Museum of Porcelain Opening

On 22 December, 2003, the Lomonosov Porcelain Works opened the Museum of Porcelain, revived in cooperation with the State Hermitage Museum.

In 2001, by decision of the Russian Federation's Ministry of Culture the Hermitage received in its custody the collection of the Lomonosov Porcelain Works, which now includes over
30 000 pieces. A new Hermitage division was created on the Lomonosov premises to keep and study this treasure. State-of-the-art cases display about 600 exhibits.

The first room shows the history of the unique collection, which has been put together in the course of two and a half centuries. The collection was born when the first Russian porcelain production was founded in St. Petersburg in 1744. One hundred years later, Emperor Nicholas I ordered the creation of the Imperial Porcelain Works' museum. In 1890, when the Imperial glass and porcelain productions were merged, the museum acquired a collection of glass, which, along with carved glass of the European companies Emile Galle, Daum brothers, L.C. Tiffany and Lotz, included creations of Russian masters. The museum also displayed ancient ceramics, Italian majolica and Chinese porcelain. Products of private Russian works were showcased alongside the famed creations of Sevres, Meissen, Berlin and Vienna received as gifts from visiting guests or purchased by the works' emissaries abroad.

The exhibition focuses on the Imperial period in the Porcelain Works' history and traces the production evolution from the first laboratory specimens and replicas to the grandiose tableware ensembles, vases and sculptural compositions of the ages of classicism, historicism and art nouveau. The show includes the Romanov set of tableware designed by
W. Bosset, Siberian Flora pieces painted by F.I. Krasovsky, a glass tondo with a copy of Rafael's Madonna Alba executed by P. Vasilyev, and the collection's largest vase with an image of Rafael's St George painted by N.A. Kirsanov. Rare exhibits include a unique bouquet of exquisite flowers molded by
P.U. Ivanov (1850) and a monumental porcelain door with a colorful painting reproducing Pompeii frescos (1844).

In 2004, the museum will open an exhibition of the 20th century porcelain including works by S.V. Chekhonin,
N.Ya. Danko, A.V. Shchekotikhina-Pototskaya, R.F. Wilde, Z.V. Kobyletskaya and many other masters.

Since 1936, the works' products bear the new brand LFZ, which remains a hallmark of high skill and quality. While adding new items to its range of products on an annual basis, Lomonosov fabricates collections of replicas of the creations preserved in its museum.

The history of St. Petersburg porcelain spans two and a half centuries. Now its achievements may be seen in the Hermitage's new exhibition.

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At the opening
of the exhibition

At the exhibition