HERMITAGE MUSEUM

HERMITAGE MUSEUM :

The Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia, is one of the world's four greatest museums (the other three being the Louvre, Metropolitan, and British).The institution consists of a complex of connecting buildings along the River Neva in St. Petersburg. The grandest and most significant one is the Winter Palace, the formal royal residence of Russian Tzars from the 18th to early 20th centuries.

The Hermitage Museum has three million works of art and and other treasures, dating from the Stone Age to modern times. Only a tiny fraction are on public view in its several hundred halls.The works were collected over two centuries, beginning in 1764 when Catherine the Great purchased over 200 exceptional paintings in Western Europe.The Hermitage Museum has many other types of artistic treasures. For example, there are the Fabergé jewelry collection and the royal carriages (see photo).The Hermitage's Baroque-style building architecture is itself a tour de force, a treasure of Russia.

Wait lines can be long, both inside and outside. I strongly recommend to come weekdays, not weekends - and to be among the first to arrive. The Hermitage Museum has expanded beyond St. Petersburg, Russia. It has launched small branches in London, Amsterdam and (this may surprise you) Las Vegas.