The Magnificent Hermitage: A New Fusion of Art and Technology Invites Visitors to See the Classics Differently
From June 25 through August 29, Moscow's New Manege exhibition hall will host Velikolepny Ermitazh (The Magnificent Hermitage), a multimedia exhibition designed to recreate not simply the experience of viewing museum masterpieces but the feeling of stepping inside one of the world's greatest museums.
At the heart of the project is a fusion of classical art and cutting-edge multimedia technology. Visual effects, immersive environments, and interactive installations help visitors engage more deeply with familiar masterpieces, using digital tools to reveal hidden details, overlooked narratives, and entirely new perspectives on iconic works.
Every Hall Offers a Different Visual Experience
The exhibition unfolds across six distinct sections. In the first hall, visitors can take a virtual walk through the Hermitage and explore six of its best-known interiors: the Jordan Staircase, St. George Hall, the Armorial Hall, Peter Hall (the Small Throne Room), the Military Gallery of 1812, and Raphael's Loggias.
The second hall is an immersive installation titled Velikolepny Ermitazh: Zhivaya kollektsiya (The Magnificent Hermitage: Living Collection), inspired by the paintings displayed in the New Hermitage's Great Italian Skylight Gallery. Rather than following chronology, the works are grouped by themes, emotions, and visual motifs, placing visitors inside a continuously evolving narrative that moves across artistic styles and historical periods.
The third hall becomes a 180-degree panoramic gallery featuring works by Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Titian, Rembrandt, Caravaggio, El Greco, Matisse, Van Gogh, and other masters. High-resolution multimedia reproductions reveal the texture of the canvas and individual brushstrokes, while enlarged details expose features that remain impossible to examine even when standing directly in front of the original artwork.
Another hall presents three-dimensional holograms of sculptures. Among them are the ancient Roman Jupiter, the Tauride Venus, Rodin's Cupid and Psyche, Michelangelo's Crouching Boy, Karl Röthger's Dead Boy on a Dolphin, Giuseppe Mazzuola's The Death of Adonis, and Jean-Antoine Houdon's Voltaire Seated. The optical illusion is convincing enough that visitors can easily forget they are not looking at physical sculptures.
Another highlight is a digital recreation of the famous Peacock Clock created by London master craftsman James Cox. Using motion capture technology, the peacock, rooster, and owl come to life as though the historic clock were fully operational.
The final hall is an interactive space featuring scale models of the Winter Palace and the General Staff Building. Projection mapping transforms their facades into animated architectural performances. Visitors can also experience paintings that appear to come alive, with AI-assisted video artists extending the stories that begin on the original canvases.
The Technology Behind the Art
One of the project's organizers, the nonprofit Gala-Rus, created the exhibition using advanced media technologies. The team has collaborated with the Hermitage for more than a decade, producing projects including the Mystery of Light show, the 1917 exhibition marking the centenary of the Russian Revolution, and large-scale 3D projection mapping on Palace Square. For Velikolepny Ermitazh, the team combined 3D projection mapping, audiovisual installations, holographic projection, motion capture technology, and artificial intelligence.
A Blueprint for Global Digital Museum Exhibitions
Working together with the Hermitage, the technology team has created a model for presenting museum collections digitally beyond the walls of the museum itself, both in Russia and internationally. Velikolepny Ermitazh was presented in Seoul earlier this spring before being expanded with additional works from the museum's collections, many of which have not been displayed publicly for years. The Moscow exhibition showcases this updated version. The format can now travel to other Russian regions and international venues.
Russia's experience in producing multimedia exhibitions at this scale could prove valuable for future international museum projects. The format makes it possible to share cultural heritage abroad without transporting original artworks, reducing costs as well as insurance and logistical risks. Following its international debut in Seoul, Velikolepny Ermitazh can increasingly be viewed as an exportable Russian product positioned at the intersection of digital technology, culture, and the creative economy.
