State Russian Museum

It is the first state museum of Russian fine arts in the country. The decision to establish it was made by Alexander III. Later, in 1895, Nicholas II signed a decree "On the establishment of a special institution called the "Russian Museum of Emperor Alexander III" and on the presentation for this purpose acquired in the treasury of the Mikhailovsky Palace with all its wings, services and garden." In May of the same year, the reconstruction of the palace premises for future museum expositions began, the architect was Vasily Svinin.

The grand opening of the Russian Museum for visitors took place on March 19 (7) 1898. The basis of the collection of the Russian Museum were objects and works of art transferred from the Winter, Gatchina and Alexander Palaces, from the Hermitage and the Academy of Arts, as well as collections of private collectors donated to the museum.

The collection of the museum has about 400 thousand exhibits and covers all historical periods and trends in the development of Russian art, the main types and genres, trends and schools for more than 1000 years - from X to XXI century.
The main retrospective exposition of the museum is located in the Mikhailovsky Palace (architect Karl Rossi, 1819-1825), built for the son of Emperor Paul I, Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich, and in the Benois Corps, originally built as an exhibition pavilion of the Academy of Arts (architects Leonty Benois and Sergey Ovsyannikov, 1914-1919).

The total area of the museum is now more than 30 hectares. The collection is housed in buildings that are outstanding architectural monuments of the XVIII-XIX centuries - Mikhailovsky, Stroganov, Marble Palace and Mikhailovsky Castle. The museum complex also includes the Mikhailovsky Garden, the Summer Garden with the Summer Palace of Peter I and the house of Peter I.

Today, the Russian Museum is an extensive museum complex, the largest authoritative research, restoration, preservation and methodical center, supervising the work of all art museums of the country.