Nicholas I and the New Hermitage

On 21 February 2002 a jubilee exhibition devoted to Emperor Nicholas I as founder of the New Hermitage opened in the Alexander Hall of the Winter Palace. The exhibition is intended to serve as a reminder of the role Nicholas played in the creation of a new public museum. It enables visitors to properly gauge the importance of his involvement in the formation and enlargement of the imperial collections and the organization of the museum display. The exhibitions features some 120 items including paintings, works of decorative, applied and graphic art and books. Documents reflecting the first years of the museum’s existence are also included.

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Director of the State Hermitage Mikhail Piotrovsky and children at the opening ceremony of the exhibition

The first visitors

The catalogue