Rescuers of civilisation. The evolution of the Hermitage during WWII

When German troops attacked the Soviet Union and besieged Leningrad (St Petersburg), during what is called in Russia the Great Patriotic War, a phe-nomenal heroic act was to happen. At the State Hermitage Museum, an art rescue of enormous magnitude was accomplished moments before an horri-fying apocalypse of constant air raids, starvation and extreme weather. Mil-lions of objects were sent to the Urals and kept away from danger thanks to the formidable group of workers and friends of the museum, who togeth-er with the common folk and soldiers, took care of the wreckage of the vast and empty museum during the almost two and a half years of the siege.