Hermitage Museum

The State Hermitage Museum is a huge museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It has the largest collection of paintings in the world! The museum began in 1764 when Empress Catherine the Great bought a collection of paintings from a man named Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky. Every year on 7 December, which is Saint Catherine's Day, the museum celebrates its founding. People have been visiting the museum since 1852.

The Hermitage has over three million items, but only a small part is shown to the public at any time. One-third of the collection is coins and medals, called the numismatic collection. The museum’s items are in six big old buildings along the Palace Embankment. The most famous is the Winter Palace, which was the home of Russian emperors. Other buildings include the Menshikov Palace, the Museum of Porcelain, a storage building, and the eastern wing of the General Staff Building.

Five of the six buildings are open to visitors. These are the Winter Palace, Small Hermitage, Old Hermitage, New Hermitage, and the Hermitage Theatre. Tickets cost more for people from other countries than for people from Russia and Belarus. But, the museum is free for everyone on the third Thursday of each month, and students and children get in for free every day. The museum is closed on Mondays, and visitors enter through the Winter Palace.

Name

A hermitage is a quiet place where someone can live alone, away from others. The "Hermitage" in the Winter Palace was a private home for Russian leaders. It was a peaceful spot where they could relax with close friends. The Hermitage Museum began when Catherine the Great started collecting paintings in 1764. She added 225 paintings from Western Europe to her private rooms, called salons (salons). Today, the museum includes six buildings, much larger than the original palace rooms, now known as the "Small Hermitage."

Buildings

The Hermitage Museum began in one building called the "Small Hermitage." Today, it has many buildings along the Palace Embankment and nearby. You can visit the "Old Hermitage" (also called the "Large Hermitage"), the "New Hermitage," the Hermitage Theatre, and the Winter Palace, where Russian tsars once lived. The museum now also includes the General Staff Building on the Palace Square and the Menshikov Palace.

Collections

The Hermitage Museum has a large collection of art and culture from many places and times. Its Western European Art collection includes paintings, sculptures, and decorative items from the 13th to the 20th centuries.

Egyptian antiquities

Main article: Egyptian Collection of the Hermitage Museum

Since 1940, the collection of items from ancient Egypt, which started in 1852, has been shown in a big hall on the ground floor of the Winter Palace’s eastern side.

Classical antiquities

The museum’s classical collection fills most of the ground floor of the Old and New Hermitage buildings. The rooms were designed by German architect Leo von Klenze in the early 1850s, using painted polished stucco and columns of natural marble and granite.

One special room shows a very tall vase called the Kolyvan Vase, made in 1843 from jasper. The collection includes ancient Greek art, pottery, jewellery, and sculptures from places like the North Pontic Greek colonies. There are also items from ancient Rome and Italy.

Prehistoric art

On the ground floor in the western wing of the Winter Palace, you can find prehistoric artifacts and art from places all over Russia and the former Soviet Union. These items range from the Paleolithic to the Iron Age. One highlight is an old knotted-pile carpet and a wooden chariot from the 4th–3rd centuries BC.

Jewelry and decorative art

The museum has special rooms showing beautiful jewellery and decorative art from thousands of years ago up to the early 1900s. You can see treasures from Western Europe as well as from places like the Pontic steppes, the Caucasus, and Asia, including gold from the Scythian people.

Pavilion Hall on the first floor shows an amazing 18th-century golden Peacock Clock and a collection of mosaics.

Italian Renaissance

The first floor of the Old Hermitage has rooms filled with art from the Italian Renaissance. You can see works by famous artists like Giorgione, Titian, and Veronese. There are also paintings that might be by Leonardo da Vinci.

Italian and Spanish fine art

On the first floor of the New Hermitage, there are big rooms with red walls showing Italian and Spanish paintings from the 1500s to 1700s, including works by Veronese, Tintoretto, Velázquez, and Murillo.

Knights' Hall

The Knights' Hall now shows Western European arms and armour from the 1400s to 1600s. Next to it is a gallery with marble sculptures designed by Leo von Klenze.

Dutch Golden Age and Flemish Baroque

The New Hermitage has rooms filled with paintings from the Dutch Golden Age and Flemish Baroque, including works by Van Dyck, Rubens, and Rembrandt.

German, Swiss, British and French fine art

The Winter Palace shows German paintings from the 1500s and French paintings from the 1400s to 1700s, including works by Poussin and Lorrain. There are also pieces of French decorative art and British art, like works by Thomas Gainsborough.

