Transcripts For KQED Charlie Rose 20150901

Demolished and the map of the soviet union was put here, made of precious stone. Rose and concluding remarks from mark kelner, Vice President of the Hermitage Foundation. Its not an art museum. Its a museum of civilization. Its a museum, when catherine the great founded it, were having our 250th centennial, shes, like, look, russia demands and deserves a museum much like nothing worlds ever seen. That was very much her personality, and she started collecting. Whats interesting is everyone thought she was collecting work that was very ancient but the joke among everyone is she was collecting work thats contemporary, 20th, 21s 21st century. Rose a tour of the hermitage when we continue. And by bloomberg, a provider of multimedia news and Information Services worldwide. Captioning sponsored by Rose Communications from our studios in new york city, this is charlie rose. I grew up in this museum. My fathers was director of the museum, 26 years, for the first place i came as a child, it was the hermitage. A little bit old fashioned. Not modern. When we live in difficult situations, the culture is the bridge which kept us all together. All russians wanted to recreate the great russia. We told the story of imperial russia which Everyone Wants to recreate, and we told the true story by objects. It is a kind of a frame that helps you understand what really is needed to create something which will look as good as the imperial russia. Its called great hermitage. The central buildings. Then weve built big buildings for open storage to show everything what we have and be successful for the public and have all the characters. Our goal is to collect for hermitage all the collections. A great economy and a great collection. We live for the future and we live because of the past. Rose tonight, we tour inside one of the largest and oldest repositories of art and culture in the world. All of my life, ive wanted to visit the Hermitage Museum in st. Petersburg, russia, where catherine the great began assembling her personal art selection in 1764. Today it houses more than 3 million items including everything from antiquities to the largest painting collection in the world. On a recent trip to st. Petersburg, i was able to finally visit this historic palace of arc. My guide, mikhail piotrovsky, hermitage director and a good friend. Many consider him the most influential art director in the world. He inherited the post from his father in 1992, and has guided the museum through its transition from the soviet union to the presidency of Vladimir Putin. With little notice, very little notice, he made time for me and invited me to visit on a saturday afternoon. The museum was full of people. This is not moviemaking perfection, but it is what it would be like if you were there yourself. So join us as we examine the history of its vast interiors and look at some of the most famous works of teeshen, rembrandt, picasso and mattis. Matisse. We began in mikhail piotrovskys office, one camera, no lights and no preparation. We took advantage of an extraordinary opportunity and wanted to take you with us on the journey. We are in the office at the hermitage of mikhail piotrovsky. He and i have known each other a long time and he has been on my program a number of times, including most recently when he came to europe to talk about the 250th anniversary of this remarkable museum. This is his office. It looks like anybodys office that loves books, that loves art, that loves culture, but it is from this office that he directs this magnificent museum and its extensions and the art that he brings in and the art that he allows to be seen around the world. This great museum is put together by catherine first at the palace and then the museum, recently celebrating its 250t 250th anniversary, he has assumed the directorship of this Museum Following his father. There is a photograph of his father here. Hes been to america a number of times. This is the first time i have been in st. Petersburg and in hermitage. Of all the things i wanted to do, certainly high on the list was to interview the president , but secondly was to come here to this place and see this man. Thank you, and welcome to hermitage and the office. It is my office now. It was my Fathers Office for many years. Historically, it was the office of cabinet ministers of the russian empire. And now its a working office. I work here. All is historical. The desk belongs to alexander iii. Rose the desk belongs to alexander iii. We have many desks like this. The clove belonged to tchaikovsky. This belonged to our founder and his tapestry. These are Diplomatic Gifts they gave. This is the queen of netherlands. Rose monaco. These are friends of hermitage. It has a lot of friends. Rose this clock tells us its noon in st. Petersburg. And the cannon. Rose wow. And here is may i take this . Yeah, sure. Rose this was your fathers . Yes, my father worked all his life in hermitage, 26 years as director, and from a young man to the