The Hermitage in Quiet August

The end of summer in St. Petersburg coincides with a break in the academic calendar: schoolchildren and students are still on vacation, but the dense tour groups are already thinning out, and the palace halls are enjoying the rare freedom they usually lack in June.

The Hermitage feels different in August than it does during peak season. There are fewer lines for familiar paintings, the enfilades — the successive halls — are more airy, and temporary exhibitions are viewed without rushing. For a large museum, this is a quiet window.

The light is even these days, so you can get right up to the frame, then move three or four meters away, and then return. The texture of the paint layer is easier to read when there’s no dense group nearby, and the silence itself holds your attention.

Before entering, it’s a good idea to purchase tickets to the Hermitage in advance for your preferred time slot. The Main Museum Complex is accessed by session, with mornings and midday usually busier, less crowded after 16:00, and longer opening hours on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.

A session only records the beginning of a visit: there is no minute limit within it, and the route and breaks are yours to decide.

The texture of the paint layer is better visible when there is no dense group nearby.

Exhibitions of the Winter Palace

The same entrance leads to the summer core of temporary exhibitions, and it’s convenient to read it as a single walk rather than three separate stops. The New Hermitage’s Twelve-Column Hall is currently hosting a single-painting exhibition: "Titian. The Last Masterpiece: Saint Sebastian." The 1576 canvas has returned to viewers after three years of restoration: Titian painted the saint in Venice during the plague, and this work was his last completed work.

After removing the later varnishes, the subject’s blue eyes and long hair became visible, and his left arm and legs took on a warm glow, as if from a sunset. Fluorite, a rare violet pigment previously unnoted in Titian, was discovered on the palette. Nearby, in a display case, are samples of the minerals from which the paints were ground; ultramarine was then more valuable than gold, because a kilogram of the stone yielded about two percent of the pigment.

The painting was placed against a scarlet background, and it doesn’t drown out the view. Admission to the exhibition is through the general entrance to the Main Complex. It’s best to check the museum’s website for the final date: reports have mentioned both the end of August and the end of September.

The painting was placed on a scarlet background, and it does not drown out against it.

From the Twelve-Column Hall, the path naturally leads to the Nikolaevsky Hall, where the "Catherine I" exhibition is on display. The project is connected to the tercentenary of her reign. The displays feature dresses, shoes, stockings, and other wardrobe items that reveal the fashions of Peter the Great’s court and the empress’s taste: she reigned as an autocrat for two years, but spent nearly twenty-two at Peter’s side. The museum is also staging lectures in the General Staff Building to accompany the exhibition.

Further on, in the Manege of the Small Hermitage, the gaze shifts from costume to applied art — objects made for the hand and everyday life, not just for display. The exhibition "Baron Stieglitz: A Feat of Enlightened Philanthropy" is housed here. The occasion is the 150th anniversary of the Central School of Technical Drawing. For the first time in a century, objects from the Hermitage collection and the museum of the academy named after the patron of the arts are displayed side by side on the platform. The name is taken from a rescript of Alexander II: this is how the emperor appreciated the banker’s gift to establish the school.

According to the museum, the hall contains approximately eight hundred artifacts. Alongside 16th-century tapestries — woven wall panels — are student drawings, Heinrich Schliemann’s finds from Hisarlik, and marble reliefs from the Palazzo d’Este in Ferrara. Five tapestries from the "Seasons: Grotesques" cycle occupy approximately 24 square meters each; they were cleaned in the museum’s laboratory workshops. The exhibition is scheduled to run until early October.

Three halls share a single entrance and a single ticket from the Main Complex. After one painting, the eye moves on to an 18th-century costume, then a tapestry and a school drawing, and the legs tire less than during a full tour of the permanent exhibition.

The General Staff Building

The Eastern Wing of the General Staff Building requires a separate ticket; the Winter Palace’s daytime admission fee does not apply to this area. The halls here are wider, there’s more light, and this is immediately noticeable after the dense enfilades of the Winter Palace.

The Large White Hall is hosting the project "On the Sweetness of the World. Contemporary Art from India." The exhibition features works by eleven artists from various cities, using techniques including painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, and video. Some of the pieces were created specifically for the Hermitage after the artists had visited the museum’s collection. The exhibition will run until early October.

The project "Discovering the Palace Chambers: Art at the Court of the Emir of Bukhara" is open nearby. The hall contains approximately seventy items from the 19th and early 20th centuries: gold-embroidered robes, headdresses, boots, weapons, and jewelry. Some of the items were brought by museums in Uzbekistan and are being shown outside the country for the first time. These are the years of Bukhara’s vibrant diplomatic and trade ties with the Russian Empire. The exhibition is scheduled for early October.

The headquarters is a good place to visit in the afternoon, when, after the Winter Palace, the eye already longs for light walls and wide passages.

Old Village Funds

The Restoration and Storage Center in Staraya Derevnya is organized differently from the palace suites, and it warrants a separate trip. The collections are open: items are arranged in tight rows, like a museum storeroom. The format is intimate, and on a weekday in August, this is especially noticeable.

The items are arranged in tight rows, like in a museum’s storage room.

The center is hosting a long-term exhibition of clocks and musical mechanisms from the Hermitage collection. You can view the cases, dials, and hidden mechanisms without the crowds at the glass. The exhibition runs until the end of December.

It’s a different neighborhood and a different pace. Tours of the open collections are best booked in advance: an August weekday leaves plenty of air between people and the shelves.

A calm visit plan

The museum is closed on Mondays, January 1st, and May 9th. The other days are conveniently divided into morning and evening. Those seeking a quieter experience can book a session after 16:00 PM; it’s usually cheaper than the morning session. Those visiting with children during school holidays often choose the opening time.

Seeing the entire Hermitage in one go is tiring, so in August, two short itineraries are more practical. The first stays within the Main Complex: the Twelve-Column Hall, the Nicholas Hall, and the Manege of the Small Hermitage. The second takes you either to the General Staff Building or to Staraya Derevnya.

This kind of iteration lasts for two hours. By 11:00, you’ll reach "Saint Sebastian" and the pigment display case, then move on to Catherine I, pause in the courtyard, and finish with the tapestries and study drawings at Stieglitz’s. The season remains focused, and impressions remain distinct.

Check the official website for closing dates on the day of your visit: exhibitions are extended, and sometimes the final day is pushed back. Bring comfortable shoes — even the short route requires a long walk on the parquet floor.