Magic Mechanisms in the Hermitage Museum
The Electric Power Station
In 1886, on the initiative of Vasily Leontyevich Pashkov, the specialist in technical matters for the Saint Petersburg palace administration, a power station was constructed to his design in one of the internal courtyards of the New Hermitage to provide electric lighting in the Winter Palace.
The light, elegant building with a large glazed façade was located directly beneath the windows of the Gallery of the History of Ancient Painting. The power station was fitted out with what was then the very latest equipment and it was the largest not only in Russia, but in the whole of Europe, which is why it was described as an “electricity factory”. The power station building took the form of a vaulted pavilion made of glass and metal with four skylights in the roof and an asymmetrical glazed façade in which the influence of the Art Nouveau style could be detected. In general, its structure followed the same principles as were employed in the design and construction of pavilions at the art and industry exhibitions that were popular at the time. On 9 November 1885, Emperor Alexander III approved the project for “The Construction of an Electric Station for the Winter Palace”. The project envisaged the electrification of the Winter Palace, the buildings of the Hermitage, the courtyards and adjoining territory within a period of three years, by 1888. It was proposed to install 5,769 incandescent bulbs and 43 arc lamps. Construction of the coal-fired power station to supply direct current at 110 volts with a capacity of 445 horse power (327.5 kilowatts) took from May to December 1886. The metal elements of the building, the actual pavilion for the power station, as well as the boilers and the steam engines were made by Franz San Galli’s famous St Petersburg-based firm. All the electrical equipment was produced and installed by the Siemens & Halske company – then the largest business active in that field. There were two entrances on the façade of the power station building. The central entrance led to the machine room containing four steam engines, two locomobiles and 36 dynamos. Behind the machine room, which was at ground level, there was a boiler room sunken down to the level of the New Hermitage cellars that contained six boilers to produce steam. The side entrance, with a door to the left, led to a staircase down to cellar level followed by a narrow corridor passing the machine room. It came out in the cellar below the Main (Nicholas) Staircase that was the location of the office and storerooms for the power station. Other nearby cellars in the New Hermitage were taken over for the needs of the power station: beneath the Hall of the Archaic Period (№ 111) there was the battery room, while beneath the Jupiter Hall (№ 107) there was a rotary steam engine and a coal bunker. Right up until the February Revolution in 1917, the power station was constantly being modernized. Its capacity increased and the network that it supplied expanded. At the same time experience was being acquired that was then used in the construction of large power stations serving whole city districts. By 1893 the network had increased to 30,000 incandescent bulbs and 40 arc lamps. Not only the buildings of the palace complex were lit, but also Palace Square and the buildings of the Guards Corps Headquarters and the Preobrazhensky Guards Regiment. In 1912–14 a hot-water heating system was installed in the buildings of the Small, New and Old (Large) Hermitages that used the waste steam from the power station’s steam engines. During the Siege of Leningrad, on 28 November 1942, one of the shells fired into the city by the Nazi invaders exploded inside the power station building. It destroyed the load-bearing metal structures above the boiler room and a huge hole measuring 20 square metres formed in the roof. After the war, during the restoration work on the Hermitage, the badly damaged power station building was dismantled. The Winter Palace power station produced electricity to supply the buildings of the palace complex from 1886 until 1921 and heated the rooms of the Hermitage from 1912 until the early 1930s, when the complex was connected to the external district hot-water mains.
The Boiler House
The boiler house was constructed in one of the internal lightwell courtyards of the Winter Palace in 1895 to heat the living apartments of Emperor Nicholas II.
