Loggias of Raphael in the Hermitage | Walking around St. Petersburg

I’d like to tell you about the Raphael Loggias in the Hermitage which is called the Bible on the ceiling. The Loggias of Raphael are the most unusual hall of the Great Hermitage. In the autumn of 1778 Catherine II felt ill. She was looking at the paintings of Raphael’s Loggias in the Vatican and ordered to copy these vaults and walls in full size. The Loggias of Raphael are a copy of the gallery of the Pope’s palace in the Vatican. This architectural masterpiece was created by the famous Italian architect Giacomo Quarenghi from 1783 to 1792. There is a carpet ornament on the columns. Frescoes with scenes from the Old and New Testaments are located on the vaults. There are 52 plots in total. From the Old Testaments – 48, from the New – 4. There are differences in the Vatican these are frescoes, and in the Hermitage they are paintings on canvas. Copies of the frescoes were made by Russian artists under the guidance of an Austrian artist Christoph Unterperger. The openings outside were glazed because the weather