History of the Hermitage Museum

The Hermitage grew from the private collection of Russia’s empresses and emperors into one of the largest museums in the world. Its history is two and a half centuries of collecting, building, war, loss and revival.

1764: the collection begins

The founding year is 1764, when Catherine the Great acquired the collection of the Berlin merchant Johann Ernst Gotzkowski — about 225 paintings (by other counts 317), including Dutch and Flemish masters. For more, see who founded the Hermitage.

The name comes from the French ermitage — “a place of solitude”: that is what the private palace rooms were called, where the empress showed her pictures to a small circle.

The age of Catherine: the great purchases

Catherine collected on a grand scale, buying whole European collections through her agents:

• 1769 — the collection of Count Brühl in Dresden (hundreds of paintings);
• 1772 — the Paris Crozat collection, which brought first-rate painting, including Rembrandt’s Danaë;
• 1779 — the celebrated English Walpole collection from Houghton Hall (its sale caused an outcry in Britain);
• 1785 — the Lyde Browne collection of sculpture, with which Michelangelo’s Crouching Boy came to Russia.

To house the growing collection, the Small and Large (Old) Hermitage were built beside the Winter Palace, followed by the Hermitage Theatre.

1852: the museum opens to the public

A purpose-built museum, the New Hermitage, was raised for the collection by the architect Leo von Klenze — the first building in Russia designed as a public museum, recognisable by its portico with ten atlantes. In 1852, under Nicholas I, the Imperial Hermitage opened to visitors. This is considered the museum’s “second birth”.

The 19th century: the museum grows

After it opened, the Hermitage grew through both major purchases and archaeological finds. Antiquities from excavations in the south of Russia entered the museum — including the Scythian gold that formed the basis of the future Gold Rooms. The picture galleries expanded too: in the later 19th century the museum bought Leonardo’s Madonna Litta (1865). At first you could enter only by special permission, but the museum gradually became more open to the wider public.

The 20th century: revolution, sales, war

After 1917 the museum became a state institution, and its holdings were enlarged by nationalised private collections — among them the Impressionists of Shchukin and the Morozovs.

At the same time the museum suffered heavy losses: in the late 1920s and early 1930s the Soviet government sold dozens of masterpieces abroad (a number of Hermitage paintings were bought by the American Andrew Mellon and now hang in the National Gallery of Art in Washington).

Then came the war. During the Siege of Leningrad the collection was evacuated to Sverdlovsk and empty frames were left on the walls; after the collections returned, the museum reopened in November 1945.

In the Soviet years the Hermitage not only recovered but grew: nationalised collections were absorbed, and in 1948, after the Moscow Museum of New Western Art was dissolved, the Hermitage received its share of the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists. The public widened too — from a “gallery for the few” the museum became a place open to all.

The Hermitage today

Today the Hermitage is a museum complex of several buildings with a collection of over three million items: from Ancient Egypt and classical antiquity to Leonardo, Rembrandt and the Impressionists. Its scale is legendary: pause a minute at each exhibit and it would take years to see the whole collection. Plan your visit with the one-day itinerary and the floor plan.

FAQ

When was the Hermitage founded? In 1764 — with Catherine the Great’s purchase of the Gotzkowski collection.

When did the Hermitage open to the public? In 1852, with the opening of the Imperial (New) Hermitage.

How old is the Hermitage? It dates from 1764, so the museum is over 260 years old.

Why is it called the Hermitage? From the French ermitage, “a place of solitude” — the name of the private rooms that held the pictures.

Did the Hermitage lose any paintings? Yes — in the 1920s and 1930s some masterpieces were sold abroad; these Soviet sales were its biggest losses.

This is an unofficial, informational website. For current details confirm them on the official museum website.