Two post-war canvases serve as a rare testimony to the museum's return to peaceful life. At the center of the exhibition are two paintings created in Leningrad immediately after the end of the Great Patriotic War. They depict not the grand facade or the ceremonial halls, but a service passage between the palace buildings - a space hidden from the usual museum route. The artist Alexander Osmorkin views the building from the passage connecting different parts of the ensemble. In his field of vision are the Black Passage, walls, windows with paper strips, the emptiness of the courtyard, and a barely noticeable human figure. These details remind of the recent bombings, evacuations, and losses, but do not turn the image into a grim chronicle. Large planes of walls, light, and young greenery in the courtyard create a sense of cautious return to life. The canvases are important as an artistic document of the time. A few years before their appearance, collections were evacuated, staff saved exhibits in the besieged city, and after the lifting of the blockade, the museum gradually restored itself. Other exhibitions in St. Petersburg can be found on KUDAGO.