The tour of the Hermitage begins with a passage from the lobby towards the Main Staircase. It was also called the Ambassador Staircase, and later the Jordan Staircase, but in many guidebooks it is still included simply as the Main Staircase. The long gallery along which we move, with semicircular ceiling vaults and rhythmically repeating pylons, with walls and ceiling of a calm white tone, should prepare us to perceive the lush, elegant beauty of a luxuriously decorated grand staircase. Just approaching it, we get the first vivid impression: against the background of a niche, framed by columns, sparkling white marble sculpture, the gilded stucco patterns on the wall shine, streams of light pour from above. The beauty of this staircase is revealed gradually. While still on the lower steps, you suddenly feel its enormous size. High above your head (somewhere on the sixth floor level) there is a huge ceiling lamp (a painting on the ceiling by the artist F. Gradizzi) depicting the gods on Mount Olympus.
Here you immediately feel the space, the abundance of air and light. It seems that it penetrates from everywhere - not only from large windows, but also from the side of blank walls, where mirrors reflect its rays, creating the illusion of greater illumination. As you climb the side flights, you admire the sculptures near the windows and mirrors, slender pilasters, and intricate curls of gilded molding patterns. And finally, from the side platforms, like the final chord, an even more majestic sight opens up to the eye: a giant colonnade of ten monolithic gray columns of Serdobol granite supports semicircular ceiling vaults, decorated with sculpting, gilding and images of caryatid sculptures.
In 1771 - 1787, next to the “Lamot Pavilion” on the Neva embankment, the architect Yu. M. Felten (1730 - 1801) built a building that later received the name “Old Hermitage”. And in mid-19th century, to house the expanded collections, a special museum premises was created - the “New Hermitage”, completed in 1850 by the architect N. E. Efimov (1799 - 1851) under the leadership of V. P. Stasov, according to the design of L. Klenze (1784 - 1864).
This staircase was the main entrance to the New Hermitage building. Its entrance from the street is decorated with granite sculptures of ten Atlanteans, created by Academician A. I. Terebenev (1815 - 1859). The design of the staircase is in the spirit late classicism- using elements of classical art, with its characteristic clarity, symmetry, and the predominance of clear and straight lines.
A wide staircase of sixty-nine white marble steps is bordered on both sides by smooth, unadorned walls covered with an even, shiny layer of yellow stucco. His warm tone contrasts effectively with the cool gray tone of the porphyry monolithic columns rising in two parallel rows high above the walls of the staircase. Daylight, penetrating from the windows on the left and right, sparkles with reflections on the surface of the columns and, hiding part of it. their volume creates the illusion of even greater harmony, lightness and grace. From the lower landing, the scale of the staircase is especially noticeable. Through the wide doors of the second floor you can see the halls and the paintings displayed in them (you should get acquainted with them a little later).
The first visitors to the museum, which opened on February 7, 1852, climbed the Main Staircase of the New Hermitage. At fifty-six exhibition halls there were collections of Italian, Dutch, Flemish and Russian art. However, the museum was not public, intended for a wide range of visitors. Initially, special permission was required to enter the museum. It was given out only to a select few. Even famous Russian artists who needed to work in the halls did not always achieve such permission. The inscriptions on the labels of the paintings in the halls were made on French. The number of visitors to the Hermitage at first was small, later, especially in late XIX- at the beginning of the twentieth century, when free access to the museum was opened, it increased significantly.
Huge increase in museum attendance in Soviet time, the expansion of exhibition spaces at the expense of the halls of the Winter Palace required moving the entrance to the museum to the more spacious Main Staircase of the Winter Palace, which has extensive vestibules. This also improved the connection between the exhibitions of the department of cultural history and art. ancient world, located on both sides of the Main Staircase of the New Hermitage.
The Soviet staircase, built in the mid-19th century by the architect Stackenschneider, got its name due to the fact that members of the State Council passed through its entrance on their way to meetings chaired by the Tsar. The staircase connects three buildings: through a transition corridor it communicates with the Small Hermitage; on the opposite side, along the embankment line, is the Old Hermitage; doors in the center (opposite the windows) lead to the halls of the New Hermitage. The ceiling lamp on the stairs is the work of the French artist F. Doyen (XVIII century) - “The virtues represent the Russian youth to Minerva.”
