State Hermitage (groups up to 4 people)

The Hermitage Museum is the largest museum in Russia and one of the most interesting places for residents and guests of the city. The Hermitage stands on a par with such world-famous museums as the British Museum, the Louvre, the Prado. The exposition of the museum is one of the most extensive in the world and occupies 400 rooms. The Palace Embankment Ensemble, formed by the Hermitage building complex, is a pearl of the central part of St. Petersburg.

The Hermitage complex of buildings was formed during the century - from the 2nd half of the 18th century to the middle of the 19th century. Near the Winter Palace are the Small Hermitage, the Old Hermitage, the Hermitage Theatre, the New Hermitage.

The beginning of the Hermitage complex of buildings was laid in 1754 – 1762, when the grandiose building of the Winter Palace was built according to the project of F. B. Rastrelli. Until 1917, the Winter Palace was the official (and for a long time the main) residence of Russian emperors. The current Winter Palace is the sixth in St. Petersburg (there are other estimates). The first was built in 1711 for Peter 1 by the design of D. Trezzini, it has not survived.

The second Winter Palace was located at the present Winter groove and was completed in 1721 by the architect G. I. Mattarnovi. In it Peter 1 spent the last years of his life. In 1726-1727, the building was expanded and a third Winter Palace appeared. The fourth palace was built for Anna Ioannovna in 1733-1735 according to the project of F. B. Rastrelli. It has become one of the most beautiful buildings in St. Petersburg. The same Rastrelli built the fifth Winter Palace for Elizaveta Petrovna, no trace of it remained. However, Elizabeth ordered to start building a new palace – the sixth Winter Palace that has survived to this day. F.B. Rastrelli built this grand building. However, the first mistress of the new palace was Catherine II.

During the 18th and 19th centuries the interiors of the building changed many times. The best architects of Russia and Europe worked there: Yuri Felten, J-B. Valen-Delamot, J. Quarenghi, I. Starov, K. Rossi, A. Montferrand, V. Stasov, A. Stackenschneider and others. The largest reconstruction of the palace is associated with the tragic events of December 17-19, 1837, when a fire broke out in the building and the entire interior, as well as the facades, were seriously damaged. Nevertheless, the palace was restored in even greater splendor in a very short time - 15 months.

Then in 1920-1950. The Winter Palace and other buildings of the complex have been converted to house museum expositions.

The State Hermitage occupies the fourth place in the world in the number of exhibits, of which there are almost 3 million. Among them are more than 16,000 paintings, 12,000 sculptures, more than 700,000 archaeological finds, about 273,000 objects of applied art, more than 1 million coins and medals.

The Hermitage is not just an art gallery or an art museum. Here samples of the entire artistic culture of mankind are collected, the expositions of the museum allow you to get acquainted and study entire layers of the history of culture of the countries of the world. The most important feature of the museum is that this structure includes interiors created by the best architects of the past, each exposition is habitually perceived in its environment.

The Hermitage Museum collections are known all over the world. They are divided into six divisions: Department of Western European Art (the oldest and largest in the Hermitage); Department of Antiquity; Department of History of Primitive Culture; Oriental Division; Department of History of Russian Culture; Numismatics department.

In general, the collections of the museum were founded by Peter 1, who showed considerable interest in art objects. However, the birth of the Hermitage is associated with the name of Catherine II. With it, the name "Hermitage" is formed in relation to this complex of buildings. In 1764 she acquired a collection of paintings from the Prussian merchant Gottskovski: 225 works created by Dutch and Flemish masters. In the second half of the 18th century, there was enough money at the court to buy collections in Western Europe, which contributed to the expansion of the future museum collection. By the end of the 18th century, an extensive collection of Dutch and Flemish paintings had developed; a collection of Italian, French, Spanish, German and English art had begun to form.

Since the beginning of the 19th century, the Hermitage began to be transformed into a museum. However, at first it was a museum only for the royal court. Some of the apartments were used for exhibitions run by curators. By the mid-19th century, many European museums were open to the public. Not remaining aloof from world trends, the Hermitage of 1852 began to function as a public museum "Imperial Museum". For these purposes, the architect Leo von Klenze built the building of the current New Hermitage.

During the 19th century, the collection of works of art was significantly replenished. However, after the revolution of 1917 and the subsequent nationalization, the Hermitage funds were further expanded with items from private collections. The world’s largest collection of Spanish and French art outside these countries is in the Hermitage. World masterpieces of painting by Leonardo da Vinci, Titian, Rembrandt and other outstanding masters are stored in the collection of the Hermitage.

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