The State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg

The State Hermitage Museum is one of the largest museums in the world. It has over three million pieces of artwork in it. The museum is situated along the Palace Embankment in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The museum has such a large collection of art that it cannot all be put out on display at one time. The museum was built in 1764 and was made public in 1852. The huge collection of the State Hermitage Museum is spread out in six different buildings along the Palace Embankment. The most prominent and well known amongst them is the Winter Palace, which is currently the official residence of Russian tsars.

It is very interesting to know that the Hermitage Museum also has international branches which are located in Amsterdam, London, Las Vegas, and Ferrara, Italy. In fact, the State Hermitage Museum is even in the Guinness Book of World Records for having the world’s largest collection of paintings.

Some of the famous works in the State Hermitage Museum are the western art collections that include Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Rubens, Van Dyck, Rembrandt, Poussin, Claude Lorrrian, Watteau, and Tiepolo. The museum also has a beautiful assortment of Faberge jewelry.

Even though the main museum was established in 1764, it has seen constant expansions every century. In the 19th century, relics of Greek and Scythian culture were added to the museum. Also, a large amount of gold was put on display, thus making it the world’s richest collection of gold. During the 20th century, private collections from several of the Russian tsars were added to the museum.

Official website of The State Hermitage Museum: http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/