Hermitage Museum

The Hermitage Museum (Эрмитаж) in St. Petersburg, Russia is one of the largest and oldest art galleries and museums of human history and culture in the world. The vast Hermitage collections are displayed in six buildings, founded by Catherine II of Russia in 1764 and opened in public since 1852. The main building is the Winter Palace. This was the official residence of the Russian Tsars.

The State Hermitage Museum
View of (from left) the Hermitage Theatre, Old Hermitage, and Small Hermitage
Established	1764 (1764)
Location	34 Palace Embankment, Dvortsovy Municipal Okrug, Central District, Saint Petersburg, Russia
Visitor figures	1,649,443 visitors (2021)
Director	Mikhail Piotrovsky
Public transit access	Admiralteyskaya station
Website	hermitagemuseum.org

The Winter Palace overlooks the Neva River.

The paintings hang amid opulent interior architecture.

Collections

Strong points of the Hermitage collection of Western art include Michelangelo, Giambattista Pittoni, Leonardo da Vinci, Rubens, Van Dyck, Rembrandt, Poussin, Claude Lorraine, Watteau, Tiepolo, Canaletto, Canova, Rodin, Monet, Pissarro, Renoir, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Picasso, and Matisse. There are several more collections. Among the collections are the Russian imperial regalia, an assortment of Faberge jewellery, and the largest existing collection of ancient gold from Eastern Europe and Western Asia.

Cats

Some cats lives on the museum grounds. They are named the Hermitage cats. They are an added attraction for tourists.

Hermitage Museum Media

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  The Hermitage Museum complex. From left to right: Hermitage Theatre – Old Hermitage – Small Hermitage – Winter Palace (the "New Hermitage" is situated behind the Old Hermitage)

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  The Egyptian Antiquities Hall of the Hermitage Museum

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  Ermitáž()

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  The Small Italian Skylight Room

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  Ermitage Interior.

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  Garden at Bordighera, Impression of Morning, 1884, Claude Monet

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  Portrait of Nikolay Borisovich Yusupov by Italian Vincenzo Petrocelli, 1851

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  Oil on canvas portrait of Empress Catherine the Great by Russian painter Fyodor Rokotov

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  View of the Palace Embankment by Karl Beggrov, 1826. The Old Hermitage is in the middle of the painting.