The Hermitage
ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA
Though its name conjures up images of monks in seclusion, the State Hermitage Museum in the heart of St. Petersburg, Russia, provides sanctuary for those seeking rare art and artifacts from around the world. Contained within six massive buildings, including the former Winter Palace for Russian royalty, the museum began as a refuge for entertaining guests who came to view the private collection of Empress Catherine the Great in 1764; its original concept of a palace and art complex was modeled after the gardens and architecture of Versailles, France’s official royal residence.
One of many art-filled grand hallways at the Hermitage.
Officially opened in 1852 and named a state museum in 1917, the Hermitage has grown to include more than 3 million artworks and artifacts. The collection represents cultures from Paleolithic to contemporary times, including the armory of Czar Nicholas I, Siberian art collected by Peter the Great, and more than 120 rooms devoted to displaying 1,000 years of Western European art. During World War II, museum caretakers closed the Hermitage, a prime target for Nazi air-raids, and evacuated the collection to the Ural Mountains. Even with the losses incurred during wartime, the Hermitage received gifts of artworks from artists, like French Fauvist painter and sculptor Henri Matisse (page 71), and contains one of the largest painting collections in the world. —SBR