Ceilings of the Hermitage

In front of the Hermitage in St. Petersburg!

On to St. Petersburg, Russia! Having the opportunity to go to St. Petersburg was one of the reasons I accepted the offer to work for Semester at Sea this summer so I was very excited when we docked in STP a week or so ago. My first activity: the Hermitage.

The Hermitage is a state museum featuring an art collection originally purchased by Catherine the Great. Catherine the Great was very adamant about purchasing collections, rather than just one or two paintings from an artist, and because of this desire for collections the Hermitage now has one of the largest art collections in the world. The Museum is only able to showcase about 10 percent of the collection at a time and literally has millions of dollars of priceless artwork sitting in the basement.

The collections include Picasso, Goya, Monet, da Vinci, Titian, Matisse and many more art superstars. However, I have to admit I didn’t spend much time looking at the artwork. Why, you may ask? Because the building itself is A-MAZING! The architecture and interior design are so overwhelming wonderful that I couldn’t take my eyes off it long enough to enjoy the surrounding artwork. For this reason, I have dedicated this blog post to the ceilings and interiors of the Hermitage. I hope you enjoy.

One may think that I wasted my trip to the Hermitage by not carefully examining the paintings. This may be so but because I basically missed the artwork on this first trip, I now have an excuse to return! J

Front of the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia.

One of the first rooms I entered in the Hermitage. The vase is so large they created the room around it! The vase is made from malachite which is found in the Ural Mountains.

So, I lied. This blog post features a few other things besides the ceilings. This is the inlaid wood floors in the Museum.

This room is known as the "Small Italian Skylight Room." Small you say...hmmm....

Another view of the Small Italian Skylight Room in the Hermitage.

Many ceilings were intricately painted in the Hermitage.

Me standing in front of a royal seating area in the Hermitage Museum.

Another royal seating area in the Hermitage Museum.

Up close of the gold and carvings above the throne.

Pretty, pretty! Another ceiling and chandelier in the Hermitage Museum!

Pavilion Hall in the Hermitage Museum.