"A treasure-trove of Russian and world culture, the State Hermitage is called upon to collect, preserve, study, and show art works to thus promote a better understanding among peoples. Apart from Russia"s largest art repository, the name Hermitage implies a research institute, a culturo-educational centre and a historico-architectural landmark. The history of the Hermitage falls into several periods, among which the reign of Catherine II, who founded the Imperial museum, is naturally the principal one. Of enormous importance is also the reign of Nicholas I, who did not simply add a new building to the palace complex but created a truly public museum universally recognized as a masterpiece of world architecture. It was under Nicholas I that the museum turned into a scholarly institution with its own traditions, written and unwritten rules.
The Hermitage collections, however, were formed not by the crowned heads alone. Among the connoisseurs and lovers of art, whose holdings found their way to the Museum, were members of the old noble families, such as the Shuvalovs, Stroganovs, Yusupovs, Bezborodko, and Potemkin; the diplomats Khitrovo, Basilewsky and Tatishchev; and, last but not least, representatives of the "third estate", the industrialists Demidovs, Morozovs, Shchukins, and the Riabushinskys, who joined the elite of Russian society in more recent times. Thanks to the activity of these outstanding collectors, the Hermitage grew into one of the world"s greatest museums. It is conservative in spirit, and its primary objective is to preserve and demonstrate the inherited cultural wealth, an objective that has been determined by modern reality and concern about the future.
Developing centuries-old traditions, the Museum is constantly expanding. The displays of items from its reserves, arranged in the General Staff Building, have considerably increased access to the museum treasures. The first halls of the future Shchukin and Morozov Gallery have been opened and a new department housing collections transferred from the Lomonosov Porcelain Factory has been set up.
Today, as before, the Museum is a veritable oasis of world cultural tradition, an abode of intellect and a standard of taste".
Mikhail Piotrovsky Издание на английском языке.
Формат 22,5 см х 30 см. Это и многое другое вы найдете в книге The Hermitage: Great Collections of a Great Museum (Mikhail Piotrovsky, Oleg Neverov)