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THE STATE HERMITAGE MUSEUM
The State Hermitage Museum consists of several buildings being a part of the architectural ensemble of imperial residence. The main building of the Hermitage is the Winter Palace. Thefacade of the Winter Palace presents an example of the classicism epoch, and it remained almost intact. But the interior has almost lost its original appearance. It is connected with a terrible conflagration which happened in the palace in the year 1837. By some miracle the Gala staircase has remained whole in this fire. There is a great deal of halls in the Winter Palace, but the most remarkable is undoubtedly the Georgievsky Hall (the George’s Hall), or the Big Throne Hall. Its total area is 800 square meters, and it creates the impression of monumentality and loftiness. This effect is achieved due to the marble columns, bronze chandeliers and magnificent parquetry composed of 16 sorts of trees.There are a lot of beautiful halls in other buildings of the State Hermitage Museum, too. If you walk along the Palace embankment from the Winter Palace, then you will see the buildings of Maly (Small) Hermitage, Old Hermitage, and New Hermitage. The succession of their remoteness from the Winter Palace is bound up with the time of their construction. All these buildings were specially built on request of Catherine the Second at the beginning; then - by orders of other emperors, with the aim of keeping collections of the tsarist family.There is a project concerning enlargement of the hermitage. It was approved and has already started being realized. With this purpose, some of the buildings of the Palace Square will be given to the State Hermitage Museum; they will be joined together by pedestrian subways. For the time being, the building of the Glavny Shtab (the General Headquarters) has been already given to the Hermitage.All the collections exhibited in the halls of the Hermitage can be divided into Primitive Art, Ancient World Art, Eastern Art, and European Art. European Art includes art of the following countries: Italia, the Netherlands, France, Spain, England, Holland, Germany, and Flanders. Russian art is also present in the Hermitage.Italian art occupies more than thirty halls. It is the best collection of the world, according to all specialists’ estimation. The collection includes works of Leonardo da Vinci, Titian, Michelangelo, Raphael. Apart form the Renaissance epoch, the Italian art is presented by works of outstanding artists of different epochs, including those of the XXth century.The collection of French art is also rather numerous, it occupies more than fifty halls. There are all kinds of French art, all styles and schools of great artists and craftsmen in the halls of the Hermitage. This collection is unique, too.The collection of Primitive art has no equal. At first Peter the First began collecting the art. This collection is archeological and presents art heritages of European, Middle Asian, Siberian and Caucasian art; it consists of more than five hundred articles. The most ancient articles are dated the eighth century B.C.The Ancient World collection was also started by Peter the First. There is a great deal of precious exhibits of that historical epoch in the Hermitage. The most important one is the famous statue "Venus Tauride".Art of the East presented in the Hermitage is reflected in art articles of both different countries, and different historical periods. There are works of art of Ancient Egypt, Assyria, the East of the medieval epoch, China, Indonesia, Japan... This collection was started by Catherine the Second.It will take several years to see all the collections of the Hermitage. They are not only unique, but large in number. Halls of the Hermitage are always opened for visitors. Some times a year the admission is free.
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