director. He was a great archeologist. Rose but your expertise was arab and islamic art. It is, and ancient history. Rose and you took over for him at his death . At his death, yes, it was in 1991, he died. In 1992, i was appointed director of hermitage. Rose there is a remarkable similar later between the two of you. Not exactly. He was very tall. He was a little bit taller than you. My mother wasnt. Rose what was the legacy he left you . Well, the legacy was the first one, the scholarship is the main thing for the museum. It was a tradition of the director of this museum, the scholarship, publish books, my last book came out two days ago. This is my legacy, which you need a lot of time and effort to protect because this problem of the distant land is not rose repeat the question you have to ask. The museum is more a temple and university. Rose so the museum is more of a temple and a university, it is not a disneyland. It is the home of the best civilization can produce. Yes, and it needs some explanation. We have to explain to the people. Its not just something you drink a glass of wine and youre happy. You have to study. You have to think. You have to look. You have to listen to some explanation, then you understand how beautiful it is. Rose and also, youve noticed well as countries go from one administration, one rule to another, it has to be always protected as the center of learning and the best of civilization. It has a unique place, you hope. We hope. Rose above politics. We think it i it is above politics. We have to use to connect the nations. But we also have to protect it when the political situations change. We have to protect the National Treasure from all different kinds of intervention, ideological or monetary or whatever. Rose well talk more about that later. But you want to show me today what . I want to show you one important thing two important things. The first one, tradition. This museum and the palace, it was always palace and museum because catherine the great established hermitage as a part of her palace, then she built buildings for her collections, but it was also part of her palace. So it was the royal life, full of political decisions and pictures and sculptures around. So this combination of a museum and palace is more or less unique. Thats why the hermitage is a great collection, a great museum of art, history, empirical political history. Russian empire began with peter the great and ended here. Rose she was a remarkable woman. Catherine was a fantastic woman. She has done so many things from which we can learn now beginning from presenting the history, collecting, behaving when a woman behaved like a man and it was still feminine. So we study every year and make an addition about her and its always very interesting. Rose so what we will do this afternoon is not only see some of the best art, but also the fact that the hermitage has expanded beyond its original. Yes. Rose youve got New Buildings. Yes, we have New Buildings. We have a system or a conception which is called the great hermitage, which means expansion, but not exactly just New Buildings. Its sometimes New Buildings, then New Buildings for storage where we show everything what we have in the storage, then the hermitage is in europe and russia, so its a very dynamic two sides on the internet. Its a dynamic system, a global hermitage. Its more than just extension. Its a global hermitage. We are rather ambition. Rose ambition to be global as an expression as an expression of world culture. This great museum was collected in russia for us, but it belongs to the world. Thats why we have presence all the over the world and we have connections and friends and organization all over the world. Thats why when we have problems, we have friends all over the world and we ask them about this kind of help and that kind of help, so we belong to the world and the world to us. We think its very important. Its a world museum, it belongs to the world. Rose not everybody in russia likes that or where . Not everybody in russia likes it. Rose lets go. I could not be more excited to come here and see. Im almost happy ive not seen it before. Its good for people who see it for the first time. Its definitely interesting. Reporter you lead the way. Ill lead the way. This is one of the inner parts of the hermitage. Its also the hermitage theater. There is a small theater in the hermitage which was for catherine the great, it was for 150 persons. Rose it was for she and her friends. She loved theater. She was writing for historical operas. Rose this is the museum. This is the museum. Rose with the saturday afternoon crowd. How many people on average. 3. 