Hermitage Museum

The State Hermitage Museum occupies a group of historic buildings along Palace Embankment on the River Neva in central Saint Petersburg, with the Winter Palace, the former main residence of the Russian emperors, at its centre. The museum dates its foundation to 1764, when Catherine the Great bought a collection of paintings from the Berlin merchant Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky.

Catherine kept her growing collection in a private retreat next to the palace, which gave the museum its name. Later rulers added to it, and the purpose-built New Hermitage opened to the public on 5 February 1852. After the 1917 revolution the Winter Palace itself became part of the museum, and many nationalised private collections were added.

Five main buildings are open to visitors: the Winter Palace, the Small, Old and New Hermitage and the Hermitage Theatre, while the General Staff Building across Palace Square holds modern European art. The collection numbers more than three million items, about a third of them coins and medals. Among the best-known works are the Benois Madonna and the Madonna Litta, attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt's Danaë and Descent from the Cross, and the 18th-century golden Peacock Clock by James Cox, which still performs on set days. Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings by Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh, Gauguin and others hang in the General Staff Building.

Tickets can be bought online or at the museum, and admission is free on the third Thursday of each month. The museum is closed on Mondays. Plan for at least half a day, use a map to choose a few sections, and arrive early to avoid the longest queues.

The Pavilion Hall and the Peacock Clock

The Pavilion Hall in the Small Hermitage is the room most visitors are looking for. Andrei Stackenschneider designed it in 1858, and it holds James Cox's golden Peacock Clock and a collection of floor and wall mosaics. The hall overlooks the hanging garden on one side and the Neva on the other, so it is also one of the brightest rooms in the museum.

The Winter Palace state rooms, the Italian and Dutch galleries of the Old and New Hermitage, and the Impressionists across the square in the General Staff Building make a manageable first visit. Trying to see everything in a day leads to fatigue long before the end.

Visitor numbers and the most crowded times

The Hermitage received 2,812,913 visitors in 2022, which placed it tenth among the most visited art museums in the world according to The Art Newspaper. Mornings in summer and the free third Thursday are the most crowded times. A colony of cats lives in the basements and courtyards, and they have become part of the museum's identity.

Kazan, Vyborg and the open storage centre

The museum runs branch exhibition centres elsewhere in Russia, including the Hermitage-Kazan Centre in the Kazan Kremlin, opened in 2005, and the Hermitage-Vyborg Centre, opened in June 2010. Its open storage at Staraya Derevnya in the north of the city can be visited by guided tour. Ticket prices and opening hours have changed several times in 2026, so check the museum's own website before you go.