Bible in Silver
German Jewelry of the 16th-19th Centuries at the Hermitage

On 24 December, 2002, the exhibition was opened in the Blue Bedroom (Room No. 307) of the Winter Palace shows over thirty pieces of German silverware of the 16th-19th centuries. The Hermitage collection of West European silverware is renowned first of all for unique works of French and English silversmiths of the 18th century. The German silverware collection is less known. It traces the development of German jewelry over four hundred years starting in the 16th century. Especially valuable are creations of famous masters from Augsburg, Nuremberg and Hamburg and an extensive collection of the 18th century works. German silverware was put together at the Imperial Palace during the 18th century as the City of St. Petersburg developed. The collection's core is made up of silver pieces acquired or commissioned in Germany for the Imperial Family since the time of Peter I and his father Alexey Mikhaylovich till the time of Nicholas II. Many valuable jewelry works came to the Hermitage in the wake of the October Revolution from nationalized private collections. The Hermitage collection has been added to over last years.

Slaviya Publishers prepared an illustrated catalogue of the exhibition which for the first time gives an encompassing representation of the collection of German silverware of the 16th - early 20th centuries, authored by the exhibition's curator Dr. Marina Nikolayevna Lopato, Director, Metal and Stone Section, West European Art Department of the State Hermitage Museum.

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Exibition's curator Marina Lopato and Deputy director Georgi Vilinbakhov at the opening ceremony of the exhibition

At the exhibition

The catalog