On 1 June 2006 the State Hermitage and Samsung Electronics are beginning a new project, the restoration of Empress Catherine the Great's unique musical clock in the museum collection. After its restoration, visitors to the Hermitage will be able to see a masterpiece which served as an object of delight and pride more than 200 years ago. This is an elegant table clock with organ built into a mahogany cabinet that is decorated with gilded bronze and has marble columns at the corners. The rarity was manufactured in England in 1792 by the master clockmaker Eardley Norton and the company Gravell & Tolkein at the behest of Catherine II for her palace apartments.

The original mechanism with mainspring drive that has to be wound once weekly sounds the hours and quarter hours on two small bells and each hour turns on a real miniature organ, which performs any one of 12 melodies. It is worth noting that the Empress not only made sketches of how the clock should look but also personally chose the melodies for the organ clock. Specialists of the most diverse professions took part in the creation of the musical clock: watchmakers, artisans in bronze, mahogany craftsmen, musicians, craftsmen in enamel work and jewelers.

The restoration will be carried out by masters of the State Hermitage and the Special Scientific Restoration Workshops of the State Hermitage. The specialists will first restore the clock cabinet and then the clock movement and the musical mechanism. Among the most complex and demanding stages will be a computer decryption of the melodies on the musical drum which will make it possible to hear the music before the restoration work is completed and will guide the tuning of the organ, which for many years has remained silent.

According to the Director of the Laboratory of Scientific Restoration of Clocks and Musical Mechanisms Mikhail Guriev, "The multi-disciplinary restoration of clocks consists of several stages. At first work is carried out in the special scientific restoration workshops to restore lost parts of the cabinet's gilded bronze, stone, fabric, wood and metal. Then our laboratory is busy restoring the clock and musical mechanisms. The most labor intensive process is restoration of the mechanical organ, specifically the bellows, the windlads, the air ducts and organ pipes."

It is no coincidence that Samsung decided to assist the restoration of precisely this exhibit. Eighteenth century clocks with their unique technology for choosing melodies are a special kind of forerunner of modern digital devices with facility for carrying out different functions. Time does not stay still and if in past centuries only royalty could allow itself such a luxury, today, thanks to the innovations of Samsung, the advantages of personal settings and gigantic musical collections "in the palm of your hand" are accessible to everyone.

The restoration project opens a new page in the cooperation between the treasure house of world art and one of the world's largest companies in the high tech field. While it brings such unique exhibits back to life, Samsung at the same time offers consumers advanced digital devices that can justifiably be called masterpieces of technology and design.

Samsung Electronics takes an active part in the social, cultural and sporting life of Russia. The Company is a partner of the State Hermitage, the State Academic Bolshoy Theatre and the Union of Journalists of Russia. Samsung Electronics is a World Olympics partner, general partner of the Olympics Committee of Russia and for many years has sponsored the Dynamo hockey team. Each year the Company organizes a Running Festival in Moscow, St Petersburg and other major Russian cities.

Commemorative tablet
Larger view

Miniature organ clock
Larger view

Clock cabinet made of mahogany
Larger view

Clock mechanism and musical drum
Larger view