Ancient City of Nymphaeum Exhibition
ongoing

This exhibition is devoted to the 60th anniversary of the Nymphaeum archaeological expedition and 70th anniversary of Nonna Grach (1929-1991), the head of the Sector of the Black Sea Littoral of the Department of the Art and Culture of Antiquity. She headed the Nymphaeum expedition from 1966 to 1990. This is a joint exhibition of the Hermitage and the Kerch Sate History and Culture Reserve.

A wide range of well preserved items excavated at Nymphaeum cover the entire period of the city's existence, from the 6th BC up to 4th century AD. On display are over 400 items. The Hermitage Museum presents a splendid collection of ancient glass, a group of miniature vessels from a child's burial (5th century BC), a theatrical terracotta mask (3rd century BC), a portrait of Empress Livia cast from transparent, deep-blue glass, and a red-figure vessel showing three female figures (440-430 BC).

In 1982 the ruins of a temple (3rd century BC) decorated with a fresco wall painting were excavated at Nymphaeum. The overall fresco shows ships, people and animals and there are also inscriptions engraved in sgraffito and graffiti. On view is a fragment of polychrome stucco showing a ship. Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation awarded the Hermitage Museum the honorary medal and Onassis Prize for "Man and Culture" -- Olympia, to celebrate this find, its restoration and study as well as the Museum's researches in the North Pontic Area. Side by side with the Hermitage Museum collections on display are items of the Kerch Sate History and Culture Reserve; these are mainly fragments of architectural constructions (5th century BC).