Editing Hermitage Museum

{{Short description|Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia}}
{{Other uses|Hermitage (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2022}}
{{Infobox museum
 |name            = The State Hermitage Museum<!--English-language name used on museum's official website; see Talk page-->
 |logo            = Hermitage logo.svg
 |image           = 5174-3. St. Petersburg. Greater Hermitage.jpg
 |caption         = View of (from left) the [[Hermitage Theatre]], Old Hermitage, and Small Hermitage
|mapframe=yes
|mapframe-caption=Interactive fullscreen map
|mapframe-zoom=14
|mapframe-marker=museum
|mapframe-stroke-width=1
|mapframe-wikidata=yes
 |collection_size = 3 million<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hermitagemuseum.org/wps/portal/hermitage/about/facts_and_figures |title=Hermitage in Figures and Facts
 |website         = Hermitagemuseum.org |access-date=30 June 2020}}</ref>
 |established     = {{start date and age|1764}}
 |location        = 34 [[Palace Embankment]], Dvortsovy Municipal Okrug, [[Tsentralny District, Saint Petersburg|Central District]], Saint Petersburg, Russia
 | coordinates    = {{WikidataCoord||type:landmark_region:RU-SPE|display=inline,title}}
 |visitors        = 2,812,913 visitors (2022)<ref>The [[Art Newspaper]] annual survey, March 28, 2023.</ref>
 |director        = [[Mikhail Piotrovsky]]
 |publictransit   = [[Admiralteyskaya (Saint Petersburg Metro)|Admiralteyskaya station]]
 |website         = {{url|http://hermitagemuseum.org}}
}}

'''The State Hermitage Museum'''<!--English-language name used on museum's official website; see Talk page. --> ({{lang-rus|Государственный Эрмитаж|r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž|p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ|links=no}}) is a [[museum]] of art and culture in [[Saint Petersburg]], Russia, and holds the largest collection of paintings in the world.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Winter Palace – Hermitage Museum Foundation Israel Official Site |url=https://hermitagefoundation.com/the-winter-palace/ |access-date=2025-03-01 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Discover 10 of the World's Most Gigantic Museums |url=https://artsandculture.google.com/story/discover-10-of-the-world-39-s-most-gigantic-museums/QAVBEdLUd2eQKA?hl=en |access-date=2025-03-01 |website=Google Arts & Culture |language=en}}</ref> 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]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/wps/wcm/connect/6b172326-4c3c-45c5-a3c2-182056a64777/The+State+Hermitage+Museum+Annual+Report+2013.pdf?MOD=AJPERES|title=Page 7|accessdate=6 May 2022|archive-date=22 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161022012302/http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/wps/wcm/connect/6b172326-4c3c-45c5-a3c2-182056a64777/The+State+Hermitage+Museum+Annual+Report+2013.pdf?MOD=AJPERES|url-status=dead}}</ref> It has been open to the public since 1852. ''[[The Art Newspaper]]'' ranked the museum 10th in their list of the [[List of most visited art museums|most visited art museums]], with 2,812,913 visitors in 2022.<ref>''The Art Newspaper'', March 2023</ref> 

Its collections, of which only a small part is on permanent display, comprise over three million items (the [[numismatics|numismatic]] collection accounting for about one-third of them).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/wps/wcm/connect/6b172326-4c3c-45c5-a3c2-182056a64777/The+State+Hermitage+Museum+Annual+Report+2013.pdf?MOD=AJPERES|title=Page 20|accessdate=6 May 2022|archive-date=22 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161022012302/http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/wps/wcm/connect/6b172326-4c3c-45c5-a3c2-182056a64777/The+State+Hermitage+Museum+Annual+Report+2013.pdf?MOD=AJPERES|url-status=dead}}</ref> 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 (Saint Petersburg)|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]].<ref name=Director>{{cite web |title= Mikhail Piotrovsky |url= http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/wps/portal/hermitage/about/hermitage_director/?lng=en |publisher= The State Hermitage Museum  |access-date= 19 June 2016}}</ref>

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.

==Etymology==
A hermitage is the dwelling of a hermit or recluse. The word derives from Old French ''hermit'', ''ermit'' "hermit, recluse", from Late Latin ''eremita'', from Greek ''eremites'', that means "people who live alone", which is in turn derived from ἐρημός (''erēmos''), "desert".

