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Issues of 2008

The Craftsmanship At Your Feet

The frequent visitors to the Hermitage know: beauty can be observed here without raising one's head from the floor. We speak here about the famous artistic parquet. Irina Barabanshchikova, a scientific associate of the State Hermitage, briefs the head of information department, on this masterpiece and on the problems of its restoration encountered with in the passed year.

≈ Irina Vyacheslavovna, tell us, please, in what part of the Hermitage the parquet restoration was performed in 2006?
≈ In the period from November 2005 to April 2006, the restoration of the parquet from the middle of the19 th century in the French art exposition rooms was accomplished. All the worn-out and partially lost pieces of the glued-laminated parquet were replaced (about 20% of the total surface). It was not an easy task, because artistic inlaid flooring had to be restored. Its curvy patterned surface features high-value sorts of wood, such as palisander, walnut, sandal, etc.
The situation was aggravated by a high degree of the wear-out of the flooring (sometimes of up to nearly the whole thickness of the veneer). In some places, flooring pieces were just absent, or later substituted with inferior sorts of wood. Such flooring was not subject to reconstruction, but more likely, to total replacement. These days, the restoration of the Hermitage cathedral flooring is going on.

≈ To what extent the restored flooring is identical to the old one?
≈ The same kinds of wood are picked up for the restoration purposes, as the original ones. The restorers choose the woods of the same species, colors and patterns. In case, when a species sort is hard to determine visually (this can happen if a flooring was burned or was subjected to not so accurate restoring), samples of the wood are sent to the Academy of Forestry for an analysis.

≈ Irina Vyacheslavovna, what was the principle of choosing a company-provider of the restoration?
≈ A restorer company was chosen by analysis of several offers put up to our annual tender for providing various services to the Hermitage. This time the offer by the Parket Hall Company turned to be the most attractive from the economical point of view.

≈ Has the Hermitage already co-operated with that Company?
≈ Yes, our co-operation history is long enough: Parket Hall is a member of the Friends of the Hermitage Club, it is in restoring our floorings since 2000. In total, it is the partner of our Museum for already seven years.

≈ Tell us what is the scale of applying ancient, ╚grandfather▓s╩ techniques in the modern restoring of old parquet?
≈ Naturally, we cannot use some of the ╚grandfather▓s╩ techniques in their fullness, because today, the parquet is subjected to strains much superior to those of the 19th century. That▓s why the used methods of treating flooring surface are mostly the modern ones. For example, today there is the practice of covering flooring with a special wear-resistant varnish in accordance with the technique approved by the Committee on the State Control Operating and Preserving the Historical and Cultural Treasure Objects. However, flooring securing has been performed exactly in accordance with one of the above-mentioned ╚grandfather▓s╩ techniques: the flooring and the panels have been hammered together by means of wooden feathers. Application of such methods is necessary for not to damage the flooring structures and preserve the ancient appearance of the parquet.
In the result, the reconstructed floor is absolutely identical to the original one, produced at the E. A. Miller▓s factory according to the A.P. Brullov▓s designs and sketches by Rastrelli himself. These floorings were laid in the halls of the Hermitage after the famous fire of 1837, when the huge part of the interiors were damaged resulting in undertaking a vast reconstruction.

≈ Did any interesting finds happen in the process of restoration?
≈ Of course they did! Due to a considerable part of the flooring being under repairs, the whole working process was marked by discoveries and surprises. Various papers of imperial departments, scraps of newspapers from the 19th century▓s middle, candle stubs, clay pots for glue dilution, parquet varnish glass vials, etc.
Finds occur also in the hall of the Hermitage Chapel, which is now in the process of reconstruction. Recently, some parquet billets of the old original parquet with engraved pattern on its surface were found under a scrub-board. For a long period of time, this pattern was considered to be lost forever. Now this finding is exposed in the restored part of the Chapel, and the new billets bear the old engraving pattern. All the finds were passed to our special museum, keeping all the so-called technical exhibits, somehow connected with the Hermitage (for example, the fragments of the first palace plumbing)┘

≈ Irina Vyacheslavovna, do you know examples of manufacturing parquets repeating the patterns of the Hermitage▓s ones?
≈ I know that wealthy Russians often approach the parquet companies with requests for reproduction of Hermitage▓s floor patterns, the pattern of the Empress Katherine▓s the Second bedroom in Tsarskoye Selo, of Pavlovsk Palace floor patterns, etc. More to it, some Italian company, operating in the field of artistic floor manufacturing, published a catalogue with particular patterns closely resembling the Hermitage▓s ones. Thus, Russia, to some extent, rules the world of artistic parquet fashion.

Reference information:
In the largest museum of Russia, the Hermitage, there is 50,000 square meters of parquet, more than half of it being of artistic quality and of more than 100 years▓ age. According to the adopted program, 1,500 square meters of artistic flooring is to be repaired annually in the museum. So, this masterpiece of craftsmanship will remain a major attraction for parquet restorers for many years.