State Hermitage Museum opens Light Lines on 28 October
Published on 10/24/2026 at 13:15 | Editorial responsibility: Rafael Müller, Editor-in-Chief AD HOC NEWSExhibition programme and setting
- State Hermitage Museum presents Light Lines in Saint Petersburg from 28 October 2026.
- Light Lines brings about 50 Swiss Renaissance and Mannerist drawings together with engravings and stained-glass examples.
- The Winter Palace forms part of the museum complex founded in 1764.
State Hermitage Museum opens Light Lines in Saint Petersburg on 28 October 2026, presenting Swiss stained-glass designs from the Renaissance and Mannerist periods. The exhibition runs until 28 February 2027 in the Main Museum Complex gallery.
Light Lines opens in the graphic gallery
The exhibition is titled Light Lines: Swiss Stained-Glass Designs of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries. It occupies rooms 324 to 328 in the Graphic Gallery of the Main Museum Complex, according to the museum programme published by Saint Petersburg cultural news outlet SPB Cult.
The display brings together about 50 sheets from local schools associated with Zurich, Basel, Schaffhausen and Bern. The drawings show how artists developed designs for small cabinet stained-glass panels, a form that became particularly popular in Switzerland.
The programme also includes engraved examples used by glass painters and several finished stained-glass panels. Much of the design material is scheduled to be shown publicly for the first time. The exhibition dates and venue are also listed in the Saint Petersburg exhibition listing.
Swiss drawings meet the Hermitage collection
The subject links the temporary display to the museum buildings on Palace Embankment, where historic interiors and works on paper form part of the same visitor setting. The exhibition focuses on preparatory drawings rather than treating stained glass only as finished architectural decoration.
Artists named in the programme include Tobias Stimmer, Daniel Lindemayer and Christoph Murer. Their designs cover religious, heraldic and other subjects, allowing visitors to compare the planning stage with the finished glass objects presented alongside it.
The State Hermitage Museum is considered founded in 1764, when Catherine the Great acquired a collection from Berlin merchant Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky. The operator lists the Main Museum Complex at 32 to 38 Palace Embankment and identifies the Winter Palace, built between 1754 and 1762, as part of it in its official facts and figures.
The setting also belongs to the Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments, which UNESCO inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1990. That heritage context places the 2026 exhibition within a museum complex shaped by imperial architecture and a long collecting history, rather than in a standalone modern gallery.
Visiting State Hermitage Museum: what travellers from Western Europe should know
- Light Lines opens on 28 October 2026 and runs until 28 February 2027 in rooms 324 to 328 of the Graphic Gallery in the Main Museum Complex.
- The exhibition is scheduled to show about 50 Swiss drawings, engraved examples and several stained-glass panels; the programme does not announce a separate access restriction for this display.
- The Main Museum Complex stands at 32 to 38 Palace Embankment in Saint Petersburg, with the Winter Palace among its historic buildings.
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Frequently asked questions about State Hermitage Museum
When does Light Lines take place at State Hermitage Museum?
Light Lines begins on 28 October 2026 and is scheduled to continue until 28 February 2027.
What is State Hermitage Museum?
It is a museum complex in Saint Petersburg founded in 1764, including the Winter Palace and other historic buildings on Palace Embankment.
Where is State Hermitage Museum and how do you get there?
The Main Museum Complex is at 32 to 38 Palace Embankment in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
