The State Hermitage Museum: Hermitage News

Gorod 812 - 23. 03. 2009, Vadim Shuvalov

Delovoy Peterburg (St Petersburg) - 11.03.2009

Portal BN.ru (Real Estate Bulletin) - 06.02.2009, Veronika Arkhipova

Kommersant (St Petersburg) - 02.02.2009, Anna Pushkarskaya

Delovoy Peterburg (St Petersburg) - 16.01.2009

Real estate market proxy (www.irn.ru) - 10/14/2011

The General Staff Building in Saint Petersburg will be restored by 2013
The restoration of the Eastern Wing of the General Staff Building of the State Hermitage Museum will be complete by 2013, reported Oleg Yavein, the head architect for the project. The restoration work that has been taking place as part of the preparations for the jubilee of the Hermitage, began in 2008.
In the words of the President of the Intarsia Group of Companies and the General Director of the Project, Viktor Smirnov, the second stage of the reconstruction of the General Staff Building is distinguished from the first by the complexity of the restoration work: the brick walls, foundation, facade, and rich decorative elements are all in very poor condition. He promised to dismantle of the temporary scaffolding and staging that is currently spoiling the visual unity of Palace Square by the official Day of the City Day in May of 2012.

The Restoration of the Church
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REGNUM information agency (www.regnum.ru) - 10/13/2011

The Faberge Collection, the Schukin Gallery and the Prigov Hall will be successively placed in the restored General Staff Building
Today journalists were shown both the so-called "red zone" - the former gala halls and the living quarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where detailing completed in the first third of the nineteenth century according to Carlo Rossi for Chancellor Nesselrode. The largest scale restoration work is currently taking place here: painting, molding, gilding are in store as well as the restoration and preservation of the decorative parquet flooring (there are six such areas here), marble fireplaces etc.
The Director of the Hermitage, Mikhail Piotrovsky, noted that many of the Hermitage's masterpieces will be moved here, to the General Staff Building. The Museum of Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Art will be here, the exhibition of applied art, a numismatics hall with a special numismatic storeroom, an exposition of orders and medals, the "Masonic Hall," an exhibit were the Faberge collection will be on display, as well as exhibits dedicated to the art of contemporary jewelry will all be located here.

The Restoration of the Parquet Flooring
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Vesti (www.vesti.ru), Ekaterina Fisenko - 10/13/2011

The Hermitage Will Soon Catch up to the Louvre in Size
The Hermitage has grown by another building. The Eastern Wing of the General Staff Building, which previously belonged to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, is now under restoration, which is expected to be complete in record time, so that it will be ready for the jubilee of the State Hermitage Museum. After the restoration, the museum will catch up to the Louvre in size.

Restoration work in the Gala Halls
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Fontanka.ru (www.fontanka.ru) - 10/132011

The General Staff Building will be Free of Scaffolding by the Day of the City
The scaffolding will be completely removed from the General Staff building by the Day of the City. Viktor Smirnov, the General Director of the Intarsia Company, made this announcement to journalists at a press conference dedicated to the restoration of the beginning of the second stage of the restoration of the Eastern Wing of the General Staff building.
We are now completing work on the facade, and the scaffolding will already be mostly removed by December, with the exception of a small area on the Moika embankment," he said. "But the scaffolding will be completely removed by the Day of the City.
In the building itself, according to Smirnov, utility networks are now being established, floors are being reinforced, and roofs are being repaired. By the end of the year, Intarsia must fully seal the roof and provide heating.

At the Press Conference
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Vremya Novostei, No. 288, Sergey Khachaturov - 13 December 2010

Museum in a good working shape
As I walked through the grand construction wearing a white helmet provided to me, I was preoccupied with the idea of implementation. There are a lot of controversies: a combination of bare Empire facades and modernist concrete structures, huge three-storey oak doors and crude glass ceilings as if in a shopping mall... Step-like day-light wells in the museum part of the building, enabling to keep lighting diffused, not direct, is a good idea. The energy implied in this bold undertaking proves that, despite complaints by skeptics, the Hermitage is in a good working shape.

