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The State Hermitage Museum (Russian: Государственный Эрмитаж, romanized: Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, IPA: [ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ]) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and holds the largest collection of paintings in the world.[3][4] It was founded in 1764 when Empress Catherine the Great acquired a collection of paintings from the Berlin merchant Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky. The museum celebrates the anniversary of its founding each year on 7 December, Saint Catherine's Day.[5] It has been open to the public since 1852. The Art Newspaper ranked the museum 10th in their list of the most visited art museums, with 2,812,913 visitors in 2022.[6]

Key Information

Its collections, of which only a small part is on permanent display, comprise over three million items (the numismatic collection accounting for about one-third of them).[7] The collections occupy a large complex of six historic buildings along Palace Embankment, including the Winter Palace, a former residence of Russian emperors. Apart from them, the Menshikov Palace, Museum of Porcelain, Storage Facility at Staraya Derevnya, and the eastern wing of the General Staff Building are also part of the museum. The museum has several exhibition centers abroad. The Hermitage is a federal state property. Since July 1992, the director of the museum has been Mikhail Piotrovsky.[8]

Of the six buildings in the main museum complex, five—namely the Winter Palace, Small Hermitage, Old Hermitage, New Hermitage, and Hermitage Theatre—are all open to the public. The entrance ticket for foreign tourists costs more than the fee paid by citizens of Russia and Belarus. However, entrance is free of charge the third Thursday of every month for all visitors, and free daily for students and children. The museum is closed on Mondays. The entrance for individual visitors is located in the Winter Palace, accessible from the Courtyard.

Name

[edit]

A hermitage is the dwelling of a hermit or recluse, who lives in isolation from society. Originally, the "Hermitage" of the Winter Palace referred the Palace's private apartments -- so-named because, as the personal residence of the Tsars, they were intended to be a refuge from the obligations of courtly life; where the Russian sovereigns could retreat to with their intimate circle of personal friends. As such, what is today the Hermitage Museum was initially the personal collection of the Russian Imperial family.

The Hermitage of the Winter Palace was founded by Catherine the Great, who used these apartments to host private salons. She also founded the Museum's collection in 1764, with a collection of 225 paintings from Western Europe.

Today, the Hermitage Museum includes a complex of six buildings, and has extended beyond the original palace apartments (today called the "Small Hermitage").[9]

Buildings

[edit]

Originally, the only building housing the collection was the "Small Hermitage". Today, the Hermitage Museum encompasses many buildings on the Palace Embankment and its neighbourhoods. Apart from the Small Hermitage, the museum now also includes the "Old Hermitage" (also called "Large Hermitage"), the "New Hermitage", the "Hermitage Theatre", and the "Winter Palace", the former main residence of the Russian tsars. In recent years, the Hermitage has expanded to the General Staff Building on the Palace Square facing the Winter Palace, and the Menshikov Palace.[10]

The Hermitage Museum complex. From left to right: Hermitage Theatre – Old Hermitage – Small Hermitage – Winter Palace (the "New Hermitage" is situated behind the Old Hermitage)

Collections

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The Western European Art collection includes European paintings, sculpture, and applied art from the 13th to the 20th centuries.

Egyptian antiquities

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Main article: Egyptian Collection of the Hermitage Museum
Egyptian Hall

Since 1940, the Egyptian collection, dating back to 1852 and including the former Castiglione Collection, has occupied a large hall on the ground floor in the eastern part of the Winter Palace.[11]

Classical antiquities

[edit]

The collection of classical antiquities occupies most of the ground floor of the Old and New Hermitage buildings. The interiors of the ground floor were designed by German architect Leo von Klenze in the Greek Revival style in the early 1850s, using painted polished stucco and columns of natural marble and granite.

The Room of the Great Vase in the western wing features the 2.57 m (8.4 ft) high Kolyvan Vase, weighing 19 t (42,000 lb), made of jasper in 1843 and installed before the walls were erected. While the western wing was designed for exhibitions, the rooms on the ground floor in the eastern wing of the New Hermitage, now also hosting exhibitions, were originally intended for libraries.

The collection of classical antiquities features Greek artifacts from the third millennium – fifth century BC, ancient Greek pottery, items from the Greek cities of the North Pontic Greek colonies, Hellenistic sculpture and jewellery, including engraved gems and cameos, such as the famous Gonzaga Cameo, Italic art from the 9th to second century BC, Roman marble and bronze sculpture and applied art from the first century BC to fourth century AD, including copies of Classical and Hellenistic Greek sculptures. One of the highlights of the collection is the Tauride Venus, which, according to latest research, is an original Hellenistic Greek sculpture rather than a Roman copy as it was thought before.[12] There are, however, only a few pieces of authentic Classical Greek sculpture and sepulchral monuments.

Prehistoric art

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On the ground floor in the western wing of the Winter Palace the collections of prehistoric artifacts and the culture and art of the Caucasus are located, as well as the second treasure gallery. The prehistoric artifacts date from the Paleolithic to the Iron Age and were excavated all over Russia and other parts of the former Soviet Union and Russian Empire. Among them is a renowned collection of the art and culture of nomadic tribes of the Altai from Pazyryk and Bashadar sites, including the world's oldest surviving knotted-pile carpet and a well-preserved wooden chariot, both from the 4th–3rd centuries BC. The Caucasian exhibition includes a collection of Urartu artifacts from Armenia and Western Armenia. Many of them were excavated at Teishebaini under the supervision of Boris Piotrovsky, former director of the Hermitage Museum.

Jewelry and decorative art

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Four small rooms on the ground floor, enclosed in the middle of the New Hermitage between the room displaying Classical Antiquities, comprise the first treasure gallery, featuring western jewellery from the 4th millennium BC to the early 20th century AD. The second treasure gallery, located on the ground floor in the southwest corner of the Winter Palace, features jewellery from the Pontic steppes, Caucasus and Asia, in particular Scythian and Sarmatian gold.

The Pavilion Hall

Pavilion Hall, designed by Andrei Stackenschneider in 1858, occupies the first floor of the Northern Pavilion in the Small Hermitage. It features the 18th-century golden Peacock Clock by James Cox and a collection of mosaics. Two galleries spanning the west side of the Small Hermitage from the Northern to Southern Pavilion house an exhibition of Western European decorative and applied art from the 12th to 15th century and the fine art of the Low Countries from the 15th and 16th centuries.

Italian Renaissance

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The rooms on the first floor of the Old Hermitage were designed by Andrei Stakenschneider in revival styles in between 1851 and 1860, although the design survives only in some of them. They feature works of Italian Renaissance artists, including Giorgione, Titian, Veronese, as well as Benois Madonna and Madonna Litta attributed to Leonardo da Vinci or his school.

The Small Italian Skylight Room

The Italian Renaissance galleries continues in the eastern wing of the New Hermitage with paintings, sculpture, majolica and tapestry from Italy of the 15th–16th centuries, including Conestabile Madonna and Madonna with Beardless St. Joseph by Raphael.

Italian and Spanish fine art

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The first floor of New Hermitage contains three large interior spaces in the center of the museum complex with red walls and lit from above by skylights. These are adorned with 19th-century Russian lapidary works and feature Italian and Spanish canvases of the 16th–18th centuries, including Veronese, Giambattista Pittoni, Tintoretto, Velázquez and Murillo.

Knights' Hall

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The Knights' Hall, a large room in the eastern part of the New Hermitage originally designed in the Greek revival style for the display of coins, now hosts a collection of Western European arms and armour from the 15th–17th centuries, part of the Hermitage Arsenal collection.

The Three Graces, 1813–1816, by Canova

The Gallery of the History of Ancient Painting adjoins the Knights' Hall and also flanks the skylight rooms. It was designed by Leo von Klenze in the Greek revival style as a prelude to the museum and features neoclassical marble sculptures by Antonio Canova and his followers. In the middle, the gallery opens to the main staircase of the New Hermitage, which served as the entrance to the museum before the October Revolution of 1917, but is now closed.

Dutch Golden Age and Flemish Baroque

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The Rubens Room

The rooms and galleries along the southern facade and in the western wing of the New Hermitage are now entirely devoted to Dutch Golden Age and Flemish Baroque painting of the 17th century, including the large collections of Van Dyck, Rubens and Rembrandt.

German, Swiss, British and French fine art

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The first floor rooms on the southern facade of the Winter Palace are occupied by the collections of German fine art of the 16th century and French fine art of the 15th–18th centuries, including paintings by Poussin, Lorrain, Watteau. The collections of French decorative and applied art from the 17th–18th centuries and British applied and fine art from the 16th–19th century, including Thomas Gainsborough and Joshua Reynolds, are on display in nearby rooms facing the courtyard.

Russian art

[edit]

The richly decorated interiors of the first floor of the Winter Palace on its eastern, northern and western sides are part of the Russian culture collection and host the exhibitions of Russian art from the 11th-19th centuries.

French Neoclassical, Impressionist, and post-Impressionist art

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Garden at Bordighera, Impression of Morning, 1884, Claude Monet

French Neoclassical, Impressionist and post-Impressionist art, including works by Renoir, Monet, Van Gogh and Gauguin, are displayed on the fourth floor of the Eastern Wing of the General Staff Building. Also displayed are paintings by Camille Pissarro (Boulevard Montmartre, Paris), Paul Cézanne (Mount Sainte-Victoire), Alfred Sisley, Henri Morel, and Degas.[13][14]

Modern, German Romantic and other 19th–20th century art

[edit]
Portrait of Nikolay Borisovich Yusupov by Italian Vincenzo Petrocelli, 1851

Modern art is displayed in the General Staff Building (Saint Petersburg). It features Matisse, Derain and other fauvists, Picasso, Malevich, Petrocelli, Kandinsky, Giacomo Manzù, Giorgio Morandi and Rockwell Kent. A large room is devoted to the German Romantic art of the 19th century, including several paintings by Caspar David Friedrich. The second floor of the Western wing features collections of the Oriental art (from China, India, Mongolia, Tibet, Central Asia, Byzantium and Near East).

