Why State Hermitage Museum is the best museum in world

St. Petersburg is known as the Cultural Capital of Russia. It one of the most interesting cities in Europe, with hundreds of tourists attractions and millions of visitors every year.

Among these attractions, State Hermitage museum is the must stop over of all the people visiting Russia. Hermitage museum has one of the largest collection of  more than 3 million noble subjects. If you start examining each of them within one minute, it would take 8 years to see all of the artifacts here!

Collections of State Hermitage Museum

Hermitage museum was founded in 1764 when Catherine the Great started making a collection of noble paintings from Berlin.The museum was opened to public in 1852.

There are nearly 400 opened halls in Hermitage today.  Hermitage museum holds the position of having 15th largest number of visitors in the world.

Building of Hermitage Museum

Lying on the Palace Embankment in St.Petersburg, Hermitage Museum  has  the following buildings as its collection.

• The Small Hermitage
• The Old Hermitage (also known as 'Large Hermitage')
• The New Hermitage
• Hermitage Theater
• Winter Palace
• Menshikov Palace
• General Staff Building

Winter Palace is the most famous part of Hermitage Museum

The Winter Palace was constructed in 1754 — 1762 by the Italian architect B. F. Rastrelli. The grandiose building is facing Neva River in North and Dvorcovaya Square in South. Till 1918, the palace was the winter residence of the Russian emperors.

Construction of Winter Palace in St. Petersburg

More than 4000 people built this main palace of the Russian Empire. The Winter Palace was colored in different colors all the time. The older color scheme was red and pink. Today's pale green color was given in 1946.

After completion of construction of the Winter Palace, all area was filled up with construction garbage. The emperor Peter III decided to get rid of this garbage in a unique way. He publicly announced that all this constructional stuff is free and anyone can pick up the things of his choice. In some hours all garbage was cleared away.

Russian imperial rulers who rules the great land over the area of more than 22 million square meters lived in this palace. Winters palace has more than 1057 rooms, 117 ladders, 1945 windows, 1786 doors. The main facade has the length of 150 meters with the height of  30 meters. This palace and its artifacts are now the part of Hermitage Museum!

Explore more on the special attractions and places to visit Russia here and visit our travel to Russia corner for making your plans of visiting Russia.