the death of the great art historian johann joachim winckelmann, the new Hermitage Museum opened in Saint Petersburg. Built near the Winter Palace of Russian czars, it was established especially for the royal collections of classical art and Renaissance European paintings.

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Shards of pottery from a Siberian barrow

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The treaty that concluded the war between Russia and Turkey from 1768 to 1774 gave Russia the northern shores of the Black Sea and part of the Crimea, which included sites of ancient Greek colonies. Russia finally had its own piece of classical antiquity, and the main focus of scientific and collecting expeditions shifted from the extreme north to the extreme south of the country. In the early nineteenth century, two books of travelers’ tales about expeditions to Taurida (the ancient name of the Crimea) were published, and both authors—Pavel Sumarokov and Ivan Muraviev-Apostol—had been charmed by the monuments of classical antiquity. Antiquities other than those of classical times were neglected and damaged. “For all the Russian antiquities I wouldn’t give even a Grosh [the smallest piece of money]” wrote the well-known Russian poet Batyushkov in a private letter. “Quite another thing Greece, quite another Italy!”

Romantic and Patriotic Insights into Russia’s Past

As in many other European countries, Napoleon’s invasion, national humiliation by the French, and the ensuing patriotic war of 1812 produced a burst of nationalist sentiment in Russia and awakened interest in the ancient past of the Russian people. This impulse was part of a broader romanticism based on political and social discontent, and the regard for antiquities manifested itself in two different ways.

First, the passion for classical antiquities did not cease and became even more popular, but its character changed. Sentimentality and enlightenment for their own sake disappeared, and antiquities now endowed their owners with prestige and profits. Museums needed collections to help educate society and to help artists depict the ancient world, and the latter was the aim of a prominent archaeologist of the time, Olenin, the president of the Academy of Arts. The archaeological study of Scythian monuments