of the 18th-20th centuries.  They could be restored as they were - much of the furniture survives but was sold....

Bob

Thanks for the explanation,
Sometimes i do not express correctly and think the word "destroyed" is perhaps too hard. It´s true that architectural decoration like the columns in N&A´s bedroom or the painted ceiling of her boudoir and the silver room is preserved. The parquet floor of the billiard room and the boudir also survives but i did not see anything like furniture or fabrics, with the only exception of the library(and this as far as i remember, mainly without the original furniture). Alexander II´s study has the columns but little else formerly belonging to this room, and so on. The impression i had of these rooms was poor, cold and neglect.

Antonio.

[Nick_Nicholson]

The best place to see what the apartments looked like before the revolution are the state apartments at the Kremlin.  They are awash in fabrics, and have all the original furnishings, though the artworks are all now in museums.

Nick

[brnbg aka: liljones1968]

By the time the staff building was complete, and the Winter Palace needed a paint job, Nicholas I declared that all residences of members of the Imperial family should be painted a dark red, which recalled early Muscovite palaces.

is THAT why Ella & Serge's palace (the Belozelski-Belozerski palace) is that hideous red color?!    i've got photos from when it was all white or, at least, a very pale pastel & it harmonized w/ it's architecture much better.      i could never fathom why anyone would actually CHOOSE that awful color --- it always seems to make it look grimey & dirty.

but an "Imperial command" would alleviate the doubt i had in the resident's tastes ;-)

[katy]

Hi this is for Bob Atchison- Hi- I have been reading lots of comments on this forum and notised that you always give valuable knowledge on the Romanov's.  
Im not sure if your a film buff- but Im in dire need of some help -so I will ask anyway- I am writing a thesis on documentary film- I am hoping to write about how films with content of the Romaonvs can be educational to the audience- thus Im looking for accurracy in films- ive nt yet managed to be well read enough to be able to comment yet on which films have good accurrate content- so if you have any pointers I would be extremely greatful for the help!
with regards