==Buildings==
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 (Saint Petersburg)|General Staff Building]] on the [[Palace Square]] facing the Winter Palace, and the [[Menshikov Palace]].<ref>{{cite web
|language=ru
 |url         = https://www.culture.ru/institutes/1485/gosudarstvennyi-ermitazh
 |title       = Государственный Эрмитаж
 |trans-title = The State hermitage Museum
 |publisher   = Culture.ru
 |access-date  = 9 February 2020
}}</ref>

[[File:Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg.jpg|thumb|center|upright=4|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==
{{unreferenced section|date=February 2011}}
The Western European Art collection includes European paintings, sculpture, and applied art from the 13th to the 20th centuries. 

===Egyptian antiquities===
{{main|Egyptian Collection of the Hermitage Museum}}
[[File:8600 - St Petersburg - Hermitage - Egyptian antiquities.jpg|thumb|upright|Egyptian Hall]]
Since 1940, the [[Ancient Egypt|Egyptian]] collection, dating back to 1852 and including the former [[Carlo Ottavio, Count Castiglione|Castiglione]] Collection, has occupied a large hall on the ground floor in the eastern part of the Winter Palace.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hermitage Museum |title=Ancient Egypt |url=https://www.hermitagemuseum.org/wps/portal/hermitage/explore/collections/master/sub/!ut/p/z1/xVPLcoIwFP0VXbhkEsIrLiMqPkopFR9k4wAGxIH4otrx6xs6LqqtOK2LZnUzc-6ce889B1AwA5QHhzQJinTNg0z8farPHUJ0WTHhADd7XUjUTtcltvIy8nQw_QTAG49AQL_2O5qHIRnCZ89xXQQt49xfAaDV_BNAAc14AnzGy3ITpQvgh3ARQxnJkqbCUFLDAEphqC2kWMcsDo0YKREr0REvNsUS-Eu2y9MiSFiN8QaM1rxgvCiLLGNRKcW-Afdv4cVfRhqSsWFgfL3E9ylptUaDeyqJM6CdbdqJWDAollLK4zWYXUxUC6STGIRWCTZE-jXA6lptSKyma2LVQRaWrwFOf2hA4nhaz3EmJjLVM6BiHV_IYdyaoT8Qpjmk7AjGfL3LhcdGv7xb7y6D9hPD1LTn7rjzKnr_5pc7pMY_kLbUB7Uc3MuXcF662m4pEWEpY_FegNmDadnk43GOlVyanZ7iUX-lJfm83bJZiI9eL5_bHUXLElKvfwDJRzL0/dz/d5/L2dBISEvZ0FBIS9nQSEh/?lng=en}}</ref> 

===Classical antiquities===
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 [[faux painting|painted]] polished [[stucco]] and columns of natural [[marble]] and [[granite]]. 

The Room of the Great Vase in the western wing features the {{convert|2.57|m|ft|abbr=on}} high Kolyvan Vase, weighing {{convert|19|t|lb|abbr=on}}, 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, [[Pottery of ancient Greece|ancient Greek pottery]], items from the Greek cities of the North [[Black Sea|Pontic]] [[Greek colonies]], [[Hellenistic art|Hellenistic]] sculpture and jewellery, including [[engraved gem]]s and [[cameo (carving)|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.<ref>{{cite web
 |url=http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/11/2005/hm11_2_205.html 
 |title=Traditional Meeting with Journalists: Farewell to White Nights – 2005 
 |website=www.hermitagemuseum.org 
 |url-status=dead 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120217023439/http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/11/2005/hm11_2_205.html 
 |archive-date=17 February 2012 
}}</ref> There are, however, only a few pieces of authentic [[Classical Greece|Classical Greek]] sculpture and sepulchral monuments.

===Prehistoric art===
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 Mountains|Altai]] from [[Pazyryk culture|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===
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 steppe]]s, [[Caucasus]] and Asia, in particular [[Scythian]] and [[Sarmatian]] gold. 

[[Image:Ermitáž (18).jpg|thumb|left|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 (inventor)|James Cox]] and a collection of [[mosaic]]s. 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===
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]], [[Paolo Veronese|Veronese]], as well as ''[[Benois Madonna]]'' and ''[[Madonna Litta]]'' attributed to [[Leonardo da Vinci]] or his school.

