4: Concert Hall

One suggested use of the attic spaces is the creation of a concert hall. Placards relating to the Hermitage Music Academy in the fourth hall are a reminder of this. The hall has splendid acoustics and throughout the period of the exhibition chamber music could be heard here. The openwork constructions of various forms and sizes that fill the space and also the arched tops of the walls create a special mood in the room. On display here are items that Hermitage visitors cannot normally see up close: a fragment of the railing from the parapet of the New Hermitage and a piece of glass from the skylight above one of the halls of the Winter Palace. Beneath the glass one the floor one can see the ceiling constructed to the design proposed by Clark: the gaps between elliptical girders made from sheet roofing iron are filled with vaults formed of hollow pots.