WEDNESDAY JUNE 16       PARIS

For those who arrive in Paris in the early afternoon, there will be a walking tour of the area around our hotel, the Lutetia, nestled in the heart of fashionable Saint-Germain-des-Pres, close to the river Seine, the Eiffel Tower, the Musée d’Orsay, Notre Dame Cathedral, and the chic boutiques and designers’ studios of the Left Bank. In the early evening, Professor Bartlett will give a brief introduction to the role of the decorative arts in the Imperial courts of France and Russia followed by a champagne reception and welcome dinner. 

THURSDAY JUNE 17       PARIS

We begin our first full day in Paris with a morning guided tour of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in the Louvre, the pre-eminent collection of French furniture, carpets, porcelain and similar objets, ranging from the Middle Ages to the present. Although we will focus on the Bourbon and Second Empire materials, we will also see period rooms featuring the Art Nouveau and Art Deco styles. The rest of the day is yours to spend on your own exploring the vast collections of the Louvre or sampling other delights of this magnificent city. Lunch & dinner on your own.   

FRIDAY JUNE 18       PARIS       

A guided excursion to the Château de Versailles, universally regarded as one of the masterpieces of French baroque architecture, is planned for today. We shall pass from the grandiose Louis XIV Grands Appartements to the graceful Petits Appartements of Louis XV and Louis XVI and through the spectacular Hall of Mirrors. We will stroll through the surrounding park with its statues and ornamental ponds and visit the Petit Trianon, the favourite retreat of Marie Antoinette. After lunch in the nearby town of Versailles, we will return to Paris. The late afternoon and dinner are on your own.

SATURDAY JUNE 19       PARIS

This is a day reserved for tours of two exquisite museums devoted to the decorative arts. We will begin with the Nissim de Camondo, a private museum housed in a purpose-built grand city mansion. Once the private residence of Comte Moïse de Camondo, the building retains the flavour and warmth of a private home despite the museum quality collection. A short walk away is the Musée Jacquemart-André, containing yet another sumptuous collection of paintings and furniture. The house, once famous for its lavish parties, celebrates the quality of life of la belle époque. Lunch and the rest of the day are on your own. This evening we will dine together as a group in the historic restaurant, Le Grand Colbert, housed in a building that was once the home to Louis XIV’s greatest minister. 

SUNDAY JUNE 20       PARIS / ST. PETERSBURG

Before departing Paris, we will have time to visit one last exquisite collection in Paris – that of the Musée Cognacq-Jay, built into an ancient régime Hotel Particulier in the Marais and featuring a fine collection of 18th century paintings and objets d'art that reflect the quality of life of the old aristocracy before the Revolution. In the late afternoon we will depart from Charles de Gaulle airport for our non-stop flight to St. Petersburg with Air France. Although we arrive in the evening, our journey to the Astoria, our luxury hotel in the very heart of the city, steps away from the Hermitage and the storied Neva river, will be illuminated by St. Petersburg’s famous “White Nights.”  

MONDAY JUNE 21       ST. PETERSBURG

The Hermitage Museum on the bank of the Neva river includes the Winter Palace 
completed in 1762, once the main residence of the Russian Tsars. The museum itself, which was founded two years later by Catherine the Great, is the pride of Russia, containing incalculable treasures of Western culture encompassing some three million separate items. As supporters of the State Hermitage Foundation, we will enjoy privileged entry on this Monday when the museum is normally closed to visitors. Our tour will focus on some of the greatest treasures of the museum, both on display and in reserved storage, particularly those objects associated with the theme of our visit, the decorative arts in Russia and France. We will enjoy lunch together in the Director’s cafeteria. The visit will culminate in a reception in the Hermitage to launch the English language catalogue of Romanov gems, generously supported by our Foundation.

TUESDAY JUNE 22      ST. PETERSBURG

In the morning we will travel to the sumptuous Peterhof Palace, first constructed in 1715 for use by the Tsars as a summer residence.  Famous for its stunning golden fountains, the palace grounds contain several buildings and parks including the Grand Palace (a vast museum of lavish rooms and galleries, often called “the Russian Versailles”), Monplaisir (Peter the Great’s outwardly more humble villa), the Grand Cascade (the centrepiece of the palace grounds with over 140 fountains), and the Lower Park. After lunch we will return to St Petersburg, stopping in the city for brief visits of the Peter and Paul Fortress (the burial place of the Tsars) and the Church on the Spilled Blood, constructed on the site where Tsar Alexander II was assassinated. Dinner on your own. 

WEDNESDAY JUNE 23       ST. PETERSBURG

This morning our coach will take us 22 km south to the village and palace of Pushkin, formerly Tsarskoye Selo (Tsar’s Village), to visit the grandest of the palaces in the complex, the opulent Catherine Palace, containing, among other richly furnished spaces, the famous Amber Room. We will have an opportunity to walk in the formal gardens of Yekaterinsky Park, named for Catherine I, the wife of Peter the Great, for whom the entire village was a gift. We will enjoy a group lunch at a traditional Russian dacha, Podvorie, outside Pushkin, after which we will visit the Pavlovsk Great Palace, a present from Catherine the Great to her son Paul. Although severely damaged in World War II, it has been beautifully and lavishly restored and is set amidst delightful parkland which, when first created, was the largest landscaped park in the world. We will return to St. Petersburg in the early evening. Dinner on your own. 

THURSDAY JUNE 24       ST. PETERSBURG

The morning begins with a visit to the Russian Museum. Built in 1819 as the Mikhailovsky Palace for Grand Duke Mikhail, the palace now contains a vast collection of Russian art ranging from ancient Kievian Rus through to the present time. Following our visit, we will walk to the nearby Stroganoff Palace currently being restored to its pre-revolutionary grandeur and containing items from the decorative arts collection of the Russian Museum, particularly the Imperial porcelain services. In the afternoon, we will enjoy the charm of pre-revolutionary Russia in one of the best preserved palaces of the city, the Yusupov Palace. It was here – in restored rooms that we shall visit – that Prince Felix Yusupov planned and executed the murder of Rasputin. Here, too, is the exquisite private theatre where Anna Pavlova and Shaliapin performed. Our farewell dinner will be held in one of St. Petersburg’s finest restaurants, fittingly called The Gourmet Club.

FRIDAY JUNE 25       ST. PETERSBURG / PARIS

On this, our last day in St. Petersburg, we will have an opportunity to return to the Hermitage to have one final chance to explore its vast collections. As official members of the Museum you are free to wander through the galleries of your choice. We depart in the afternoon for our return flight to Paris, landing at Charles de Gaulle in the early evening.