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2003: The inauguration of the Museum of Porcelain. The
Lomonosov Porcelain Factory
In late 2003 the Museum of Porcelain, revived through the joint
efforts of the State Hermitage and the Lomonosov Porcelain
Factory public joint-stock company, was formally opened.
The collection of the museum of the Lomonosov Factory was
given over to the administration of the State
Hermitage in 2001. A new department of the Hermitage,
located on the premises of the porcelain factory,
was created for the scholarly processing and preservation
of the collection.
The collection originated at the same time as the first Russian
porcelain factory, founded in St Petersburg in 1744. A
hundred years later, on the orders of Emperor Nicholas
I, a museum attached to the Imperial Porcelain
Factory was opened. This event was preceded by exhibitions
of the factory's exemplary pieces that took place in 1837-38.
The museum's first display took the form of
a "room for exemplary items" presenting
pieces from the 18th and early 19th centuries that had been retained at
the factory as standards or models for its artists. In order
to form the collection many works were
selected from the storerooms of the Winter Palace
and other imperial residences.
The stocks of the new museum were also enlarged with articles that the
Imperial Porcelain Factory had displayed at national and international
exhibitions. In the reign of Alexander III (1881-94) a rule
was introduced that the museum should receive the original version of
each new product of the factory. A teaching collection was
created under the auspices of the museum as a resource
for the factory's sculptors and artists that included porcelain
made in both Russian and European factories
and also a library that contained hundreds of books
and prints. In the 20th century the museum formed a collection
of the products of the Lomonosov Porcelain Factory unequalled
in the world for high artistic level and comprehensiveness.
Today the Museum of Porcelain has more than 35,000 items
in its stocks. The collection includes both
Russian and Western European porcelain, ceramics and glass,
as well as rare publications and drawings. The new Hermitage
display fully and fascinatingly reflects the history of St Petersburg
porcelain that goes back over two and a half centuries.
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The opening of the museum. Press
conference
Larger view
Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director of the State
Hermitage, and G.V. Tsvetkova, President of the Supervisory
Board of the Lomonosov Porcelain Factory public joint-stock
company
Larger view
The administrative building of the
Lomonsov Porcelain Factory
Larger view
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