Monday morning in St. Petersburg found us preparing for private tour of the Hermitage. The Hermitage is closed on Mondays but the Four Seasons arranged for us to have a private tour. What a treat being able to visit on of the most famous collections in the world on a private tour. The tour included the rare artifacts and jem vault which is never opened to the public. Amazing!
The Hermitage is located in Catherine the Great’s Winter Palace. The palace was constructed on a monumental scale that was intended to reflect the might and power of Imperial Russia. \240It was designed by many architects, most notably Bartolomeo Rastrelli, in what came to be known as the Elizabethan Baroque style. The green-and-white palace has the shape of an elongated rectangle, and its principal façade is 215 metres (705 ft) long and 30 m (98 ft) high. The Winter Palace has been calculated to contain 1,786 doors, 1,945 windows, 1,500 rooms and 117 staircases.
The Hermitage buildings served as a home and workplace for nearly a thousand people, including the Imperial family. In addition to this, they also served as an extravagant showplace for all kinds of Russian relics and displays of wealth prior to the art collections. Many events were held in these buildings including masquerades for the nobility, grand receptions and ceremonies for state and government officials. The "Hermitage complex" was a creation of Catherine's that allowed all kinds of festivities to take place in the palace, the theatre and even the museum of the Hermitage. This helped solidify the Hermitage as not only a dwelling place for the Imperial family, but also as an important symbol and memorial to the imperial Russian state.
Today, the palace and the museum are one and the same. In Catherine's day, the Winter Palace served as a central part of what was called the Palace Square. The Palace Square served as St. Petersburg's nerve center by linking it to all the city's most important buildings. The presence of the Palace Square was extremely significant to the urban development of St. Petersburg, and while it became less of a nerve center later into the 20th century, its symbolic value was still very much preserved.
Catherine the Great started her art collection in 1764 by purchasing paintings from Berlinmerchant Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky. He assembled the collection for Frederick II of Prussia, who ultimately refused to purchase it. Thus, Gotzkowsky provided 225 or 317 paintings (conflicting accounts list both numbers), mainly Flemish and Dutch, as well as others, including 90 not precisely identified, to the Russian crown.[8] The collection consisted of Rembrandt (13 paintings), Rubens (11 paintings), Jacob Jordaens (7 paintings), Anthony van Dyck (5 paintings), Paolo Veronese (5 paintings), Frans Hals (3 paintings, including Portrait of a Young Man with a Glove), Raphael (2 paintings), Holbein (2 paintings), Titian (1 painting), Jan Steen (The Idlers), Hendrik Goltzius, Dirck van Baburen, Hendrick van Balen and Gerrit van Honthorst.[9] Perhaps some of the most famous and notable artworks that were a part of Catherine's original purchase from Gotzkowsky were Danae, painted by Rembrandt in 1636; Descent from the Cross, painted by Rembrandt in 1624; and Portrait of a Young Man Holding a Glove, painted by Frans Hals in 1650. These paintings remain in the Hermitage collection today.
The Animals revolt against the Hunters
Several of us followed up the visit to the Hermitage with lunch at the Stroganoff Steak House enjoying what else- Beef Stroganoff.
Monday evening we were treated to the most elegant dinner ever. It was hosted by Four Seaons at the Yusupov Palace. Yusupov Palace was once the primary residence in St. Petersburg, Russia of the House of Yusupov. The building was the site of Grigori Rasputin's murder in the early morning of December 17, 1916.
The dinner began with cocktails in the drawing room followed by private ballet performance in the Palace’s theater. From the Ballet we adjoined to the Great Hall for a fantastic dinner which began with caviar in a Faberge egg. During dinner we were entertained by a 22 piece orchestra, 3 Opera singers and a \240husband and wife violin duo flown in from Moscow. They were the most incredible violin performance I have ever seen. They were so good they had four curtain calls. Please watch the attached videos.
Our Executive Chef, Kerry, getting Kudos after dinner
We finished off the evening with drinks in the hotel bar. Magical!