On the landing of the second floor of the Soviet Staircase there is a large malachite vase, made at the Yekaterinburg factory in 1843 using the “Russian mosaic” technique (thin plates of stone, skillfully put together so that a beautiful pattern is formed, are glued to the base using a special mastic). Wonderful works Stone-cutting art created at this Ural factory, as well as at the Peterhof (the oldest in Russia, founded under Peter III) and the Altai Kolyvan factories, adorn many halls and staircases of the Hermitage - the largest treasury of Russian colored stone.
Stone was also widely used in the decoration of the halls themselves. Thus, in the Twenty-Column Hall, the columns were created by masters of the Peterhof Lapidary Factory from gray Serdobol granite. The entire floor in this hall is paved with mosaics made up of several hundred thousand pieces of stone.
Kolyvan vase
One of the most remarkable creations of Russian stone carvers of the past is the famous Kolyvan vase. Created from beautiful Revnev jasper stone, it amazes with its size, beauty of shape and perfection of material processing. The height of the vase is more than two and a half m, the large diameter of the bowl is five m, the small diameter is over three m. Weighing nineteen tons (this is the heaviest vase in the world made of solid stone), it does not look bulky. The thin leg, the elongated oval shape of the bowl, dissected from the sides and bottom by radially diverging “spoons”, the proportionality of the parts give it grace and lightness.
The vase was made from a block of stone, which was processed for two years at the discovery site, and then a thousand workers delivered it fifty miles to the Kolyvan factory, cutting roads through the forests and creating crossings across rivers. The craftsmen of the Kolyvan Lapidary Factory worked directly on the execution of the vase itself, created according to the design of the architect Melnikov, for twelve years, finishing the work by 1843. It was delivered to St. Petersburg with great difficulty, disassembled (the vase consists of five parts, the main one - the bowl - being monolithic). The vase was transported to the Urals on a special cart, which was harnessed from one hundred twenty to one hundred sixty horses. And then along the Chusovaya, Kama, Volga, Sheksna and Mariinskaya systems they were transported on a barge to the unloading point on the Neva embankment. After preliminary strengthening of the foundation, seven hundred and seventy workers installed it in the Hermitage hall, where it is currently located. The Kolyvan vase, one of the most grandiose and amazing works of Russian stone-cutting art in terms of craftsmanship, rightfully occupies an honorable place among the treasures of the Hermitage.
- Name: Hermitage: main staircase of the Winter Palace
- Description: The main entrance to the former residence Russian emperors– Winter Palace – there was an entrance facing the courtyard. The main staircase shown in the photo leads to the main halls of the palace, which has now become the main building of the State Hermitage. Now this is one of the few rooms in the palace that gives an idea of the interiors created by Rastrelli. In the 18th century, this staircase was called the Embassy Staircase, since it was where the receptions of foreign ambassadors began. Later, it acquired another name - Jordan: on the holidays of Epiphany, a procession descended along it to the Jordan Pavilion on the Neva, where the blessing of water took place.
The first flight of stairs - low and dark - is in complete contrast with the main volume, in which the space seems to move apart, breaking into the infinity of the painted vault. Wide flights of white marble stairs lead upstairs through a space permeated with light, sparkling with mirrors and gilding. The staircase is decorated with statues, some of which were brought from Italy under Peter I.
The Winter Palace is one of the main attractions of St. Petersburg that tourists should definitely see. It is located on
At the Catherine Palace, guests found themselves in the Chinese Room - an indispensable interior of the Baroque palace. The Chinese Room is one of the most beautiful rooms of the palace. Rastrelli's decorative talent was fully manifested in its design, which was destroyed under Catherine II, when a new Grand Staircase was built in its place, in the center of the building.
Under Rastrelli, the hall was illuminated by six double windows. The lower windows also served as doors opening onto the balconies of the two front porches.
