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Hermitage Museum
The Hermitage is a giant art museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Part of it is a green and white palace by a river. It holds millions of treasures.
The Hermitage in Saint Petersburg is one of the world's great art museums. Empress Catherine the Great started it in 1764 as her private collection, and it opened to the public in 1852. Today it fills five connected buildings, including the green and white Winter Palace, and holds nearly three million objects, from the Stone Age to today.
Founded by Catherine the Great in 1764 as a court museum beside the Winter Palace, the Hermitage was rebuilt under Nicholas I (1840 to 1852) and opened to the public in 1852. After 1917 the imperial collections became public property. Its five linked buildings, among them Rastrelli's Winter Palace (1754 to 1762), hold nearly three million items.
Photo: Alex 'Florstein' Fedorov, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Discover the Hermitage
The Hermitage is a museum in Saint Petersburg, a big city in Russia.
It is in a row of grand buildings beside a wide river. The biggest one is a green and white palace. Inside are paintings, statues and treasures from long ago.
The Hermitage is an art museum in Saint Petersburg, a city in northwestern Russia built on the Neva River. It is one of the most famous museums in the world.
The museum fills five buildings joined together. The best known is the Winter Palace, where Russia's emperors and empresses once lived. Together the buildings hold nearly three million objects, from the Stone Age to the present day, including world-famous paintings.
Britannica describes the Hermitage as an art museum founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great as a court museum, now housed in five interconnected buildings on the Neva, among them the Winter Palace (1754 to 1762) and the Small, Old and New Hermitages. Its holdings number nearly three million items, from the Stone Age to the present.
The museum lies within the Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg, inscribed by UNESCO in 1990. UNESCO cites the Winter Palace and the Hermitage among the buildings in which the city's architecture reconciles Baroque and pure Neoclassical styles.
- Founded
- 1764, by Catherine the Great
- Opened to the public
- 1852
- Objects
- nearly 3 million
- Buildings
- 5, connected to each other
From an empress's gallery to a public museum
Long ago, an empress named Catherine collected art.
She collected paintings and kept them in rooms next to her palace. Only a few people could see them. Later, the museum opened its doors to everyone.
In 1764, Catherine the Great, empress of Russia, founded a court museum in a building next to the Winter Palace. It was her private gallery for the art she collected, so the museum's start is dated to 1764.
Later, Emperor Nicholas I had the museum rebuilt, and in 1852 it opened to the public. After the Russian Revolution of 1917, the emperors' collections became public property, and the Winter Palace itself became part of the museum. More art arrived in the 1920s, and after World War II the museum added many paintings from the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Catherine the Great founded the Hermitage in 1764 as a court museum adjoining the Winter Palace, a private gallery for the art she amassed. Under Nicholas I it was reconstructed (1840 to 1852) and opened to the public in 1852.
After the October Revolution of 1917 the imperial collections became public property, and the museum expanded in the 1920s with art requisitioned from private collections. Britannica records that in 1930 to 1934, during the push for rapid industrialization, the Soviet government sold some masterpieces to pay for industrial machinery from the West. The collection of late 19th- and early 20th-century European art grew substantially just after World War II.
The Winter Palace
The Winter Palace is the museum's most famous building.
It was built for Russia's rulers. It has hundreds of rooms. Rows of stone statues stand along its roof.
The Winter Palace was built from 1754 to 1762 by the architect Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli. More than 4,000 people worked on it, and it has 460 rooms. It was built in the Baroque style, full of curves and decoration, around a big courtyard.
Its outside has white columns and golden decorations, and 176 carved figures line the roof. In 1837 a fire destroyed the inside, which was rebuilt over four years, while the outside was repaired to Rastrelli's plans. The palace has been painted different colors over the years. Today it is mostly green and white.
The present Winter Palace is the fourth on the site. Rastrelli, commissioned under Empress Elizabeth, began it in 1754; more than 4,000 people built the 460-room, three-story palace around a quadrangle, finished in 1762. Each of its four facades is different, but all have white columns and golden stucco moldings, with 176 sculpted figures along the roof.
Catherine II dismissed Rastrelli and replaced much of the Baroque interior with Neoclassical designs. A fire in 1837 destroyed the interior; restoration ended four years later, keeping the Neoclassical look with many new designs, while the lightly damaged exterior was rebuilt to Rastrelli's plans. Painted many colors over time, it is now largely green and white.
Treasures from around the world
The Hermitage has paintings from many countries.
There are famous pictures from Italy, the Netherlands and France. There is art from Russia, too. Some treasures come from faraway places in Asia.
The Hermitage is famous for its paintings from western Europe, from the Middle Ages onward. It has many masterpieces by Italian painters of the Renaissance, the time when art and learning bloomed in Europe, and by Dutch, Flemish and French painters.
Russian art is there too. The museum also has a large collection of art from Asia, and its art from Central Asia is especially important. Its objects range from tools of the Stone Age to art made today.
Britannica rates the Hermitage's western European painting since the Middle Ages among the richest anywhere, with many masterpieces of the Italian Renaissance and of the Dutch, Flemish and French Baroque. Russian art is well represented.
The museum also has extensive holdings of Asian art, and Britannica singles out its collection of the art of Central Asia. With nearly three million items spanning the Stone Age to the present, its collections fill the Winter Palace and the Small, Old and New Hermitages among its five linked buildings.
