The Hermitage holds one of the largest collections of western European painting and sculpture of later years from the Renaissance to the 20th century. The establishment of the collection has its roots in the reign of Peter the Great (1672–1725) who purchased
works by Dutch and Flemish painters during his European tours.
Catherine the Great (1729–1796) was responsible for the immense enrichment of the collection. Keeping up with the cultural policy of the rulers of Central Europe, Catherine, assisted by a large team of advisors, created a collection which towards the end of her life amounted to approximately four thousand paintings produced by the most important painters of the Italian, French, Flemish, and Dutch Renaissance, Baroque and Rococo.
That same policy was followed to a greater or lesser extent by all the Czars until the last sovereign Nicholas II, thereby enhancing the imperial collections with later works and forming major unities of the art movements of the 19th and the 20th century.
In the wake of the October Revolution in 1917 the Museum was nationalized following the nationalization of the great private collections of affluent Russian merchants, bourgeois and aristocrats, which thus enriched the Hermitage with a large number of works.
HELLENIC MINISTRY OF CULTURE AND SPORTS
General Coordination
Dr. Maria Andreadaki-Vlazaki: General Secretary of the Ministry of Culture and Sports
Organization
Dr. Elena Korka, Director of the General Directorate of Antiquities and Cultural Heritage
Souzana Choulia-Kapeloni, Director of the Directorate of Museums
Dr. Aikaterini P. Dellaporta, Director of the Byzantine and Christian Museum
Nikoleta Saraga, Head of the Department of Exhibitions and Museum Research of the Directorate of Museums
Dr. Kalliopi-Phaidra Kalafati, Head of the Department of the Archaeological Collections of Icons, Wall-Paintings, Mosaics, Copies, Manuscripts, Anthivola, Engravings, Drawings, Incunabula and the Loverdos Collection of the Byzantine and Christian Museum
Dr. Maria Borboudaki, Head of the Department of Sculptures, Woodcarvings, Ceramics, Minor Arts, Textiles and Canvases of the Byzantine and Christian Museum
Supervision of Exhibition
Sofia Gerogiorgi, Ioanna Alexandri, Dr. Jenny Albani, Dr. Antonis Tsakalos, Dafni Tsironi
Museographical study-Implementation
Anestei Parisi, Spyros Nasainas
Administrative Support
Tasia Zacharatou, Aggeliki Peleki, Emy Vogiatzi, Aspasia Kouroumali, Pelagia Koukoreba, Eleftherios Litsos, Chrysoula Liapi, Kyriaki Georgali
BYZANTINE & CHRISTIAN MUSEUM
General Coordination-Curator of the Exhibition
Dr. Aikaterini P. Dellaporta
Realization supervision
Dr. Maria Borboudaki, Sofia Gerogiorgi, Ioanna Alexandri
Museographical Design and Installation
Anestei Parisi, Spyros Nasainas
Antiquities Conservation
Evangelos Arbilias, Youli Doskari, Eleni Zarikou, Thanasis Kavasis, Aggeliki Kalamitsi, Artemis Kabouraki, Giorgos Korkovelos, Akis Margaritof, Basilis Bakalis, Nikos Mylonas,
Babis Papatheologou, Baso Papakosta, Jenny Perdikari, Ioanna Stefani, Dafni Filiou
Graphic Design
Yannis Stavrinos, Giorgos Soupios
Photographer
Nikos Mylonas
Public relations- Promotion
Katerina Choina, Magda Zindrou,Elena Betzou
Technical support
Giannis Gonios, Petros Kalofonos, Spyros Xepapadakis
Lighting
Giannis Tsonis, Sotiris Tsonis, Nikos Stamatopoulos
Administrative Support
Maria Bitha
Wood structures-Museum Cases
Manos Lignos
Plexiglass structures
Miltos Tsafas
Inox supports
Dimitris Drosos
Painting
Petros Pavlik
Digital printing
Nikos Paschalidis
Translation
Dimitris Doumas
Transportation in Greece
Orpheas Beinoglou
THE STATE HERMITAGE MUSEUM
Organization committee
Professor Mikhail Piotrovsky, General Director of the State Hermitage Museum
Professor Georgy Vilinbakhov, Deputy of the General Director of the State Hermitage Museum and Research Departments
Dr. Svetlana Adaksina, Deputy of the General Director of the State Hermitage Museum, General Curator
Professor Sergey Androsov, Head of the Department of Western European Fine Art
Professor Andrey Alexeyev, Head of the Archaeology of Eastern Europe and Siberia Department
Dr. Natalya Kozlova, Head of the Oriental Department
Dr. Anna Trofimova, Head of the Department of Classical Antiquities
Dr. Vyacheslav Fedorov, Head of the History of Russian Culture Department
Exhibition concept-Curator
Dr. Mikhail Dedinkin, Deputy of the Head of the Department of Western European Fine Art
Work Group
Tatyana Baranova, Mikhail Dedinkin, Alexandra Kattsova, Elena Korolkova, Olga Kostyuk, Zoya Kuptsova, Maria Menshikova, Alexander Solin, Arseniy Sokolov
Antiquities Conservation
Supervision: Tatyana Baranova, Head of the Department of Scientific Restoration and Conservation