The Hermitage at the VK Fest

In 2017, the Year of Ecology, the museum prepared an extensive programme specially for the VK Fest under the title “Planet Hermitage”. Over the two days members of staff conducted a large number of master classes telling about the museum as a whole planet, whose life is made up of four basic elements: Art, Archaeology, Restoration and Technology.

The “Planet Hermitage” Art Object

The central feature of the Hermitage area at the festival was the “Planet Hermitage” art object. Over the two days visitors watched as, through the efforts of Hermitage staff, an image of this planet came together from pictures of works of art, museum buildings and halls, cats and petroglyphs.
The axis of the planet was a wooden doorway echoing the entrance to the Staraya Derevnya Restoration and Storage Centre with petroglyphs cut into it, as on the original.

Fretwork and pyrography

Visitors to the marquee were keen to cut out and use pyrography (burning designs into wood) to make little copies of Hermitage exhibits or petroglyphs. Anyone who wanted could make their own souvenir, using a fretsaw or a pyrographic burner to produce such items as a Japanese cat, a Scythian deer or even the Large Coronation Coach. Not many were brave enough to take on the coach project, but there were a few who showed it could be done!

Paint your own planet

For those who were especially inspired by the Hermitage art object, there were expanded polystyrene spheres available for painting in the museum marquee. Anyone could create miniature planets – reflecting upon the Planet Hermitage or inventing their own.

“Sands of Time” museum sandpit

Specially for the festival, the Hermitage prepared a museum sandpit where visitors could try their hands as archaeologists. There to find among the sand were copies of Hermitage exhibits – artefacts from different countries and times, from Mesopotamia and Iran to Early Rus’, from 5000 BC to the 17th century AD. Adults and children happily and enthusiastically attempted to find all the fragments and to reassemble them into the various objects.

The film “Immersion in History” with Konstantin Khabensky

Festival visitors became some of the first people to experience the unique film Hermitage VR. Immersion in History – a virtual reality tour of the museum guided by the actor Konstantin Khabensky. Participants visited the state rooms of the Winter Palace and the Hanging Garden, were introduced to Catherine II and Nicholas I, walked on the Winter Palace roof and even flew over the museum complex and Palace Square.

“On the Roof of the Hermitage” photo-zone

Visitors were able to make a dream come true and put themselves on the very top of the Winter Palace in the “On the Roof of the Hermitage” photo-zone. Getting up above the Hermitage and viewing our beautiful city from there must be something everyone has imagined. Petersburg’s rooftops have a special romance about them, and the main one in the whole city – the rooftop of the Winter Palace – is something truly amazing. The stunning view of Palace Square, something few will ever be lucky enough to see, became accessible to the Hermitage’s guests at the VK Fest.

The Hermitage on the Map of the World

To enable festival-goers to better understand and picture how the Hermitage has extended its influence across the globe, a computer program The Hermitage on the Map of the World was created, along with a table-top version. All the Hermitage’s outposts were marked on the map with little flags or symbols of different colours: the museum’s satellite centres – those no longer operating, current ones and future ones; Hermitage Friends Foundations and Clubs; archaeological expeditions.

Ritual Mask Painting Master Class

Ritual masks have been used since earliest times by many tribes and peoples around the world. In the master class, the Hermitage’s guests learnt about how they were used and what they might mean. Visitors to the marquee were able to paint a plaster copy of a real ritual mask from the collection of the State Hermitage. Inspired by examples of masks from various cultures, each person could create their own individual design on this mysterious object, the original of which can be seen in the open storage facility of the Department of the Archaeology of Eastern Europe and Siberia in the Staraya Derevnya Restoration and Storage Centre.

“Get me a coach! A coach!” Master Class

Another reminder of the Hermitage’s Restoration and Storage Centre was the master class “Get me a coach! A coach!”, named for a line in Griboyedov’s play Woe from Wit. The open storage area of the Department of Western European Applied Art includes a collection of carriages, notably the Large Coronation Coach. Festival-goers were given the opportunity to cut out and glue together their own little paper copy.