Main Staircase of the General Staff
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Kommersant, No. 234, Grigory Revzin - 17 December 2010

Yards of state significance
The General Staff building is an urban quarter of complex shape constructed along its perimeter, with five large yards inside it. According to Yavein's design all these yards are bridged and connected with a perspective of large 14-meter high portals. To date, the first two yards, the largest ones, have been built, which is approximately half of works. The second part is expected to be completed by 2014. However it is clear now that this project is to be completed and the progress is visible. The result we have now is so impressive that it is quite not clear how it all could happen.
According to the design, the first floor of Rossi's General Staff is an urban space and the Hermitage exposition is located in upper floors. When you enter the first yard you see a staircase leading to the second floor, to the main enfilade. Imagine that the entire large yard is occupied by one staircase. The effect it produces resembles that of the Spanish Steps in Rome or the Potemkin Stairs in Odessa.

Internal facade of the General Staff building
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ZAKS.RU (www.zaks.ru), 21.10.2010

The First Stage of Reconstruction of the Eastern Wing of the General Staff Building in St Petersburg shall be Completed by September

As a result of reconstruction of the eastern wing the Hermitage shall get unique exhibition premises, of which there are no analogues in Russia so far, - for example, enormous exhibition halls with ceilings height of almost 14 metres, with engineering equipment that is up to world standards. For the first time the exhibition halls shall get glass openings in its roofs and, consequently, the museum exhibits shall 'live' by natural lightning: 'wake up' and 'fall asleep' together with the sun.

Large Exhibition Hall
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Nevskoe Vremya, 22.01.2010, Nikita Rubtsov

Workers do not Swear Dirtily at the Hermitage Construction Site

Structures condition is being monitored constantly. Modern equipment is watching over possible sagging of the building or its structures. 150 sensors have been installed inside the General Staff Building itself and around it; their readings are being tracked in real-time mode, and, according to Mikhail Piotrovsky, experts from even four companies, including a French one, have been called upon to observe them.

- From my workplace I can obtain information on behaviour of this or that structure at any time, for example, how heavily did frost affect metal beams, - tells the head of technical supervision group Alexander Chevychelov. - But this is just overcautiousness, this is because before starting any new working stage we recalculate everything a dozen times.

As it turned out works at such an important site under intent supervision of the Hermitage staff members have positive influence on cultural level of ordinary workers.

- In such a place one should be in keeping with its spirit, - admits with embarrassment one of the workers to the reporter of NV. - May be not everyone here can write without making a single mistake. But you would not hear unprintable expressions here for sure!

Workers at the construction site
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BN.ru (Bulleten Nedvizhimosti) - 21.01.2010, Marina Golovkova

The General Staff Building of the Hermitage

Holding the tender for execution of the second stage of reconstruction of the Eastern wing of the General Staff Building depends on the results of qualification selection of pretenders, which should be completed in the near future.

In November 2009 five organizations applied for participation in the contest - Intrasiya Group of Companies in tandem with SetlProf LLC (SetlGroup Holding); international consortium consisting of Neviss-Complex LLC, Moscow CJSC SUIproject and Yugoslavian Harvinter; consortium of three St Petersburg companies Leokaspis, Adamant-stroy and Kompakt; as well as Design and Construction Company Pulkovo and Italian company RizzanideEccher. The customer of the reconstruction of the General Staff Building is the St Petersburg Foundation for Investment Construction Projects (FICP). At large the project is realized for account of the Federal budget and the loan from the World Bank of Reconstruction and Development.

Offers from the pretenders to participation in the contest are now being reviewed in Washington, at the headquarters of the World Bank. Conditions of holding the tender for reconstruction of the second stage have been changed significantly. The President of Intrasiya Group of Companies Viktor Smirnov points out that the requirements concerning professional experience and financial component of companies were made tougher. In particular, companies-pretenders should have vast background experience in large-scale reconstruction and restoration works of the 19th century monuments, while the company's average annual turnover should be no less than $120 million in the course of the last three years.