History

[edit]

Origins: Catherine's collection

[edit]

Catherine the Great started her art collection in 1764 by purchasing paintings from Berlin merchant Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky. He assembled the collection for Frederick II of Prussia, who ultimately refused to purchase it. Thus, Gotzkowsky provided 225 or 317 paintings (conflicting accounts list both numbers), mainly Flemish and Dutch, as well as others, including 90 not precisely identified, to the Russian crown.[15] The collection consisted of Rembrandt (13 paintings), Rubens (11 paintings), Jacob Jordaens (7 paintings), Anthony van Dyck (5 paintings), Paolo Veronese (5 paintings), Frans Hals (3 paintings, including Portrait of a Young Man with a Glove), Raphael (2 paintings), Holbein (2 paintings), Titian (1 painting), Jan Steen (The Idlers), Hendrik Goltzius, Dirck van Baburen, Hendrick van Balen and Gerrit van Honthorst.[16] Perhaps some of the most famous and notable artworks that were a part of Catherine's original purchase from Gotzkowsky were Danaë, painted by Rembrandt in 1636; Descent from the Cross, painted by Rembrandt in 1624; and Portrait of a Young Man Holding a Glove, painted by Frans Hals in 1650. These paintings remain in the Hermitage collection today.[17]

Empress Catherine II

In 1764, Catherine commissioned Yury Felten to build an extension on the east of the Winter Palace which he completed in 1766. Later it became the Southern Pavilion of the Small Hermitage. From 1767 to 1769, French architect Jean-Baptiste Vallin de la Mothe built the Northern Pavilion on the Neva embankment. Between 1767 and 1775, the extensions were connected by galleries, where Catherine put her collections.[18] The entire neoclassical building is now known as the Small Hermitage. During the time of Catherine, the Hermitage was not a public museum and few people were allowed to view its holdings. Jean-Baptiste Vallin de la Mothe also rebuilt rooms in the second story of the south-east corner block that was originally built for Elizabeth and later occupied by Peter III. The largest room in this particular apartment was the Audience Chamber (also called the Throne Hall) which consisted of 227 square meters.[17]

The Hermitage buildings served as a home and workplace for nearly a thousand people, including the Imperial family. In addition to this, they also served as an extravagant showplace for all kinds of Russian relics and displays of wealth prior to the art collections. Many events were held in these buildings including masquerades for the nobility, grand receptions and ceremonies for state and government officials. The "Hermitage complex" was a creation of Catherine's that allowed all kinds of festivities to take place in the palace, the theatre and even the museum of the Hermitage. This helped solidify the Hermitage as not only a dwelling place for the Imperial family, but also as an important symbol and memorial to the imperial Russian state. Today, the palace and the museum are one and the same. In Catherine's day, the Winter Palace served as a central part of what was called the Palace Square. The Palace Square served as St. Petersburg's nerve center by linking it to all the city's most important buildings. The presence of the Palace Square was extremely significant to the urban development of St. Petersburg, and while it became less of a nerve center later into the 20th century, its symbolic value was still very much preserved.[19]

Catherine acquired the best collections offered for sale by the heirs of prominent collectors. In 1769, she purchased Brühl's collection, consisting of over 600 paintings and a vast number of prints and drawings, in Saxony. Three years later, she bought Crozat's collection of paintings in France with the assistance of Denis Diderot. Next, in 1779, she acquired the collection of 198 paintings that once belonged to Robert Walpole in London followed by a collection of 119 paintings in Paris from Count Baudouin in 1781. Catherine's favorite items to collect were believed to be engraved gems and cameos. At the inaugural exhibit of the Hermitage, opened by Charles, Prince of Wales in November 2000, there was an entire gallery devoted to representing and displaying Catherine's favorite items. In this gallery her cameos are displayed along with cabinet made by David Roentgen, which holds her engraved gems. As the symbol of Minerva was frequently used and favored by Catherine to represent her patronage of the arts, a cameo of Catherine as Minerva is also displayed here. This particular cameo was created for her by her daughter-in-law, the Grand Duchess Maria Fyodorovna. This is only a small representation of Catherine's vast collection of many antique and contemporary engraved gems and cameos.[20]

View of the Palace Embankment by Karl Beggrov, 1826. The Old Hermitage is in the middle of the painting.

The collection soon overgrew the building. In her lifetime, Catherine acquired 4,000 paintings from the old masters, 38,000 books, 10,000 engraved gems, 10,000 drawings, 16,000 coins and medals, and a natural history collection filling two galleries,[21] so in 1771 she commissioned Yury Felten to build another major extension. The neoclassical building was completed in 1787 and has come to be known as the Large Hermitage or Old Hermitage. Catherine also gave the name of the Hermitage to her private theatre, built nearby between 1783 and 1787 by the Italian architect Giacomo Quarenghi.[22] In London in 1787, Catherine acquired the collection of sculpture that belonged to Lyde Browne, mostly Ancient Roman marbles. Catherine used them to adorn the Catherine Palace and park in Tsarskoye Selo, but later they became the core of the Classical Antiquities collection of the Hermitage. From 1787 to 1792, Quarenghi designed and built a wing along the Winter Canal with the Raphael Loggias to replicate the loggia in the Apostolic Palace in Rome designed by Donato Bramante and frescoed by Raphael.[18][23][24]

Catherine's collection of at least 4,000 paintings came to rival the older and more prestigious museums of Western Europe. Catherine took great pride in her collection and actively participated in extensive competitive art gathering and collecting that was prevalent in European royal court culture. Through her art collection she gained European acknowledgment and acceptance and portrayed Russia as an enlightened society. Catherine went on to invest much of her identity in being a patron of the arts. She was particularly fond of the Roman deity Minerva, whose characteristics according to classical tradition are military prowess, wisdom, and patronage of the arts. Using the title Catherine the Minerva, she created new institutions of literature and culture and also participated in many projects of her own, mostly play writing. The representation of Catherine alongside Minerva would come to be a tradition of enlightened patronage in Russia.[25]

Expansion in the 19th century

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Portico with atlantes, historical entrance

In 1815, Alexander I of Russia purchased 38 pictures from the heirs of Joséphine de Beauharnais, most of which had been looted by the French in Kassel during the war. The Hermitage collection of Rembrandts was then considered the largest in the world. Also among Alexander's purchases from Josephine's estate were the first four sculptures by the neoclassical Italian sculptor Antonio Canova to enter the Hermitage collection.

The Raphael Loggias

Between 1840 and 1843, Vasily Stasov redesigned the interiors of the Southern Pavilion of the Small Hermitage. In 1838, Nicholas I commissioned the neoclassical German architect Leo von Klenze to design a building for the public museum. Space for the museum was made next to the Small Hermitage by the demolition of the Shepelev Palace and royal stables. The construction was overseen by the Russian architects Vasily Stasov and Nikolai Yefimov from 1842 to 1851 and incorporated Quarenghi's wing with the Raphael Loggias.

The New Hermitage was opened to the public on 5 February 1852.[26] In the same year the Egyptian Collection of the Hermitage Museum emerged and was particularly enriched by items given by the Duke of Leuchtenberg, Nicholas I's son-in-law. Meanwhile, from 1851 to 1860, the interiors of the Old Hermitage were redesigned by Andrei Stackensneider to accommodate the State Assembly, Cabinet of Ministers and state apartments. Stakenschneider created the Pavilion Hall in the Northern Pavilion of the Small Hermitage from 1851 to 1858.[18]

In 1861, the Hermitage purchased from the Papal government part of the Giampietro Campana collection, which consisted mostly classical antiquities. These included over 500 vases, 200 bronzes and a number of marble statues. The Hermitage acquired Madonna Litta, which was then attributed to Leonardo, in 1865, and Raphael's Connestabile Madonna in 1870. In 1884 in Paris, Alexander III of Russia acquired the collection of Alexander Basilewski, featuring European medieval and Renaissance artifacts. In 1885, the Arsenal collection of arms and armour, founded by Alexander I of Russia, was transferred from the Catherine Palace in Tsarskoye Selo to the Hermitage. In 1914, Leonardo's Benois Madonna was added to the collection.

After the October Revolution

[edit]

Immediately after the Revolution of 1917, the Imperial Hermitage and the Winter Palace, the former Imperial residence, were proclaimed state museums and eventually merged.

A room in the Winter Palace

The range of the Hermitage's exhibits was further expanded when private art collections from several palaces of the Russian Tsars and numerous private mansions were nationalized and redistributed among major Soviet state museums. Particularly notable was the influx of old masters from the Catherine Palace, the Alexander Palace, the Stroganov Palace, and the Yusupov Palace, as well as from other palaces of Saint Petersburg and suburbs.

In 1922, a collection of 19th-century European paintings was transferred to the Hermitage from the Academy of Arts. In turn, in 1927 about 500 important paintings were transferred to the Central Museum of old Western art in Moscow at the insistence of the Soviet authorities.

In 1928, the Soviet government ordered the Hermitage to compile a list of valuable works of art for export. From 1930 to 1934, over two thousand works of art from the Hermitage collection were clandestinely sold at auctions abroad or directly to foreign officials and businesspeople. The sold items included Raphael's Alba Madonna, Titian's Venus with a Mirror, and Jan van Eyck's Annunciation, among other world known masterpieces by Botticelli, Rembrandt, Van Dyck, and others. In 1931 Andrew W. Mellon acquired 21 works of art from the Hermitage and later donated them to form a nucleus of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. (see also Soviet sale of Hermitage paintings).

During the later 1930s USSR Great Purge, the museum staff were investigated by the NKVD for anti-Soviet activities. Staff with links to the pre-revolutionary aristocracy were sent into internal exile as socially dangerous persons, with a few going to gulag labour camps. The harshest investigation was into the Oriental Department. Under torture Dmitry Zhukov denounced Nikolai Nevsky as a member of a Japanese spy ring; both were executed in November 1938.[27]

Soviet ski troops by the portico during the Siege of Leningrad

With the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, before the Siege of Leningrad started, two trains with a considerable part of the collections were evacuated to Sverdlovsk. Two bombs and a number of shells hit the museum buildings during the siege. The museum opened an exhibition in November 1944. In October 1945 the evacuated collections were brought back, and in November 1945 the museum reopened.

In 1948, 316 works of Impressionist, post-Impressionist, and modern art from the collection of the Museum of New Western Art in Moscow, originating mostly from the nationalized collections of Sergei Shchukin and Ivan Morozov before the war, were transferred to the Hermitage, including works by Matisse and Picasso.

On 15 June 1985, a man later judged insane attacked Rembrandt's painting Danaë, displayed in the museum. He threw sulfuric acid on the canvas and cut it twice with a knife. The restoration of the painting had been accomplished by Hermitage conservationists by 1997, and Danaë is now on display behind armoured glass.

