State Hermitage hosts unique photo exhibition

A photo exhibition narrating the history of St. Petersburg between the 1840s and the 1920s is to open at the State Hermitage here today.

According to the Hermitage press center, photos by such well-known Russian and European photographers as Karl Bulla, Ivan Bianki, Sergei Levitsky and Karl Schultz will be displayed in the museum's halls.

Old-time photographers depicted the northern Russian capital's architectural monuments and sculptures. Photos showing bygone interiors of famous city palaces, mansions and public buildings are particularly interesting. The list of exhibits includes photos from the archives of famous St. Petersburg families, i.e. the clans of prince Yusupov, count Bobrinsky, count Sheremetev, count Shuvalov and count Stroganov.

Apart from that, all these photos, many of which were never displayed or published before, will tell visitors about the imperial capital's everyday life and festivities. An entire photo series deals with the February 1903 costume ball, which was organized at the Winter Palace and timed to coincide with the city's 200th anniversary.

All in all, the exhibition will feature about 500 photos from the Hermitage collection. The Hermitage boasts one of the world's largest Russian-photo collections. This museum's depository contains more than 40,000 ancient photos and daguerreotypes.