[[Image:Ermitáž (26).jpg|thumb|upright|The Small Italian Skylight Room]]
The Italian Renaissance galleries continues in the eastern wing of the New Hermitage with paintings, sculpture, [[Maiolica|majolica]] and [[tapestry]] from Italy of the 15th–16th centuries, including ''[[Conestabile Madonna]]'' and ''[[Madonna with Beardless St. Joseph (Raphael)|Madonna with Beardless St. Joseph]]'' by [[Raphael]].

===Italian and Spanish fine art===
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 [[Paolo Veronese|Veronese]], [[Giambattista Pittoni]], [[Tintoretto]], [[Diego Velázquez|Velázquez]] and [[Bartolomé Esteban Murillo|Murillo]].

===Knights' Hall===
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. 

[[File:The Three Graces in the Hermitage by Antonio Canova.jpg|thumb|left|upright|The ''[[The Three Graces (Canova)|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===
[[Image:Eremitage Interior4, St. Petersburg, Russia.jpg|thumb|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 painting|Dutch Golden Age]] and [[Flemish Baroque painting]] of the 17th century, including the large collections of [[Anthony van Dyck|Van Dyck]], [[Peter Paul Rubens|Rubens]] and [[Rembrandt]].

===German, Swiss, British and French fine art===
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 [[Nicolas Poussin|Poussin]], [[Claude Lorrain|Lorrain]], [[Jean-Antoine Watteau|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 [[Gardens of the Winter Palace|courtyard]]. 

===Russian art===
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===
[[File:'Garden at Bordighera, Impression of Morning' by Claude Monet, 1884, Hermitage.JPG|thumb|''[[Garden at Bordighera, Morning|Garden at Bordighera, Impression of Morning]]'', 1884, [[Claude Monet]]]]
French [[Neoclassicism|Neoclassical]], [[Impressionist]] and [[post-Impressionist]] art, including works by [[Pierre-Auguste Renoir|Renoir]], [[Claude Monet|Monet]], [[Vincent van Gogh|Van Gogh]] and [[Paul Gauguin|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 (painter)|Henri Morel]], and [[Edgar Degas|Degas]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Room of French Painting of the Second Half of the 19th Century (Daumier, Manet, Degas)|url=https://www.hermitagemuseum.org/wps/portal/hermitage/explore/buildings/locations/!ut/p/z1/pVTbcpswEP0V94FH0IIEyH3D-B5T4vgKLwymApOxwMGK3enXV_ak48aJcZowDCMNZ3XO7p4VCtEShUW8z7NY5GURb-Q-CK3IdxxLxy4M_f4PExwyp7PJuAtkZKDFCQBXHgdQeD0eiPUSX0MQ1h8_RyEKt4ACzornhtrgTMRRVfKoiDn7Fu-S038dBX1W8VzEGVNgVCan_HYKtFxDfiw4oZL8JwoAN8GgFNQVBqoS0Ika25CoiU1tm6VAEmBH9KbIUCCq4zIpxFasUbD-S9FghQJJWQhWCAU2Z7qqLLkCKwuilERrAqQ-_2OBwvryDG8BZAfzx6en0JE6j4p-CbT8nNDwNRVt9ruSqtMdOx6-d--tS0Cv22uD02uOXUp8o0f1S4A_uLPB8adm3_fnruGSF0BNu2W6-Yprh4RroJmGCbpsF1DbsAm1jrk6xQrTDIUVS1nFKu25kiZeC7HdfVdAgcPhoGVlmW2YlpRcE5UC70Wty50s0xswCmS37HMC4LVkte8sb9gyphhcHS32OTugWVFWXE7P5GyrRGcG01dYBUxilcRU2sqisWrgNDEJ0KaVrlAfbjHg9xgWrheNZ50HGVs7CcEH5iD4x9f_obxe9gS-WJjhrWuk1uXXLX6p25_50pF3Axj22139wTSu6_7QPXF5_OvpbN_q5ptefIYUei6VOflzaBoOgKd_Mactn804xcdXXf4epZPBo7nZj1Kvg0kwzByKzYxHnqCHacrd4LT9A8WA4zs!/dz/d5/L2dBISEvZ0FBIS9nQSEh/?lng=tr|website=Hermitage Museum}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Claude Monet Room|url=https://www.hermitagemuseum.org/wps/portal/hermitage/explore/buildings/locations/!ut/p/z1/pVTRUqMwFP0V94FHyCUJNN03RNtay2KtrcILk2YDxWmg0mh39us37bjjWi11lWGYZDg359x7zw1K0R1KK_5UFlyXdcWXZp-kfhYHge-SEIbx4IcHAZ2x6WTcAzrC6HYHgANPACg9HA_Uf45vIUjbj5-hFKUrQImS1eOJfaKk5llTq6ziSn7ja7H776JkIBtVal5IC0a12OW3tuA0xObjww4lyp8ogQ7HxBe53fFdblOCqd2lObFzPsecSyqE8LboZVWgRDfbpaj0Si9QsvhLcSIrC0RdaVlpC5YvdE1dKwvmPmQ5zRYUSHv-2wKl7eUZHgOYDpb3Dw9pYHRuFf3S6O5zQtPXVKw76Bmq8944iMhVeOXvA_q9_hkE_e44ZDTGfebuA-KLyw4E8Y03iONZiEP6DGhpt0m3nCtnI5QDjoc9cEkXgHVwhzJ_m2tQzQkrUNrIXDaycR4bY-KF1qv1dwss2Gw2TlHXxVI6olaObix4L2pRr02Z3oBRYrrVeUkAolNT7Us_Gp7iGwKhi26fSrlB06pulJmeyYuthCuxdOfEBkKNrTijNvcZtzHJhUeBdf18jgZwjIG8x3AbRtl4en5tYlsnIfnAHCT_-Po_lLfLnsAXCzM8do20uvywxfd1x9PYOPLyAoaDs5577eHDuj90T-wf_3o6z451800vPkMK_ZCZnOIZdHEAELlfzGmlplPFyPa1736P8snFvbd8GuXROaHJsAgY8QqVRZptbnIVJrvtH7DOlNA!/dz/d5/L2dBISEvZ0FBIS9nQSEh/?lng=tr}}</ref>

