Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg

History of Hermitage Museum

Hermitage Museum at St Petersburg is the second-largest art museum in the world, after The Louvre in Paris, France. The establishment was founded way back in 1764 by Empress Catherine the Great. What the Hermitage Museum initially housed was the impressive personal art collection of the Empress herself. She had a good many magnificent paintings from around the world, bought from the Berlin merchant Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky. Every year on December 7, the Museum celebrates its foundation day, as the whole world celebrate St Catherine’s Day.

Collection of Hermitage Museum

From Egyptian antiquities, Renaissance art, Dutch and Flemish Baroque art to Neoclassical, Impressionist, Post-Impressionist and modern European fine art – Hermitage Museum artworks are any art-enthusiasts paradise. The collections are displayed over multiple galleries in six buildings along the Palace Embankment. The most important one is the Winter Palace, which is also the former residence of the Romanovs – the second house of the Russian Tsars. Other than that, the Small and Old Hermitage, New Hermitage and the Hermitage Theatre are also open to the public.

There is a saying that it would take eleven years to take a complete tour of the Hermitage Museum in Russia. For this reason, there are guided tours of the Hermitage Museum highlights where you will be shown only the best of the collection. However, if you are an art-enthusiast and have your own list of collections to see, then you should certainly go ahead with it.

Hermitage Museum Facts

There are many lesser known facts about the Hermitage Museum. Read on to know more about them:

1. The museum is housed in five interconnected buildings. The museum has expanded over the ages to gain the position of one of the grandest and magnificent museums in the world.

2. The museum has several parts, one of them being the amazing Winter Palace, beautifully constructed in green and white color. This palace was constructed for Empress Elizabeth, the daughter of Peter the Great. Unfortunately, the empress died before the completion of the palace.

3. Apparently, the Winter Palace in the museum was home to the Romanov Tsars for a short while. The House of Romanov was the reigning royal house of Russia from 1613 to 1917.

4. The Hermitage still has an original collection of 255 paintings that was brought by Catherine the Great from Berlin. This was brought into the museum when it was founded in the year 1764. She was the Empress of Russia from 1762 until 1796, the country's longest-ruling female leader.

5. The Hermitage has artwork and collections that is in abundance. The number reaches to a whopping 3 million. The artwork dates back to the Stone Age and continues to the present day. Most of the collections include works from West-European art, Ancient Art, Primitive culture, Oriental art, Russian art, and collections of coins and medals.