Hermitage opens in Amsterdam
The famous Russian gallery comes to Holland
Yet not only has it added to the highest concentration of museums and galleries in the world, but this outpost of the gigantic Hermitage in St Petersburg (400 miles from Moscow) continues a fruitful relationship.
“Russian and Dutch shared ties started in 1696 when Peter the Great came to Amsterdam. His dream was to recreate [what he found here back] in north Russia,” said Ernst Veen, the director of the Hermitage Amsterdam at its recent launch, which was attended by Russian president Dmitry Medvedev and Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands. “This journey has now come full circle.”
The Hermitage has a phenomenal collection of 3 million items – including the world’s largest collection of paintings – most of which is usually kept in storage. The Amsterdam museum will show a rotating selection from this archive as well as a permanent show about the building, which started life as a 19th-century home for the elderly. The first exhibition, entitled At the Russian Court, runs until the end of January 2010 and contains opulent costumes and jewellery from the height of the tsarist regime.
And what does Mikhail Piotrovsky, director of the Hermitage St Petersburg, make of the final result, 16 years after the collaboration was first discussed? “Tsar Peter would be pretty happy with this.”
Hermitage Amsterdam, 51 Amstel, +31 (0)20 530 7488; www.hermitage.nl