===Modern, German Romantic and other 19th–20th century art===
[[File:Vincenzo Petrocelli, Hermitage Museum, Portrait of Young Duke N.B. Yusupov.jpg|thumbnail|Portrait of [[Nikolay Borisovich Yusupov]] by Italian [[Vincenzo Petrocelli]], 1851]]
[[Modern art]] is displayed in the [[General Staff Building (Saint Petersburg)]]. It features [[Henri Matisse|Matisse]], [[André Derain|Derain]] and other [[fauvists]], [[Pablo Picasso|Picasso]], [[Kazimir Malevich|Malevich]], [[Vincenzo Petrocelli|Petrocelli]], [[Wassily Kandinsky|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==

===Origins: Catherine's collection===
[[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.<ref>{{Harvnb|Norman|1997|pp=28–29}}</ref> The collection consisted of [[Rembrandt]] (13 paintings), [[Peter Paul Rubens|Rubens]] (11 paintings), [[Jacob Jordaens]] (7 paintings), [[Anthony van Dyck]] (5 paintings), [[Paolo Veronese]] (5 paintings), [[Frans Hals]] (3 paintings, including ''[[Portrait of a Man with a Glove|Portrait of a Young Man with a Glove]]''), [[Raphael]] (2 paintings), [[Hans Holbein the Younger|Holbein]] (2 paintings), [[Titian]] (1 painting), [[Jan Steen]] (''The Idlers''), [[Hendrik Goltzius]], [[Dirck van Baburen]], [[Hendrick van Balen]] and [[Gerrit van Honthorst]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Frank|2002}}</ref> Perhaps some of the most famous and notable artworks that were a part of Catherine's original purchase from Gotzkowsky were ''[[Danaë (Rembrandt painting)|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.<ref name="history">"Hermitage History," www.hermitagemuseum.org.{{full citation needed|date=June 2014}}</ref>
[[Image:Profile portrait of Catherine II by Fedor Rokotov (1763, Tretyakov gallery).jpg|thumb|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. <!--In the tradition of [[Peter the Great]] and [[Empress Elizabeth]], who called retreats in their residences Hermitage after [[Louis XIV]]'s [[Château de Marly]],<ref>{{Harvnb|Norman|1997|p=1–4}}</ref> she too called the structure "my hermitage".<ref>{{Harvnb|Norman|1997|p=36–37}}</ref>--> 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.<ref name="encspb.ru">{{cite web| work=Saint Petersburg Encyclopedia  | url=http://www.encspb.ru/en/article.php?kod=2804004895 | title=Hermitage Buildings }} {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120224051802/http://www.encspb.ru/en/article.php?kod=2804004895 |date=24 February 2012 }}</ref> 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 of Russia|Elizabeth]] and later occupied by [[Peter III of Russia|Peter III]]. The largest room in this particular apartment was the Audience Chamber (also called the Throne Hall) which consisted of 227 square meters.<ref name="history"/>