At the press-conference Nikita Yavein, Mikhail Piotrovsky, Viktor Smirnov, Alexey Vasiliev
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NTV Television Company (www.ntv.ru), 21.10. 2010, Daria Krivolapova

Despite heavy frosts work is in full swing at the site of the Eastern Wing of the General Staff building. In order not to stop work even for a minute they provided window openings with heated insulation and even installed temporary heating.

Viktor Smirnov, the President of the general contractor Company: "It seems that we can just mount manufactured window units. But this is not the case, since each window opening is individual. There are some instants that we have to do over. We have altered several windows. Now we are starting to make fittings. There is not a single identical window in the building".

Mikhail Piotrovsky, who is personally following reconstruction works progress, was satisfied by the today's inspection.

Mikhail Piotrovsky, the Director of the State Hermitage: "This is a high level of work quality, purity of construction. I have said thrice today that when on January 12 I came here to the construction site, I didn't find any snow in these courtyards. The whole city was heaped up with unshovelled snow. But there was no snow here. They have been working all the time and shovelling snow away".

At the construction site
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Baltic Information Agency, Olga Pershina

Restoration of the General Staff Building: Construction Workers Discovered Mistakes of Ancestors

Restoration of the Eastern Wing of the General Staff building is in full swing now. Works on the first stage are coming to an end; and the search for the contractor for the second stage has already started. Meanwhile, the experts point out that restoration of this object turned out to be the most complicated one. Construction workers and restorers faced the fact that their predecessors left quite a few mistakes and shortcomings.

According to the leader of the architectural supervision group Vitaliy Antipin, if, for example, at the front of the building brickwork was of high quality, then inside it was worse in its level. "Why is there such difference in quality? Probably, then, just like nowadays, one could meet constructors who were not quite honest," - he remarked.

The architect Nikita Yavein is also sure that our ancestors could do a bad job during construction and further restoration of the General Staff Building. "For example, from the side of Moika River embankment on the 4th floor the whole inner part is done poorly. Probably, the contractor ran out of money and decided to save on it," - he notices.

Reinforced wall of the building
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Sankt-Peterburgskiye Vedomosti, Issue No. 011 dated 25.01.2010, Ludmila LEUSSKAYA

Reconstruction of the Eastern Wing of the General Staff Building is in Progress While Looking Back at Rossi

Constructors are proud that they are preserving everything that can be preserved in the building constructed by Rossi. According to their estimations interference in the historical material does not exceed 10 percent.

Completion of the first stage of restoration works is in September of this year. In order to meet the deadline today from six hundred up to seven hundred people are working simultaneously at the General Staff Building upon the area of 19 thousand square metres. Financing is stable. No obvious reasons for failing stipulated deadlines are foreseen.

For the Director of the Hermitage Mikhail Piotrovsky the guideline for this work is Amsterdam, where last year a complicated reconstruction was completed for the historic building, in which the Hermitage • Amsterdam centre was opened. He evaluates quality and work level of home restorers as high as mastery of their Dutch colleagues. By the way, the tradition of regular 'press-tours wearing hard hats' through the construction site has also moved on to our ground from Amsterdam.

Enfilade of premises along River Moika
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NTV Television Company July 13, 2009, Victor Chernoguz

There is no threat for the Rossi's masterpiece

The crack is not dangerous. Today the journalists could see it for themselves during an unscheduled excursion around the General Staff building. The excursion was organized by the State Hermitage. The main spokesperson was Mikhail Piotrovsky himself.

The excursion served as an answer to all the questions that had piled up. The biggest question among those was whether the classical view of the architectural ensemble by Karl Rossi would remain preserved. The project implies, among other things, the glazing of the inner yard of the building and installation of new windows on the roof.

The city newspapers have recently reported the following: the facade of the General Staff building has started to crack. Today the officials have admitted: there are cracks both outside and inside, but these have appeared not as a result of today's works, but due to the events that happened to the building in the past.