The Hermitage since 1991

[edit]

In 1991, it became known that some paintings looted by the Red Army in Germany in 1945 were held in the Hermitage. But only in October 1994 did the Hermitage officially announce that it had secretly been holding a major trove of French Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings from German private collections. The exhibition Hidden Treasures Revealed, in which 74 of the paintings were displayed for the first time, was opened on 30 March 1995 in the Nicholas Hall of the Winter Palace and lasted a year. Of the paintings, all but one originated from private rather than state German collections, including 56 paintings from the Otto Krebs collection, as well as the collection of Bernhard Koehler and paintings previously belonging to Otto Gerstenberg and his daughter Margarete Scharf, including the world-famous Place de la Concorde by Degas, In the Garden by Renoir, and White House at Night by Van Gogh.[28][29][30] Some of the paintings are now on permanent display in several small rooms in the northeastern corner of the Winter Palace on the first floor.[31][32]

In 1993, the Russian government gave the eastern wing of the nearby General Staff Building across the Palace Square to the Hermitage and the new exhibition rooms in 1999. Since 2003, the Great Courtyard of the Winter Palace has been open to the public.

In 2003, the Hermitage loaned 142 pieces to the University of Michigan Museum of Art for an exhibition titled The Romanovs Collect: European Art from the Hermitage.[33]

In December 2004, the museum discovered another looted work of art: Venus Disarming Mars by Rubens was once in the collection of the Rheinsberg Palace near Berlin, and was apparently looted by Soviet troops from the Königsberg Castle in East Prussia in 1945. At the time, Mikhail Piotrovsky said the painting would be cleaned and displayed.[34]

The museum announced in July 2006 that 221 minor items, including jewelry, Orthodox icons, silverware and richly enameled objects, had been stolen. The value of the stolen items was estimated to be approximately $543,000. By the end of 2006 several of the stolen items had been recovered.[35]

In March 2020, Apple released a continuous 5 hour and 19 minute one shot film recorded entirely on an iPhone 11 Pro detailing many rooms of the museum which highlighted not only the artwork, but also the architecture, and live movement pieces interspersed throughout.[36]

Dependencies

[edit]
Deer golden plaque from Krasnodar, beginning of 6th century BC

In recent years, the Hermitage launched several dependencies abroad and domestically.

Hermitage-Kazan Exhibition Center

[edit]

The Hermitage dependency in Kazan (Tatarstan, Russia), opened in 2005. It was created with support from President of the Republic of Tatarstan Mintimer Shaimiev and is a subdivision of the Kazan Kremlin State Historical and Architectural Museum-Park. The museum is situated in the Kazan Kremlin in an edifice previously occupied by the Junker School built in the beginning of the 19th century.[37]

Ermitage Italia, Ferrara

[edit]

Following the prior experiences in London, Las Vegas, Amsterdam and Kazan, the Hermitage foundation decided to create a further branch in Italy with the launch of a national bid. Several northern Italian cities expressed interest such as Verona, Mantua, Ferrara and Turin. In 2007, the honor was awarded to the city of Ferrara which proposed its Castle Estense as the base. Since then, the new institution called Ermitage Italia started a research and scientific collaboration with the Hermitage foundation.[38]

Hermitage-Vyborg Center

[edit]
Main article: Hermitage-Vyborg Center

Hermitage-Vyborg Center was opened in June 2010 in Vyborg, Leningrad Oblast.

Hermitage Exhibition Center, Vladivostok

[edit]

A Hermitage branch is due to open in Vladivostok by 2016, and the regional government has allocated more than Rb17.7 million ($558,000) for preliminary reconstruction work on a mansion in Vladivostok's historic downtown district to house the satellite.[39]

Hermitage-Siberia, Omsk

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The Hermitage-Siberia is due to open in Omsk in 2016.[39]

Guggenheim Hermitage Museum, Vilnius

[edit]

In recent years, there have been proposals to open a Vilnius Guggenheim Hermitage Museum in the capital city of Lithuania. Like the former Las Vegas dependency, the museum is to combine artworks from the Saint Petersburg Hermitage with works from the New York Guggenheim Museum.[40]

Former dependencies

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The Guggenheim Hermitage Museum in Las Vegas opened on 7 October 2001 and closed on 11 May 2008.[41] The Hermitage Rooms in London's Somerset House opened on 25 November 2000.[42] In 2004, the rooms hosted Heaven on Earth: Art from Islamic Lands, a joint exhibition with the Khalili Collection of Islamic Art.[43] The exhibition was closed permanently in November 2007 due to poor visitor numbers.[44]

The dependency of the Hermitage Museum in Amsterdam was known as the Hermitage Amsterdam, and was located in the former Amstelhof building. It opened on 24 February 2004 in a small building on the Nieuwe Herengracht in Amsterdam, awaiting the closing of the retirement home which still occupied the Amstelhof building until 2007. Between 2007 and 2009, the Amstelhof was renovated and made suitable for the housing of the Amsterdam Hermitage. The Amsterdam Hermitage was opened on 19 June 2009 by President Dmitry Medvedev and Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands.[45] Following Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the Amsterdam Hermitage severed ties with St. Petersburg,[46] being renamed to H'ART Museum the following year.[47][48]

Management

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Hermitage directors

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Volunteer service

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The Hermitage Volunteer Service allows people to volunteer in helping to run the museum.[citation needed] The program aids the Hermitage with its external and internal activities and serves as an informal link between the museum staff and the public, bringing the specific knowledge of the museum's experts to the community. Volunteers may also develop projects reflecting personal goals and interests.[citation needed]

Cats

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Main article: Hermitage cats
One of the Hermitage cats

A population of cats lives on the museum grounds and serves as an attraction.[49]

[edit]

Films

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Television

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Russia-K, a Russian national television channel, has been presenting the various art collections of the Hermitage to the general public for years. There are a series of programs that have aired entitled My Hermitage that have been particularly successful. All of these programs are organized by the Director of the Hermitage, Professor Mikhail Piotrovsky, and are quite similar to the broadcasts created by Academician Boris Piotrovsky, who is Mikhail's father. These programs were first broadcast through the Soviet Union's 'First' channel, airing at the height of the museum's boom. During this time, this channel recorded more than three million visitors every year, mostly from the Soviet Union. Another program created by the Hermitage was called The Treasures of St. Petersburg, and was broadcast on the St. Petersburg regional television. This program gave insight into what exhibitions were being displayed at the Hermitage.[50]

Treasures of St Petersburg & The Hermitage, (2003) a three-part documentary series for Channel 5 in the UK, directed by Graham Addicott and produced by Pille Runk.

Hermitage Revealed (2014) is a BBC documentary from Margy Kinmonth. The film tells the story of its journey from imperial palace to state museum, investigating remarkable tales of dedication, devotion, ownership and ultimate sacrifice, showing how the collection came about, how it survived tumultuous revolutionary times and what makes the Hermitage unique today.[51]

Literature

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  • To the Hermitage, a 2000 novel by Malcolm Bradbury, retells the story of Diderot's journey to Russia to meet Catherine the Great in her Hermitage.
  • Petersburg, a 1913 novel by Andrey Bely, features the Winter Canal near the palace as one of its central locations, but never names the Winter Palace directly.
  • Ghostwritten, by David Mitchell, features as one of its protagonists a woman who works for an art counterfeiting ring whilst masquerading as a docent in a gallery room on the upper floor of the Large Hermitage.
  • The Madonnas of Leningrad, a novel by Debra Dean, features the Hermitage during World War II.
  • Sancar Seckiner's 2017 book Thilda's House (Thilda'nın Evi) includes a chapter highlighting the writer's experience at the Hermitage Museum by indicating several masterworks of the 15th–19th centuries. ISBN 978-605-4160-88-4

Games

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[edit]

See also

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References

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Sources

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External videos
video icon Presentation by Geraldine Norman on The Hermitage: The Biography of a Great Museum, April 2, 1998, C-SPAN
  • Frank, Christoph (2002), "Die Gemäldesammlungen Gotzkowsky, Eimbke und Stein: Zur Berliner Sammlungsgeschichte während des Siebenjährigen Krieges.", in Michael North (ed.), Kunstsammeln und Geschmack im 18. Jahrhundert (in German), Berlin: Berlin Verlag Spitz, pp. 117–194, ISBN 3-8305-0312-1
  • The Hermitage Museum (2014), The Hermitage: 250 Masterworks, New York: Skira Rizzoli, ISBN 978-0-84784-209-4
  • Kostenevich, Albert (1995), Hidden Treasures Revealed: Impressionist Masterpieces and Other Important French Paintings Preserved by the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, New York: Harry N. Abrams, ISBN 0-81093-432-9
  • Norman, Geraldine (1997), The Hermitage; The Biography of a Great Museum, New York: Fromm International, ISBN 0-88064-190-8
  • Renne, Elizaveta (2011), Sixteenth- to Nineteenth-Century British Painting. State Hermitage Museum Catalogue, Yale: Yale University Press, ISBN 978-0-30017-046-7

Further reading

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The State Hermitage Museum is an art and cultural history museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia, housing one of the world's largest collections of over three million works spanning from prehistoric artifacts to 20th-century art. Founded in 1764 by Empress Catherine II as her private gallery in a pavilion adjacent to the Winter Palace, it expanded through imperial acquisitions, purchases, and commissions into a vast repository of global cultural heritage. Opened to the public in 1852, the museum now occupies five interconnected historic buildings along the Neva River's Palace Embankment, including the opulent Winter Palace formerly home to Russian tsars. Its holdings encompass masterpieces by artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt, and Matisse, alongside ancient Egyptian, Greek, Roman, and Oriental treasures, reflecting centuries of deliberate curation under autocratic patronage. The Hermitage's significance lies in its encyclopedic breadth and the causal role of Russian imperial expansion in assembling such a diverse assemblage, positioning it among the preeminent institutions for studying human artistic achievement.

Etymology and Founding

Name Origin

The name Hermitage derives from the French ermitage, rooted in ermite meaning "," denoting a secluded retreat or abode of solitude. This reflected the site's initial purpose as Empress Catherine II's private gallery, designed for personal contemplation of away from public and court scrutiny, with access restricted to a small circle of favored guests. The term was first associated with the Small Hermitage , commissioned in and constructed between and by architects Vallin de la Mothe and Yury Felten adjacent to the , serving as Catherine's intimate residence and display for her newly acquired Western European paintings. As the institution expanded through the 18th and 19th centuries—incorporating additional structures and amassing vast collections—the name extended to the unified complex, transitioning from an of imperial to the designation of the State Hermitage Museum upon its public opening on February 17, 1852.