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.<ref>Piotrovsky, Mikhail, "The Hermitage in the Context of the City," Museum International 55, no. 1, 79–80.</ref>

Catherine acquired the best collections offered for sale by the heirs of prominent collectors. In 1769, she purchased [[Heinrich von Brühl|Brühl]]'s collection, consisting of over 600 paintings and a vast number of prints and drawings, in [[Saxony]]. Three years later, she bought [[Pierre Crozat|Crozat]]'s collection of paintings in France with the assistance of [[Denis Diderot]]. Next, in 1779, she acquired [[Walpole collection|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 III|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 Feodorovna (Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg)|Maria Fyodorovna]]. This is only a small representation of Catherine's vast collection of many antique and contemporary engraved gems and cameos.<ref>Mason, Mary Willan, "The Treasures of Catherine the Great from the State Hermitage Museum St. Petersburg," Antiques & Collecting Magazine 106, no. 3, 62.</ref>
[[Image:Beggrov2.jpg|thumb|''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,<ref>{{Harvnb|Norman|1997|p=23}}</ref> 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 [[Hermitage Theatre|her private theatre]], built nearby between 1783 and 1787 by the Italian architect [[Giacomo Quarenghi]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Norman|1997|pp=37–38}}</ref> In London in 1787, Catherine acquired the collection of sculpture that belonged to [[Lyde Browne (antiquary)|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.<ref name="encspb.ru"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/05/hm5_5.html |title=Hermitage History: The Raphael Loggias |website=www.hermitagemuseum.org |access-date=7 September 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120911063530/http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/05/hm5_5.html |archive-date=11 September 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/05/hm5_1_6.html |title=Hermitage History: Timeline: 1771–1787: Construction of the Great Hermitage |website=www.hermitagemuseum.org |access-date=7 September 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120628061448/http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/05/hm5_1_6.html |archive-date=28 June 2012 }}</ref> 

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.<ref>Dianina, Katia, "Art and Authority: The Hermitage of Catherine the Great," Russian Review 63, no. 4, 634–636.</ref>

===Expansion in the 19th century===
[[File:Atlantes-Saint Petersburg-6.jpg|thumb|left|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.

[[File:Raphael Loggias Hermitage.jpg|thumb|upright|The Raphael Loggias]]
Between 1840 and 1843, Vasily Stasov redesigned the interiors of the Southern Pavilion of the Small Hermitage. In 1838, [[Nicholas I of Russia|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.<ref>{{Harvnb|Norman|1997|p=1}}</ref> In the same year the [[Egyptian Collection of the Hermitage Museum]] emerged and was particularly enriched by items given by the [[Maximilian de Beauharnais, 3rd Duke of Leuchtenberg|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.<ref name="encspb.ru"/>

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

[[Image:WinterPalaceRoom.jpg|thumb|left|A room in the Winter Palace]]
The range of the Hermitage's exhibits was further expanded when private art collections from several [[palace]]s of the [[Russian Tsar]]s and numerous private mansions were [[nationalization|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 [[Moika Palace|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 [[Imperial Academy of Arts|Academy of Arts]]. In turn, in 1927 about 500 important paintings were transferred to the [[Pushkin Museum|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 (van Eyck, Washington)|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]]).