- Western European painting
- one of the world's richest collections
- Winter Palace rooms
- 460
- Statues on the palace roof
- 176
A palace on the Neva
The palace stands right beside the Neva River.
Boats sail past it. The city around it is full of canals and bridges. People call it the Venice of the North.
The Hermitage stands on the bank of the Neva River, in the historic center of Saint Petersburg. Peter the Great founded the city in 1703, and it has so many canals and more than 400 bridges that people call it the Venice of the North.
In 1990 UNESCO listed the historic center as a World Heritage Site. UNESCO names the Winter Palace and the Hermitage among the buildings that show the city's mix of two very different styles, Baroque and pure Neoclassical.
UNESCO inscribed the Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments in 1990. It describes the city, with its canals and more than 400 bridges, as the result of a vast urban project begun under Peter the Great in 1703, later known as Leningrad and closely associated with the October Revolution.
The Winter Palace became a museum after Nicholas II was overthrown in 1917. Along the river, a Britannica photo caption lists the Hermitage Theatre, the Old Hermitage, the Small Hermitage and the Winter Palace in a row.
Amazing facts
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The museum began as one empress's private art collection.
The Hermitage began in 1764 as Catherine the Great's private gallery, next to the Winter Palace.
Founded in 1764 as a court museum, the Hermitage served as a private gallery for Catherine the Great's acquisitions until it opened to the public in 1852.
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More than 4,000 people helped build the Winter Palace.
More than 4,000 people worked on the Winter Palace, which has 460 rooms.
Rastrelli's fourth Winter Palace, begun in 1754, involved more than 4,000 people and has 460 rooms.
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The Winter Palace has been painted different colors.
The Winter Palace has been painted various colors over the years. Today it is mostly green and white.
Repainted in various colors over its history, the Winter Palace's exterior is now largely green and white.
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Saint Petersburg has more than 400 bridges.
Saint Petersburg, home of the Hermitage, has so many canals and more than 400 bridges that it is called the Venice of the North.
UNESCO calls Saint Petersburg, with its canals and more than 400 bridges, the 'Venice of the North'.
Words to know
- museum
- a building where interesting and valuable objects are kept for people to see
- empress
- a woman who rules an empire, or the wife of an emperor
- collection
- a group of objects gathered together, such as paintings
- Baroque
- a grand, richly decorated style of art and building from the 1600s and 1700s
- Renaissance
- a time in Europe, about 1400 to 1600, when art and learning bloomed
- facade
- the front or outside face of a building
Discovery challenge
-
Who started the Hermitage's collection?
Which ruler founded the Hermitage in 1764?
Who founded the Hermitage as a court museum in 1764?
- Catherine the Great
- Napoleon
- Queen Victoria
Show the answer
Catherine the Great
Catherine the Great, an empress of Russia!
Catherine the Great, empress of Russia, who kept her art next to the Winter Palace.
Catherine the Great; the museum opened to the public under Nicholas I in 1852.
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Which palace is part of the museum?
Which palace, once the home of Russia's rulers, is part of the Hermitage?
Which Rastrelli palace of 1754 to 1762 forms part of the Hermitage?
- The Winter Palace
- Buckingham Palace
- The Summer Palace
Show the answer
The Winter Palace
The Winter Palace! It is green and white.
The Winter Palace, once the home of Russia's emperors, with 460 rooms.
The Winter Palace, the fourth on its site, finished in 1762.
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About how many things does the Hermitage hold?
About how many objects are in the Hermitage's collections?
Roughly how many items do the Hermitage's holdings number?
- About 300
- About 30,000
- Nearly 3 million
Show the answer
Nearly 3 million
Nearly three million! That is a lot of treasures.
Nearly three million, from the Stone Age to the present.
Nearly three million items, in five interconnected buildings.
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Which river flows past the Hermitage?
On the bank of which river does the Hermitage stand?
Which river does the Winter Palace's main facade face?
- The Neva
- The Thames
- The Nile
Show the answer
The Neva
The Neva! It flows through Saint Petersburg.
The Neva River, in the center of Saint Petersburg.
The Neva; the complex runs along its embankment.
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For parents & teachers
What children will learn
- Locate Saint Petersburg and the Hermitage on the Neva River.
- Explain how a ruler's private collection became a public museum.
- Describe the Winter Palace and what happened to it over time.
- Name some kinds of art the Hermitage holds.
Recommended ages: 3 to 17 · About 15 minutes
Talk about it
- The Hermitage was once a private gallery. Why do you think museums are now open to everyone?
- If you could pick one object from home for a museum, what would it be, and what label would you write for it?
- The Winter Palace has been painted different colors over time. Why might people change how a famous building looks?
Try at home or in class
- Make a mini museum: choose five objects at home, arrange them on a shelf and write a small label card for each.
- Draw the front of a palace with columns, a row of rooftop statues and a river in front, using the photo as a guide.
Key vocabulary: museum, empress, collection, Baroque, Renaissance, facade
Where these facts come from
- Wikidata , Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)
- Hermitage , Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Winter Palace , Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments , UNESCO World Heritage Centre
- Wikimedia Commons , Wikimedia Foundation (Per file (public domain, CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA); see each media record)
Checked, not yet human-reviewed. Last updated October 27, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.