A six-week course on art history organized in cooperation with the Rhode-Island School of Design, a leading private art university in the USA. Since 2007, the students of the Russian Art and Language Institute (RALI, US) and School of Russian and Asian Studies (SRAS, US) have taken part in this programme.

The programme includes tours of St. Petersburg's architecture, visits to museums, out-of-town residencies and contemporary artists' studios, one-day trips to other cities of the region, painting and drawing classes and meetings with Russian students. A special part of the programme consists of studying of the Hermitage collections including classes at the exhibitions, meetings with the exhibition curators and visits to the museum funds.

Staying in St. Petersburg includes academical programme and studio classes. Practical trainings are held in the Summer Gardens, Sts Peter and Paul Fortress and in the streets of the city. The programme participants are also granted permission to make sketches inside the Hermitage. The culmination of the course is an exhibition of the students' work called Beneath the Vaults of the Hermitage which is held at the Youth Educational Centre exhibition hall.

Course Structure:

Tuesday-Thursday: daily lectures and excursion tours.
Friday-Monday: individual work in the workshop or trips to the suburbs of St. Petersburg.

The opening of the students' works exhibition

Rhode-Island School of Design students' works

Students on the excursion to the Cottage Palace in Peterhof