5 million every year. The problem is most come in the summer. Thats why there are so many. Rose as we do this in june, we have all the people who are away from school. Exactly, from school. This is the room thats italian. This istthis is this is the n department. This is the peter and paul fortress. And the celebration of the niva. Rose this is the niva right here. One of the special features of hermitage, is its not only one of the best collections, its the best view from the windows in the world. laughter no other museum in the world has this. Rose you say that as the proud director of the hermitage. Right. Well. This is one of the most famous rooms. Rose what are we seeing here . The room of leonardo da vinci. Rose the room of leleonardodleonardo da vinci. Wow. These rooms have been used as guest rooms for the guests of the czars. Rose for the guests to have thtohave for the guestse czars. This is the room of the most important painting in our collection. Rose has any other leader done as much for art as catherine in. Well, its difficult to compare. She was certainly in competition with louie the great but she has done more and managed better than he. Also, he had another trick. She was buying the best collections. She bought collections from paris, from the Prime Minister of britain, his collection. She knew to just buy the best. Rose she must have had a group of people that informed her. She had some friends, intellectuals who advised her. She had Russian Diplomats who knew what she liked. She also had dealers, friends. So she had a lot of advice. Rose about quality and price. Quality and price. Rose this . One to have the first paintings done one of the first paintings done by teeshen. This is scientific, always with the xrays. Just to clean up to paint. Rose one treasure after another, isnt it . Yes. Well, this is the problem. This is wonderful, but its also a problem. This is why you have exhibitions all over the world because you must show all these things and also to show them apart because we only have ten titians in one room, its difficult to appreciate each one of them. Rose the u. S. Would just like to borrow one. Thats what we try to do here, from time to time, we bring one masterpiece from one museum. Now were crossing the room to the italian painting. Rose with changes in politics, is it difficult to get museums in other parts of the world to loan to you . Or have you sometimes it is difficult. Now it is difficult because it also depends on politics and economics. Now in the treasury for two years, we dont have exchange with america. There is the russian state about the library. The russian state is afraid someone could be arrested and we demand the proper guarantee of the state, not just legislation, the guarantee that it comes and it comes back. So we are now in the middle of negotiations. Rose so this is this is one of the most important, the best pictures in the world. This is the rembrandt, the return of the prodigal son. This is rembrandts room. This is one of the biggest treasures of hermitage. The return of the prodigal son. Books are written just on the theological sense of this painting. Reporter rembrandt and the return of the prodigal son. Were in the room where it is. So this is another rembrandt room. This is another rembrandt room. We have approximately 21 rembrandts. Rose 21. Lets look at this one, which is one of the most beautiful ones. This is the holy family. Rose this is the holy family. The most human picture by rembrandt. Rose rembrandt, holy family, dated 1645. Rembrandt lived from 1606 to 1669. 1772, acquired by the hermitage. During the first world war, they wanted to evacuate hermitage in three trains. Two trains left, one train stayed because the revolution happened. Rose right. In the second world war, they prepared also three trains, two left, and the one stayed. Rose where did they take the art when they took it away . The mountains. Rose what is this room . This room is italian and spanish rooms. This is the room of the spanish collection. This building was built for nicoli i. He planned to build this museum which is still a masterpiece of museum architecture, the lighting and everything. It is decorated by objects from stone, from nikoli iii. Rose where do we go from here . We go to the dutch paintings. Rose okay. Peter the great. He thought holland was the most technically developed country in the world in europe. He learned a lot from holland. He visited holland. Also he loved dutch art. Iwe have the best collection of dutch art outside of holland. Certainly rembrandt, and many, many other rooms. Rose did she buy a lot of flemish art as well . Yes, and we will see some of the flemish art as well. The dutch, small paintings. Rose just look at this room. This is one of the rooms called the tent room. Thats one of the problems of the room. Its so beautiful. When you view the lighting, aware of how to concentrate the light on the pictures, definitely, but the ceiling, the walls rose because everything is beautiful. Everything. Rose everything has been so thoughtfully considered. How many employees at the hermitage . We have 2,500. Rose curators . Now, its terrible, were having more and more people in security. Rose because of terrorism, period . Because of terrorism, we have increasing security. But in general we have Something Like 300 curators, 300 restorers and engineers. Rose