The walls of the room were partly decorated with real Chinese carved varnishes, and partly with gilded carvings depicting Chinese people under umbrellas, pagodas, baskets, palm trees and other exotic plants. The space above the doors right up to the ceiling was occupied by gilded desudeportes, above which stretched a cornice painted with Chinese motifs. Along the walls of the hall there were shelves-brackets, on which were displayed the rarest items made of Chinese and Japanese porcelain.
The impression of exotic luxury was enhanced by four composite mirrors set in gilded frames; they reflected intricate carvings, bright colors porcelain, dark boards of Chinese varnish and flickering candles. The ceiling of the Chinese Room was decorated with a plafond painted French artist J.-L. Devely with the participation of I. Velsky on the plot of a luxurious “Chinese wedding”.
Chinese motifs were in great fashion throughout Europe XVIII century. Bizarre and graceful forms, the sparkling shine of colors, and the amazing care in finishing of Chinese things delighted Europeans. The court of the Russian Empress, who had a weakness for dazzling beauty and luxury, was no exception. Interest in “Chinese” was also stimulated by the influx of precious items annually brought to Russia by merchants. These goods were so in demand at the court of Elizabeth Petrovna that special auctions were held in the palace, which attracted the entire top aristocracy.
Under Catherine II, in 1752–1756, during the reconstruction of the Great Tsarskoye Selo Palace, he placed the main staircase away from entrance gate, with a spire (on the site of the current Zubovsky wing).
Rastrelli's grand staircase was later destroyed: on April 16, 1778, funds were allocated for demolition Grand Palace, together with a one-story outbuilding adjacent to it from the courtyard, and for the construction of a new outbuilding according to the project.
Instead, at the behest of the crowned mistress of Tsarskoye Selo, Charles Cameron erected (mahogany) in the center of the palace, on the site of the Chinese Hall designed by Rastrelli.
In 1860–1863 the staircase was again reconstructed
Since the late 1850s, architect I. A. Monighetti has been working on a project for the reconstruction of the main staircase in the central part of the Great Tsarskoye Selo Palace.
In 1860, the old wooden staircase was dismantled, after which new ones were built stone walls They laid a rubble foundation and erected six flights of a new staircase with carved marble railings: the lower two lead to an intermediate wide platform, from which two more pairs of flights “compositionally fixed with ornamented pedestals” topped with marble vases diverge upward.
The main staircase, created by I. A. Monighetti in marble, in the Rococo style, occupies the entire height and width of the palace and is illuminated from the east and west by windows located in three tiers. White marble steps rise on both sides to the middle platform, from which four flights lead to the second floor, to the state rooms.
On the walls of the interior, decorated with stucco ornaments, there are decorative vases and dishes of Chinese and Japanese porcelain of the 17th–18th centuries - in memory of the Chinese Hall located here in the mid-18th century.
It was made on the walls, the canopy and the lampshade; four doors are decorated with carton-pierre moldings, desudéportes and caryatids; on the southern and northern walls are arranged.
A colossal clock and calendar are set into the stucco decoration on the walls.
Above the middle landing, under the “sconce-figures,” cupids framed by garlands are installed in gilded bronze frames with enamel dials, made in the St. Petersburg workshop of G. Moser.
The six upper windows are decorated with cast-iron grilles with bronze “fire-gilded” decorations.
On the lower floor there was a smooth mosaic floor “made of Venetian taras”, under the arch of the stairs there was a slab floor, and the landings were lined with white marble slabs.
The entrance to the staircase was decorated with two zinc candelabras with decorations made of gilded bronze “with five lamps”; twelve bronze lamps were located at the pilasters in the mezzanine. The desudéportes and window bars have been added.
All the work was done from the best white Carrara marble, supplied from the treasury.
According to the contract, P. T. Dylev was supposed to “paint three paintings of an allegorical image in fresco on the ceiling,” but when submitting the painting sketch for the ceiling for the Highest approval, Alexander II instructed the vice president Imperial Academy arts to Prince G.G. Gagarin, together with F.A. Bruni and Monighetti, to inspect the paintings stored in the storerooms of the Hermitage and the Tauride Palace “to select suitable ones for this ceiling.” Three paintings were selected from the Tauride Palace and sent to Tsarskoe Selo: “Galatea” by the school of G. Reni, “Triumph of Venus” by J.-M. Vienne and a copy of “The Rape of Europa” by the same Reni. On May 10, 1860, the paintings were placed in the Great Dining Room for the Emperor's consideration and received approval.
