Around 600 pieces of the Hermitage Museum are presented in this unique exhibition in Lisbon. Walking into the Galeria D. Luís I of Palácio da Ajuda, we enter the luxurious era of the Russian czars. All the paintings, sculptures, costumes, jewellery and furniture are arranged in chronological order, with a colour for each period of reign.
The exhibition is unnecessarily divided in two, since the first part consists only of a banquet-set table filled with golden decorations and with the finest china – a scenario which shows the shocking reality of that time, when the decadent lifestyle of the emperors would contrast with the Russian people’s pitiable conditions (poverty, famine,…) – while the other one contains the great majority of the pieces exhibited.
Here, in the second part, the paintings in focus show us more about the Romanov emperors. The other objects, such as costumes, jewellery or furniture, allow us to picture the daily routine of the royal family in a more realistic way, which is not possible by merely admiring photographs or paintings.
The items that captivate our attention the most are, possibly, the sofa on which the family was photographed for the last time and the two sleighs: a little one used by the children and a bigger one used in formal ceremonies. These are the final items to be seen in the exhibition and leave the visitor with a strange impression of having visited a far back gone fairy tale.
Rated 4/5
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