Hermitage Museum

Saint Petersburg, Russia

The State Hermitage is one of the largest and oldest museums in the world. It was founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great and has been open to the public since 1852. Its collections, of which only a small part is on permanent display, comprise over three million items, including the largest collection of paintings in the world. The collections occupy a large complex of six historic buildings along Palace Embankment, including the Winter Palace, a former residence of Russian emperors. Apart from them, the Menshikov Palace, Museum of Porcelain, Storage Facility at Staraya Derevnya and the eastern wing of the General Staff Building are also part of the museum. The museum has several exhibition centers abroad. The Hermitage is a federal state property. Since 1990, the director of the museum has been Mikhail Piotrovsky.

Of six buildings of the main museum complex, four, named the Winter Palace, Small Hermitage, Old Hermitage and New Hermitage, are partially open to the public. The other two are the Hermitage Theatre and the Reserve House. The entrance ticket for foreign tourists costs more than the fee paid by citizens of Russia and Belarus. However, entrance is free of charge the first Thursday of every month for all visitors, and free daily for students and children. The museum is closed on Mondays. The entrance for individual visitors is located in the Winter Palace, accessible from the Courtyard.

Hermitage Museum consists of 11 collections from the Egyptian and Classical antiquities to the fine art of Dutch, German, British, French and Russians. There are lot of remarkable masterpieces for example from Leonardo da Vinci, Goya, Rubens and Rembrandt. Also a Neoclassical, Impressionist, and post-Impressionist art is well represented. The collection including works by Renoir, Monet, Van Gogh and Gauguin, is displayed there in the southeastern corner of Winter Palace.

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Address

naberezhnaya Dvortsovaya 38, Saint Petersburg, Russia
See all sites in Saint Petersburg

Details

Founded: 1764
Category: Museums in Russia

More Information

www.google.com
www.saint-petersburg.com
www.hermitagemuseum.org
en.wikipedia.org

Rating

4.8/5 (based on Google user reviews)

Interesting Sites Nearby


Winter Palace (0,1 km)
Church of the Savior on Blood (0,9 km)
Saint Isaac's Cathedral (0,9 km)
Peter and Paul Fortress (1 km)
Peter and Paul Cathedral (1 km)
Russian Museum (1,1 km)
Kazan Cathedral (1 km)
St. Catherine's Church (1,1 km)
Beloselsky-Belozersky Palace (2 km)


Peterhof Palace (23,4 km)
Catherine Palace (25,5 km)
Gatchina Palace (43,5 km)
House of Soviets (9,9 km)
Bip Castle (29,9 km)
Piskaryovskoye Memorial Cemetery (8,7 km)

User Reviews

Francisco Flores (4 months ago)
The museum is terrific. Nevertheless, one reduces the excitement during the long queues in the entrance door. I am not against waiting, but information is needed. Otherwise, one can easily spend two hours outside. I have seen a lot of people changing their minds during that time. There should be labels informing the alternative doors. Moreover. They should improve the wardrobe service. It is a mess.
Jared Bowen (5 months ago)
Truly phenomenal location. Great views, lots of history, and a plethora of interesting items to lose a day or two studying. Words do not do this location justice. Only in person can you gain a full appreciation for this wonderful part of the world.
RAVI KOUL (5 months ago)
Another beautiful part of the Hermitage is the Winter Palace. Many tourists know it as the main building of the Hermitage Museum beautifully constructed in green and white color. The palace was constructed for Empress Elizabeth, the daughter of Peter the Great. Sadly, the empress died before the palace was completed. When the museum was found in 1764, Catherine the Great bought a collection of 255 paintings from the German city of Berlin. This original collection still remains in the Hermitage. Catherine continued to collect paintings throughout the rest of her life. The State Hermitage Museum possesses nearly three million items of art dating back to the era of Stone Age to the present days
James Vdb (5 months ago)
Get ready to get lost in a maze of architectural brilliance lined with masterpiece after masterpiece. I found the best approach was to pick a route on the free map that would take me to the highlights and then stop at anything that captured my attention on the way. This place is way too large to try and see it all and unless you are a serious art aficionado you don't need to. Just soak up the experience and marvel in wonder at the serious collection before you
D Castillo (6 months ago)
Just a warning, it's too huge to enjoy in one day! Be prepared select the areas you really want to know and enjoy, otherwise, get a guide. It's beautiful and it has so much history, and arts. It's worth the visit. Besides, if you're a student regardless country or age, you enter for free! So don't pay tickets in advance, however, bear in mind you need to wait a lot of time in line. It's always busy there.
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The Porta Nigra (Latin for black gate) is the largest Roman city gate north of the Alps. It is designated as part of the Roman Monuments, Cathedral of St. Peter and Church of Our Lady in Trier UNESCO World Heritage Site. The name Porta Nigra originated in the Middle Ages due to the darkened colour of its stone; the original Roman name has not been preserved. Locals commonly refer to the Porta Nigra simply as Porta.

