Hermitage Museum

The Gosudarstvennyj Èrmitaž or Hermitage Museum, that vast collection of Russian and human art and artefacts, has swollen to fill six buildings, the largest and most appropriate being St. Petersburg’s Winter Palace, once home of the Tzars. This magnificent Baroque building and its contents fit well into the collection began in the mid 18th century by Catherine the Great. Starting with an incredible collection of paintings, predominantly from the Old and Dutch Masters, the catalogue grew to engulf the best private collections put up for sale, and expanded from just art into artefacts, relics and gold—including important pieces from Classical cultures from Greece, Rome and Egypt and a huge collection of ancient gold.

It was Nicholas I who ordered the ordering and opening of the Hermitage to the public. In 1852 the first building was the first purpose built gallery in Eastern Europe. The Revolution nationalised the museum property further and 'absorbed' up the personal collections of the Tzars, including work collected by Catherine’s forebear, Peter the Great and other wealthy families long associated with Russian rulers which bolstered up the collection with those of the Catherine and Alexander Palaces, known for their Old Masters and modern works by Picasso, Matisse and Van Gogh.
With more than three million items and having expanded over six buildings and in other pockets around the world, the Hermitage Collection is best known for its Russian regalia and Faberge collections as well as excellent collections of the works of Gauguin, Monet, Rodin, Renoir, da Vinci, Rembrandt, Michelangelo and Rubens. It also has collections from pre-history and the east, strong in Siberian and Central Asian Art.
If you’re unable to make the excursion to Russia you can go via proxy by watching the excellent film, Russian Ark. You will get to see 33 of The Hermitage’s rooms and wander the corridors filled with actors reconstructing periods in Russia’s illustrious past.