Between the autumn of 1941 and 27 January 1944, the State Hermitage came under attack repeatedly. Of the thousands of bombs and shells that the fascists rained down on Leningrad, the buildings of the museum complex were hit by two bombs and 30 shells. The enemy’s projectiles tore into the 200-year-old brick masonry of the walls and into the attics, getting caught up in the ironwork of the rafters or the thick layer of the ceiling below. More than 20,000 square metres of glass in the windows and skylights was shattered, the roof and the ceiling/floor structures were damaged, the heating and plumbing systems were completely wrecked. During the war, considerable damage was inflicted on the Hermitage buildings and halls.
Those members of the Hermitage staff who remained in besieged Leningrad did everything to preserve both buildings and collections under wartime conditions: they pasted paper on the windows, brought sand to the halls and attics, placed containers of water, shovels, asbestos mittens and tongs for use in extinguishing incendiary bombs. All the work to protect and preserve the buildings of the Hermitage and its collections, to service the air raid shelters and observe from above for affected sites was carried out by the museum’s team of the Local Air Raid Protection Force. Its members kept watch on the roofs during air raids and were on duty in the halls around the clock. In the autumn and winter of 1941, there were up to 15 air raid alerts in a 24-hour period!
Despite all the hardships of those years, the determination of the staff, their efforts and energy enabled the museum to stand firm and then to recover in a very short time.
1
Boris Kudoyarov
Damage in the Armorial Hall
1944
Photograph
On 2 January 1944, the last shell to hit the Hermitage exploded in the Armorial Hall of the Winter Palace, in the masonry separating it from the ground floor. The shell had broken through the roof, avoided the rafters and trusses, and exploded inside the floor by the doorway to the Peter the Great Hall, leaving a huge hole in the vault of the Rastrelli Gallery below.
2
A broken chandelier in the Peter the Great Hall
January 1944
Photograph
3
The Carriage House after a direct hit from a shell
June 1942
Photograph
On 8 July 1942, a 70-millimetre shell exploded in the Carriage House where the collection of the court stables museum was kept. Seven carriages and two palanquins were destroyed, the rest of the exhibits were badly damaged.
4
Vera Miliutina
A Shattered Window in One of the Halls of the Winter Palace (View of the Alexander Column)
1942
Pencil on paper
5
Damage to the Rastrelli Gallery
Wartime photograph
The hole left in the vault of the Rastrelli Gallery after a shell hit the Armorial Hall above on 2 January 1944.
6
Vera Miliutina
Damage in the Pre-Class Society Sector. Top Floor of the Winter Palace
1942
Watercolour on paper
7
Vera Miliutina
Damage in One of the Museum Halls
1942
Pencil on paper
Door in the Attic above the Ministerial Corridor of the Winter Palace, Damaged by the Explosion on 18 April 1942
Photograph taken during renovation in 2006
The artist Vera Miliutina was sent to the Hermitage in February 1942 on an assignment from the Committee for Artistic Matters as part of a group of artists tasked with recording the damage caused to the museum by bombing and shelling.
One of her drawings shows a door in the attic above the Ministerial Corridor that was deformed by a blast. In front of the door, there is a gaping crater in the masonry of the vault. The vault has since been repaired, but the door was left in the same state as a reminder of the siege years.
Adrian Kaplun
View of the Alexander Column from the Winter Palace
25 April 1942
Graphite and coloured pencils on paper
Vera Miliutina
Vase in the Tent-Roofed Hall
1942
Charcoal on paper
Vera Miliutina
Hole in the Wall Facing the Kitchen Courtyard
1942
Pencil on paper
Vera Miliutina
Damage in One of the Internal Courtyards of the Winter Palace
1942
Photograph of a lost drawing
Vera Miliutina
The Jordan Staircase. Upper Floor
March 1942
Coloured pencil on paper
Vera Miliutina
Hall with Empty Window Frames and Sand
April 1942
Charcoal on paper
Vera Miliutina
The Golden Drawing-Room
1942
Photograph of a lost drawing
Cleaning Up in the Reading Room of the Research Library
1944
Photograph