youre constantly restoring . Yes. Every picture which goes to exhibition must be restored when it comes back. And you clean the picture and study the history of it. Rose so it may give you insights when you lean it . Absolutely. Now, here are the flemish paintings. These two paintings are from the first paintings bought by hermitage. Rose this one . This one and this one. Rose the first paintings bought bought for hermitage. It was 1764. Rose 1764. Where did she buy it from . It was a political story. It was the war between russia and prussia, and it was ended. During the war, german they had a good collection of paintings. But the war ended, catherine had no money to buy the collections and russia had the money so catherine bought the collection. So the beginning of the collection and an important political gesture. Rose this is crossing from this is crossing from the hermitage building, the build wig is called herm the weldin thebuilding with the. From one to the other. The building was the small hermitage. The first floor. The dutch. Rose so were now now we are in the rooms, we are going along the garden and we are in the rooms for the early netherlands painting. And these galleries, catherine build for her collections. We are crossing and entering the winter palace. Rose we scribe the winter pal describe the winter palace. From the beginning, it was the palace and the museum. Yes, the museum was put in the palace and then, from the beginning, it was buildings built for the museum near the palace. So they had reception heres and there. So it was a combination of museum and palace. Now we turn into the winter palace. Official residence of the russian czars. Rose Vice President s. We enter from the main entrance to the throne room of the russian empire. Rose the throne room of the russian empire. The throne is here. And the room, st. Judge, st. Judge was considered the main room. The main room in moscow is called st. Judge hall. You stand here to look at the throne. It has a history. After the revolution, it was demolished, and the big map from soviet union was put here. Then the soviet union and that was taken out to another museum, and then we began to restore the throne. And we found pieces to have the throne in and we found pieces of the throne in different places over here. Rose what happened in the throne room . The the throne room, it was part of the museum. There was reportedly a big map of the soviet union with precious stones. Here we have big ceremonies and display some gifts which we are getting. They are gifts for the anniversary, they have been displayed here. Rose so Vladimir Putin gave the museum yes. Rose two faberges. Yes, one faberge egg and one big faberge clock. Rose he gave it to you from where . He acquired it or he acquired it. It was bought by some russian businessmen. Rose and presented to you . And then presented to the president to give it to the museum. This was a way to return back. Rose so these russian businessmen, oligarchs, very wealthy, as they travel around the world, they see art thats for sale they buy a lot for their collections. Its not easy to bring them. So this is a gift. Rose until Vladimir Putin says youre president would like for his hermitage well, its a good thing. Rose yeah. Usually rose he was never sitting . Always standing. Reporter the czar was always standing. Always standing. The ambassadors, before coming into the throne room, they crossed through this room. The military corridor which have portraits of all the generals who fought napoleon. Rose who fought napoleon. So a special room for the victory over napoleon. Rose first the russians showed napoleon no and said to hitler no. Exactly. And the 19th century war is much cleaner than the 20t 20th century. Rose these are the generals who fought napoleon. Yes. Its all the great families. Rose unbelievable. It just goes on and on and on. Were still in the palace. The main rooms of the winter palace. This is called the room of the crest of arms. We have the crest of arms of tall governors of russia on the chandelier. So when the governors have been coming to be presented, there have been everybody standing under the symbol of the wonderful picture of the russian army entering berlin for the first time in 1716, which is time t of elizabeth ii. Rose and here now because of the commemoration of the of the 70 years rose 70 years since the end of world war ii . 