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Reopening of the Jupiter Hall following restoration
work On 7 December 2005 the Jupiter Hall, one of the most impressive halls in the New Hermitage building, was reopened to the public following restoration work. In accordance with architect Leo von Klenze’s project, the hall became a Gallery of New Sculpture and this was reflected in the bas-relief profile portraits in medallions on the ceiling which depict famous sculptors - A. Canova, B. Thorvaldsen and Michelangelo. The architectural decorative elements of the hall have hardly changed at all. The walls and pilasters are faced with artificial green marble (stucco), and the plinth is made of stucco in a darker tone. The facing was done by the master M. Koev and the sculptor A. Triscorni, who introduced a new method for preparing artificial marble based on cement, marble particles and a pigment for color. The door frames were made out of marble taken from the St George Hall of the Engineer’s Castle. The vaults are decorated with moldings. The floor is paved in Italian marble put down under the direction of A. Triscorni. The New Hermitage was designed in the middle of the 19th century as a dedicated museum building to house art collections. On the ground floor of the New Hermitage there were collections from Antiquity, and this is where the Antique sculptures were kept. In 1861 a statue of Jupiter arrived from Italy, where it was acquired from the collection of the Marquis of Campana, and it was this which gave the hall its name. The statue was mounted on a special foundation even before the construction of the New Hermitage was completed. Like many other halls on the ground floor, the last restoration work carried out here was in 1954. The display of "The Art of Ancient Rome from the 1st-4th Centuries” prepared by O.F. Valdgauer in 1934 remained in place for more than 70 years. The hall needed thorough restoration of all the interior design elements and complete reconstruction of engineering systems. Reconstruction of the hall began in July 2005. During this stage of the work, the moldings and plaster work of the ceilings were cleaned, missing pieces were filled in and areas of flaking were strengthened: an injection method was used to fill voids with a special solution of lime and marble powder, cleaning was carried out down to the base layer and numerous cracks and fissures were patched. The entire surface of the plasterwork was reinforced, given a primer and painted in specially selected colors which fully correspond to the original tints. The walls were thoroughly inspected. Hollow spaces were filled in with a binding solution. After reinforcement and leveling came polishing and burnishing with diamond disks, then felt, followed by the application of wax-based protective compounds. The marble floors were restored in keeping with the historical interior design. Lighting and display equipment was installed. Spotlights on the exhibits bring out these masterpieces of Roman sculpture and the statue of Jupiter, which is one of the largest sculptures from Antiquity in any museum in the world. At the present time, the Jupiter Hall displays the collections of the Hermitage’s Department of Antiquity - Roman portraits and Roman marble sarcophagi. This is also where decorative marble vases made by 18th century Italian sculptors in imitation of Antiquity are shown. The collection of Roman portraits has at its core the Lyde-Brown, Campana, Demidov and Laval collections which were purchased by Russia’s rulers and is considered one of the best in the world. It includes more than 100 exhibits, among them world renowned masterpieces such as the portrait of Philip the Arabian, the so-called “Syrian,” and the portraits of Lucius Verus and Balbinus. The restoration of the Jupiter Hall is an important stage in the implementation of the Program for Reconstruction of the Permanent Exhibitions of the Art of Antiquity. Within the context of this program, which was begun in 1997, the Hermitage has achieved the reconstruction of five of the galleries of antiquities. The reconstruction and engineering works were carried out with the participation of the Director of the Department of the Ancient World A.A. Trofimova; Deputy Director of the State Hermitage for Construction R.E. Dunin; Director of the Department of Major Construction S.V. Burdukov; leading engineer of the Department of Major Construction A.E. Moskalev; Deputy Director for Operations and Chief Engineer A.V. Bogdanov; and Director of the Department of Alarm Systems and Communications P.E. German. Restoration of the hall, engineering and technical work, design and installation of the lighting equipment: Likeon - Museum Concepts and Projects Ltd, S.Yu. Glibin, director for restoration. Restoration of the molding decorations: V.G. Veselov, G.N. Kotova. Restoration of the artificial marble and natural stone: P.S. Lukarevsky. Restoration of the door panels - Yu. V. Pavlov. |
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