Since 26th of March, the Hermitage in St Petersburg has launched a great cultural initiative as a tribute to our country: 10 virtual visits in Italian dedicated to the Italian collections housed in the museum. The initiative intends to build a bridge between Italy and Russia in a moment of great difficulties, as stated by the Museum Director Michajl Pjotrovskij in the introduction video. “In showing Italian art at the Hermitage – he affirms – we would like to express our solidarity to our Italian friends who are facing the epidemic. It is not the first plague our countries have faced but we will get through this. Art helps people live and survive and Italian history is the most significant evidence”.
Virtual visits, once a week, will be dedicated to the great Italian collections housed in St Petersburg, with masterpieces by Leonardo da Vinci, Caravaggio, Raphael, Canova and many others. In fact, there are more than 300 masterpieces exhibited in the Italian Painting Rooms that “constitute the most significant evidence of the existence of a really ancient cultural bridge between Italy and Russia that has been more and more consolidated over the years thanks to exhibitions and exchanges promoted by the most important Italian Museum Institutions” – as stated Pasquale Terracciano, Italian Ambassador in the Russian Federation.
To the first visit that was dedicated to the Private Apartments in the Winter Palace and registered more than 140,000 views, nine will follow: A stroll round the Hermitage, the year of Leonardo and Raphael, The Restoration of frescoes’ of Raphael’s School, A stroll round Venice in the Venice of the North, The Tsars’ Wardrobe, History of Costumes, Strolls round the High Command to discover Contemporary Art.
The next dates are available on the website of the Italian Institute of Culture in St Petersburg.
This event is coordinated by Ermitage Italia in cooperation with the Italian Institute of Culture in St Petersburg.
