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Îpening of the permanent exhibition entitled The Art of India from the 1st Century B.C. to the 19th Century On 13 July 2004, following restoration work, the permanent exhibition of The Art of India from the 1st Century B.C. to the 19th Century reopened in four rooms on the third floor of the Winter Palace. The exhibition includes about 300 works of sculpture, painting and applied art. Many of the items are being displayed to the public for the first time. The permanent exhibition entitled The Art of India from the 1st Century B.C. to the 19th Century has itself been renewed following the fundamental renovation of the rooms it occupies. The rooms now have new lighting and heating systems; the floors have been redone and the walls and ceilings were redecorated. The new display cases match the latest demands of exhibition know-how; they illuminate the works of art well and reliably ensure safety. The permanent exhibition is also equipped with public-use computer terminals providing a bilingual, multimedia presentation on the four sections of the exhibition: Exhibit Items, History, Religion and Art. The presentation offers concise information about the history and culture of India and describes the most interesting sculptures on display. The renovation of the rooms housing the exhibition on The Art of India from the 1st Century B.C. to the 19th Century and the installation of new equipment was carried out with financial support from the Government of the Republic of India. The earliest display items relate to the art of Buddhism, which arose in the 6th century B.C. These are fragments of the protective fences (vedika) that surrounded the Buddhist stupa in Bodh Gaya (modern day Bihar, Eastern India) in the 1st century B.C. – the place of the Enlightenment of Buddha, the founder of Buddhism. Among the other exhibition items particularly worthy of mention are the Standing Buddha (late 2nd century), Head of Buddha (1st -2nd century), a stucco sculpture of the 4th -5th century, and Yaksha Gamukha and his Beloved (8th century). We should also mention one of the exhibit items dating from the period of India’s greatest artistic flowering in antiquity, the Head of a Heavenly Woman (5th century). There is a varied offering of sculpture from the early and late Middle Ages which reflects the most important artistic styles of this period. Other displays include small bronze sculptures from the 15th - 19th centuries, painted miniatures of the Moghul, Golkond, Rajput and other schools and applied art from the 17th – 19th centuries, mostly made of metal, ivory and nephrite. For the first time, there is a diverse and broadly representative display of Indian weaponry from the 18th and 19th centuries. The Hermitage’s collection of Indian arms is one of the best in the world. The exhibition also features items which until 1945 belonged to the Museum fur Volkerkunde in Berlin. |
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