Hermitage Museum

Immediately after we returned to the pier on the Griboyedov Canal, I wanted to go to inspect the interior of the Winter Palace, in which the Hermitage Museum is located. However, Sasha dissuaded me. We had only two days to stay in Saint Petersburg; now it was one and a half. Whereas, according to Sasha, it is necessary to allocate a full day for a visit to the Hermitage Museum and nothing can be planned for this day anymore.

Only during the second visit to Saint Petersburg, in the autumn of the same 2011, we visited it. We spent the whole day in the Hermitage Museum: we arrived at 10 a.m. and left at 6 p.m. The trip to it turned out to be one of the most emotionally and informationally intense days in my life.

It is not easy to imagine the scale of the Hermitage Museum. Before visiting the museum, I believed that it occupies the Winter Palace, which is really huge. Nevertheless, it turned out that in addition to the Winter Palace, the Hermitage Museum occupies four more neighbouring buildings connected by internal transitions.

Five huge buildings in the very centre of the former capital of the empire were set aside for an exhibition of works of art — this approach is a clear proof of the great respect and reverence for art in Russia. Art in Saint Petersburg is given the most important place in the life of the city; it is even more significant than government or business institutions. I have never seen anything like this before in any city in the world!

The collection of works of art of the Hermitage Museum is amazing. It takes time even to inspect a good painting or sculpture. The Hermitage Museum presents tens of thousands of masterpieces in thousands of halls and rooms. If you give at least one minute to each exhibit of the Hermitage Museum, you will need many years to inspect them. Therefore, visitors have no choice but to inspect everything at a waltzing pace. We also moved in this way lingering only near the most attractive works. However, even the most interesting of them were thousands!

I was surprised that there are very few works by Russian artists in the Hermitage Museum. Initially, from the second half of the 18th century, Russian emperors bought collections from Europe, in which there were masterpieces of Western European art, primarily from Italy, France, Germany, England, Belgium, and Holland. The museum has a rich collection of paintings by Rubens, Rembrandt, van Dyck, Poussin, Titian, Veronese, Claude Lorrain, etc.

In the Hermitage Museum, I was struck not only by pictures. I was shocked by the luxury of the halls, fireplaces, decoration, and entourage. Many details caused delight. I was struck by amazing chandeliers. I have never seen such amazing and grand chandeliers anywhere before! Vases looked absolutely incredible; some of them exceeded human height and, at the same time, they looked openwork and light.

There are many sculptures in the Hermitage Museum. I had no idea that these sculptures can be so fascinating. It seemed to me that some of the sculptures were almost more like people than the people who looked at them; at least they were definitely superior to them with their perfection.

Like any woman, I imagined many museum works as objects of the décor of my house. I always felt that such things should be in the house in which I live. Only years later, through spiritualistic experiences, I learned that in a past life I lived in Saint Petersburg, in the second half of the 18th-early 19th centuries, in a rich aristocratic house. In those days, Sasha was also my man, however, of course, with a different name and appearance. I was overwhelmed by the strange sensations of my homeland in Saint Petersburg.

The halls in the Hermitage Museum are incredibly luxurious! And each of them is unique; each is made in a different style. You can look at the painted and carved ceilings for hours. Some rooms are so magnificent that they even eclipse the works of art that are placed in them.

In the Hermitage Museum, I saw art from very different eras and cultures, even jewellery from Ancient Egypt. The armour of medieval European knights fascinate with their power and beauty. The sets of dishes made of gold, silver, and porcelain in the Baroque and Classicism styles are so miniature and perfect that, at times, they could not believe that people are capable of creating such things.

I shared my impressions with Sasha. In turn, Sasha said that he had an interesting feeling.

‘No matter how great the master is, the creation of God — a very beautiful woman is more perfect than any work created by people,’ said Sasha. ‘Art has only one advantage: time has no power over it, characters captured in sculptures and paintings will always be young. However, they will never be alive. In comparison with your living transcendental beauty, Archena, all the creations of the world fade. On this day and this hour, the most beautiful thing in the Hermitage Museum is you! And I do not exaggerate at all.’

I was very pleased to hear that.

We left the Hermitage Museum shortly before the closure. There were so many emotions and impressions that strong fatigue and even emptiness came over. There was no power to react to anything; it was difficult to even talk. We left further discussion of impressions for later, since that evening we needed only peace and silence.