St Petersburg - The Hermitage

 I first became interested in paintings, living in Paris in the 1960s . As I discovered new (to me) artists it seemed that many of the pictures they painted where llisted as being in The Hermitage Museun in St Petersburg, at that time completely out of reach.
How fortunate then to not only visit The Hermitage but, thanks to a Golden Wedding Present from our son and daughter, to be provided with a personal guide, Tatyana. At the beginning we were the very first people to walk through the magical galleries. It brings a lump to my throat even now, the sheer wonder and excitment of it all.  Students  are allowed in before the crowds arrive to study and copy and as we saw as we left the crowds are huge.  The Museum has a very good web site with the history and  virtual tours which can show you details and object which we didn't see.It is made up of three palaces which are painted different colours on the outside,I liked the idea of colour coded palaces!  The first slide show is the Winter Palace.  

The Slide had cropped this photograph, this corridor is inspired by the corridor in the Vatican.