The year is 1941. Hitler’s dread legions are on the march. The German advance is heading, with astonishing speed, toward the city of Leningrad — today known by its historic name, St. Petersburg.

Knowing how little protection there is between them and the German advance, the staff of the famous Hermitage Museum has been working around the clock to pack up their priceless paintings and sculptures for transport to a place of safety.

On July 1st, the director of the museum stands weeping at the railway station as three trains, loaded with the treasures of the Hermitage, prepare to leave for the Russian heartland. Not even the conductors know the final, secret destination of those railway cars.

The third train never leaves. Hitler’s forces arrive first, circling the helpless city. Two–and–a–half million people are trapped within, under appalling conditions of hunger and deprivation.

Knowing how important diversion is for the citizenry, the museum staff keeps the palatial building open. Only minor works remain on display, but the building — itself a work of art — continues to draw crowds. Those museum-goers remember what once was, and they hope for its return.

The day arrives when even the Hermitage itself is threatened. Falling bombs shatter the windows. Heavy snows drift in, soaking the once–elegant parquet floors. The museum staff enlists war–weary soldiers to shovel up the mixture of snow and glass, haul it out by the bucket load and cover the shattered windows with whatever they can find.

How to thank the soldiers for what they have done? A longtime Hermitage guide by the name of Pavel Dubchevski has an idea. He offers the soldiers a highly unusual museum tour. He leads the hollow–eyed, starving men in their ragged uniforms through the cavernous halls of the museum. So many frames hang empty on the walls, but the guide pauses at each one, describing the painting that used to hang there. Years later, the soldiers would recall that Dubchevski’s descriptions were so vivid and powerful they could almost see the world–famous art treasures.

Pavel Dubchevski, the Hermitage Museum guide, was filling a role that day very much like that of a prophet. He brought his full gifts of imagination to bear, creating a vision of hope for those who would otherwise be mired in despair.