In November 2023, the Children’s Days in Petersburg festival was again held in the State Hermitage.
For the youngsters and their parents, specialists from the Hermitage’s School Centre devised a special route around the lower two storeys of the Winter Palace and the buildings of the Small and New Hermitages. Participants in the festival visited the displays of the culture of Ancient Egypt and Classical Antiquity, Italian and Flemish painting, the Knights’ Hall and the Hall of the Great (or Kolyvan) Vase.
This year, the theme of the festival was “chance”, and so each participant was “accompanied” on their way around by Fortuna, the Ancient Rome goddess of success. The questions, tasks and commentaries on the route chart were presented as if from her. After reading what Fortuna had to tell them and carefully examining the exhibits, the children were able to guess how chance had influenced the fate of artists, sculptors, collectors or even the artwork itself.
The festival enabled visitors to the Hermitage to spend time together in a way that was interesting, entertaining and useful. Altogether, more than 1,500 children and parents had fun going around the route. All the festival participants were presented with stamped certificates bearing their names.