The Porta Nigra was built in grey sandstone between 186 and 200 AD. The original gate consisted of two four-storied towers, projecting as near semicircles on the outer side. A narrow courtyard separated the two gate openings on either side. For unknown reasons, however, the construction of the gate remained unfinished. For example, the stones at the northern (outer) side of the gate were never abraded, and the protruding stones would have made it impossible to install movable gates. Nonetheless, the gate was used for several centuries until the end of the Roman era in Trier.

In Roman times, the Porta Nigra was part of a system of four city gates, one of which stood at each side of the roughly rectangular Roman city. The Porta Nigra guarded the northern entry to the Roman city, while the Porta Alba (White Gate) was built in the east, the Porta Media (Middle Gate) in the south, and the Porta Inclyta (Famous Gate) in the west, next to the Roman bridge across the Moselle. The gates stood at the ends of the two main streets of the Roman Trier, one of which led north-south and the other east-west. Of these gates, only the Porta Nigra still exists today.

In the early Middle Ages the Roman city gates were no longer used for their original function and their stones were taken and reused for other buildings. Also iron and lead braces were broken out of the walls of the Porta Nigra for reuse. Traces of this destruction are still clearly visible on the north side of the gate.

After 1028, the Greek monk Simeon lived as a hermit in the ruins of the Porta Nigra. After his death (1035) and sanctification, the Simeonstift monastery was built next to the Porta Nigra to honor him. Saving it from further destruction, the Porta Nigra was transformed into a church: The inner court of the gate was roofed and intermediate ceilings were inserted. The two middle storeys of the former gate were converted into church naves: the upper storey being for the monks and the lower storey for the general public. The ground floor with the large gates was sealed, and a large outside staircase was constructed alongside the south side (the town side) of the gate, up to the lower storey of the church. A small staircase led further up to the upper storey. The church rooms were accessible through former windows of the western tower of the Porta Nigra that were enlarged to become entrance doors (still visible today). The top floor of the western tower was used as church tower, the eastern tower was leveled, and an apse added at its east side. An additional gate - the much smaller Simeon Gate - was built adjacent to the East side of the Porta Nigra and served as a city gate in medieval times.

In 1802 Napoleon Bonaparte dissolved the church in the Porta Nigra and the monastery beside it, along with the vast majority of Trier"s numerous churches and monasteries. On his visit to Trier in 1804, Napoleon ordered that the Porta Nigra be converted back to its Roman form. Only the apse was kept; but the eastern tower was not rebuilt to its original height. Local legend has it that Napoleon originally wanted to completely tear down the church, but locals convinced him that the church had actually been a Gaulish festival hall before being turned into a church. Another version of the story is that they told him about its Roman origins, persuading him to convert the gate back to its original form.

In 1986 the Porta Nigra was designated a World Heritage Site, along with other Roman monuments in Trier and its surroundings. The modern appearance of the Porta Nigra goes back almost unchanged to the reconstruction ordered by Napoleon. At the south side of the Porta Nigra, remains of Roman columns line the last 100 m of the street leading to the gate. Positioned where they had stood in Roman times, they give a slight impression of the aspect of the original Roman street that was lined with colonnades. The Porta Nigra, including the upper floors, is open to visitors.

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