Member Login | Not a FREE member yet? Sign Up Here!

Hermitage – largest art gallery in Russia
By: Olga Mas

Put together throughout two centuries and a half, the Hermitage collections of works of art (over 3,000,000 items) present the development of the world culture and art from the Stone Age to the 20th century. Today the Museum is creating its digital self-portrait to be displayed around the world. Computer technologies enable the State Hermitage Museum to provide people from all over the world with wider access to information about the Museum and its treasures.

Main Museum Complex
The basic display areas of the State Hermitage occupy 365 rooms in the Main Museum Complex located in the historic centre of St Petersburg. Museum consists of six buildings constructed in the 18th and 19th centuries, among which the most important is the Winter Palace, the former imperial residence. The green-and-white 3-story palace has 1786 doors, 1945 windows and 1057 halls and rooms, many of which are open to the public. The Winter Palace was built for Empress Elisabeth, daughter of Peter the Great. By the time it was completed Elisabeth had already died, and only Catherine the Great and her successors could enjoy their new home.

The Hermitage Museum was founded in 1764 when Catherine the Great purchased a collection of 255 paintings from Berlin. Today, the Hermitage Museum is the largest art gallery in Russia and one of the largest and most respected art museums in the world, with 2.7 million exhibits from Ancient Egypt to early 20th century Europe. It includes works by Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian, unique collections of Rembrandt, Rubens, French Impressionists (Renoir, Cezanne, Manet, Monet, Pissarro), plus Van Gogh, Matisse, Gaugin and sculptures by Rodin. The Winter Palace, the Small Hermitage, the Old Hermitage and the New Hermitage display the collections of monuments of culture and art of the ancient world, Western Europe, Russia and the countries of the Orient, as well as archeological and numismatic collections. The Hermitage Theatre and the Reserve House also form part of the Main Museum Complex.

Exhibition Complexes of the State Hermitage, St Petersburg

Winter Palace of Peter the Great
The Winter Palace of Peter the Great is a unique architectural monument dating from the first quarter of the 18th century (Georg Mattarnovi, Domenico Trezzini, architects). The official residence of Peter I between 1720 and 1725 was located on the territory now occupied by the Hermitage Theatre. In the part of the palace which has been preserved, there is a memorial exhibit dedicated to Peter the Great and his age. In his rooms - the study, dining room and turnery - the decor has been recreated using genuine articles that belonged to the Emperor. Here the so-called ‘wax effigy,‘ a posthumous sculptural portrait of Peter I, has been put on display.

Menshikov Palace
The palace of St Petersburg‘s first Governor, Alexander Menshikov, was erected on Vasilyevsky Island in the 1710s-1720s according to architectural plans drawn up by Giovanni Fontana and Gottfried Shaedel. The Hermitage exhibition entitled “Russian Culture in the First Third of the 18th Century“ is located in the Menshikov Palace. Works of fine as well as decorative and applied arts from the Hermitage collection recreate the original interior decoration of Peter the Great‘s time.
Мuseum of Porcelain
The Museum of Porcelain was created in 1844 as part of the Imperial Porcelain Factory. Since 2001 it has been a department of the State Hermitage. The collection includes more than 30,000 objects made in the Imperial Porcelain Factory from the 18th to the 20th century, as well as porcelain by European and domestic manufacturers.

General Staff building
The General Staff building was designed by the architect Carlo Rossi and was erected during the years 1820-27. It is an outstanding architectural monument in the style of Russian Classicism. The Eastern Wing of the building, where civilian ministries of the Russian Empire once were housed, there are both permanent and temporary exhibitions of the Hermitage. The Museum of the Russian Guard Regiments is found in the General Staff building.

Hermitage Exhibition in the Konstantinovsky Palace
The architectural and park ensemble of the Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna once belonged to members of the Romanov family. Now it forms the Palace of Congresses state complex. Within the palace, the State Hermitage has an exhibition area including the Museum of Awards, which displays state medals and orders of Russia, the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation, and the Museum of Heraldry devoted primarily to Russian heraldry pertaining to the state, family genealogy and territories.

The Hermitage Museum is a unique building, which historical meaning is enormous. Museum has a very long history, has gone through many significant positive and negative events, burned, was partly destroyed, but still stands renovated and will exist to show our descendants treasures of all times.

Hotels next to Hermitage: Grand Hotel Europe (Mikhailovskaya Ulista 1/7), Admiral (Griboedova Channel 33), Angleterre Hotel (Bolshaya Morskaya 39), Antique Hotel Rakhmaninov (Kazanskaya 5), Best Eastern Arkadia Hotel (Moika River Embankment 58a), By the Hermitage (Moika River Embankment 42), Bed & Breakfast SABRINA (Bolshaya Morskaya 21 fl.5 Yard code 7859#), Business Hotel Octaviana (Nevsky Prospect 74-76), Best Eastern Filippov Hotel (Nevsky Prospect 142), Rocco Forte Hotel Astoria (St. Isaac‘s Square) etc.