Establishment under Catherine II

The Hermitage originated as Empress Catherine II's private art collection in 1764, when she acquired 225 paintings from the heirs of Heinrich von Brühl, the former Saxon chancellor whose holdings were dispersed after the Seven Years' War. This purchase, negotiated by Berlin merchant Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky—who had initially secured the works for Frederick II of Prussia but faced bankruptcy—formed the foundational core of what would become one of the world's premier art repositories. Gotzkowsky retained a portion of the collection for himself, but Catherine's decisive acquisition for approximately 115,000 rubles underscored her strategic opportunism in amassing cultural assets amid European financial distress. Catherine's initiative reflected Enlightenment-driven motivations to cultivate intellectual prestige and rival Western courts, transforming Russia into of civilized . Influenced by such as , with whom she corresponded from 1763 onward and whose library she later purchased in 1779, she viewed art collecting as a means to embody rational and personal enlightenment. Agents like Gotzkowsky facilitated early transactions, but Catherine's oversight ensured selections aligned with her vision of eclectic, high-caliber European masterpieces, including works by , Van Dyck, and . Housed initially in the Small Hermitage pavilion—a modest structure built under Empress Elizabeth as a private retreat—the collection remained exclusively for Catherine's intimate circle, embodying the "hermitage" ideal of secluded contemplation amid opulent surroundings. This personal enclave laid the groundwork for subsequent expansions, prioritizing quality and diversity over immediate public display, though Catherine's acquisitive zeal anticipated broader accessibility in line with Enlightenment universalism.

Site and Architecture

Winter Palace

The Winter Palace, constructed between 1754 and 1762 under the direction of Italian-born architect Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli, served as the official residence of Russian emperors from Elizabeth to Nicholas II. Designed in the Elizabethan Baroque style, the palace features a monumental rectangular form with four facades adorned in green and white, extensive gilding, and a sprawling layout encompassing numerous state and private apartments. On December 17, 1837, a catastrophic ravaged the palace during the reign of Nicholas I, destroying most interiors while sparing the structural frame and exterior. Reconstruction, completed within 16 months, was overseen by architect Vasily Stasov for the grand state rooms and Alexander Bryullov for private quarters, resulting in a blend of neoclassical, Revival, and preserved elements that maintained Rastrelli's original silhouette. After the Bolshevik seizure of power in the of 1917, the was expropriated from the Romanov family and formally incorporated into the State Hermitage Museum complex, transitioning from imperial seat to public cultural institution. It now functions as the museum's principal edifice, housing key exhibition galleries while symbolizing the shift from autocratic opulence to state-curated heritage.

Smaller Hermitage Structures

The Small Hermitage comprises two primary pavilions—the Northern and Southern—erected between 1764 and 1766 by architect Yury Velten at the direction of Empress Catherine II to house her private art collection as an intimate extension of the adjacent . This two-storey ensemble adopted a transitional style merging late ornamentation with Neoclassical restraint, featuring loggias and galleries oriented toward the River for optimal natural illumination of displayed artworks. The Southern Pavilion, completed in 1765–1766, emphasized pavilion-like seclusion with its elevated positioning and direct river access, functioning initially as Catherine's personal retreat amid her acquisitions from European dealers. Linking the pavilions at the first-floor level, the spans an open-air terrace above the site's former stables and riding hall, bordered by arcaded galleries that facilitate indoor-outdoor circulation within the complex. Designed by Velten in and executed in line with 18th-century principles, it incorporated parterres, fountains, and sculpted urns to evoke Versailles-inspired grandeur on a compact scale, serving both aesthetic and spatial connective purposes along the . This elevated green space, inaccessible to the general today, underscores the Hermitage's early evolution as a secluded imperial enclave rather than a public institution. The Hermitage Theatre, positioned eastward as a culminating element, was constructed from 1783 to 1785 under Quarenghi's neoclassical design for Catherine's exclusive court productions, accommodating up to 250 spectators in an amphitheater arrangement inspired by ancient Roman precedents. Built on the foundations of Peter the Great's third , the structure's compact horseshoe auditorium and minimalistic stucco interiors prioritized acoustic clarity and intimacy for operas, ballets, and plays performed by imperial troupes. These auxiliary edifices interlink via enclosed passages and the Hanging Garden's extensions, forming a cohesive private axis parallel to the that predated the larger expansions and preserved the site's function as a tsarist cultural .

Architectural Evolution and Significance

The Hermitage Museum's architectural complex traces a stylistic progression from opulent Baroque to restrained Neoclassicism, reflecting evolving imperial patronage and aesthetic preferences in 18th- and 19th-century Russia. The foundational Winter Palace, constructed between 1754 and 1762 under Empress Elizabeth by Italian architect Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli, embodied high Baroque grandeur with its elaborate facades, curved lines, and dramatic massing. This era's designs emphasized theatricality and ornamentation, aligning with the exuberant court culture of the time. Subsequent additions under Catherine II initiated a pivot toward Neoclassicism, as seen in Yury Felten's 1771 riverfront extension to the Old Hermitage, which adopted symmetrical forms, classical orders, and simplified detailing inspired by ancient Roman and Greek precedents. The 19th century accelerated this shift, particularly after the fire that destroyed much of the Winter Palace's interior; reconstruction, overseen by Auguste de Montferrand from 1838 to 1843, retained the Baroque exterior while integrating Neoclassical interiors and structural reinforcements for enhanced stability. Architects such as Carlo Rossi further unified the ensemble through neoclassical pavilions and thoroughfares, like the 1820s Theatre Square linkage, emphasizing rational planning and proportional harmony over excess. The New Hermitage, commissioned by Nicholas I and designed by German neoclassicist between 1838 and 1851, culminated this evolution as Russia's inaugural purpose-built public museum edifice, featuring a monumental atrium and atlas-supported that symbolized enlightened accessibility to . Its opening to the public in 1852 marked a functional of palatial for institutional use. This layered development highlights engineering achievements, including the seamless interconnection of disparate structures into a cohesive 233,000-square-meter complex capable of housing vast collections while withstanding environmental stresses like . The Hermitage's architectural synthesis contributes to its designation within the of Saint Petersburg's Historic Centre, inscribed in for exemplifying 18th- and 19th-century European urban planning and palatial .

Collections

Scope and Size

The State Hermitage Museum houses over 3 million artifacts, spanning paintings, sculptures, numismatic items (exceeding 1 million coins and medals), archaeological finds, and , distributed across approximately 365 exhibition halls in its multi-building complex. Only a fraction of these holdings—typically 50,000 to 70,000 items—are featured in permanent displays, with the remainder maintained in climate-controlled storage for preservation, scholarly study, and temporary exhibits to mitigate wear from continuous exposure. Founded in 1764 with Catherine II's acquisition of 225 Western European paintings from merchant Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky, the collection expanded rapidly through subsequent imperial commissions and purchases, reaching around 4,000 paintings by the late and ballooning to its present scale via methodical inventorying and classification efforts formalized in the . This expansion reflects a deliberate curatorial strategy of amassing representative works across media and periods, from tools to modern graphics, with systematic documentation enabling precise tracking and accessibility for researchers. The museum's holdings are categorized by material type, historical , and regional origin, ensuring comprehensive chronological sequencing while foregrounding canonical Western European sequences (such as and masterpieces) in tandem with parallel Russian imperial , Eastern decorative traditions, and prehistoric-to-classical global artifacts, thereby prioritizing evidentiary depth over thematic curation.

Antiquities and Prehistory

The Antiquities and Prehistory holdings encompass artifacts from ancient Egypt, the Near East, Greece, Rome, and prehistoric Eurasian steppe nomads, with most items acquired via 19th-century Russian archaeological expeditions, purchases from European dealers, and transfers from other imperial collections. The department maintains over 170,000 classical objects alone, including pottery, sculptures, and jewelry spanning from the Bronze Age to late antiquity. Prehistoric materials, numbering in the thousands, derive primarily from kurgan burials across southern Russia and Siberia, highlighting nomadic metalworking and burial practices. Egyptian artifacts form a core segment, bolstered by mid-19th-century acquisitions such as statues, sarcophagi, and papyri purchased from antiquities markets and diplomatic gifts. In 1862, the closure of St. Petersburg's transferred its entire holdings—over 1,000 items—to the Hermitage, enabling the creation of specialized Assyrian and Egyptian galleries. Notable pieces include a Third Intermediate Period of the priest Petese (circa 10th century BC) and a of a chief potter from the Middle Kingdom (18th century BC), illustrating funerary customs and administrative roles. Greek and Roman antiquities stem from systematic digs at Black Sea Greek colonies like Olbia and Pantikapaion (modern Kerch), initiated under Nicholas I in the 1830s, yielding vases, terracottas, and inscriptions from the 6th century BC onward. Supplementary purchases from Italian estates and auctions between 1816 and 1869 added Attic red-figure vases and Roman marble busts, such as a portrait of Emperor Lucius Verus (160–170 CE). These reflect Hellenistic influences in Pontic regions and imperial Roman portraiture traditions. Prehistoric steppe artifacts underscore Iron Age nomadic societies, with Scythian gold plaques, horse harnesses, and weapons from Kuban and Dnieper kurgans excavated since the 1830s by Russian archaeologists like Ivan Stempkovsky. The Pazyryk subgroup, from Altai Mountains burials (5th–3rd centuries BC), preserves organic remains due to permafrost, including felt horseman figures, tattooed human skin, and Chinese silk imports, excavated mainly from 1929 to 1949 under Mikhail Griaznov and Sergei Rudenko. These items demonstrate animal-style art, horse-centric rituals, and trans-Eurasian trade networks.

Decorative Arts and Jewelry

The Hermitage Museum's decorative arts and jewelry holdings form a core component of its collections, emphasizing exquisite craftsmanship in materials such as , enamel, , silver, textiles, and metalwork from antiquity through the imperial period. These objects, numbering in the tens of thousands, highlight technical innovations like , cloisonné enameling, and intricate knotting, often acquired through royal commissions, European purchases, and diplomatic gifts. Jewelry pieces include Romanov-commissioned items from the , renowned for their use of enamel, hardstones, and platinum settings to evoke naturalistic motifs such as flowers and animals. The collection features miniature enameled eggs, charms, and models of that earned Fabergé first prize at the 1900 Paris Exposition, exemplifying the firm's peak output between 1885 and 1917 under Carl Fabergé and his sons. Earlier jewelry spans Hellenistic cameos carved in sardonyx, like the Gonzaga Cameo depicting and , to 19th-century Russian goldwork inlaid with gems. Western European porcelain and silver collections underscore 18th- and 19th-century Franco-Russian cultural exchanges, with standout items including a hard-paste dinner service of 770 pieces commissioned by Catherine II around 1776–1779 for , featuring gilded neoclassical scenes on blue-ground bodies. Silver holdings encompass ornate tableware and candelabra from and makers, alongside one of the world's richest assemblages of 17th–19th-century Oriental silver from and Persia, with exhibited examples numbering about 100, showcasing pierced lotus and motifs. Oriental carpets represent diplomatic and exploratory acquisitions, including the Pazyryk carpet from a kurgan in the Altai Mountains, dated to the 5th–3rd centuries BCE and excavated in 1949; at approximately 183 by 200 cm with a pile on foundation, it features 3,600 knots per square meter in double symmetric (Turkish) knots, depicting riders, stags, and griffins in a flatwoven border—the oldest surviving knotted-pile example known. Later additions, such as a rare plain-woven Sumakh carpet purchased in 2003, reflect Caucasian weaving traditions akin to Holbein patterns. The arms and armor subset, housed partly in the , totals over 2,500 hand firearms and accessories, bolstered by Nicholas I's 19th-century purchases from European auctions and Oriental sources; highlights include Persian and Indian parade weapons inlaid with and gems, such as damascened daggers and shields, valued for their fusion of utility and opulent decoration over functional combat use.

