The State Hermitage Museum: Hermitage News

Presentation of the artistic illumination of the Great Ceremonial Courtyard of the Winter Palace

On 7 December 2004 there was a public presentation of the decorative illumination of the Great Courtyard, which provides for "evening" and "night" operating regimes.

In July 2003 a working plan was developed for installing artistic illumination of the garden of the Great Courtyard by the Winter Palace and the main entrance to the Hermitage. The reconstruction of the old system of outside lighting of the Great Courtyard made it possible to shift to a new scheme for lighting the territory of the courtyard when the decorative illumination is turned off.

Full bright lighting of the area is provided by 8 projectors with metal-halogen lamps set on the roof of the building along the perimeter of the courtyard. The lights have been installed on metallic brackets.

The four-level decorative illumination consists of:

Background illumination by floodlights using projectors built into the paved surface of the courtyard and also projectors on the roof,
Illumination at the level of the second floor,
Illumination of the balustrades,
Illumination of the statues on the roof of the building.

The background lighting is achieved using floodlight projectors and directional metal-halogen lamp projectors. The projectors are installed in niches in the courtyard surface and on the roof of the building.

The light accents of the second floor are achieved by projectors installed on the facade of the building under the windows.

The illumination of the balustrade is done by projectors installed on the roof at intervals of three meters and held in place by brackets.

The statues are illuminated by narrowly focused projectors set on the roof and held in place by brackets.

Two operating regimes are provided for. The "evening" regime is used late in the day and in the early morning hours. In this mode all the illumination devices of the decorative lighting are turned on - and the full light projectors are turned off. The "night" regime functions at night outside "working hours". In this mode the decorative lighting is turned off and the full bright lights are turned on.

All the work on lighting has been performed by the State Hermitage’s Construction Division, which is headed by S.V. Burdukov.

At the opening

The decorative illumination of the Great Courtyard. The "evening" regime