Today the officials are demonstrating a delicate approach to the historical heritage. Even the bricks used in the construction are the same as in XIX century. The form of the walls and ceilings is also the same. Thus the Eastern Wing should look almost exactly like it used to look 200 years ago. It is only the designation of the building that is going to change. Instead of state institutions the building shall host a museum.

Mikhail Piotrovsky is answering the questions of the journalists
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Fontanka.ru (www.fontanka.ru) - July 13, 2009

The General Staff building opened its doors to the journalists to show one of the restoration stages. Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director of the State Hermitage, has kept his promise to adhere to the policy of maximum openness.

Among the things demonstrated during the excursion around the General Staff building there were halls where all the floor decks had been replaced and the plastering works had been completed.

The reconstruction of the Eastern Wing of the General Staff building is planned to be completed by September 2010. From the beginning of the heating season the Intarsia company is planning to 'shut off' the perimeter of the building; after the temporary heating system has been installed, the building will be closed for drying. The finishing works shall begin in March-April. The status of construction and installation works progress is 90%, the status of the plastering works progress is 70%.

The project has undergone several changes - the restores have decided to preserve the brick wall which is estimated to be in an emergency condition (its decline angle is equal to 20А) and a unique strong room; initially the plan was to dismantle this room made fully of reinforced concrete. The unique framework system of the attic shall be preserved in its initial state; the wooden poles shall not be replaced my metallic ones.

During the excursion around the General Staff building
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Source - St Petersburg Vedomosti Issue
No. 127, July 14, 2009 Ludmila Leusskaya

Staff Manoeuvres

Yesterday for the first time the journalists were invited to the General Staff building to evaluate the scope and quality of works that have been going on in the Eastern Wing since last autumn.

I do not know how it was when this Russian masterpiece was being constructed, but its reconstruction, restoration and adaptation to the needs of the museum today has required a 'brainstorming' procedure involving many specialists, leave alone the number of workers.

Every day more than six hundred people work at the building site. Yesterday the site was also attended by several dozens of journalists. The guests could be distinguished from the hosts by the colour of the helmets (white as opposed to orange) and by their surprised faces. And there were quite a few things to be surprised with.

Moving from floor to floor of the Eastern Wing, almost every brick of which has been restored by the building workers, you can see what a genius building Karl Rossi has created. All the staircases are unique; there are many rooms with unusual forms and interesting engineering solutions. Now the work performed by the designers and builders resemble handwork done by a jeweller, since they develop individual solutions for each room.

Under the roof of the arch behind the back of the wagon there are wooden poles of the old floor decks. The easiest solution is to replace them; however, as it has turned out in the course of the analysis, the tree is still 'alive', thus it is being reinforced and preserved. The metallic constructions of a new roof covering will bear the load of the original wooden framework. The lantern lights of the last floor will also be preserved. They will be integrated into a complicated illumination system of the halls displaying paintings, including those from the collections of Shchukin and Morozov.

The most shining example is probably the crack story that has been mentioned in almost all the mass media in the city.

The crack is more visible from the side of the yard than on the facade. Nikita Yavein, head of Studio 44, demonstrating the crack in the brick wall to the journalists, drew their attention to the fact the wall itself has changed its initial vertical alignment. According to him, there are several factors causing this serious defect.

Probably, the easiest solution was to dismantle the problematic wall, causing so much trouble, and build a new one. However, the constant monitoring of the wall shows that it is not getting wider. The emergency wall will be preserved, reinforced and unloaded.

Lantern light
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Works on the roof of the General Staff building
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Television Channel 100 TV (www.tv100.ru) - July 13, 2009

The main architect of the reconstruction project for the General Staff building has also stated the following: the crack in the facade is not dangerous for the work of Karl Rossi. Today the journalists have taken part in an excursion. The excursion has proved that the crack is about 30 years old.

In St Petersburg there will be a first exhibition hall with glass floor decks. The same construction is now being tested at Moscow Institute of Aeronautics. In the meantime all the dismantling works in the building of the Eastern Wing have been completed. Why is this reconstruction programme called the most ambitious reconstruction project through the history of the General Staff building, and what is going to happen with the crack which frightened the activists fighting for the preservation of the historical centre?