Western European Paintings

The Hermitage Museum's Western European Paintings collection spans the 13th to 20th centuries, with over 8,000 works representing major artistic schools from , the , , , and . Formed through targeted acquisitions by Russian emperors, including Catherine the Great's purchases from European princely collections in the –, and augmented by Soviet-era transfers from private Russian collectors' holdings in the –, the collection emphasizes religious, mythological, and genre subjects. Key strengths lie in and masterpieces, alongside post-Impressionist canvases obtained via state policies nationalizing assets from patrons like and Ivan Morozov, who had amassed modern works from Parisian dealers such as . Italian paintings dominate the Renaissance holdings, featuring Leonardo da Vinci's Madonna Litta (c. 1490–1495), a tempera on panel showing the Virgin offering her breast to the Christ Child, with an angel visible in the background. Acquired in 1865 by Tsar Alexander II directly from Count Antonio Litta's Milanese collection for 150,000 rubles—equivalent to a significant imperial investment in cultural prestige—the work exemplifies Leonardo's sfumato technique and Milanese period style. Complementary pieces include Titian's Danaë (c. 1553–1554), a mythological nude acquired by Catherine II in 1772 from the Crozat de Thiers collection, and Raphael-inspired compositions from Florentine and Venetian schools, housed in dedicated halls showcasing 14th–15th-century developments like Fra Angelico's altarpieces. These acquisitions stemmed from diplomatic sales, such as the 1767 Brühl collection purchase, which added Venetian Baroque works by Paolo Veronese, including The Lamentation (c. 1581). The Dutch and Flemish sections highlight the , with van Rijn's The Return of the Prodigal Son (c. 1668), an oil-on-canvas scene of paternal measuring 205 × 262 cm, entering the Hermitage in 1767 via Catherine II's acquisition of 225 Dutch paintings from the French Crozat collection for 460,000 livres. This late , characterized by dramatic and emotional depth, joins other northern masterpieces like Gerard Dou's genre interiors and Frans Hals's portraits, totaling dozens from 17th-century Haarlem and Leiden schools. Flemish contributions include Peter Paul Rubens's dynamic history paintings, secured through similar 18th-century European auctions emphasizing Antwerp's vigor. French holdings bridge classical and modern eras, with Impressionist and post-Impressionist works forming a core acquired post-1917 from Shchukin and Morozov's estates, which the Soviet state seized and partially retained after sales to Western buyers. Henri Matisse's fauvist canvases, such as The Dance (1910), and Pablo Picasso's cubist pieces like The Absinthe Drinker (1901)—though Picasso was Spanish, grouped here for stylistic ties—originated from Shchukin's commissions directly from the artists in Paris, totaling 36 Matisse and over 50 Picasso works by 1914 before redistribution. Claude Monet's Garden at Bordighera, Impression of Morning (1884), an oil capturing luminous Mediterranean light, traces to Morozov's purchases from Durand-Ruel in the 1910s, reflecting these collectors' focus on avant-garde experimentation amid Russia's pre-revolutionary cultural boom. Earlier French acquisitions, like Nicolas Poussin's classicizing histories from the 1760s, underscore the collection's evolution from imperial patronage to ideological state curation.

Russian and Eastern Art

The Hermitage Museum houses a collection of ancient spanning the 13th to 17th centuries, comprising works from key artistic centers such as Novgorod, , and , which demonstrate stylistic evolution from strict Byzantine influences to more expressive local traditions. These panel paintings, often on wood with , depict saints, biblical scenes, and feast cycles, reflecting the Orthodox Church's role in medieval Russian culture; notable examples include icons attributed to Simon Ushakov, a 17th-century innovator who blended Western realism with traditional forms, such as his 1676 work originally for Natalia Kirillovna's apartments. Acquisitions during the imperial period drew from private noble collections and ecclesiastical donations, emphasizing artistic merit over mere propaganda, though tsars like Nicholas I promoted such holdings to bolster amid European cultural dominance. In the realm of 19th-century Russian painting, the Hermitage features realist canvases that capture social realities and historical narratives, aligning with the (Wanderers) movement's emphasis on empirical observation and critique of serfdom's legacies. Works include portraits and genre scenes by artists such as , whose depictions of and clerical , like those influenced by his studies, highlight causal between socioeconomic conditions and without romantic idealization. contributes pieces evoking dramatic tension, such as scenes of arrest or , grounded in direct study of Russian life during the reform era post-1861. These holdings, numbering in the dozens for major figures, were augmented by purchases from artists' estates and exhibitions, prioritizing verifiable talent over ideological alignment, though imperial patronage sometimes favored academically trained talents. The Eastern art collection exceeds 180,000 items, encompassing artifacts from Persia, China, India, Central Asia, and the Silk Road trade networks, acquired via 19th- and early 20th-century expeditions and diplomatic gifts that documented cross-cultural exchanges empirically rather than through orientalist fantasy. Highlights include Persian miniatures and illuminated manuscripts from the Safavid and Timurid eras (15th–17th centuries), featuring intricate kalam brushwork on paper illustrating epic tales like the , sourced from Oriental Manuscript Institute holdings transferred post-1930s. Silk Road relics, excavated by Russian teams in sites like Turfan and Samarkand between 1890 and 1915, yield over 250 preserved objects such as terracotta figurines, silk textiles, and metalwork depicting Sogdian merchants and Buddhist motifs, evidencing causal trade flows from to the Mediterranean. Steppe nomad artifacts, including from the 3rd century BCE, add bronze and felt pieces illustrating migratory influences on Russian border cultures. Iranian applied arts, from Elamite vessels (4th–3rd millennium BCE) to Qajar-era enamels, further trace material continuities, with credibility enhanced by stratigraphic dating from digs over speculative attributions.

Modern and 19th-20th Century Works

The Hermitage Museum holds a select collection of 19th-century European paintings, featuring works by German Romantic artists such as , whose landscapes emphasize sublime natural forces and introspective themes. This contrasts with the more expansive French holdings, which include Impressionist and Post-Impressionist masterpieces acquired primarily in the early and later. Key French examples span Claude Monet's luminous outdoor scenes, like Garden at Bordighera, Impression of Morning (1884), capturing fleeting light effects; Pierre-Auguste Renoir's vibrant portraits and domestic scenes; and Paul Cézanne's structured compositions bridging Impressionism and Cubism. Post-Impressionists are represented by Vincent van Gogh's four works, including The Arena at Arles (1888) and Memory of the Garden at Etten (1888), depicting expressive Provençal landscapes and personal motifs with bold brushwork and color. Paul Gauguin's Tahitian-inspired paintings further highlight symbolic and exotic themes in the late 19th-century oeuvre. Transitioning to the 20th century, the collection prioritizes canonical Western European modernists, with significant holdings by , including Fauvist explorations of color and form from the 1910s–1940s, and , encompassing Blue Period melancholy, Cubist deconstructions like Still Life with Guitar (1912–1913), and later neoclassical phases. 's dreamlike narratives blending and Parisian modernism also feature prominently. These works underscore stylistic innovations in and figuration, often acquired through private donations or exchanges. Russian avant-garde pieces, such as those by and other Suprematists, form a smaller but historically pivotal subset, reflecting early 20th-century experiments in non-objective art before Socialist Realism's dominance. Many such holdings were stored or deprioritized during Stalin's era due to ideological rejection of formalism, limiting public access until post-1991 exhibitions revived scholarly interest and display. Contemporary acquisitions remain sparse, aligning with the museum's curatorial emphasis on established masters over emerging trends.

History

Imperial Origins (1764-1917)

The State Hermitage Museum originated as the private collection of Empress Catherine II in 1764, when she acquired 225 paintings, primarily by Flemish and Dutch masters, from the Berlin merchant Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky. Over the next three decades, Catherine pursued an extensive acquisition program, purchasing entire European collections and individual masterpieces, which by her death in 1796 included over 3,000 paintings, 10,000 drawings, and numerous sculptures, gems, and antiquities. This patronage-driven expansion established the Hermitage as a premier repository of Western European art, housed initially in the and the adjacent Small Hermitage pavilion. Under her successors, the collection continued to grow while transitioning toward public accessibility. Emperors Paul I and Alexander I added select works, but it was I who formalized the museum's infrastructure by commissioning the New Hermitage building from 1842 to 1851, designed in neoclassical style by to display the expanding holdings. The facility opened to the public on February 5, 1852, becoming Russia's first state and allowing limited access beyond imperial circles. Later tsars sustained this growth amid evolving imperial priorities. Alexander II oversaw routine acquisitions, while Alexander III, influenced by pan-Slavist ideology, directed increased focus on Russian and Slavic ethnographic artifacts, instructing Hermitage curators to prioritize national art forms alongside Western pieces. continued expansions through purchases and gifts, though some deaccessions occurred; the painting collection roughly doubled between 1910 and 1914 before wartime disruptions. By 1917, the Imperial Hermitage encompassed diverse holdings reflecting tsarist cultural ambitions.

