Heremitage, part one

We visited the Hermitage this morning. It is huge and confusing and overwhelming. Also very interesting. Catherine the Great lived there in the winters and accumulated the majority of the art there for her collection. She bought entire personal collections from around Europe (including Empress Josephine's collection of Canova sculptures). We barely made a dent in two and a half hours. Thursday we will go back and stay as long as we are able.

What I really loved was walking through the areas that show the residence as it was used by the royal family. They say it is done in a neoclassical style, but it is the most over the top neoclassical I have ever seen.
















This is the peacock clock. There is an owl, a mushroom, a rooster, and a peacock and somehow they are mechanized and the way they move tells you the time. I read the description and still didn't get it. There was a tour guide describing it in Spanish and recreating the movements of all the animals. That was almost better than the pretty gold clock.

Location:St. Petersburg