This crack has frightened everybody. Varying in its width from a hardly visible line to a line almost as wide as a pack of cigarettes, the crack has altered even the work of the great Rossi. As a result, we have a lot of fuss in the mass media and extra difficulties for the workers. A lot of extra effort had to be put into the wall of the General Staff building facing the river Moika.

According to rough estimations of the specialists, the crack appeared about 30 years ago. It was caused by the fire and re-planning carried out by the former owners. Another factor is the construction of buildings nearby. The crack is now being compared to an arm fracture that is going to be sensitive to weather, something we will have to live with.

Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director of the State Hermitage:
"It would not have been preserved at any other place, and here we have a jeweller's work. It is a handcraft, an extremely delicate work."

What Mikhail Piotrovsky calls handcraft, includes, among other things, floor decks of the future enfilades on the top; this work is mostly performed by women. The mortar is being applied to the brick by big strokes; here there will be an attic, right above the exhibition halls. Several halls shall display the works by Matisse and Picasso. The following conditions are unique: the paintings shall be protected from direct sunlight, and they will be displayed in the street light, being the best light for this purpose. It was Rossi who came up with the idea of locating the windows in this manner. One of the windows, however, now is locked with a bolt, and resembles a sun eclipse.

The dismantling works in the Eastern Wing of the arch of the General Staff building have been completed; a new foundation has been installed around almost the whole perimeter of the building. The finishing works are yet to be carried out - 27 stoves are going to become decorative; the ancient ceiling lamps, that have been discovered accidentally, are going to be restored. A place has been found even for an unplanned decorative element, a birch that has grown in the granite foundation of the column. It is going to planted in the nearest park. The cabins for workers will be removed in 2010. This reconstruction project is regarded as the most ambition reconstruction project throughout the whole history of the General Staff building.

Nikita Yavein
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Works in the attic space of the General Staff building
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Gorod 812 Magazine, No. 6, July 20, 2009
Vadim Shuvalov

This week the Hermitage has demonstrated the progress of the reconstruction works of the General Staff building. The fact that the Intarsia company, the general constructor of the project, will probably manage to complete the first stage of the works (installation of new roofs, replacement of the windows, shutting-off the yards) by the beginning of the heating season has served as a good reason for demonstrating the results of the already performed work.

The works have been delayed by the fifth yard. The inner wall of the building has cracks and has diverged from its vertical position. It cannot bear the load of the atrium roof, and that is why a new load-bearing wall is being erected nearby. For that reason the foundations had to be reinforced.

Yard 5
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Source - gorzakaz.org (St Petersburg information portal Gorzakaz) - 04.05.09

Reconstruction of the General Staff building is to revive the message by K. Rossi

A sample of classicism by K. Rossi looks solid and symmetrical on the outside. But inside it appears to be the work of a tailor with thousands of secret seams.

Having taken off the roof the builders observed the seemingly chaotic pattern of bars and walls.

However, the fact is that each supporting element is based on complicated mathematical calculations. A wrong solution can result in a failure. For this reason the restorers see Rossi's authentic project found in the archives as their basic document.

Repeated repairs have distorted the initial appearance of the rooms and the author's message. The restorers are currently searching by touch for the chimneys plastered, and for the arches and windows blocked with bricks.

Repairs of the attic space
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Source - 100 TV (www.tv100.ru.) - 19.05.2009

The Hermitage awaits its 250th anniversary

The Eastern Wing of the General Staff is to become a new major exposition site of the State Hermitage. Its reconstruction is scheduled to be completed by the 250th anniversary of the museum - in 2014.

Valery Lukin, Chief Architect of the Hermitage:

"Here we have a chariot, a kind of attic space. We made an effort to apply it for exhibition too. Here we plan to display photographic and graphic works. We retain large-span frames, install bridges around them and show the exhibition".

Lanterns are already being brought together to the attic, they are intended for lighting the enfilade of the museum rooms. Big metal structures are to be covered with glass on top and lighting appliances are to be placed inside.