The staircase has access to the park and the square, which also faces a large open balcony. From it, Empress Catherine II looked at the ceremonial marching regiments returning from parades or maneuvers. On the steps of the covered staircase, formed by this balcony, a box was later set up, in which Alexandra Fedorovna was present with her children during the Highest Reviews. The entrance to the Grand Staircase from the park side has been preserved in the form in which Rastrelli built it.
During the Great Patriotic War the fire destroyed the decorative decoration of the Grand Staircase: the ceiling and roof collapsed, the magnificent figures of the caryatids were completely destroyed; the marble of the steps, the facing of the platforms and the vases decorating them were broken.
From a letter from April 27, 1944: The main staircase has no ceiling, the sculpting is badly damaged. The marble marches are broken, the vases have been thrown off, they lie among the charred beams; walking is dangerous: they assume that landmines are planted... Behind the stairs there is a burnt-out hole on the site of the Silver Dining Room...
Only a collection of porcelain that was evacuated has been partially preserved, as well as fragments of marble vases and balustrades found among the ruins. Until 1941, the area overlooking the park was decorated with a marble sculpture by an unknown artist from the late 18th century depicting Empress Catherine II (now in the museum’s collection).
The restoration of the staircase was completed in 1964 year. The main staircase, like most of the halls in the main suite, has been completely restored. The stucco decoration of the walls was restored by sculptors of special scientific restoration workshops (teams of A.V. Vagin), and sculptors E.P. Maslennikov and G.A. Mikhailova.
Nowadays, on the landings of the staircase, significantly restored marble and sculptures, executed by V. P. Brodzsky in 1860, are installed.
In the 19th century, the ceiling of the Grand Staircase was decorated with a picturesque ceiling by J.-M. Vienne's "Triumph of Venus" and two paintings by G. Reni - "The Rape of Europa" and "Galatea", which were lost during the war along with the collapsed ceilings. To recreate the decoration of the staircase, canvases were selected that corresponded to the pre-war compositions in style and size. The central painting “The Judgment of Paris”, painted by the Italian painter C. Maratti, and the painting “Jupiter and Callisto” by P. Liberi were obtained from the collection State Hermitage. Composition “Aeneas and Venus” by unknown Italian artist 18th century, located on the western side, was donated to the palace-museum by Leningrad resident A. Tikhomirov.
+1 Votes: 1 18282 viewsThe Ambassadorial Staircase of the Hermitage is the main main staircase of the Winter Palace. Ambassadors of foreign states ascended it to the palace. The staircase received the name “Jordanian” because on the feast of the Epiphany the royal family descended along it to the Jordan, a special ice hole in the frozen Neva, where the ceremony took place.
The staircase was made by Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli in the Baroque style. The main staircase was restored after the fire of 1837 by V.P. Stasov, who kept in general outline F.B.'s plan Rastrelli.
2 White marble of sculptures and balustrades, gray marble of columns, luxurious gilding of gypsum stucco molding - everything evokes admiration. Let's walk through it?