Soviet Transformations (1917-1991)

Following the Bolshevik seizure of power in October 1917, the Imperial Hermitage was nationalized as state property under a decree by Lenin on 19 November 1917, transforming it from a tsarist repository into a public museum accessible to workers and soldiers. The collections expanded significantly through the expropriation of private holdings from Russian nobility and aristocracy, including those of the Yusupov, Stroganov, and Shuvalov families, as well as imperial properties from Alexander III and Nicholas II, adding thousands of artworks, antiquities, and decorative objects that were integrated into the museum's holdings. These acquisitions, part of a broader Soviet policy of cultural nationalization enacted in 1918, enriched departments such as Western European painting and Russian decorative arts but reflected the regime's class-based redistribution rather than systematic collecting. During the , the Hermitage served ideological purposes under Soviet control, with curatorial emphasis on Marxist interpretations of that privileged proletarian themes while marginalizing "bourgeois" or religious works from confiscated church properties, though preservation efforts continued amid economic hardship. In , following the German invasion on 22 , over 1 million items—comprising about 75% of the collection—were evacuated in 89 trains to Sverdlovsk (now ) by 20 July 1941, safeguarding them from the 900-day . Postwar, the museum received "trophy" artworks seized by Soviet forces from German museums and private collections as reparations under the 1945 agreements compensating for Soviet cultural losses; this included thousands of crates of European paintings, sculptures, and allocated to the Hermitage, such as Impressionist works previously held in , though exact figures for the museum remain classified, with total Soviet acquisitions exceeding 2 million items. Under Stalin, displays of "decadent" Western modernism were restricted or stored away to align with socialist realism, but his death in 1953 ushered in the Khrushchev Thaw, enabling the Hermitage to exhibit previously hidden French Impressionist and post-Impressionist canvases from its reserves starting in the late 1950s. International exchanges increased, including requests for American art shows and the 1960s Picasso exhibition, which drew over 400,000 visitors despite ideological scrutiny. Censorship persisted, with abstract and avant-garde works often omitted or reframed to fit party doctrine until the Gorbachev era's perestroika in the mid-1980s allowed fuller public access to controversial holdings.

Post-Soviet Developments (1991-Present)

Following the in , the State Hermitage Museum faced economic instability that exacerbated vulnerabilities in its security infrastructure, leading to several internal thefts during the . In 1994, a staff member stole a third-century BC Egyptian glass bowl from an , highlighting early lapses in oversight. These incidents prompted incremental improvements, but systemic issues persisted until the major scandal uncovered in 2006, when an revealed the disappearance of 221 artifacts, including jewelry, enameled objects, and icons valued at approximately $5 million, orchestrated by Yuliya Zavadskaya and her family over several years. The affair, dubbed the "theft of the century" in Russian media, resulted in arrests and convictions, including a three-year sentence for Zavadskaya's husband in 2007. In response, the museum implemented comprehensive security upgrades, including full installation of surveillance cameras and metal detectors, which markedly reduced internal risks thereafter. To address collection management challenges in the post-Soviet era, the Hermitage pursued initiatives starting in the early , focusing on creating electronic catalogs for subsets of its holdings to enable better inventory tracking and public access. By the , these efforts expanded with the development of a centralized collection management system for European paintings and other departments, supported by Russia's broader policies. Concurrently, restoration projects gained momentum through new funding mechanisms, including the establishment of the State Hermitage Museum Endowment Fund in the mid-, enabled by Russian legislation allowing endowments as stable revenue sources. Major contributions, such as a $5 million donation from , positioned it as Russia's largest endowment, financing conservation of artifacts like ancient tablets and supporting ongoing digital archiving. International affiliates, including the American Friends of the Hermitage, supplemented these with grants for specific restorations, sustaining operations amid fluctuating state budgets. The museum demonstrated resilience amid Western sanctions imposed after February 2022, as collaborations with European institutions were curtailed, including the early return of loaned artworks from and the suspension of its international advisory board. The Hermitage Amsterdam severed ties in 2023, rebranding as and forfeiting its role as a satellite venue. Despite canceled joint exhibitions—such as a planned post-Impressionist show with London's —the Hermitage maintained domestic programming and pursued acquisitions worth 63 million rubles (about $1 million) in 2022 alone, while forging new partnerships, including exhibit exchanges with Iran's National Museum in 2023. Russian government arts funding increased to offset isolation, enabling continued restoration and internal displays through 2025.

Acquisitions and Provenance

Acquisition Strategies

The Hermitage Museum's acquisition strategies originated with Empress Catherine II's deliberate purchases of entire collections to rapidly amass a world-class holdings, often leveraging diplomatic networks and agents to secure deals at favorable terms. In 1764, she bought 225 Western European paintings from merchant Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky, originally intended for Prussian King Frederick II, establishing the foundation of the museum's painting gallery. This was followed in 1772 by the acquisition of approximately 250 paintings, drawings, and engravings from the Parisian collection of Louis-Antoine Crozat de Thiers, negotiated through Russian Dmitry Golitsyn, which enriched the Dutch and Flemish sections. In 1779, Catherine secured the Walpole collection of 204 British paintings from via auction, further diversifying the holdings with works by Reynolds, Van Dyck, and . During the 19th century, subsequent emperors formalized acquisitions through annual state allocations from the Ministry of the Imperial Court, funding extended buying expeditions by appointed agents across to target auctions, private sales, and distressed noble collections. Nicholas I, for example, dispatched envoys to and , resulting in key additions like antique sculptures from the Campana collection in (acquired in part in 1851-1861) and enhanced holdings in classical . Alexander III continued this approach, approving purchases such as 15 paintings from Paris auctions in 1884, including works by contemporary French artists, supported by dedicated budgets exceeding those of prior reigns. These strategies emphasized systematic scouting and bulk acquisitions over individual pieces, prioritizing cultural prestige and national representation. In the post-World War II era, Soviet acquisition policies shifted toward state-directed recovery of cultural property from Axis-occupied territories, framed as reparations under the 1945 protocols compensating for Soviet wartime losses estimated at over 1,000 museums and millions of artifacts. The Hermitage incorporated items seized by "trophy brigades" from German museums and private collections, including Impressionist paintings and antiquities, with official narratives justifying them as restitution for destroyed Russian heritage rather than uncompensated takings—a characterization contested by Western provenance researchers citing violations of inter-Allied agreements. This method prioritized volume and ideological alignment over market transactions, though verifiable purchases via state grants resumed in later decades for select modern works.

Notable Purchases and Gifts

In 1948, the Hermitage received a transfer of 316 paintings from the collections amassed by Moscow industrialists Ivan Morozov and , who had purchased modern French works directly from artists and Parisian dealers such as and between 1898 and 1914. This addition included 37 works by , 51 by , and pieces by , , and , significantly enhancing the museum's holdings in Impressionist and post-Impressionist art. The Hermitage Development Foundation, established to support acquisitions through private endowments, enabled the purchase of Anselm Kiefer's monumental installation Aurora in 2017. Created specifically for the museum, the work—measuring over 10 meters in height and incorporating lead books, ash, and sunflower seeds—explores themes of memory and renewal, joining the contemporary art collection. Other recent gifts include a 14th-century Mamluk bronze basin from Egypt, donated in 2013 by the Hermitage Foundation UK, exemplifying Islamic metalwork with intricate repoussé decoration and inscriptions. Private benefactors have also contributed, such as Dmitry Yakobashvili's 2020 purchase of an 18th-century wooden relief portrait of Catherine the Great by French sculptor Olivier-Antoine Parizeaux, valued for its Rococo style.

Confiscations and Wartime Gains

Following the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, Soviet decrees nationalized , including art collections owned by the , , and ecclesiastical institutions, redistributing them to state museums such as the Hermitage to centralize cultural patrimony under proletarian control. These measures, formalized through resolutions like the December 1918 decree on artistic treasures, targeted properties viewed as emblematic of the old regime, resulting in the transfer of diverse artifacts ranging from paintings to . By the mid-1920s, specific integrations included the Stroganoff collection—approximately 53,000 items encompassing coins, gems, and artworks—added in 1925, and the Yusupov holdings in 1928, substantially augmenting the museum's inventory beyond its imperial core. The nationalizations proceeded via systematic inventories and seizures, often justified as preventing the flight of valuables abroad by owners, though they reflected a broader policy of class-based expropriation rather than mere preservation. Empirical records from the era document the influx of thousands of objects annually into the Hermitage, transforming it from a tsarist repository into a vast state archive of Russian and European heritage, with causal links to the regime's ideological imperative to erase private ownership in favor of public access. In the aftermath of , from 1945 to 1947, Soviet forces organized "trophy brigades" to relocate artworks from German public institutions, private estates, and storage sites in occupied zones, framing these as reparations for Soviet cultural devastation inflicted by the Nazi invasion, which destroyed or displaced over 1 million items across museums, libraries, and monuments. The Hermitage incorporated selections, including 74 French Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings seized from German collections, exhibited publicly in the 1990s as wartime acquisitions. This occurred amid total Soviet removals exceeding 2 million art objects, primarily paintings and sculptures. The transfers derived legal sanction from the of , which mandated German reparations—valued at billions in industrial and resource equivalents—to victorious Allies, with the USSR claiming cultural equivalents from its zone and shared allotments to redress asymmetrical losses, distinguishing the action from arbitrary pillage by anchoring it in inter-Allied consensus on enemy accountability for aggression-induced damages. Bilateral protocols extended this framework, prioritizing compensation over restitution to neutral third parties, though Western sources have contested the proportionality and methods employed.

Losses, Thefts, and Restitutions

In the chaotic post-perestroika years of the and early , lax and incomplete inventories at the Hermitage facilitated internal thefts, with employees exploiting access to storage areas. A internal uncovered the disappearance of 221 objects, including jewelry, Orthodox icons, silverware, and enameled decorative items originally acquired as imperial gifts or through Soviet-era collections, with an estimated value of $5 million. These thefts spanned approximately 1998 to 2005, involving systematic removal by curator Larisa Zavadskaya, who allegedly sold pieces on the to fund personal medical expenses, aided by her husband and son. Recovery efforts yielded limited success, with only 13 items retrieved by mid-2006 through police seizures from private collectors and fences, leaving the majority unrecovered despite arrests and convictions—Zavadskaya's husband received a five-year sentence in 2007. The prompted a nationwide museum inventory mandate by President and internal reforms at the Hermitage, including enhanced digital cataloging, though vulnerabilities persisted, as evidenced by a separate attempted in December 2006 targeting storage vaults. Smaller-scale thefts continued sporadically, such as a 2015 case where a pilfered rare documents for personal sale. Restitutions to foreign claimants remain exceedingly rare, with the Hermitage prioritizing retention of its holdings amid contested provenance claims from World War II-era acquisitions. Museum director Mikhail Piotrovsky has publicly argued that ownership disputes should be resolved politically rather than through returns, as stated during a 1995 exhibition of contested artifacts. No verified permanent restitutions to Italy or other nations occurred in the 1990s under cultural exchange pretexts; instead, temporary loans, such as the 2019 dispatch of Leonardo da Vinci's Benois Madonna to Italy for anniversary exhibitions, have served diplomatic purposes without transferring title. This approach underscores a low rate of outbound restitutions, contrasting with higher recovery pursuits for internal thefts.

