HERMITAGE MUSEUM
The largest museum collection in the world is spread throughout four buildings. You enter the Winter Palace from the Neva Embankment; the next building to the east is the Small Hermitage; further east lies the Old Hermitage (facing the river) and the New Hermitage (facing Palace Square). An arched gallery spans the Winter Canal and leads to the Hermitage theatre.
There are literally a billion things to see in the Hermitage and it is well worth making more than one visit. The overwhelming richness of the museum is all the more enhanced by the incredible splendor of the buildings, inside and out: ornate and regal facades, huge frescoed halls; marble, wood and mosaic floors; and statuettes, figurines, and antique furniture all on such a grand scale that it fascinates the mind.
The Hermitage houses a tremendous collection of Western European art, including such masters as Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael. Its collection of Spanish art may be compared only with that in Prado Museum in Madrid; the collection of French art is the largest outside France, displaying works by Degas, Renoir, Cezanne, Monet, Van Gogh, Goguen and Matisse.
Open 10:30 - 17:00, closed Mondays