An extensive programme was prepared by the staff of the Laboratory for the Scientific Restoration of Oriental Painting. They spoke about the distinctive aspects of their work and about the fascinating art of Japan, China and Tibet.

Hagaki Japanese Postcards

All visitors to the Hermitage marquee were able to learn how to make traditional Japanese Hagaki postcards and to take away one that they made themselves. The Japanese discovered the beauty hidden in objects in the 9th–12th centuries, during the Heian period (794–1185) and gave it a special name – mono no aware, “the poignancy of things” – a definition of the beautiful. The Japanese postcard in particular embodies unique charm, artistic minimalism and a person’s emotional message. Making one’s own postcards is a very popular activity in Japan, especially during holiday seasons. There are no special rules or techniques involved: anyone can do it without special training.

Origami Master Class

The master class in origami provided an introduction to the ancient art of making little figures from a square sheet of paper (ori – “folded”; kami – “paper”). The roots of the practice go back to ancient China, where paper was first invented. Originally origami was used in religious rituals. For a long time, this art form was only accessible to members of the higher social classes, where the ability to do it well was considered a mark of good breeding.

Tangka Master Class

Participants in this master class produced paintings using the traditional methods for the production of tangkas, a distinctive form of Buddhist art with roots that are connected to Hinduism.

Making Kites and Chinese Masks

Participants in this master class were introduced to the fascinating process of creating kites and Chinese masks, an engaging pastime that brings people together and gives positive emotions. China is the birthplace of kites. There they were called snakes, because on the Feast of the Dragon, which took place on 9 September, huge paper bodies with snake heads at the end were launched into the sky. Chinese culture is inseparably bound up with masks. The history of Chinese masks goes back to ancient times, over 3,500 years, to the period of the Shang and Chou dynasties.

Japanese Paper Making Master Class

This master class introduced visitors to the technique of making Japanese paper and Japanese gold paper and allowed them to create their own personal sheet of paper with an individual design. This piece of handicraft might become a splendid decoration, greetings card or bookmark.
The making of gold paper goes back centuries, but the perfecting of the technique and its widespread use is associated with the Golden Age of Japanese art in the 17th century. Gilding items of applied art and the adornment of painted and printed pictures was common on such articles as screens, scrolls, fans and the wall panels in palaces. It could even be found on everyday objects such as plates, vases, trays, lacquer boxes and neck pillows.

Making Japanese Lanterns and Chinese Fans

The first indications of fans being used in China go back into deep antiquity. The earliest finds of such objects and depictions of them date from the era of the Eastern Chou (770–256 BC) and the Warring States period (475–221 BC). Then over the years the idea was perfected. Various types of fan appeared: elongated oval ones on a handle; round sheets of special thin paper and other materials and fans made from reeds or lotuses. In the master class specialists from the museum showed the simplest ways of making a Chinese fan. Participants were also introduced to the traditional method of making and decorating Japanese paper lanterns with a paper cover on a bamboo frame.

“The New Hermitage. Museum Art Photography and Other Visual Know-How of a Great Museum”

The two main tasks of any museum are to save and preserve. The third is to show. Yury Molodkovets, the State Hermitage’s artist-photographer spoke about how it is possible to present Beauty and Harmony with the aid of artistic photography and other tools.
Mikhail Borisovich Piotrovsky, General Director of the State Hermitage, took part in the VK Fest programme, answering questions in the lecture hall on topics that interested users of the social network as part of VKLIVE.

In 2017, 85,000 people visited the VK Fest, while over 1,500,000 watched the broadcast over the Internet.

At least 1,000 people took part in the events offered by the Hermitage, of those
•    120 cut out and burnt designs in wood
•    150 painted polystyrene spheres as planets
•    250 viewed the film Hermitage VR. Immersion in History
•    60 painted ritual masks
•    100 took away a Japanese postcard from the Hermitage marquee
•    100 took away a Japanese bookmark
•    90 learnt to make various origami figures
•    40 managed to make their own original sheets of paper from pulp
•    20 took home tangka-style paintings
•    55 acquainted themselves with the fascinating process of making kites, Japanese lanterns, Chinese masks and fans
•    600 received balloons with the Hermitage logo for participating in one or other master class.