The Hermitage Rooms in Somerset House

History of the Project

The idea of creating the Hermitage Rooms in one of London's palaces emerged in 1998 during a meeting between Mikhail Piotrovsky, the Hermitage director, and Lord Rothschild. The Hermitage Development Trust headed by Mikhail Piotrovsky and Lord Rothschild invested about seven million dollars in the project, which, in conjunction with financial support from individual and corporate sponsors, made it possible to open the Hermitage Rooms in Somerset House.
Nowadays Somerset House is a tremendous cultural centre containing the Courtauld Institute Gallery with its remarkable collection of works by Impressionists and Post-Impressionists, and also the collection of Sir Arthur Gilbert, comprising more than 800 works of decorative and applied art - gold and silver items, Florentine and Roman mosaics.

The Hermitage Rooms were formally opened in Somerset House on 25 November 2000. The Hermitage Director Mikhail Piotrovsky noted the importance of the event: "We consider it very important to make our collections more accessible to the wider public and to have a permanent representation of the Hermitage outside of Russia. The programme for the presentation of the Hermitage collection in London envisages an annual change of the display. The British public will be able to see the treasures of the Hermitage - paintings, sculptures and works of applied art.

Geraldine Norman, the first director of the Hermitage Rooms, Lord Rothschild and Hermitage director Mikhail Piotrovsky
Larger view

British prime-minister Tony Blair and Hermitage director Mikhail
Piotrovsky at the exhibition
Larger view