The work was overseen by the architect of the Winter Palace at that time, Alexander Feodorovich Krasovsky. The twelve by eight metre hangar-like building of the boiler house was placed along the lengthwise axis of the courtyard inside the north-western corner of the building, close to the River Neva. To provide for the natural circulation of water through the heat-exchange chambers located in the cellars, the boiler room had to be placed almost a metre and a half below the floor level of the Winter Palace cellar, in a riveted iron caisson with a semicircular cross-section to protect it from being flooded by ground water. Above the caisson, the builders installed arched I-beam trusses that were attached to the walls of the palace and spanned the courtyard from side to side like a semicircular bridge. The roof was then attached to those trusses. It was made up of several layers of different materials, providing strength, lightness and thermal insulation for the whole structure: corrugated iron, felt, a row of wooden boards and roofing iron over the top. The entrance door and a window were located in the eastern wall. On the opposite side of the boiler house there was the chimney, made from boiler iron faced with corrugated iron. From the entrance door of the boiler house a metal staircase led down six metres from ground level to the floor of the interior. The single landing had an entrance on it from the cellar of the Winter Palace for use by the operating staff. The boiler room had three horizontal flued boilers of the Cornish type for the heating system and a single vertical boiler for the ventilation system. All four were coal-fired and heated water to 60–70 degrees on the Réaumur scale that was used in Russia before the revolution (75–87.5°C). From the boilers the hot water rose through a main header pipe to the attic, from where it flowed through a system of distribution pipes to cast-iron radiators located in the living apartments, beneath the windows, in the window embrasures and between the window frames (both winter and summer frames). A chamber with good thermal insulation was constructed on top of special beams in the attic above the Second (Silver) Drawing Room right beneath the roof. It contained expansion tanks that held the water when heating increased its volume. In place of the previous pneumatic heating stoves (designed by the military engineer Nikolai Am(m)osov and were now dismantled), 14 brick heat-exchange chambers were constructed in the cellars containing cast-iron radiators. From those, 34 new ducts were cut into the thickness of the walls to carry fresh warmed air to the rooms of the palace where it was required. Hot water from the boiler room circulated through the radiators inside the chambers, while air from outside was delivered to them through brick-built ducts. In the chambers it was heated through contact with the radiators to a temperature of 14–20°Ré (17.5–25°C) and humidified to 50–60% (above the radiators there were tinned copper evaporation pans to which hot (60–70ºRé / 75–87.5оC) water was delivered). The air then rose up to the living apartments to provide ventilation and keep the temperature and humidity at optimum levels. The heat-exchange chambers had double-glazed inspection windows, electric lighting, thermometers and hand-controlled valves to regulate the flow of air passing through them. The problem of how to extract “foul air” was solved in an original manner. As early as 1886, a hydraulic lift had been installed by Their Majesties’ Staircase in the north-western part of the palace. Its design required the construction of a tall turret above the stairwell. By its base in the attic, two more heat-exchange chambers were constructed on iron beams containing cast-iron radiators in which hot water from the boilers circulated as in the chambers in the cellars. Connected to them were large air ducts with diameters of four and five feet that were made from corrugated iron with several layers inside of wooden boards, felt and roofing iron. This main duct was connected through branches to channels within the walls – the old heating ducts from the Amosov stoves or the flues from the fireplaces. In the attic chambers, the air was heated by the radiators, became lighter and continued upwards through a duct within the turret, thus drawing out air from the living apartments. After the alterations in the Hermitage and Winter Palace in 1933–36, when the complex was connected to the external district hot-water supply system, which was then used for heating, the need for a boiler house went away. The badly dilapidated building was dismantled in the late 1940s.
The Winter Palace Tower Clock
The tower clock is installed on the south facade of the Winter Palace.
It adorns the central pediment, which is topped by a finial in the shape of the imperial crown. Wherever you are on Palace Square, you have a good view of the dark face of the clock with gilded hands and Roman numerals. The mechanism is located further back, in the attic of the palace. In the late 1830s a special wooden clock house was built with a shaft for the weights and a flagstaff was set up on the roof of the palace for the raising of the imperial standard. Today, as before, the state flag of Russia flies above the clock.
What is the clock mechanism like?
The tower clock is a mechanical device driven by the power of descending weights. The clock mechanism consists of the "going train", the chiming train and the striking chain. This particular clock plays chimes every quarter of an hour. The belfry for the chimes is located behind the finial of the pediment on the palace roof. Two metal wires stretch from the bells to the clock mechanism. All the elements of the clock mechanism are fastened to a rectangular steel frame lying horizontally. This feature of the construction makes it possible to adjust every part separately.
When do they wind the tower clock?
The tower clock is wound by hand. One winding lasts roughly 72 hours. The continuous operation of the mechanical clock is ensured by the motive force of the weights. Each weight has a particular function: the first drives the going train, the second the chiming train and the third the striking train. All three trains have independent winding mechanisms that are wound in turn with the aid of a removable handle. To make winding easier, the clock mechanism is raised on a wooden base 1.5 metres high so that the handle is at chest height.
