Hermitage Amsterdam opens with a sumptuous exhibition

Inaugural feast

The opening of a new museum of this grandeur, asks for an opening exhibition of royal proportions. At the Russian Court: Palace and Protocol in the 19^th century is therefore a veritable inaugural feast. More than 1,800 objects from the Russian Hermitage collection, which includes magnificent portraits, splendid dresses and uniforms, interesting landscapes and priceless diplomatic gifts paint a clear picture of one of the most glorious courts of Europe in the 19^th century, will occupy 2,200 square metres.

Russian court splendour

One entire exhibition wing at the Hermitage Amsterdam will be devoted to the official court life with its formidable ceremonies and strict protocol. The other wing will tell the story of the opulent balls and parties and the private lives of the Russian Tsars.

Interior designer Evelyne Merx arranged the exhibition most spectacularly. Point of departure is the two famous state rooms at the Winter Palace, the Nicolas Hall and the St George Hall.

To recreate the atmosphere in these lavish rooms, the walls are decorated with foil, which modestly reflects the Russian court splendour. The foil was hard to come by: Merx got in touch with the Easter egg- and the chocolate industry to get what she needed.

Royal audience

Focal point in the court hall is a sizeable showcase with a parade of courtiers, dressed in magnificent uniforms and show off dresses with long trains. Royal audiences were at the forefront of the official life at court. The Tsar of all Russians would take centre stage with his spouse at the throne and presided over proceedings following a strict protocol. During the 19^th century, Russia was ruled by six Tsars from the Romanov Dynasty, who generally married German princesses. But the Netherlands too had family ties with the Romanovs: King William II married the daughter of Tsar Paul I, Anna Pavlovna. Their portraits are also part of the exhibit.

The cabinets adjacent to the court hall, centres on the lives of the different Tsars, starting with Paul I and ending with Nicolas II, the last ruler of all Russians, whose life ended in great tragedy. The cabinet series fittingly concludes with a photographic report of the Winter Palace before and after the Russian Revolution of 1917. The Revolution marked the definite end of all the glitter and glamour of the courts.

Lavish gowns and strict protocol

After all the official protocol was over and done with, there would be a feast. The other wing at the Hermitage Amsterdam  introduces the visitors to a formal court ball and lets the audiences experience the event through the eyes of young Natasha in Tolstoy’s War and Peace, who attends a grand court party for the first time in the presence of the Tsar:

‘What awaited her she only understood when she treaded the red carpet towards the entrance, entered the hall, took off her fur coat, mounted the brightly lit staircase between the flowers. (...) In the front and in the back other visitors entered who also spoke in moderate tone and were dressed in ball gowns. The mirrors on the staircase reflected the women in their white, pale blue, rose-red dresses, encrusted with diamonds and pearls on their bare necks and arms. Natasha looked into a mirror and could not distinguish her own image of that of the others. Everything melted into one dazzling procession.’

Russian polonaise

In the ‘Natasha-hall’ there are elegant ball gowns in large round cabinets. Expensive furniture and a grand rococo wing replenish this festive lounge. Such a court ball was an important event. The season would open with a feast for 3,000 guests in the Nicolas Hall. Tardiness was a definite faux pas (the official court language was French for a long time), as was coming in through the wrong entrance, as each rank had its own designated entry passage.

The ball was opened with a grand polonaise, which is the opposite of Dutch custom – where the polonaise is usually the closing event of a feast. Card games, the suppers and the closing fireworks also made a court ball into a major event. Foreign guests of the Tsars were always amazed and in awe of the proceedings. The seven cabinets next to the ballroom elaborate on this story and explain more about the famous thematic balls where guests were asked to appear in Chinese folkloric costume, old Greek attire or in 16^th century fashion.

The visitors of the new Hermitage will not be hindered by tardiness: during the opening weekend, the museum and the exhibition will be opened for 31 hours in total.

During the day, evening and night, there are all sorts off festivities inside the building, in the inner garden and alongside the Amstel. Indeed a 'royal' gesture.




For more information on the exhibition At the Russian Court at the Hermitage Amsterdam. For more info on the renovations of the Hermitage Amsterdam.

© Joke van der Wey