70 years since the storming of berlin. Rose yes. The second time it was napoleon. The time together was the pruss. Rose and this room . This room is called alexanders hall. Its about napoleon, the victory over napoleon. This portrait of alexander. And then the exhibition of european silver. The room by itself has symbols of different battles between the russians and the french. Rose in a way, napoleon gave a lot to russian art, didnt he . Absolutely, absolutely. Absolutely. Rose his defeat commissioned so much. This war was a very clean war for russia. Some wars, nobodys right. This is a war that was very clean. We had a right to defend our country and we have everything to be proud of. That is why always commemorating the victory over napoleon. We are leaving the winter palace. Still a lot of things to see. Rose we will see some of the new. We will see some of the new. Well cross the square. Well see the eastern wing of the building. Rose a Beautiful Day beautiful st. Petersburg day in the summer. This is one of the most important, the collection of matisse, one of the best in the world. Rose look at this. Experimenting with the new lighting because not every picture likes big halls and much light. Its always kind of an experiment. This is madame matisse. This is a portrait in which she looks very much like a prussian miniature. Rose houm how many matisse . About 40. This is, for me, the best. Rose the best. The best one. Rose but you have something on loan to the new museum. Yes. Its music and dance, and dance is very famous. Its very fragile. The dance was given to the museum. We have agreements with them for certain exchanges and cooperation. Rose i love the color. Fantastic. Rose you must be very proud of this. We now have proper space and can experiment. This is a fantastic portrait and now it looks very well. Also there are discussions now. Its a kind of recommend recommended of visitors. How do you like it to be displayed. So people who come to see the museum, ask them what do they think about having matisse on white walls, red walls. Rose and whats the response, do you know . I dont know. Ive just decided to ask the question. I think they look very well. Rose how do you feel about it yourself, from your own sense . I think its good. Rose it works for you . It works for me. Rose the light . A week ago, i was here. It was very different. Rose you said wrong. Absolutely wrong. So now i think it looks great. This is picasso. Rose so here we are. How good is your picasso collection . Also very good. Matisse is the best. Rose this is picasso. This is a wonderful picasso. This is the best picasso we have. Rose oh, sure. And this is, like, on the level of rose yes. You can see the connection. 1908. 1908. Rose you still see the painting at the museum of modern art . Yes, the same period and the same way of showing the forms. Rose every one of these rooms has natural light. Yes, every one of these rooms. Most have the natural light. And this play between modern and classical. Rose and light floors. Its an historical buildings, so we can only do some things here and we have a lot of places where we show historically. This is two cyst snores tell me about the painting. This is one to have the great this is one of the great picasso paintings called sisters. Has a lot of stories, sisters meeting in the hospitals, has many explanations. Rose how long has this been in the russian collection . It is from beginning of the century. It was the most private collection that came to hermitage. Rose so this is the gift of the the gift from the United States of america. Our anniversary. A big collection of american art, applied american art of masterpieces collected by english and american historians given to us from the American Foundation of hermitage. So its a roomful of masterpieces of american decorated art. So its a big piece of our collection and a big gesture rose so the hermitage is not only building, its acquiring. Yes, acquiring. We have a lot of friends. This is another gift given by the artist considered to be one of the masterpieces of the art of the 20th century, and we have to build a hall suitable for this. Its a wonderful thing. Its a history of russia. Inside, you have the picture of soviet russia with some old soviet songs that are very nostalgic. Then there is the translation itself. We added another thing to. This this is the next stage. Rose so are you saying this is in the bin of history . It destroyed everything to build something. Everything was destroyed. I think we have shown we can build something. Rose yes. It is a very important gift. You know, artists are always more generous. This cost at least 5 million or 6 million. Rose and given to you by the artist . By the artist himself. Rose ah. Do you ever think about stopping work . No. laughter rose no. Why . Because my work is this will never stop. It is my hobby. Rose quite a hobby, sir. Quite a hobby. After you. So after a couple of hours walking around, looking at this Amazing Museum and not only the past and the present, but the future, we watched at the end the mounting of an exhibition. What does it mean to you, this place . Well, for me it is my home because ive grown up here and, for me, its one of the greatest working symbols of russian culture and world culture. Its a wonderful place. Its a place which helps people to live, you know. Its not called hermitage because of isolation. Its lates you from all the terrible things happening around, political and troubles and not only political. People can relax in this museum and i think its a function which does work. Rose thank you for being our guide. Thank you for being our