St. Petersburg and the Hermitage: Wonder and Opulence Dr. Julia Zarankin April, 2016 Peter the Great (1672-1725) Painting by Paul Delaroche, 1838 Peter’s City Originally named Sant- Piterburkh (later became Sankt- Peterburg) Renamed Petrograd (1915) Renamed Leningrad (1924) Renamed Sankt Peterburg (1991) Referred to as Piter St. Petersburg: WINDOW ONTO EUROPE Moscow: A City of Onion Domes City of Spires Alexandre Benois “Peter Meditating on the Building of St. Petersburg” (1916) Alexander Nevsky Monastery (1710) Architect: Domenico Trezzini Peter’s Summer Palace Twelve Collegia Domenico Trezzini Peterhof Architect: Jean-Baptiste Le Blond First Winter Palace Domenico Trezzini (1711) A New Metropolis Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli • 1716-1788 • Transformed St Petersburg • Responsible for creating St. Petersburg’s character • Chief builder under Empress Anna and Elizabeth Tsarskoe Selo Rastrelli Rastrelli’s WINTER PALACE Empress Catherine II Reign: 1762-96 Sophie Frederike Auguste von Anhalt- Zerbst Catherine as Minerva Goddess of warriors, poetry, medicine, wisdom, crafts, inventor of music Winter Palace & Hermitage Small Old Hermitage Winter Palace (1754-62) Hermitage Hermitage (1771-87) Theatre (1883- (1767-69) (Bartolomeo Rastrelli) 87) (Yuri Velten) (Jean- (Giacomo Baptiste Quarenghi) Vallin de la Mothe) Catherine’s Hermitage Theatre Architect: Giacomo Quarenghi Hermitage Theatre interior Palladio’s Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza Winter Canal Designed by Quarenghi Houses the Raphael Loggias Raphael Loggias in Hermitage Adorned by C. Unterberger, 1780 Monument to Peter the Great (Etienne Marie Falconet) 100 of Russian Portraiture Simon Ushakov, 1660 Dmitry Levitsky, 1770s Alexander I 1801-1825 Gallery of the Patriotic War Hermitage Palace Square Nicholas I • 1825-1855 • Younger brother of Alexander I • Autocracy, Orthodoxy, Patriotism Out with Voltaire! Winter Palace Fire December 17, 1837 (B. Green) New Hermitage (architect: Leo von Klenze) Kolyvan Vase in the Hermitage St. George’s Hall Throne Room Malachite Room Nicholas I Transforms Hermitage into “Public” Museum, February 5, 1852 Vladimir Lenin: Art Belongs to the People! Stalin takes over in 1924 Andrew Mellon and the Hermitage • Buys 21 treasures from Hermitage in 1930 for 6.6 million • Rembrandt, Van Eyck, Van Dyke, Titian, Velasquez… • Donates paintings to National Gallery in DC Van Eyck and Raphael sold Raphael and Watteau Catherine’s Treasures State Hermitage during Siege of Leningrad (1941-1944) Hermitage Today.