On November 8, 1945, after the devastating years of the barbaric siege of Leningrad by the Nazis and their accomplices, the difficult times of the Great Patriotic War, only a few months after the victory, the State Hermitage Museum again opened its doors to the public.
Visitors were welcomed by 69 galleries, reopened following restoration work and the return to Leningrad of the national treasures of the Hermitage that were saved from the Nazis and previously moved to Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg).
During the siege of Leningrad, the State Hermitage complex suffered serious damage: 17 shells and two aerial bombs hit the museum building and destroyed roofs, floors and window glazing.
On August 24, 1944, the Soviet leadership made a decision to begin restoration at the Hermitage. In the fall of 1944, two trainloads of museum exhibits returned back to Leningrad from Sverdlovsk. The reconstruction of the interior of the museums and the return of the entire collection to its order and appearance before the war lasted for many years.
The return to life of the hermitages in peacetime became one of the symbols of Leningrad's recovery after the war.
The re-opening of the Hermitage on November 8, 1945, marked the culmination of the heroic efforts of the team of the Museum of National Treasures of our country. One of the largest art collections in the world - an essential part of the common human cultural heritage - was successfully salvaged, evacuated, preserved and returned to its rightful home.
For the residents of Leningrad, the reopened museum doors marked the return of the city to a peaceful life.
© State Hermitage Museum.