G.B. YASTREBINSKY
The State Hermitage has a diverse collection of scientific instruments and devices. Its most important section contains the memorabilia connected with the life and reforms of Peter I. The most interesting exhibits from the Peter the Great collection are on permanent display in the rooms of the Winter Palace as well as in the memorial architectural complexes (the Winter Palace of Peter the Great and the Menshikov Palace).
The collection of Peter's military, medical, navigational, shipbuilding, travelling, cartographical devices, made by outstanding Russian and European masters, is truly unique.
The collection contains astronomical devices: armillary spheres, globes, sundials, astrolabes, quadrants, spyglasses. Of special interest is the astronomical clock (1584), a highly complex device reflecting the entirety of late 16th-century knowledge about the order of the world. The collection also has armillary spheres which represent the structure of the world according to both Ptolemy's geocentric system and Copernicus' heliocentric theory. Another curious object is a binocular spyglass, possibly commissioned in France. There are also many types of sundials and the only sidereal clock in Russia.
Another group of devices contains navigational, geodesic and artillery instruments. There are also interesting collections of drawing and medical tools, which Peter used on a regular basis. His field medicine box is worthy of special note - it is a miniature pharmaceutical lab produced in Augsburg in the early 17th century.
The collection also contains carpentry, cabinet-making and locksmith's tools. However, the most important part of the memorial collection comes from Peter's Turning Shop (a court mechanical workshop). These are lathes, gravers, copiers and artefacts which pay tribute to Russian achievements in the area of applied mechanics. Turning was one of the Russian Emperor's most favourite pastimes. The lathes (twelve of them overall) are different modifications of turning and copying mechanisms. All of them were designed and made by the Turning Shop technicians, both Russian and European.
The person who played a huge part in the development of Russian mechanics and "turning art" was Andrei Nartov (1683-1756), an outstanding Russian inventor and Peter's personal turner, who was in charge of the Turning Shop from 1723 onwards. He used the copying lathes and various cast matrices to carve ivory and wooden artefacts, both utilitarian (albeit richly decorated) ones such as caskets, snuffboxes, cups and goblets, and highly artistic ones such as the numerous narrative compositions in the shape of medallions and cylinders with gibbous images. Many of such objects were produced by Peter the Great himself. The largest of his creations was a huge multi-tier ivory church chandelier for 27 candles, intended for the Peter and Paul Cathedral.
The department also has a collection of mechanical (wheel) clocks and watches made between the 17th and the 20th centuries: portable and pocket watches, console, tabletop, mantelpiece, wall and other clocks. The tabletop and mantelpiece clocks are encased in refined bronze and mounted with sculptural groups.
The collection contains a remarkable array of 18th-20th c. devices and instruments, mostly of Western European origin. They include astronomical and geodesic devices (globes, planetariums, telescopes, transit compasses), barometers, electric devices. Some first-class objects were produced by Russian inventors in the 1730-1760s. We should also mention small collections of household precision devices: theatrical binoculars, spyglasses, spectacles and photo cameras.
