Hermitage Repository and Exhibition Facility. | Trofimov studio

Museum Quarter on Staraya Derevnya includes several buildings. The most interesting are Buildings “C”, “E” and “T”. Building “E”, the central and largest one, houses restoration laboratories and jewelery storage. It is an eight-story “golden” cube that represents the "chest with treasures". The massive arch, or portal, made of dark granite frames the cube. This portal symbolizes a very beginning of the history of fine arts. The 10 times scaled copies of the prehistoric PETROGLYPHS of the Neolithic were scraped on its granite surface to increase this effect. Originally they had been applied 5000 years ago on the granite rocks of lake Onega and the White Sea. Inside the Arch are panoramic elevator and passages that connect different parts of exhibition. One of these passages ends with panoramic bay window fully made of glass.

“C”-Building is for public. It is more “open” for visitors than the other parts. The structure includes 5 exhibition halls, auditorium, educational center and big triple-height lobby. The exterior is made of ceramic plates, metal slats and sandwich panels of color matching the whole ensemble. One of the façades forms an open gallery with access to the “Round  garden” where we can see several statues from The Hermitage Museum collection. There is a glass passage on the level of 3rd floor that joins “C” and “T” Blocks together.

“T” is the facility technical building. It completes the ensemble of the “Round garden” and its amphitheater which were build earlier. The large hinged cone-surface glass double façade of the building overlooks the garden. Inside there are auxiliary services, museum’s customs and evacuation containers storages.