3 The white marble staircase branches in different directions: to the right and to the left, diverging into two wide solemn flights, which reunite at the upper platform. It occupies the entire height of the building (height 22 meters). A wide staircase with comfortable, low steps - great for climbing up in chic ball gowns 
4 During the restoration of the staircase after the fire, Stasov replaced the gilded carved balusters with a heavy marble balustrade. The balusters are made of Carrara marble by sculptors F. Triscorni and E. Moderni 
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6 The walls are decorated with decorative sculptures from the era Ancient Rome. Atlant 
7 Caryatid 
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9 Sculptures "Justice" and "Mercy" 
10 On the upper landing of the stairs there are monolithic columns made of gray (Serdobol) granite - St. Petersburg stone. Ten monolithic columns of the Corinthian order decorate and support the vaults of the staircase 
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13 In the central niche there is a statue of the “Mistress”, brought from the Tauride Palace 
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16 Central ceiling of the staircase with an area of about 200 square meters. It depicts the pictorial composition “Olympus” by the Italian artist of the 18th century Gasparo Diziani, which rests on pads decorated with figurative and ornamental paintings in the “grisaille” style. Having chosen an 18th-century lampshade with an image of Olympus from the Hermitage storerooms, Stasov included it in the composition of the ceiling, and since the new lampshade turned out to be somewhat smaller than the old one, the remaining space was left by the artist A.I. Solovyov painted according to Stasov’s sketches 
17 In 1898-1901, electric lighting devices in the form of chandeliers and sconces made of non-ferrous metal, plated with gold, were used to illuminate the staircase 
18 They were made in the neo-Baroque style under the direction of the architect L.N. Benois based on a drawing by the artist V. Emme at the St. Petersburg factory of A. Moran
The majestic and beautiful Main Staircase of the Winter Palace played a very important representative role in the 18th century, being included in the suite of state halls where ceremonies and court celebrations took place. Along it, ambassadors of foreign states ascended to the central halls for audiences, which is why it was called the Posolskaya. After the revolution, when the palace became a museum, the guides gave it the name Jordanskaya, since on the feast of Epiphany the royal family and other participants in the procession of the cross descended along it, starting from the Great Church and going out to the Jordan - a special ice hole in the frozen Neva, where the ceremony of blessing of water was held.
This staircase is associated with the construction of the New Hermitage - a building created specifically as a museum for the expanded collections of art objects. It was built in 1850 by the architect N. E. Efimov under the direction of V. P. Stasov according to the design of L. von Klenze. The staircase became the main entrance to the New Hermitage building and was similar to the one that led to Athenian Acropolis. Its entrance from the street is decorated with granite sculptures of ten Atlanteans, created by Academician A.I. Terebenev, hence the other name - Terebenev Staircase. If you look up at the staircase from the first floor landing, you will notice one interesting architectural solution: in each subsequent flight the number of steps is reduced by one, which creates the illusion of an endless road upward.
The first visitors to the museum climbed the Main Staircase of the New Hermitage. However, the museum was not public, intended for a wide range of visitors. Initially, in order to enter the Hermitage, a special permit was required, which was issued only to a select few. For example, great poet A. S. Pushkin was able to obtain a permanent museum pass only on the recommendation of V. A. Zhukovsky, his teacher. Even famous Russian artists who needed to work in the halls could not always obtain such permission.
Nothing to do with Soviet Union this staircase does not. The Soviet staircase, built in the mid-19th century by the architect A. I. Stackenschneider, got its name due to the fact that members of the State Council passed through its entrance on their way to meetings chaired by the Tsar. The staircase is also unique in that it connects three buildings at once. museum complex: it communicates with the Small Hermitage through a transition corridor, on the opposite side along the embankment line is the Old Hermitage, doors in the center (opposite the windows) lead to the halls of the New Hermitage.
October staircase
The name “October” staircase was given in memory of the revolutionary events of October 1917, when detachments of stormers entered the Winter Palace along it. On the night of October 25-26, 1917, the captured ministers of the Provisional Government were taken out along the October Stairs.
Can't find it in any guidebook exact date the appearance of this name, and the famous Memorial plaque was installed on it after the new name took root. Before that, the staircase was called “Her Imperial Majesty”, since it adjoined directly the apartments of the empresses - the wife (later widow) of Paul I Maria Feodorovna and the wife of Alexander II Maria Alexandrovna.
Church stairs
The church staircase is located in close proximity to the Small Church of the Winter Palace, where services were held with the participation of members royal family. A few years ago, an amazing incident occurred in the Hermitage: during scheduled electrical work, a plaster sculpture walled into the wall was discovered on the second floor of the Church Staircase.
The sculpture depicts a slave in a collar and is called “The Fugitive Slave.” During the restoration of the find, it turned out that he created it famous sculptor Vladimir Beklemishev at the end of the 19th century. And in 1893 she represented Russia at the World Exhibition in Chicago. How and why she ended up in “captivity” is unknown, but she spent more than 60 years there. There have not been such discoveries in the museum for more than a century.