State Hermitage Museum / Winter Palace
Государственный Эрмитаж
Housed in the former Winter Palace of the tsars, the Hermitage is one of the world’s four great museums. With more than 3 million objects and over 1,000 rooms, it features Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt, Matisse and the Peacock Clock. You can only skim the highlights in one day.
The Hermitage began with 225 paintings that Catherine the Great bought in 1764. Today its collection numbers 3 million objects. The museum occupies five connected buildings: the Winter Palace, a Baroque imperial palace designed by Rastrelli in 1762; the Small Hermitage; the Old Hermitage; the New Hermitage; and the Hermitage Theatre. Across Palace Square, the General Staff Building houses the Impressionist and Modern art galleries.
Must-see route: the Jordan Staircase (Ambassadors’ Staircase) and the gilded State Rooms, including the Hall of Peter the Great, the Armorial Hall, the 1812 Gallery, the St. George Hall (Throne Hall), the Malachite Room of Maria Alexandrovna, and the tsar’s private study. In the Small Hermitage’s Pavilion Hall, the English automaton Peacock Clock from the 1770s performs on Wednesdays at 19:00 (winding-up demonstrations). The Italian rooms hold two Madonnas by Leonardo da Vinci (the Benois Madonna and the Litta Madonna), the Raphael Loggias, and works by Titian and Caravaggio. The Dutch rooms have more than 20 paintings by Rembrandt, including The Return of the Prodigal Son and Danaë. The General Staff Building brings together 19th- and 20th-century French art: Monet, Renoir, Cézanne, Gauguin and Van Gogh, along with Matisse’s Dance and Music and works by Picasso.
Tickets: in 2025 the main museum cost about RUB 500–800. Buy online at hermitagemuseum.org and enter through Palace Square. Admission to the General Staff Building is a separate ticket. Entry is free on the third Thursday of each month, but the queues are very long. Audio guides are available in Chinese, and there are also Chinese-language guided groups.
Planning: a full visit involves walking more than 20 km and takes at least 4–5 hours. Arrive when the museum opens at 11:00 and head straight for the Jordan Staircase and State Rooms, then see the paintings in the afternoon. Large bags must be checked. The café is on the ground floor. Admiralteyskaya metro station is a 5-minute walk away.
Opening hours
Tue, Thu, Sat, Sun 11:00–18:00; Wed, Fri 11:00–21:00; closed Mon
Nearby sights
- Palace Square & Alexander Column
- Nevsky Prospekt
- Palace Bridge
- Kunstkamera
- Spit of Vasilyevsky Island & Rostral Columns
- Peter and Paul Fortress
- Saint Isaac's Cathedral
- Bronze Horseman