Management and Operations

Leadership and Directors

Boris Borisovich Piotrovsky served as director of the State Hermitage Museum from 1964 until his death in 1990, during which he emphasized the museum's archaeological holdings through his own fieldwork and institutional priorities. An archaeologist specializing in ancient Near Eastern cultures, Piotrovsky directed excavations at sites such as , yielding Urartian artifacts that enriched the museum's collections in Caucasian and Oriental antiquities. His tenure saw the integration of these empirical finds into permanent displays, expanding scholarly access to prehistoric and classical steppe artifacts without reliance on political directives. Mikhail Borisovich Piotrovsky, son of Boris, has directed the since July 1992, continuing a focus on academic-driven growth amid post-Soviet transitions. Under his leadership, the Hermitage advanced initiatives, including 360-degree holograms of sculptures, virtual routes via partnerships like VK's "One Museum. Three Views" project launched in 2025, and NFT-based digital collections to broaden global access to over 3 million artifacts. In 2024, Piotrovsky received the State Prize of the Russian Federation and the Order for Merit to the Fatherland, First Class, from President , recognizing his contributions to cultural preservation and museum operations. The museum's directorship has exhibited patterns of scholarly continuity, with the 1992 transition from father to son prioritizing expertise in and over politically aligned appointments, fostering sustained institutional emphasis on empirical . This familial succession, extending Mikhail's tenure beyond his father's 26 years by 2024, has maintained focus on curatorial integrity amid governance shifts.

Funding and Governance

The State Hermitage Museum operates as a federal institution under the oversight of the Russian Ministry of Culture, with its appointed by presidential decree and exercising substantial autonomy in curatorial, operational, and financial decisions. This structure allows the museum to maintain independence in exhibition planning and acquisitions while adhering to national cultural policies. Funding primarily derives from the federal budget, constituting approximately 83% of the museum's resources, allocated directly by the government rather than intermediated through the . This state support, which totaled around 1 billion rubles in recent annual budgets alongside self-generated income, underscores the museum's reliance on public financing post-1991, when economic reforms prompted greater emphasis on self-reliance through diversified revenue streams. Supplementary income includes admission fees from high visitor volumes—4.9 million in 2019—and sales of publications, merchandise, and services, which generated 2.5 billion rubles in 2018 alone. In 2012, the Russian government introduced tax rebates for personal donations to charitable endowments, facilitating of the State Hermitage Museum Endowment Fund as a mechanism for private contributions. This legislation enabled the museum to attract philanthropic support for targeted initiatives, including restorations and acquisitions, thereby reducing dependence on state allocations for non-core expenses while preserving fiscal autonomy.

Conservation Practices

The State Hermitage Museum maintains a dedicated Department of Scientific Restoration and Conservation comprising 14 specialized laboratories staffed by 172 professionals, which annually restore approximately 4,000 exhibits using modern materials, equipment, and techniques including computer-processed documentation. These laboratories address diverse materials, such as textiles and water-soluble materials through methods tailored to the condition of tapestries and carpets; organic artifacts like archaeological leather and fur via developed conservation protocols; graphic works with historical restoration practices; and photographs in a facility equipped for scientific analysis. A cornerstone of these efforts is the Staraya Derevnya Restoration and Storage Centre, constructed starting in 2003 to provide advanced storage and restoration capabilities, including 54 depositories spanning 7,954 square meters and dedicated workshops for easel painting, textiles, and furniture. This facility supports preventive conservation through controlled environments and open-storage exhibitions, enabling ongoing monitoring and treatment of portions of the museum's collection exceeding three million items overall. Since the 2000s, the museum has integrated digital technologies for preservation, including high-quality repeatable imaging initiatives for collection documentation and techniques applied to artifacts like petroglyphs to create models for study and virtual access. These methods facilitate non-invasive analysis, replication for research, and global dissemination while minimizing physical handling of originals, as demonstrated in projects producing spherical panoramas and virtual reconstructions.

Security and Staff

The State Hermitage Museum employs between 1,001 and 5,000 staff members, encompassing curators, restorers, conservators, and administrative personnel dedicated to the upkeep and protection of its collections. Specialized restorers form a critical component of this workforce, focusing on the preservation of artifacts through techniques such as cleaning, structural reinforcement, and material analysis to mitigate deterioration from environmental factors and handling. The museum does not offer open programs for volunteering or internships available to individual applicants, including those specialized in art history. Internships or practical training opportunities are generally arranged through partnerships with universities such as Saint Petersburg State University (SPbGU) and Russian State Pedagogical University (RGPU) for students in relevant disciplines. Volunteering is limited to episodic participation in major events, such as festivals and exhibitions, rather than ongoing roles. For art historians, scientific internships or research visits may be available by invitation or via grants, but not through public competitions. Prospective participants are advised to contact the museum's human resources or scientific departments directly for specific inquiries. Security protocols were significantly enhanced following the 2006 discovery of over 200 stolen artifacts, primarily attributable to an insider—a restorer who exploited access privileges over several years. In response, the museum introduced biometric access systems for employees in 2007, utilizing fingerprint or similar verification to restrict entry to storage and display areas, thereby addressing vulnerabilities in traditional key-based or ID card methods. Additional upgrades to visitor monitoring and inventory auditing were implemented to prevent recurrence, contributing to a marked decline in reported internal thefts, with no comparable large-scale incidents documented since. As a non-chemical pest control measure integral to collection security, the museum sustains a resident colony of approximately 70 cats, whose presence deters that could damage artworks through gnawing or contamination. This practice traces to the , when felines were first introduced to the basements to safeguard imperial treasures from vermin, evolving into a formalized role amid modern hygiene standards that limit chemical interventions. The cats are maintained by dedicated caretakers, receiving veterinary care and restricted access to exhibition spaces to balance efficacy with curatorial risks.

Dependencies and International Presence

Current Satellites

The State Hermitage Museum maintains several active exhibition centers across , established primarily since the mid-2000s to promote regional cultural engagement through temporary displays drawn from its vast collections, educational initiatives, and collaborative programs. These outposts facilitate the rotation of artifacts, paintings, and historical items, allowing audiences outside to experience highlights of global and without permanent transfers of core holdings. By 2025, the network emphasizes domestic outreach, with centers hosting over a dozen annually in partnership with local institutions. The Hermitage-Kazan Exhibition Centre, opened in 2005 within the , represents the museum's inaugural domestic satellite and focuses on interdisciplinary exhibitions blending Tatar and Russian heritage with international masterpieces, such as ancient artifacts and European paintings. It features multimedia installations and serves as a hub for scholarly exchanges, drawing over 100,000 visitors yearly through themed shows like those on Scythian gold or . In , the Hermitage-Siberia Centre, established in 2017 as the first such facility east of the Urals, occupies a renovated historic building and prioritizes Siberian regional ties by exhibiting items related to , Russian imperial history, and modern loans, including archaeological finds from the museum's prehistoric collections. It supports local conservation projects and hosts lectures, underscoring the Hermitage's role in decentralizing access to cultural resources amid Russia's eastward development focus. The Hermitage-Vladivostok Exhibition Centre, launched in 2013 on the , targets Far Eastern audiences with displays emphasizing transpacific exchanges, such as Asian ceramics alongside European , and has featured over 50 exhibitions by 2025, including and Impressionist works. This outpost aligns with Russia's pivot toward cultural . The Hermitage-Vyborg Centre, operational since 2013 in a preserved 1930s Finnish-designed building, specializes in Finnish-Russian borderland heritage, showcasing medieval Baltic artifacts, 19th-century Scandinavian art, and joint restorations that highlight shared architectural and artistic legacies post-World War II territorial shifts. It includes an archaeological section in the adjacent Panzerlax , promoting cross-cultural narratives through biennial programs. These satellites expanded notably after 2014, responding to by prioritizing internal cohesion and regional museum networks, as encouraged by federal initiatives to distribute cultural assets nationwide and mitigate isolation from Western partnerships.

Former Extensions and Partnerships

The Hermitage , established in 2009 as a branch of the State Hermitage Museum, hosted rotating exhibitions of Russian and international art drawn from the St. Petersburg collection until its partnership was terminated in March 2022, shortly after Russia's full-scale invasion of . The decision stemmed from the Amsterdam venue's assessment that continued collaboration was untenable amid widespread European protests and institutional boycotts. The site, which had operated for 13 years in a former on the River, subsequently rebranded as in June 2023, forging new partnerships with institutions like the , , and Smithsonian, while retaining some of its independent programming. A proposed Guggenheim Hermitage Museum in , , announced in 2008 as a to feature modern and from both collections, advanced to an architectural competition won by but was ultimately abandoned by the early 2010s due to insufficient funding and economic challenges following the global . The project, intended to open around 2013, highlighted early efforts at international extensions but faltered without construction commencing. In , the Fondazione Ermitage Italia, which facilitated exhibitions and cultural exchanges since the early , suspended operations with the St. Petersburg Hermitage in 2022 amid broader Western sanctions and boycotts related to the conflict, leading to demands for the early of loaned artworks from Italian venues by 2022. Prior to these geopolitical disruptions, the Hermitage had engaged in reciprocal loans with major institutions like the and , but such exchanges diminished post-2022 as Western museums halted collaborations and the Hermitage withdrew items, such as a painting from a exhibition in . This reduction reflected enforced limitations on cross-border artifact movement due to sanctions rather than voluntary programmatic shifts.

Controversies

Provenance Disputes

The Hermitage Museum's collection includes numerous artworks nationalized by the Bolshevik regime following the 1917 , when private properties, including aristocratic collections, were seized and redistributed to state institutions as part of a broader cultural policy. Under Russian , these actions are treated as legitimate internal transfers of property to the state, with subsequent legislation, such as the 1990s prohibitions on selling nationalized cultural assets, affirming the Hermitage's ownership without requiring restitution to pre-revolutionary owners or heirs. Claims by descendants seeking return have generally failed in Russian courts due to the recognition of the Soviet government's and the passage of time, with limited international success attributed to statutes of limitations and the requirement for claimants to prove uninterrupted pre-1917 title, often lacking in documentation. A significant portion of disputed items stems from World War II, when Soviet Trophy Brigades collected over 2.5 million artworks from German museums, palaces, and private collections in occupied territories, shipping them to the USSR as reparations for destruction inflicted on Soviet cultural sites, including the Hermitage itself during the 1941–1944 . The Hermitage received approximately 800 paintings from institutions alone, justified under the 1945 and Agreements, which permitted reparations from Germany's eastern zones without specifying reciprocal returns for Allied or Soviet losses, a stance maintains as equitable given the uncompensated devastation of over 1,000 Soviet museums and libraries. Western demands for restitution have been rejected by Russian authorities on grounds of legal acquisition through wartime reparations, with no bilateral agreements mandating returns, though some collaborative exhibitions have occurred without title transfer. Modern provenance challenges, including those from heirs of pre-revolutionary or Holocaust-era owners, have occasionally surfaced in Western jurisdictions but rarely succeed against the Hermitage due to evidentiary hurdles, such as insufficient proof of predating nationalization or wartime seizure, and Russia's sovereign immunity assertions. For instance, claims involving Jewish collectors' heirs in the have focused more on Western or German holdings, with Russian institutions like the Hermitage dismissing analogous suits for lacking verifiable pre-1917 or pre-looting documents, prioritizing archival and legal over arguments. These disputes ongoing tensions between national patrimony laws and international restitution norms, yet Russian courts consistently uphold the museum's titles based on domestic statutes and historical context.

