According to M. Piotrovsky, the centre was “to make our collections more accessible to the public”.
View of the courtyard of Somerset House
The idea of creating the Hermitage Rooms in one of London’s palaces emerged in 1998 during a meeting between Mikhail Piotrovsky, the Hermitage Director, and Lord Rothschild. The Hermitage Development Trust headed by Mikhail Piotrovsky and Lord Rothschild invested about seven million dollars in the project, which, in conjunction with financial support from individual and corporate sponsors, made it possible to open the Hermitage Rooms in Somerset House.
The Hermitage Rooms were formally opened in Somerset House on 25 November 2000. The Hermitage Director Mikhail Piotrovsky noted the importance of the event: "We consider it very important to make our collections more accessible to the wider public and to have a permanent representation of the Hermitage outside of Russia." The programme for the presentation of the Hermitage collection in London envisages an annual change of the display. The British public will be able to see the treasures of the Hermitage - paintings, sculptures and works of applied art.
Somerset House is one of Britain’s outstanding historical monuments. It was built in the 18th century to the design of the architect Sir William Chambers (1724-1796), an advisor to King George III. This edifice is located on the north bank of the Thames and was intended to house several state institutions. Nowadays Somerset House is a tremendous cultural centre containing the Courtauld Institute Gallery with its remarkable collection of works by Impressionists and Post-Impressionists, and also the collection of Sir Arthur Gilbert, comprising more than 800 works of decorative and applied art - gold and silver items, Florentine and Roman mosaics.
The Hermitage Rooms consist of five galleries with a total floor area of over 4400 square feet (411 square metres) and are located on the ground floor of the south wing of the building. The decoration of the rooms gives visitors an idea of the magnificent interiors of the imperial Winter Palace. The Hermitage director remarked that they put one in mind of a "precious casket". The parquet floors were created by Russian craftsmen and reproduce the design of the floors in the St George Hall (Large Throne Room) and the Pavilion Hall. The display cases and furniture are imitations of those produced to the drawings of the Bavarian architect Leo von Klenze who designed the New Hermitage as a public museum to the commission of Emperor Nicholas I.