friend. Thank you for keeping this place in such a remarkable way so that it continues, we saw, with new exhibitions, with new space, yet, at the same time, acquiring art across the spectrum. Thank you. Thank you very much. Sorry for taking so much of your time. I wanted to show you. Rose i have friends around the world. This is a remarkable place. This is beyond politics. This is a place that harbors some of the great, great treasures of the world, and for me to come and be here and to see it with my own eyes and to have such an articulate and brilliant and honored guide has been one of the great pleasures of my life. You should all come to russia and you should all come see the hermitage as a reflection of a great country. Rose continuing our exploration of the hermitage, we talked to mark kelner, Vice President of the Hermitage Foundation, and we begin with the question, twhas Hermitage Foundation . Hermitage foundation is a group of american friends interested in supporting the hermitage and its director in whatever they might need, logistically, creatively, financially in exhibiting western and american art, or restoring work that needs help in the hermitage. We have a very interesting situation because, in the postsoviet period, theres a period that involves cultural diplomacy that they can call on us, saying were interested learning about american art and what access can you offer in new york, you know, in ohio. Rose were in the postsoviet period. And its sometimes difficult politically. But truly these are servant of culture that arent paying attention to whats happening politically because one doesnt affect the other. Rose but your central function is to serve the hermitage yes. And specifically whatever question they may have logistically. Rose a bit about you, russian parents. Yeah. Rose you were conceived in russia. Yes. Rose you were born in america. In cleveland, very proudly. Rose and you want to be or are an artist . Im an artist. A lot of my work is flute rooten that russianamerican duality. Anything that happened with russian art coming from a russian place i was involved in. There are russian imgray tores considered staples of russian work. I was around them and because of that the Hermitage Foundation found me and we got to work on a couple of interesting International Contemporary projects. I have to really, really kind of cool. Hard to say no to. Rose yeah, considering your background, characterize this museum for me. Its not an art museum. Its a museum of civilization. Its a museum that catherine when catherine the great founded it were having our 250t 250th centennial shes, like, look, russia demands and deserves a museum much like nothing worlds ever seen, and that was very much her personality, and she stafortd collecting. Whats really interesting, everyone is thinking shes collecting work thats very ancient, but the joke among hermitagenics is shes correcting work thats contemporary to her. And id like to think were collecting work contemporary to us, 20th and 21st century. When dr. Piotrovsky comes, i introduce him to people who are interested in using the hermitage as a means to promote culture theyve never seen before. Rose who is this man my audience just had a chance to walk through the museum that he has been a director and his father has been a director of for a number of years, who is he . Hes an interesting guy. Hes the decider. The hermitage is a very totalitarian environment. One man makes all the decisions. Rose in addition to what art goes on the wall, where they put it . Or when charlie rose shows up on any specific day unannounced, yes, ill lead him on a tour right now. Its very much his schedule and its his home. Thats it. There is no separating in one from his station. Thats his life. He very much curates every part of that museum. Its his life. When he comes here, hes not just representing the Hermitage Museum, hes representing russian culture and culture that is essentially world culture that needs to be rose and how does the museum and the director handle those times in which the politics are strained between russia and the United States or russia and much of the western world . I think, right now, it makes for a sad state of affairs that we always have to that russian art has always been politicized that, no matter what, whether its avantgarde or otherwise, russian art is censored. Theres a selfcensorship among artists in russia rose for fear of challenging the state . For fear of prosecution, that if my voice speaks up, am i going to jail for it . And a lot of these actionisms that we see are artistic in their root and a lot of people are scared, and we dont know what direction things are going to go. On the other side of that coin, we have the Hermitage Museum that has been around 250 years and governments and regimes have come and gone but the hermitage has stayed, historically. Thats the world i like to occupy. Thats when i go out with my tin cup and talk to people about, hey, lets start supporting the Hermitage Museum in