Political and Ideological Criticisms

During the Soviet era, particularly amid the "Socialist Reconstruction" of the early under director Boris Ioganson, the Hermitage's exhibitions were restructured to align with Marxist socio-economic formations, integrating ideological labeling, composite displays of arts, and propagandistic elements aimed at mass education and goals. This framing emphasized class struggle and , subordinating aesthetic appreciation to political narrative, with displays designed to propagate Soviet values through rearranged collections and planned radio broadcasts in galleries. Following the Soviet Union's dissolution in 1991, the Hermitage underwent a shift toward apolitical curatorship, revealing previously concealed holdings—such as looted artworks and Impressionist pieces hidden due to ideological conflicts—and prioritizing scholarly presentation over state dogma. This transition reflected broader post-communist reforms, diminishing explicit Marxist overlays in favor of neutral, universalist displays focused on artistic merit rather than politicized . Criticisms of the museum's displays as promoting or imperial ideology have emerged, particularly in Western outlets post-, portraying the institution as a vehicle for state that frames collections through a lens of Russian . Such accusations, often attributing to the museum's state affiliation, overlook empirical evidence of its origins in cosmopolitan patronage by Russian tsars; for instance, Catherine II initiated the core collection in 1764 by acquiring 225 European paintings from merchant Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky, establishing a foundation of global artifacts independent of ethnic exclusivity. Subsequent Romanov acquisitions, including vast Western European holdings, underscore causal continuity in universalist collecting rather than retroactive ideological imposition. In April 2022, Director Mikhail Piotrovsky defended the Hermitage's autonomy, labeling a "hysterical phenomenon" that threatens cultural and , positioning the as a against erasure of heritage in favor of politicized boycotts. He argued that such pressures undermine the institution's role in preserving multifaceted history without external dictates, advocating retention of national collections as a matter of principled continuity over transient geopolitical animus.

Geopolitical Impacts and Sanctions

Following Russia's annexation of in , the Hermitage Museum faced initial Western diplomatic pressures, including calls for cultural boycotts, but experienced minimal direct operational disruptions to loans or exhibitions at the time, allowing continuity in international partnerships. These tensions escalated dramatically after the full-scale invasion of in February 2022, when and sanctions restricted art loans, classifying returning Russian artworks as subject to import bans. In April 2022, Finnish customs seized over 200 pieces valued at approximately 42 million euros en route from exhibitions back to the Hermitage and other Russian institutions, exemplifying enforcement challenges. In response, the museum demanded early returns of outstanding loans from Italian venues in March 2022 and imposed a one-year moratorium on dispatching artworks to and the , citing risks of or non-return. Despite these barriers, the Hermitage demonstrated operational resilience through bolstered , attracting 2.8 million visitors in —a 43% drop from pre-pandemic levels but sustained by Russian audiences amid a 96% plunge in foreign arrivals overall. Planned collaborations with Western peers, such as a painting loan to London's , were cancelled due to the geopolitical fallout, further isolating the museum from European circuits. To mitigate this, the institution pivoted toward non-Western alliances, signing a 2023 agreement with Iran's Institute for joint archaeological projects and expeditions, signaling a strategic reorientation away from sanctioned partners. Under Director Mikhail Piotrovsky, sanctioned personally by in August 2023 for perceived support of the , the museum maintained programmatic stability into 2025, with his contract extended by the Russian government in September 2025. State backing was underscored by President Vladimir Putin's December 24, 2024, visit to the Hermitage's antique halls, where he toured exhibits with Piotrovsky and awarded him the Order for Services to the Fatherland, I Degree, affirming institutional priority amid external pressures. This continuity highlights the museum's adaptation to sanctions through internal resources and selective global ties, preserving core functions despite reduced Western engagement.

Unique Features

Resident Cats

The resident cats of the State Hermitage Museum have served as pest controllers since 1745, when Empress Elizabeth imported felines from to protect palace stores and artworks from . These cats, descendants of the original strays, number around 70 and are formally employed by the to patrol basements, galleries, and storage areas, deterring mice and rats that could damage irreplaceable artifacts. During the from 1941 to 1944, the cat population was nearly eradicated by and wartime hardships, allowing to proliferate temporarily after the lifted. Post-war, the museum replenished its feline staff by importing cats from and other regions, restoring their guardian role and preventing subsequent infestations. Today, the cats receive annual veterinary examinations, specialized nutrition, and living quarters in the museum's basement, where they are monitored to ensure effective pest deterrence. Museum staff maintain a strict limit on their numbers to balance control efficacy with manageable care, and the animals' presence has been linked to the absence of major rodent-induced damage in the collection's history, underscoring their practical value over decorative appeal.

Special Traditions and Programs

The State Hermitage Museum maintains several annual free admission days, coinciding with Russian national holidays such as , , on March 8, and its founding date of December 7, providing unrestricted public access to select collections on these occasions. These events, supplemented by targeted free entry for schoolchildren on and certain visitor categories on the third of each month, facilitate wider engagement with the museum's holdings. Complementing these are the Hermitage Days, recurring regional initiatives in Russian cities like and , which feature temporary exhibitions, lectures, and cultural programs to extend the museum's reach beyond . Evening and extended-hour programs further enhance visitor interaction, including after-hours access arranged through the museum's Tourism and Special Programmes Department for tailored group experiences and seasonal events like the farewell to the White Nights, which incorporate themed tours and performances amid the prolonged summer daylight. For younger audiences, the museum operates dedicated educational initiatives, such as projects and outreach efforts that introduce children to classical works in immersive settings, promoting firsthand encounters with artifacts to cultivate appreciation based on direct observation. Annual charity gala banquets in the , organized by the Hermitage Endowment Fund, represent a longstanding of private fundraising, with the 19th edition set for June 27, 2025, drawing patrons for dinners, auctions, and performances to support restoration projects and acquisitions. These events, held consistently since the early 2000s, have channeled proceeds into preserving the museum's infrastructure and collections, underscoring a commitment to sustaining its physical and artistic integrity through targeted .

Cultural Impact

Scholarly and Educational Role

The State Hermitage Museum advances art historical scholarship through systematic research on its collections, encompassing , , , and . Museum curators and affiliated scholars produce peer-reviewed articles, monographs, and catalogs that document acquisition histories, stylistic analyses, and conservation techniques, with outputs disseminated via the museum's house and international journals. These efforts include detailed studies of specific holdings, such as ancient vases tracing from private collectors to state institutions in the . The museum maintains active collaborations with academic institutions and foreign museums, fostering joint research projects that yield shared publications and exhibitions. For instance, partnerships with the have facilitated studies on artifacts, integrating Russian and Western methodologies to refine understandings of ancient Eurasian cultures. Such initiatives contribute to global provenance research by cross-verifying documentation chains, though challenges arise from incomplete historical records predating modern standards. In the , the Hermitage has expanded digital access to its archives and collections, enabling scholars worldwide to conduct causal analyses of artifact trajectories without physical access. High-resolution image databases and virtual galleries support empirical verification of attributions and origins, supplementing traditional cataloging efforts that date to the museum's early systematic inventories. Annual showcases of these publications, held during Hermitage Days, highlight ongoing outputs and underscore the institution's role in sustaining interdisciplinary discourse.

Public Reception and Visitation

The State Hermitage Museum recorded a peak attendance of 4.9 million visitors in 2019, reflecting its status as one of the world's most visited cultural institutions prior to global disruptions. Visitor numbers plummeted to 836,000 in 2020 amid the , with subsequent years showing a partial recovery driven by domestic audiences, reaching 2.8 million in 2022 and approximately 3 million in 2023. By 2024, attendance stabilized at 3.56 million, indicating a rebound toward pre-2020 levels despite ongoing challenges. Historically, the museum's visitors have comprised roughly 70% international tourists and 30% locals or discounted entrants, though recent data highlight a shift toward greater domestic participation, with Russian audiences compensating for reduced foreign inflows. This demographic underscores the museum's resilience in maintaining broad amid fluctuating global patterns. To enhance accessibility, the Hermitage has provided virtual tours since the 2010s, featuring panoramic views of key collections and exhibitions via its official platform, which expanded significantly during the to attract millions of online users worldwide. These digital initiatives have broadened engagement beyond physical visitors, enabling remote exploration of artifacts and reducing barriers associated with location, cost, and capacity limits historically favoring elite or proximate audiences.

Representations in Media

The Hermitage Museum has been depicted in notable films that showcase its interiors and historical resonance, such as Alexander Sokurov's (2002), which unfolds in a single 96-minute continuous shot across 86 rooms, narrating encounters from Russian history amid the museum's collections and architecture. This technical feat amplified the museum's portrayal as a living chronicle of imperial and revolutionary eras, influencing subsequent cinematic explorations of cultural sites. Documentaries have further represented the institution's evolution and holdings, including Hermitage Revealed (2014), which incorporates curator interviews and archival footage to trace 250 years of acquisitions amid wars and regime changes. Similarly, Hermitage: The Power of Art (2019) examines the museum's foundational purchases by and subsequent expansions, narrated against on-site visuals of key artifacts. These productions underscore the Hermitage's role in preserving European and Russian patrimony, often highlighting challenges without resolving them. In literature, the museum features in Malcolm Bradbury's To the Hermitage (2000), a interweaving a modern academic journey with the 1773–1774 voyage of to advise on art purchases, critiquing Enlightenment ideals through the lens of the nascent collection. Such fictionalized accounts elevate the Hermitage as a nexus of intellectual exchange and imperial ambition. Video games have incorporated the Hermitage to simulate cultural strategy, as in Civilization VI (2016), where it functions as an Industrial wonder granting great work capacity and boosts when built adjacent to rivers, mirroring its real-world emphasis on amassed artworks. This mechanic has engaged players in replicating historical patronage dynamics, broadening awareness of the museum among younger demographics through interactive heritage simulation.

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