Saturday July 25 – Russian Art

It was raining when we set out this morning for The State Museum of Russian Art or more colloquially, The Russian Museum. This is one of the most important museums in Russia. We walked in the drizzle for about an hour along the University Embankment of the Neva River, across the Dvortsovy Bridge and along Nevsky Prospekt to the museum. It is housed in the majestic neoclassical Mikhailovsky Palace which was built 1819-1825. I am not at all familiar with the Russian artists but we really enjoyed following the Russian art from the early 500/600s right up to the current day. We took an audio guide so learned a little about concepts, philosophies, and changes throughout the ages. The late 1700s early 1800s involved a lot of portraiture and it was great to see portraits of all the people our guides have been talking about and the artists themselves. I also fell in love with Serov and his beautiful ladies. After being in the Museum for four to five hours, we took a lovely walk through the peaceful and beautiful gardens then back out on to the busy Nevsky Prospekt which is the main street in the city centre, and about an hour’s walk back to the hotel. We walked back over the Blagoveschenskly most and up the pedestrian street on the 5th Line in Vasilyevskiy. We were looking for an Internet which we haven’t found yet and were happy to find one not too far from the hotel. We grabbed a quick dinner on the way and collapsed into our hotel room around 9 pm. We relaxed lying on the bed, watching Russian TV or the BBC News, and writing my journal while giving our feet a well earned rest.