Turning the handle rotates the winding shaft of the clock. This movement is conveyed to the weight drum, around which the steel cable winds, like on a huge metal reel, lifting the weight. A ratchet makes it possible to wind the clock without it stopping. To raise all the weights, you have to turn all three winding mechanisms. At one time the depth of the shaft was about 16.5 metres, or roughly half the height of the Winter Palace, while the clock had to be wound every day! It is easy to imagine how exhausting such work must have been. Now a complicated system of pulleys is used to raise the weights and that made it possible to increase the length of time the clock runs on a single winding and shorten the shaft to 4.6 metres.
What is the going train?
We are used to clocks that tick. That sound is characteristic of mechanical clocks. It is produced by the escapement, a mechanism that is often compared to the human heart. The pallet swings softly to and fro, catching one peg after another on the rotating wheel. This arrangement provides for the passage of energy in impulses from the weight to the pendulum. The pendulum in turn regulates the running of the entire clock mechanism. When the pendulum stops, so does the clock. The swinging of the pendulum is connected by gears to the turning of the hands of the clock. It is believed that the movement of the hands of a clock from right to left copies that of the shadow on a sundial.
What is the chiming train?
The tower clocks rings bells at the quarters and the hour. The sound of the old bells is better heard in the Winter Palace courtyard than on noisy Palace Square. In the course of the hour there are twin chimes from the quarter bells, while its end is marked by the striking of the hour bell. For the chimes to be on time, the mechanism needs to be "primed". To do this the going train sets the chiming train in motion ahead of time through a system of levers. As a result the locking lever (red) rises from a groove in the count wheel and releases the chime mechanism. This completes the preparation stage. The clock begins to chime the quarters. In the diagram the successive operations of the clock mechanism are indicated by numbers, while its elements are distinguished by colour.
When do the quarter chimes sound?
We hear the chimes while the locking lever is sliding around the edge of the quarter count wheel. At that moment, driven by the descending weight, the drum unwinds and sets in motion the hammers of the quarter bells that are attached the clock mechanism by pull-wires. The bells weigh 37 and 58 kilogrammes. During the chimes one bell sounds a little after the other. A single double chime indicates the first quarter, two the second and so on. When the locking lever reaches the next groove on the count wheel, the chiming mechanism is halted.
What is the striking train?
Some tower clocks in Europe repeat the last hour when striking each quarter. The mechanism of our palace clock is designed in such a way that the hour bell strikes only at the end of each hour. The rest of the time the striking train is idle. It is set in motion by the operation of the chiming train. To this end the quarter count wheel has in its rim not only four grooves, but also a special projection. When the tower clock chimes the last quarter, this lug raises for an instant then lowers the quarter locking lever (red). That movement is sufficient to dislodge another locking lever (green) from its groove on the striking count wheel and set the whole train in motion. In the diagram the successive operations of the clock mechanism are indicated by numbers.
The striking of the hour follows the same pattern as the chiming of the quarters. The release lever pulls on the wire, drawing back the hammer, and then lets it go. The hammer drops under its own weight and strikes the bell a strong blow. The number of blows is determined by the distances between twelve grooves on the count wheel. To make the ringing of the 197-kilogramme bell pleasant to the ear, the striking mechanism is retarded by a three-bladed fly. As soon as the locking lever drops into the next slot in the count wheel, the bell stops striking. The clock falls silent in expectation of the birth of a new minute.
Johann Georg Strasser's "Mechanical Orchestra"
This movie provides an introduction to the large free-standing clock incorporating a mechanical organ that is the most famous work of Johann Georg Strasser, a mechanic and clockmaker who lived in St Petersburg in the early nineteenth century.
Visitors to the St Petersburg workshop of the celebrated mechanic Johann Georg Strasser at the turn of the nineteenth century were delighted by the sight of the great clock that he styled his "Mechanical Orchestra". The large free-standing clock was produced in Strasser's workshop between 1793 and 1801. Others closely involved in the work were Strasser's son Thomas (or Foma), the furniture-maker Heinrich Gambs and the organ-builder Johann Gabran. The Mechanical Orchestra takes the form of an architectural edifice about four metres in height with a portico and paired mahogany columns embellished with gilded bronze. The organ is driven by four weights, each weighing about 60 kilogrammes. The music is recorded on removable wooden barrels, 127 centimetres in length, each of which plays for eight minutes. Originally thirteen barrels were produced. The first was the overture from Mozart's Magic Flute; then came more works by Mozart, Haydn and also Anton Eberl, a Viennese pianist and popular composer in his day who was then living in St Petersburg and wrote a piece especially to Strasser's commission. In 1861 a fourteenth barrel was created to play the then-fashionable march from Tannhäuser by Richard Wagner.
