In Kazan, as Part of the Hermitage Days, a Most Interesting Exhibition, "Catherine the Great

In Kazan, as part of the Hermitage Days, a most interesting exhibition is under way: "Catherine the Great. The Golden Age of the Russian Empire". It offers not only works of art that captured the Empress, but also the personal belongings of Catherine II and her grandsons, and Catherine's manuscripts: the books she wrote for the future Emperor Alexander I, and the humorous rules for visiting the Hermitage, with such clauses as “Speak in moderation, and not too loudly, lest the ears or head of others present there begin to ache”. Besides unique exhibits such as pieces from the silver Catherine service, devised so that governors might be able to receive distinguished guests, the exhibition programme includes a cycle of lectures by the delightful Natalya Bakhareva, of the Department of Russian Culture of the State Hermitage, on the Catherinian age, its politics and culture. On the whole, the exhibition covers a wide range of themes: court life, palace coups, the Pugachev Rebellion, family, the history of the Hermitage and the national question, Tatar literature and letters, the development of crafts and the arts. I recommend a visit; the exhibition is at the "Hermitage – Kazan" centre in the Kazan Kremlin.