Inauguration of the Hermitage Rooms at Somerset House in London
Exhibition Treasures of Catherine the Great

The idea to create the Hermitage Rooms at one of the palaces in London occured to Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director of the State Hermitage Museum, and Lord Rothschild two years ago. ‘The Hermitage Development Trust’, with Mikhail Piotrovsky and Lord Rothschild at the head, invested around $7 million in the project. The Director of the Hermitage Rooms at Somerset House is Geraldine Norman, an art critic and author of the book Hermitage - the History of the Great Museum (1997).
Somerset House is one of the significant historical monuments of Great Britain built to the design of the architect William Chambers (1724-1796), the councillor of George III, in the 18th century. This building, situated on the northern bank of the Thames, is of the same age with the Winter Palace and was originally meant for housing some state offices. Until 1977 it accomodated the Lord Chancellor Office, the Court and the Judicial Department. Now it is a huge cultural centre where the Courtauld Institute and the museum with a fine collection of the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists are located.
The galleries of the Hermitage Rooms at Somerset House recreate in miniature the splendour and luxury of the Winter Palace and feature the beautiful collection of the works of art from the Neva River banks on the banks of the Thames.
Paintings, drawings and decorative art articles were selected for the exhibition under the supervision of Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director of the State Hermitage Museum, and Timothy Clifford, Director of the National Gallery of Scotland. Peculiarities and diversity of the collection of Catherine II (1729-1796) as well as the history of this activities of the Empress are shown through various displayed objects. It is for the first time that these exhibits from different exhibition grounds or from the funds of the State Hermitage Museum were out for public view together. The wide scope of the display makes it possible to fully appreciate the collection of one of the greatest art collectors of the world and recreates the atmosphere of the magnificent interiors of the Winter Palace, the Small Hermitage and the New Hermitage.
The exhibition is accompanied by a 250-page scientific catalogue with some 300 colour illustrations. It includes essays by Professor Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director of the State Hermitage Museum, and Geraldine Norman, Director of the Hermitage Rooms at Somerset House. The articles of the catalogue are written by the curators of the State Hermitage Museum.

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