The State Hermitage Museum

About the museum

The State Hermitage in Saint Petersburg is one of the largest and oldest museums in the world. It was founded in 1764 by Empress Catherine the Great, who began with a collection of around 225 paintings; today the holdings number over three million items — from Ancient Egypt and classical antiquity to Leonardo, Rembrandt and the Impressionists.

The museum occupies a complex of several buildings along Palace Embankment, centred on the grand Winter Palace, the former residence of the Russian emperors. A visit is not only about paintings and sculpture but about the interiors themselves — throne rooms, the Malachite Room, gilded staircases.

This is an independent guide for visitors: verified practical information and answers to the questions people actually ask — what to see, how to buy a ticket, and how not to get lost.

Collections and buildings

Here are the main pointers if you’re after something specific. The Impressionists and Post-Impressionists (Monet, Matisse, Van Gogh, Gauguin) are not in the Winter Palace but in the General Staff Building across Palace Square. The Rembrandt collection — one of the largest outside the Netherlands — is in Room 254, and Leonardo’s two Madonnas are in Room 214. For the wartime story of the museum, see the Siege of Leningrad.

Did you know

The Hermitage is also a place of stories. Cats have guarded its cellars since the 18th century. During the Siege of Leningrad staff left empty frames hanging on the walls so the paintings could be returned to their exact places after the war. And on the Peacock Clock the seconds are counted by a tiny dragonfly on a mushroom cap.

This is an unofficial, informational website. Prices and opening hours change — confirm them on the museum’s official website, hermitagemuseum.org, before your visit. Last updated: 6 June 2026.