Copy 1, Volume 1

St. Petersburgh: a journal of travels to and from that capital. Through Flanders, the Rhenish provinces, Prussia, Russia, Poland, Silesia, Saxony, the federated states of Germany, and France / by A.B. Granville.

  • Augustus Granville
Date:
1828
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: St. Petersburgh: a journal of travels to and from that capital. Through Flanders, the Rhenish provinces, Prussia, Russia, Poland, Silesia, Saxony, the federated states of Germany, and France / by A.B. Granville. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    55 2 THE THEATRE. and costly jewels. It is a subject of regret to all strangers, that no catalogue or printed indication whatever of such an extensive and varied collection should exist to guide them in their inquiries. There is indeed, written on a hand- some gold tablet on some part of the frame of each picture, the name of the artist, and a nominal list of the objects contained in each room is suspended near the door of the apartments; but these are unsatisfactory sources of in- formation, and the visiters are left to learn and find out with much difficulty the rest. The Hermitage, like the Winter Palace, has its cabinet of jewels, in which are assembled around the room, in appropriate glass-cases, the rich ornaments which have served for the toilette of succeeding Empresses, and con- tain diamonds, precious stones, and pearls, many of very extraordinary magnitude, that have been collected from almost every part of Russia. Going back to the entrance through which we were first introduced to the Hermitage, we found facing us a handsome ante-room richly fitted up, and lighted on each side by large and lofty windows. This room, like the theatre to which it leads, is the production of Guarenghi, the Palladio of St. Petersburg!], and is placed upon a bold arch, thrown across a canal. Nothing can equal the fine view enjoyed from this spot over the Neva on the one side, and the Great Milliona, a very handsome and broad street, on the other. Unlike its prototype, the Bridge of Sighs at Venice, this covered way conducts the astonished stran- ger from the most gorgeous palace in existence, to the joy- ous scenes of a theatre, on which have shone at various times, and in their brilliant days, Mademoiselle George and Burgoing, and which have resounded with the melodious notes of Viotti, Rhodes, and Lafont. The theatre is not large, and has no boxes. The au-