Works of the First Priority of the General Staff Building Restoration Project are Close to Completion.
September 2010

27 September the State Hermitage and Intarsia Company, conducting works on restoration and adaptation for museum of the Eastern wing of the General Staff Building, invited journalists to a regular press-walk.

Representatives of the Mass Media were introduced to the final state of the first priority project works by Director of the State Hermitage Mikhail Piotrovsky, General Manager of INTARSIA Group of Companies Viktor Smirnov, authors of the project - architects Oleg Yavein and Nikita Yavein (Studio 44), Deputy Director for Capital Construction of the State Hermitage Mikhail Novikov.

Practice of public demonstration of the works progress at the facility, unique for the construction project, gave an opportunity to cover in the press restoration process from the beginning to its completion, unprecedented by its scale and complexity. This time the participants of the press-tour were able to see specific lines of the museum space. The front staircase in the yard, covered with glass roof will be dressed in granite soon (granite will be delivered from Italy in October). Fifteen-meter wings of the gates opened with surprising easiness, giving the viewers the perspective view on a new Large Enfilade. Covering of the gates will be made of oak veneer.

Yards of the General Staff Building under the glass roof with the total area of 2.0 thousand sq. m are now protected from damaging influence of St Petersburg climate. The inner faces of the building are given historical grey color, introduced by Rossi. Atriums are zoned on different floor levels: the basement - cloakrooms, ground floor - entry zone, first floor - Large Enfilade; at the level of the second and third floors glass bridges are arranged, which connect the building, facing the embankment of the Moyka river with the expositions, located along Bolshaya Morskaya Street.

45 halls with the total area of 6.5 thousand sq. m of expositions in the Eastern wing of the General Staff Building will be put in commission in December 2010.

The journalists could see a spacious double-height hall, meant for exposition of the modern art, enfilades with the top light in which a part of exposition devoted to the memory of Sergey Shchukin and Ivan Morozov will be opened. Constructions of lantern lights, repeating the idea of Carl Rossi are made of thin-walled concrete, which has never used before and was purpose-made for this project. Halls of the Rewards Museum are ready for placement of expositions. Here one can see a collection of objects, related to the history of the Masonic and Malthusian Orders, Russian and foreign decorations, including the ones which have been recently given to the State Hermitage by King of Sweden Carl XVI Gustaf. Italian sculpture of the 20th century will also be displayed in the General Staff Building.

A view to Bolshaya Morskaya Street, the embankment of the Moyka River and Palace Square is opened from the new windows, made individually for each window opening. 22 ancient furnaces sparkle with reconstructed tile - today they are just an element of the interior. Rooms of the museum complex in the General Staff Building will be heated by a new gas boiler-room, passing heat to the radiators, delicately hidden in the walls. Extremely beautiful inner staircases of the building have preserved their paving with historical flag stones and grates of stairs enclosure. Paintings, opened in the process of the walls and ceilings clearing, are reconstructed and conserved. The existence of some painting elements remained the secret for everyone before the works began.

The building has brought many surprises both good and bad to the architects and restorers. Bad condition of the walls brickwork is unexpected problem, detected during monitoring. The walls were fastened by the method of injection, metal ties were also applied. One wall which could not to accomplish its carrier function had to be doubled with new, monolithic, having preserved the historical brick one.

A special task is to create conditions for storage, display of museum collections, visitors reception and museum works conducting. Technical equipment of the museum complex in the General Staff Building is executed at the highest level.

By celebration of the Days of the Hermitage in the first part of 2010 the museum will come into its rights in the territory, left by the builders. INTARSIA Group of Companies will continue works on restoration of the Eastern wing of the General Staff Building within the second priority of the project. The restoration project, unprecedented by its scale will have completed in 2012.