Art Tour in the Hermitage

Excursion in St. Petersburg

Duration : appr. 3 hours Languages: English

If you like art for you one of the most fascinating tours in Saint-Petersburg will be visiting the State Hermitage Museum. “Hermitage” is translated from French as  "place of seclusion", "hernit's dwelling". Indeed, originally it was intended only as a private Museum (founded by Russian Empress Catherine the Great in 1764). Starting from the middle of XIX century it became the public museum. The first collection was of only 225 paintings all in all received as payment from the debt by merchant Gotskovsky.

 Nowadays the collection of the Hermitage has grown up manifolds and equals approximately 3 million exhibits. There is a saying: “If you would like to spend only one minute in front of every exhibit in the Hermitage, you should spend 7 (some even say 11 years) here.”  In the complex of the Hermitage there five huge buildings built in different periods of time and 6 departments: Western-European Art, of Russian Culture, Primitive Culture, Antique Collection, Oriental Art and Numismatic Collection. Did I convince you that you can waste a lot of time there without a guide?

During this Tour some of the state rooms and some of the private apartments will be shown to you; the collection of Old Masters (such like Leonardo da Vinchi, Rafael, Titian), statue of Michelangelo, Spanish collection, Rembrandt’s paintings, small Dutch Masters pieces of art, Flemish section (including Rubens and Van Dyke), French collection starting from XVI century to the works of Impressionists and Post-Impressionists.
Any other your ideas are welcome!

Additional information