Location : STATE HERMITAGE MUSEUM
Saint Petersburg.
The State Hermitage Museum is the largest in Russia and one of the world’s largest art and cultural-historical museums. The museum began its history with collections of works of art that were privately acquired by the Russian Empress Catherine II. The main expositions of the State Hermitage occupy 365 halls in the Main Museum Complex, located in the historical center of St. Petersburg. It is formed by six buildings built in the 18th-19th centuries, the most significant of which is the Winter Palace — the former imperial residence. The Winter Palace, the Small Hermitage, the Old Hermitage and the New Hermitage present collections of cultural and art monuments of the ancient world, Western Europe, Russia, the East, archaeological and numismatic collections. The Main Museum Complex also includes the Hermitage Theater and the Reserve House.
The Hermitage collection contains more than 3 million works of art and monuments of world culture, including the only paintings by Leonardo da Vinci in Russia and the only sculpture by Michelangelo in Russia, as well as the largest collection of Rembrandt’s paintings outside the Netherlands. It is estimated that in order to examine each of the museum exhibits within one minute, you need to spend 8 years without rest and sleep.