Our Editor Tours The World Famous State Hermitage Museum In Saint Petersburg, Russia

Written by Allie Placide Monday, 29 August 2011 21:29

The Hermitage Museum is Russia's best gallery of world art, one of the most prominent art museums in the world and definitely the main tourist attraction of St. Petersburg. The museum was founded in 1764 when Catherine the Great purchased a collection of 255 paintings from the German city of Berlin. Today, the Hermitage boasts over 3.2 million exhibits and displays a diverse range of art and artifacts from all over the world and from throughout history (from Ancient Egypt to the early 20th century Europe). The Hermitage's collections include works by Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael and Titian, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, a unique collection of Rembrandts and Rubens, many French Impressionist works by Renoir, Cezanne, Manet, Monet and Pissarro, numerous canvasses by Van Gogh, Matisse, Picasso, Gaugin and several sculptures by Rodin. The Hermitage Museum has room after room of remarkable artistic masterpieces done by famous artists from around the world. Although we think of the Hermitage as primarily a museum, it was the home of the imperial Romanov family from Peter III to the last Czar, Nicholas II. In the 1920s and 1930s the new socialist government "nationalized" many extensive private collections into the Hermitage. At the onset of World War II, Russia moved most of the Hermitage collections to a secret location Ural Mountains for their protection. The collection is both enormous and diverse and is an essential stop for all those interested in art and history. The experts say that if you were to spend one minute looking at each exhibit on display in the Hermitage, you would need 10 years before you'd seen them all. Website : http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/

Peter the Great, a name well known in history, was the initial founder of the Hermitage in Russia. An owner of an incredible private collection of paintings, he purchased works from all around the world, displaying them at his own place in later years. The collection was then substantially further developed by Catherine the Great and her progeny. From the roots of Ancient Egypt to twentieth-century Europe. At the Hermitage Russia visitors revel in the art and history on display yet any visitor, whether a history or art buff or not, will appreciate the museum’s caliber. The main building of the Hermitage Museum is the Winter Palace, which was once the main residence of the Russian Tsars. Magnificently located on the bank of the Neva River, this green-and-white three-storey palace is a marvel of Baroque architecture and boasts 1,786 doors, 1,945 windows and 1,057 elegantly and lavishly decorated halls and rooms, many of which are open to the public. The Baroque Winter Palace was built between 1754 and 1762 and its first resident was none other than the celebrated Catherine the Great. Many of the palace's impressive interiors were remodeled after the huge fire that partly destroyed the building in 1837. The Hermitage's collections are displayed in adjoining buildings along the Neva embankment, together form an enormous museum complex: the Winter Palace, the Small Hermitage, the Old Hermitage and lastly the New Hermitage. The Hermitage Theater, the private theater of the Tsars, is a beautifully decorated amphitheater and still hosts regular lectures, concerts, opera and ballet performances. The Hermitage in Russia comprises six massive buildings and also has international divisions located in Las Vegas,London, Amsterdam and the city of Ferra in Italy. Holding a long-admired title in the Guinness Book of World Records for hosting the biggest painting amassment in the world.