Samsung Russia and the State Hermitage Museum Announces 2015 Collaboration Results

The State Hermitage Museum and Samsung Electronics presented the results of the latest stage of their collaborative program “Connected times – connected technology” at a press-conference at the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg.

The program is a significant part of the museum’s and the company’s collaborative efforts, and entails Samsung investing in the restoration of technological masterpieces of the past. Collaborative plans to update equipment and video content about the Hermitage’s collection in 2016 were also announced. In May 2016 ultra-high definition (4K) videos allowing visitors to study the museum’s treasures and interiors in minute detail will be available in the exhibition halls. The videos will be shown on Samsung UHD Curved TVs, which will be installed on the premises.

The State Hermitage Museum’s Restorer demonstrating the work of “The Apollo Bureau” first time after its restoration by Samsung and Hermitage in frames of “Connected times – connected technology” program

A large mechanical cabinet from Catherine II’s collection, known as “The Apollo Bureau”, a masterpiece of applied arts, was presented at the event for the first time since its restoration. Created by famous German cabinetmaker David Roentgen and brought to St. Petersburg on 1 March 1784, the cabinet could be used for writing and was equipped with numerous mechanisms which opened the book-rest, shutters and drawers, and played music recorded on cylinders. The unique mechanism was a true technological breakthrough of its time, with contemporary eyewitness accounts expressing wonder at the mechanical marvel.

“We collaborate in two areas. One is that Samsung helps us use the miracles of technology to showcase the museum’s collections. For example, Samsung televisions are used to show exhibit details that aren’t visible to the naked eye. The other is the restoration of technological miracles of past centuries from the Hermitage collections. The “Apollo Bureau”, recently restored together with Samsung, is one of the Hermitage’s most treasured masterpieces. It’s an iconic exhibit created by a great craftsman,” says Mikhail Piotrovsky, State Hermitage Museum General Director.

“We greatly value our collaboration with the State Hermitage Museum. Samsung and the Hermitage have been working together for almost 20 years to implement innovative technological solutions in the museum for research purposes, exhibitions and lectures. The “Connected times – connected technology” program is at the core of our long-term partnership. Being the hi-tech leader of our time, Samsung invests in the restoration of the Hermitage collection’s unique mechanisms which are prime examples of pioneering technologies of their times,” said Seungsik Choi, Vice President of Samsung Electronics CIS HQ.

Samsung Electronics has been the State Hermitage Museum’s technical partner since 1997. During this time, the company has been the technical supporter for what is the world’s largest museum, providing equipment for the Winter Palace’s museum halls, General Staff Building, School Centre, Student Club and Lecture Hall. A technical support program for the museum’s educational, research and tour guiding activities with regularly updated hardware and content was developed during the period of collaborative work aimed at implementing innovative technology at the museum.

The State Hermitage Museum and Samsung Electronics have been actively developing the collaborative “Connected times – connected technology” program aimed at the restoration of unique mechanisms of the past since 2007. Among the unique mechanisms restored with Samsung Electronics’ support are: Catherine II’s large table clock with an in-built organ made by English master clockmaker Eardley Norton in 1792; a table clock with a musical mechanism made by James Cox in 1760; a musical floor clock made at the Roentgen and Kinzing workshop in Germany in the 1780’s; and a music box with a clock “bird in a cage” by Swiss clockwork maker Pierre Jaquet-Droz from the 1790’s.

The State Hermitage Museum
The Hermitage is one of the world’s largest art museums, with over 350 exhibition halls. Funds, exhibitions, museum departments and services are situated in 10 buildings, seven of which are architectural monuments from the 18th and 19th Centuries. The State Hermitage Museum’s collection contains over 3 million works of art and cultural artefacts, including paintings, drawings, sculptures, applied arts, archeological finds and coins. The core ensemble of the Hermitage, located in the center of St. Petersburg, consists of the Winter Palace (the former grand residence of the Russian emperors) and the Small, Old and New Hermitages, the Hermitage Theatre and the Reserve. The museum complex also includes the Menshikov Palace, the eastern wing of the General Staff Building, the “Staraya Derevnya” (“Old Village”) Restoration and Storage Centre and the Imperial Porcelain Factory Museum.

The Roentgen mechanical Bureau (“The Apollo bureau) (2^nd half of the 18th Century)
The large mechanical bureau was manufactured in the workshop of famous German furniture maker David Roentgen in Neuwied on the Rhine and brought to St. Petersburg with the first shipment of Roentgen-made furniture before 1 March 1784. It was specially made to illustrate its makers’ fine craftsmanship. This masterpiece of furniture art seemed more like a toy than a writing desk with its multitude of mechanisms which opened the book-rest, switched the compartments, opened the shutters and drawers and started playing music recorded on cylinders as if by magic. Roentgen created the mechanisms in collaboration with mechanic Peter Kinzing and composer Johann Well.  The bureau truly amazed Russian spectators, who had never before seen anything like it. Eyewitness accounts from contemporaries illustrate how impressed they were by the curious contraption. Everything went just as Roentgen planned: the Russian audience loved his art. That triumph made him Catherine II’s and the Russian court’s main furniture supplier for the next decade.