It was, after all, the main reason we came to St. Petersburg. The Hermitage is among the Top Ten art museums of the world. The building itself was the former Winter Palace of Peter the Great and it is large, maybe not Louvre-size, but formidable never-the-less. Large enough that we bought a two-day ticket. If you don't get irretrievably lost (a real possibility) or run down by a tour group speeding from one "must see" work to another, you are likely to succumb to visual over-stimulation.
The Hermitage, former Summer Palace of Peter the Great
The collection contains room upon room of sculpture and paintings from Italy, France, the Low Countries, Germany, Russia (of course) plus artifacts from ancient Greece, Rome, Egypt and Asia. The most unique come from the perma-frost of Siberia and include tattooed mummies and the oldest woven carpet in the world, all remarkably preserved.
All of the great European artists are represented. There is an entire room devoted to Rafael, another to Rubens and one to Rembrandt, even a "Madonna and Child" by Leonardo da Vinci. We finished our inventory of Michelangelo sculpture, begun in Florence, with his "Crouching Boy." We lingered in the six rooms devoted to the Impressionists and even returned for another look on day two. There are more of Van Gogh's paintings in one room than we have seen in total before. We even "discovered" some artists we hadn't been aware of, like Kees von Dongen and Othon Friesz.
"Crouching Boy" by Michelangelo
Rembrandt's "Old Jew"
In between visits we visited Peterhof, the Summer Palace, 30-something kilometers from town. Traveling by hydrofoil costs 1000 rubles, about $31, round-trip but taking the metro and a bus is one-fifth the cost. And the experience, as they say "is priceless!" The escalator to the metro descends 200 feet below street level according to my trusty altimeter watch. As in most former Soviet cities the metro doubled as a fallout shelter, providing a safe haven for perhaps 10% of the population. It was packed at rush-hour but the trains ran on schedule and cost less than a dollar.
Peterhof, The Summer Palace
It was drizzling and you could see your breathe when we arrived at the palace. The turning fall leaves somewhat brightened the drabness of the sky and most of the fountains were still spouting. We had neither the time nor the inclination to tour the palace interior so after wandering around the gardens we returned to the Hermitage for another go.
