The State Hermitage is one of the oldest and largest museums in the world. It has only few followers around the globe comparable for the scale and quality of the collection, the size and the beauty of the exhibition halls. They are Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Britain Museum together with National Gallery. The museum is located in 5 historical building of Saint-Petersburg, including the Winter Palace – the former residence of Russian tsars. Now the Hermitage includes 15 000 pictures, 12 000 sculptures and about 220 000 items of applied art, numerous collection of coins, medals, drawings. The exhibitions are arranged according to the countries and schools in a chronological order. There are 6 departments in the Hermitage: The Western-European Art Department Antic Art Department Oriental Department The Primitive Civilization Department The Department of Russian Culture Numismatic Department |