Эрмитаж- история создания музея
методическая разработка по английскому языку (11 класс) на тему

                                The Hermitage

The State Hermitage Museum is situated in Saint Petersburg, the cultural capital of Russia. It is one of the largest museums in the world.

The Hermitage was founded by the empress Catherine the Second in 1764 and was opened to visitors in 1852.

The first collection appeared in 1764. The merchant from Germany, Gotzkowsky, presented 225 pictures to Russia in payment of his debt.

Nowadays, the museum’s collection has about 3 million works of art and monuments of world culture, from the Stone Age to the present century.

Today, the Hermitage is a complex museum, the main exhibition of which is located in five buildings situated in the centre of Saint Petersburg along the Neva River.

The main building of the complex is considered to be the Winter Palace. The building was built in 1754-1765 by the architect Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli.

The three-storey building of the Winter Palace has four wings and a courtyard. The Winter Palace is made in emerald colours. The columns, cornices and window frames are in white and stucco molding and the rest décor is made in ochre.

The Small Hermitage  was built in 1764-1775 by the architects  Vallan-Delamot, Felten and Stasov.The complex of the Small Hermitage consists of the North Pavilion, the South Hall and the famous Hanging Garden.

The Big Hermitage was built in 1771-1787 by the architect U.M. Felten.

The New Hermitage was built in 1842-1851 by the architects Leo Fon Klenze, Stasov and Efimov.

The Winter Palace astonishes visitors by its amazing interior. Jordan staircase is the principal staircase in the Palace. During state receptions and functions it was a focal point for arriving guests.

One of the rooms that impresses visitors the most is St. George’s Hall. The room covers 800 square metres. It is decorated in the whitest marble and gilded bronze.

The fascinating Malachite room is decorated with malachite; about two tons of this fascinating stone were used in the decoration of the room.

Small Italian skylight is one of the three interiors with the “ upper light”. The vaults are richly decorated with gilded stucco moulding. The paints are a part of Italian art of the 16-17 centuries.

There are rooms in the Hermitage which are dedicated to outstanding painters of the world. One of them is Leonardo da Vinci’s Hall. There are only two paintings of the great Italian painter in Russia. One of them is “Madonna Benua” which depicts Maria with Jesus on her lap. The other one is “Madonna Litta” which was painted by the great master in his mature age. It is the most famous painting in the Hermitage.

Another famous room is Rubens’ room. It contains works of the great Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens. The collection consists of 22 paintings and 19 sketches including all periods of his work. Rubens showed himself as a great portrait painter, a master of a composition, a genius of landscape and still life.

One more room is Rembrandt’s Hall. The Hall houses the collection of the outstanding master. It includes 23 paintings. We can see such masterpieces as  “Flora”, “Danaya”, “The Holy Family”, “Return of the prodigal son”, “Abraham’s sacrifice”, “Taking down from the cross”.

Besides paintings, visitors can see a lot of fascinating sculptures, furniture, porcelain and other amazing things. One of them is large automation featuring three life-sized mechanical birds. It was manufactured by James Cox in the second  half of the 18th century and was acquired by Catherine the Great in 1781. Today it is a prominent exhibit in the collection of the Hermitage museum.