148. The Russian Revolution at the Winter Palace
This week (on Tuesday, November 7, 2017) was the 100th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution in St. Petersburg. The armed insurrection is known as the "October Revolution" because a different calendar was in use in Russia during that time. The Hermitage Friends' Club held a special event for members on the centenary date - a guided tour of the new special exhibition that commemorates this event ("The Winter Palace and the Hermitage in 1917: History was made here") and lectures by the General Director of the Museum and the Head of the Department of the History of Russian Culture. Unfortunately, I don't reach the city center on my way home from work until after the event's starting time, and I decided not to try to sneak in late to the talks.
However, I was able to tour the exhibit on my own a few weeks ago (and again yesterday on a return visit). I went to the Hermitage to see a few other special exhibits and had not realized this one would already be installed a several weeks ahead of the anniversary. The exhibit occupies a prominent position inside the museum: it starts just inside the main entrance, with the sculpture gallery filled with large red banners and the grand staircase featuring a huge banner announcing the exhibit. The smaller banners continue through the museum along the route that revolutionaries took when they stormed the Winter Palace (which they were able to capture quickly and easily without much resistance).
The Hermitage staff was pleased with the Revolution in February 1917 but unhappy with the powers that ascended during the October Revolution. They even defied an order from Stalin to turn over Ukrainian collections to the new government. It was during this time that the imperial court museum in the Hermitage buildings was joined with the imperial residence in the Winter Palace to form a single institution that has become one of the world's greatest museums.
The exhibit covers this history in detail, as well as the broader context of the Romanov family's activities during WWI and the end of their dynasty; the use of parts of the Winter Palace as a hospital during the war; and the establishment of the provisional government following the February revolution and the Communist government with the rise of the Bolsheviks after the October Revolution. There are some amazing artifacts in the exhibit which illustrate this history in a very personal way, as described below.
Emperor Nicholas II's Act of Abdication (dated March 2, 1917):
8 o'clock. Supper. Suddenly Lyonka Sednyov was fetched to go and see his Uncle and flew off - wonder whether it's true and we shall see the boy back again!
Played bezique with Nicholas.
10:30pm To bed. 15 degrees."
Count Dmitry Tolstoy (1860-1941) was the Director of the Hermitage between 1909 and 1918.
When WWI started, Tolstoy oversaw the evacuation of some of the Hermitage's collections to Moscow. Some areas of the museum were looted to a limited extent during the Revolution, but damage was minimal compared to many other palaces in the city. During 1917, Tolstoy was able to preserve a balance between the museum and the shifting political powers, organize security for the Hermitage buildings and collections, and keep the museum in operation. I can't figure out exactly how he's related to Mikhail Tolstoy (who built my apartment building the Tolstoy House) or the writer Leo Tolstoy, but I'm sure they're all some some degree of cousins.
Tolstoy's letter of resignation to the Hermitage Council dated August 8, 1918 before he emigrated to France:
A related special exhibit "The Press and the Revolution: Publications 1917–1922 from the Hermitage Collections" includes over 200 Bolshevik publications from this period:
However, I was able to tour the exhibit on my own a few weeks ago (and again yesterday on a return visit). I went to the Hermitage to see a few other special exhibits and had not realized this one would already be installed a several weeks ahead of the anniversary. The exhibit occupies a prominent position inside the museum: it starts just inside the main entrance, with the sculpture gallery filled with large red banners and the grand staircase featuring a huge banner announcing the exhibit. The smaller banners continue through the museum along the route that revolutionaries took when they stormed the Winter Palace (which they were able to capture quickly and easily without much resistance).
The Hermitage staff was pleased with the Revolution in February 1917 but unhappy with the powers that ascended during the October Revolution. They even defied an order from Stalin to turn over Ukrainian collections to the new government. It was during this time that the imperial court museum in the Hermitage buildings was joined with the imperial residence in the Winter Palace to form a single institution that has become one of the world's greatest museums.
The exhibit covers this history in detail, as well as the broader context of the Romanov family's activities during WWI and the end of their dynasty; the use of parts of the Winter Palace as a hospital during the war; and the establishment of the provisional government following the February revolution and the Communist government with the rise of the Bolsheviks after the October Revolution. There are some amazing artifacts in the exhibit which illustrate this history in a very personal way, as described below.
Emperor Nicholas II's Act of Abdication (dated March 2, 1917):
The last diary of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna (1918, written in English):
"3/16 July. Irina's 23 b[irth]d[ay] - Yekaterinburg. Grey morning,
later lovely sunshine. Baby had a slight cold. All went out 1/2 hour in
the morning. Olga and I arranged our medicines. T[atiana] read Spiritual
Reading. They went out, T[atiana] stayed with me and we read: B[ook] of
the P[rophet] Amos and P[rophet] Obadiah. Tatted. Every morning the
Command[er] comes to our rooms, at last after a week brought eggs again
for Baby.8 o'clock. Supper. Suddenly Lyonka Sednyov was fetched to go and see his Uncle and flew off - wonder whether it's true and we shall see the boy back again!
Played bezique with Nicholas.
10:30pm To bed. 15 degrees."
The last diary of Emperor Nicholas II:
"30
June. Saturday. Alexei had the first bath since Tobolsk; his knee is on
the mend but he cannot fully unbend it. The weather is warm and
pleasant. We have no outside news."
Count Dmitry Tolstoy (1860-1941) was the Director of the Hermitage between 1909 and 1918.
When WWI started, Tolstoy oversaw the evacuation of some of the Hermitage's collections to Moscow. Some areas of the museum were looted to a limited extent during the Revolution, but damage was minimal compared to many other palaces in the city. During 1917, Tolstoy was able to preserve a balance between the museum and the shifting political powers, organize security for the Hermitage buildings and collections, and keep the museum in operation. I can't figure out exactly how he's related to Mikhail Tolstoy (who built my apartment building the Tolstoy House) or the writer Leo Tolstoy, but I'm sure they're all some some degree of cousins.
Tolstoy's letter of resignation to the Hermitage Council dated August 8, 1918 before he emigrated to France:
It's hard to see in this portrait of Emperor Alexander II, but soldiers who stormed the Winter Palace pierced his face multiple times with bayonets:
A related special exhibit "The Press and the Revolution: Publications 1917–1922 from the Hermitage Collections" includes over 200 Bolshevik publications from this period:
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