Concreting the lantern light
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Gorod 812. 23.03. 2009. Vadim Shuvalov

Can archeology prevent the builders from building?

"A cultural layer was found in the General Staff Building, Carlo Rossi had not taken everything down. Particularly, there are the remains of XVIII century structure in the fourth courtyard. Initially Nikita Yavein suggested covering the courtyard with transparent flooring, I tried to dissuade him, but he appeared to be right. Now in order to stop the construction works and to carry out excavations (according to my estimates, it will take one month of digging) it is necessary to record the found structure as a revealed object".

Oleg Ioannisyan, head of the architecture archeology sector of the State Hermitage

Excavations in the territory of the fourth courtyard of the General Staff Building

Delovoy Peterburg. 11.03 2009.

Restoration will Wait for Better Times

The General Staff is one of a few projects that has not been effected by the financial crisis yet.

The reconstruction cost is approximately US $113 million. The works are executed at the expense of the federal funds (51%) and the loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

The first stage of reconstruction should be completed by 2010, the second - by 2014.

The means for the first stage of the reconstruction were allocated.

Draft of the restoration project of the Eastern Wing of the General Staff Building.
Studio 44

Portal BN.ru (Real Estate Bulletin) - 06.02.2009, Veronika Arkhipova

Foundation is Being Changed in the General Staff Building

The most important stage of the restoration process, underpinning, has started in the Eastern Wing of the General Staff Building at Palace Square.

The works are carried out very carefully since vibration is contra-indicated for the architectural monument. Rotten oak piles are substituted with new titanium ones. As explained by the director of the State Hermitage Mikhail Piotrovsky, other works will not start until there is full confidence that the foundation is underpinned securely.

Over a thousand of new exhibits (calculators, bricks with the Imperial stamp, Stolovaya Khlebnaya vodka bottles and so on) were found in the General Staff Building from the beginning of the restoration. Specialists are sure that when the works continue in the courtyard of the building, there will be more findings.

Findings of the restoration works

Findings of the restoration works

Kommersant (St Petersburg) - 02.02.2009, Anna Pushkarskaya

At the end of last week Deputy Minister of Culture Andrey Busygin inspected the progress of restoration and reconstruction of a number of museum objects that are financed at the expense of the federal budget involving the loan from the World Bank.

At the meeting that took place in the Hermitage it was decided to specify the estimated cost of the reconstruction of the Eastern Wing of the General Staff Building that was given to the Hermitage due to the world financial crisis. In accordance with the current Loan Agreement signed in July of the previous year 4.4 billion roubles were allocated for the realization of the first stage of the project. As Mr. Busygin reported to the"Ъ" magazine, "there were no surprises at the object". As explained by the customer of the project Alexey Vasiliev, director of the Foundation for Investment Construction projects (FICP), the works in the General Staff Building are going ahead of schedule.

One of the enfilade rooms facing the Moika River

Enhanced door way

Delovoy Peterburg 16.01.2009

The Second Stage of the reconstruction of the General Staff Building

St Petersburg Foundation for Investment Construction projects announced a competition for project organization for realization of the second stage of the reconstruction of the Eastern Wing of the General Staff Building for the Hermitage use.

Application for participation should be submitted no later than January 30, 2009. As stated before, it is planned to allocate US $120 billion for the whole reconstruction of the second stage. The amount of the tender itself is not known yet. As reported by Alexey Vasiliev, director general of St Petersburg Foundation for Investment Construction projects, since 49% of the means were allocated by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (the rest 51% is taken from the federal budget) the tender will be held according to international norms and its amount can not be disclosed. The price that will be paid to the winner depends on the cost of works indicated in its application. The General Contractor of the Second Stage Competition, according to his version, will be announced no earlier than mid-August 2009. Since 2002 pre-project engineering, development of documentation of the Project stage and its coordination for the General Staff Building was executed by the Architect's Workshop Studio 44 Ltd. As stated by the company, Studio 44 will be sure to take part in the new tender.

The General Staff Building. View from above