When I visited St.Petersburg in 2006 I went to see a retirement home for retired theatre artists, actors and actresses, opera singers and ballet dancers. I did not know what to expect when I went there. But when I came there and saw the magnificent building and talked to the people I immediately got my idea for the photo-project. I started making portraits, but during the process I came to the concept of making a portrait of each individual artist and a photo of the interior of her or his room.

During my project and my meetings with the persons I have not only learned about the personal lives of them, but also revived the complete Russian history, from the times of the czar, through the revolution, the world war, the perestroika and the modern time. Sometimes I had to sit two or three hours talking with one of them, with a cup of tea and some sweets, and looking at the souvenirs of their past.

The retirement home exists already since 1895. It is a beautiful place, situated on one of the islands forming St.Petersburg. In spite of being close to the centre of the city, it still is calm and niceIn total this series contains 24 images (diptychs).