According to some sources, the Mechanical Orchestra was intended for the Mikhailovsky Castle, the residence of Paul I which already contained two of Strasser's clocks. With Paul's death in the spring of 1801, however, it became unwanted. The master craftsman who had invested all his wealth in the work was left with no option but to dispose of it by lottery. For over two years he was unable to sell a sufficient quantity of tickets. In order to drum up public interest he was obliged to organize a large number of concerts. Finally, on 4 May 1804, the draw was held, but for a long time afterwards no-one came forward with the winning ticket.
It eventually emerged that a certain young officer going to join his unit had made a stop in Libau (now in Latvia) in the house of "a kind old woman" - a poor widow. She had not accepted any payment from him, but took "as a reminder of him" the lottery ticket that the officer had bought in the capital for five roubles. After some time the widow discovered that the ticket that had "long lain neglected behind the mirror in her home, had been pulled out and half-shredded by the children," had won back in St Petersburg a clock worth 60,000 roubles. In early 1805 Alexander I bought the clock from her, however, for 20,000 roubles plus a lifetime pension. The clock was installed in one of the halls of the Imperial Hermitage and never left the imperial residence again.
Throughout the nineteenth century the Mechanical Orchestra continued to delight those who heard it. "Inimitable harmony and pleasantness of tone is the distinguishing virtue of this mechanical concert," wrote the prominent literary figure Pavel Svinyin. "Especially in the adagios it seems as if the world's foremost virtuosi are playing together; the harmony seems to descend from the heavens."
Cabinetmaker
The movie shows one of the most interesting mechanical bureaus of the 18th century from the Hermitage collection. The Large Bureau (known as the Apollo Bureau) was created by the atelier of the renowned European furniture maker David Roentgen. The tridimentional computer model used in the program shows the working of the bureau's secret mechanisms.
Catherine II's Parisian correspondent, Baron Melchior Grimm, who kept the Empress abreast of political and cultural events in the French capital, regularly informed her of how work was progressing on the unusual bureau being made in Roentgen's workshop in Neuwied on the Rhine. Catherine looked forward with eager anticipation to adding it to her collection. In 1784 David Roentgen brought the Apollo Bureau to St Petersburg and it became an adornment of the interior of the Large Hermitage, the building that had just been constructed to house the Empress's collections of art. This was the first work by Roentgen to feature architectural forms. The design was probably chosen with an eye to the tastes of the intended purchaser: from Grimm he knew about the scale of construction work in St Petersburg and of Catherine's obsession with it. The mahogany bureau with gilded bronze decoration fitted with complex mechanical devices and a musical mechanism delighted the Russian Empress. The mechanisms that Roentgen produced in collaboration with the mechanic Peter Kinzing made it possible to open book-rests, change the cabinets, open side-panels and play music recorded on cylinders. The piece of furniture is crowned by a sculptural depiction of Apollo on Mount Parnassus. A similar figure of the Greek god had first been used in Paris in 1776 in a work for Prince Charles of Lorraine, the governor of the Austrian Netherlands. Francois Remond created it from a model by the sculptor Louis-Simon Boizot. The craftsmen then repeated the design several times. Exactly the same figure of Apollo sits atop a long-case clock in the Hermitage collection. Catherine II liked to show Roentgen's unique pieces to her guests in the Hermitage. About 1790 the Empress gave orders for the Apollo Bureau to be placed on public display in the Academy of Sciences. Then, in the 19th century, the Large Bureau returned to the Winter Palace. With time the piece gradually lost its magnificence and the mechanisms began to work poorly. In the 1980s a thorough restoration was carried out in the Hermitage workshops. All the complex interior mechanics were put back in order. They splendidly selected grain of the mahogany veneer could again be seen at its best. The bronze decoration was cleaned and the musical mechanism set right. Today the Apollo Bureau can be seen in the White Hall of the Winter Palace in which the majority of Roentgen's works are displayed.