by Peter Ingle at www.CharlestonToday.net
MOST VISITORS to St. Petersburg go to the Hermitage, and rightly so. It houses one of the world’s most large, if not largest, art collection in a former czar’s palace (the Winter Palace) where the Revolution of 1917 was staged, and where each room boasts a unique parquet floor, wall paneling, molding, and window trim. It is a grand, voluminous display that you cannot see or absorb in a short time. But it’s by no means the only source of rich art in town.
Grand room in the Russian Museum
There’s also the Russian Museum (shown here), home to the work of Russia’s finest artists whose works are also displayed in a former czar’s palace.
This building is more simple and less labyrinthine than—but equally palatial to—the Hermitage. Among its thousands of pieces, what stood out for me were the exquisite portraits and massive seascapes, both of which reveal the profound character of the Russian people and country.
And just next door in, yes, another former czar’s palace… (~> click to read the entire article)