terms of building their contemporary Art Collection for the first time. You know, names like lets get a warhol. Lets try to get people who might be interested. You know, if were in the service of culture, politics really shouldnt be something we should be concerned about. Its gotten more difficult to talk to people and be a true leader for the museum, but, among our crowd, i dont think many people care. Rose there is a lot of rich people in russia now, too. There is a lot of rich people in russia and there is this misguided notion i have a trouble with, oh, were a 5013c, we have a situation with rich russians in, no why cant they help their culture . Heres the crux of what im trying to say in the america, we have a system where the wealthy have supported art and museum and museum culture, nothing like that exists in russia and never has. We dont have a situation were trying to show and i speak with russianamericans were trying to show that, look, its your responsibility for you know, you have a choice, you have an opportunity to promote culture in russia, outside of russia, supporting the hermitage, and its your responsibility. No one else is going to do it if not you. And i want the Hermitage Museum foundation to be a leader in holding that flag saying, we need help. Look at our system and how can we how does that behoove the Hermitage Museum . The hermitage has a lot of friends. There are a lot of people who recognize the hermitage without having to recognize, oh, we live in salad salad salad vladimir. Rose its been said we have been through the cry mean war, the russian revolution, the cold war and the friendship survived, the friendship between the museum and the world, has survived all the way through. None of us in any great museum has had to confront anything like the changes and transformation that the hermitage has. Its stayed completely true to the traditions of being a great repository of great things and the international community. One can only guess how complicated that may be administratively, politically and financially. 3 million objects are displayed, theres no way anyone can see it in a lifetime. Its a huge museum. Also a museum really interested in establishing satellites. All throughout russia, in moscow, there will be a satellite concerning contemporary art and that extends to europe, you know, my goal would be i would love to see a Hermitage Museum here in United States. You know, that would be a dream. Why not . Despite whatever political manifestations of relations and, you know its tough. Were in a cold war 2. 0, perhaps, but i hope not. But i dont see why that has to be why art has to be politicized in that way. I mean, its the common core of what we have. Rose two sul cultures, two civilizations. Yeah. Rose we live in a very, very difficult time in terms of culture because we see people for a variety of reasons destroy culture as a political statement. The people at the leadership of the Hermitage Museum foundation, or chairman of the board is the antequarium, been in business since early 1972, and i asked him about this. Hes turkish. I said, look whats going on the i. S. I. S. And people destroying culture and trying to make their own by destroying, trying to make a legacy by destroying whats been before. He said, mark, its a terrible situation, but we move forward. Theres no choice but to. You know, there are wars going on. We are involved in preventing it by sharing what we have in common. Rose thank you for coming. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Rose pleasure to meet you. My pleasure. Rose this was an amazing experience for us and lots of people deserve credit and you will see a special credit list at the end, but i want to single out some people who, without them, it would phot have been possible. Mikhail piotrovsky, of course. My executive producer. Our cameraman did a remarkable job under difficult circumstances. My colleagues jeff and craig who helped us put together the package here on my own staff, Christine Edwards was wonderful this editing this thing and making it presentable to you. And corey who helped write and put this together our understanding of what the hermitage means. It has been for all of us an unbelievable experience. Take a look at others who made it possible. Rose for more about this program and earlier episodes, visit us online at pbs. Org and charlierose. Com. Captioning sponsored by Rose Communications captioned by Media Access Group at wgbh access. Wgbh. Org rose additional funding provided by and by bloomberg, a provider of multimedia news and Information Services worldwide. Larriva its like holy mother of comfort food. Ion. Woman throw it down. Its noodle crack. Patel you have to be ready for the heart attack on a platter. Crowell okay, im the bacon guy. Man oh, i just did a jig every time i dipped into it. Man 2 it just completely blew my mind. Woman it felt like i had a mouthful of raw vegetables and dry dough. Sbrocco oh, please. I want the Dessert First [ laughs ] i told him he had to wait