Russian art

The Winter Palace’s fancy rooms show Russian art from the 1000s to 1800s.

French Neoclassical, Impressionist, and post-Impressionist art

On the fourth floor of the Eastern Wing, you can see French Neoclassical, Impressionist, and post-Impressionist art, including works by Renoir, Monet, Van Gogh, and Gauguin.

Modern, German Romantic and other 19th–20th century art

The General Staff Building shows modern art, including pieces by Matisse, Picasso, and Kandinsky. There is also a room for German Romantic art from the 1800s. The Western wing has art from many places like China, India, and Mongolia.

History

Origins: Catherine's collection

Catherine the Great started her art collection in 1764. She bought paintings from a merchant in Berlin named Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky. She got many famous artworks, including pieces by Rembrandt, Rubens, and Frans Hals. These paintings are still in the Hermitage Museum today.

Catherine built special rooms for her collection. She added more paintings and art from many places. Now, the Hermitage Museum is one of the biggest and most important art museums in the world.

Expansion in the 19th century

In the 1800s, more art was added to the Hermitage. New buildings were made to hold the growing collection. Famous artworks like sculptures and paintings were included. The museum became a public place where anyone could see the art.

After the October Revolution

After big changes in Russia in 1917, the Hermitage became a public museum. More art from other palaces was added to its collection. During World War II, parts of the collection were moved to keep them safe. After the war, more modern art was added to the Hermitage.

The Hermitage since 1991

Since 1991, the Hermitage has shared some of its hidden treasures with the world. New buildings have been added to show more art. The museum continues to grow and welcome visitors from all over.

Dependencies

The Hermitage Museum has opened several branches in Russia and around the world.

The Hermitage-Kazan Exhibition Center opened in 2005 in Kazan, Russia, with support from the local president. It is located in the Kazan Kremlin.

Ermitage Italia was established in Ferrara, Italy, in 2007, using the Castle Estense as its home. It works closely with the Hermitage for research and learning.

The Hermitage-Vyborg Center opened in Vyborg, Russia, in June 2010.

Plans are in place to open a Hermitage Exhibition Center in Vladivostok and another in Omsk, both expected around 2016.

There have also been ideas to create a Vilnius Guggenheim Hermitage Museum in Lithuania, combining artworks from both the Hermitage and the Guggenheim Museum in New York.

Some past branches include the Guggenheim Hermitage Museum in Las Vegas, which was open from 2001 to 2008, and the Hermitage Rooms in London, which operated from 2000 to 2007. The Hermitage Amsterdam opened in 2004 and later became H'ART Museum.

Main article: Hermitage-Vyborg Center

Management

The Hermitage Museum has had many directors over the years, including Stepan Gedeonov, Ivan Vsevolozhsky, Boris Legran, Iosif Orbeli, Boris Piotrovsky, and Mikhail Piotrovsky, who has been director since 1992.

The museum has a volunteer service that helps people support the museum. Volunteers help with many activities.

The museum is also known for its cats, which live on the grounds and are a popular attraction.

Main article: Hermitage cats

In popular culture

Films

The Hermitage Museum is a popular place for filming movies. The film Russian Ark (2002) by Alexander Sokurov was entirely filmed inside the Hermitage. It shows the Winter Palace through history. Another film, War and Peace (1966–67), which won an Oscar, was partly filmed in the Winter Palace. It is based on a novel by Leo Tolstoy.

Television

The Hermitage has also been on television. The Russian channel Russia-K has shown many of the museum’s art collections. Programs like My Hermitage are very popular. These shows are organized by the Hermitage’s Director, Professor Mikhail Piotrovsky. There was also a program called The Treasures of St. Petersburg on regional television. In the UK, a documentary called Hermitage Revealed (2014) by Margy Kinmonth tells how the Hermitage became a museum.

Literature

The Hermitage has inspired many books. To the Hermitage by Malcolm Bradbury is about a visit by Diderot to meet Catherine the Great. The novel Petersburg by Andrey Bely uses the Winter Canal near the palace as an important place. The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean is set in the Hermitage during World War II. Another book, Thilda'nın Evi by Sancar Seckiner, includes a chapter about the writer’s visit to the Hermitage.

Games

The Hermitage is also in several video games. It appears in the Civilization series from Civilization IV to Civilization VII as a wonder of the world. In Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3, the Hermitage is shown in the first mission of the Soviet campaign.