Sky Arte Documentary Explores the Hermitage Museum's History

A new documentary titled "Ermitage. Il Potere dell'Arte" will premiere on Sky Arte on Thursday, April 9. Directed by Michele Mally from a subject by Didi Gnocchi, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Giovanni Piscaglia, the film was made with full collaboration from the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg and its director Mikhail Piotrovsky. The documentary offers an unprecedented narrative of the events that shaped the museum's collections in the heart of the city. Actor Toni Servillo serves as guide, illustrating the treasures of the Hermitage and St. Petersburg by reciting passages from poems and novels, evoking the great stories that animated the city's streets from the founding by Peter I to the splendor of Catherine the Great, from Alexander I's triumph over Napoleon to the 1917 Revolution and up to the present day. The film highlights the imposing interiors of the museum and the Winter Palace, the Theater, the Raphael Loggias, and the Gallery of Heroes of 1812. It also features the restoration and conservation laboratories at Staraya Derevna and the Modern and Contemporary Art section in the General Staff Building, which houses the extraordinary Shchukin and Morozov collections, including the world's largest collection of Matisse. The Hermitage boasts over three million art objects from different eras, 66,842 square meters of exhibition space, more than 30 kilometers of visitor routes, and 4.2 million visitors in 2018.