[[File:Leningrad skiers.jpg|thumb|upright|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 [[Yekaterinburg|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 (businessman)|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 (Rembrandt 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===
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 [[Impressionism|Impressionist]] and [[Post-Impressionism|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 [[Neva Enfilade of the Winter Palace#The Nicholas Hall|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 (painting)|Place de la Concorde]]'' by [[Edgar Degas|Degas]], ''In the Garden'' by [[Pierre-Auguste Renoir|Renoir]], and ''[[White House at Night]]'' by [[Vincent van Gogh|Van Gogh]].<ref name="russell">{{cite news| author=John Russell| url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E03E4DD1139F937A35753C1A962958260| title=Hermitage Reveals It Hid Trove of Impressionist Art| newspaper=[[The New York Times]]| date=4 October 1994| access-date=25 February 2014}}</ref><ref name="Erlanger">{{cite news| author=Steven Erlanger| url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CE6DE1538F933A05750C0A963958260| title=Restitution Hermitage, in Its Manner, Displays Its Looted Art| newspaper=[[The New York Times]]| date=30 March 1995}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/05/hm5_1_42.html |title=Hermitage History: Timeline: 1995: The exhibition Hidden Treasures Revealed |website=www.hermitagemuseum.org |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140303165740/http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/05/hm5_1_42.html |archive-date=3 March 2014 }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web|title=Virtual Tour: 70: Room Displaying 'Unknown Masterpieces' |url=http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/08/hm89_0_1_70.html |work=www.hermitagemuseum.org |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140209094541/http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/08/hm89_0_1_70.html |archive-date=9 February 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Virtual Tour: 71: Room Displaying 'Unknown Masterpieces' |url=http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/08/hm89_0_1_71.html |work=www.hermitagemuseum.org |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131005013016/http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/08/hm89_0_1_71.html |archive-date=5 October 2013 }}</ref>

In 1993, the Russian government gave the eastern wing of the nearby [[General Staff Building (Saint Petersburg)|General Staff Building]] across the Palace Square to the Hermitage and the new exhibition rooms in 1999. Since 2003, the [[Gardens of the Winter Palace|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 (exhibition)|The Romanovs Collect: European Art from the Hermitage]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|title=News {{!}} Museum of Art (UMMA) {{!}} U-M|url=https://umma.umich.edu/archive/news/archives/european-art-from-hermitage.html|access-date=25 September 2020|website=umma.umich.edu}}</ref>

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.<ref name="rubens">{{cite news| publisher=Codart.nl| url=http://www.codart.nl/news/55/| title=St Petersburg: Rubens looted from Germany discovered at Hermitage| work=The Art Newspaper| author=John Varoli| date=20 December 2004| access-date=29 November 2012}}</ref>

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.<ref name="wpost">{{cite news| title=Stolen Russian Museum Items Not Insured| url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/01/AR2006080100406_pf.html| newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]| date=1 August 2006| author=Galina Stolyarova| access-date=29 November 2012}}</ref>

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.<ref>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211205/49YeFsx1rIw Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20200312224055/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49YeFsx1rIw Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web| url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49YeFsx1rIw| title = A one-take journey through Russia's iconic Hermitage museum {{!}} Shot on iPhone 11 Pro | website=[[YouTube]]}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

==Dependencies==
[[File:Placca cervo, da regione di krasnodar, kostromskaja, oro fuso e cesellato, inizio VI sec ac.jpg|thumb|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===
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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/13/hm13_1_003.html |title=The Hermitage-Kazan Exhibition Center, Tatarstan |website=www.hermitagemuseum.org |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140808054530/http://hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/13/hm13_1_003.html |archive-date=8 August 2014 }}</ref>

===Ermitage Italia, Ferrara===
Following the prior experiences in London, [[Las Vegas Valley|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 [[Castello Estense|Castle Estense]] as the base. Since then, the new institution called ''Ermitage Italia'' started a research and scientific collaboration with the Hermitage foundation.<ref name="ermitageit">{{cite web|url=http://www.ermitageitalia.com/home.aspx?lang=en-US |title=ErmitageItalia Homepage |website=Ermitageitalia.com |access-date=7 September 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120316234956/http://www.ermitageitalia.com/home.aspx?lang=en-US |archive-date=16 March 2012 }}</ref>

===Hermitage-Vyborg Center===
{{Main|Hermitage-Vyborg Center}}
Hermitage-Vyborg Center was opened in June 2010 in [[Vyborg]], [[Leningrad Oblast]].

===Hermitage Exhibition Center, Vladivostok===
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.<ref name="theartnewspaper1">Sophia Kishkovsky (6 November 2013), [http://theartnewspaper.com/articles/Launch-museum-satellites-says-Putin/30991 Launch (museum) satellites, says Putin] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131107060807/http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/Launch-museum-satellites-says-Putin/30991 |date=7 November 2013 }} ''[[The Art Newspaper]]''.</ref>

===Hermitage-Siberia, Omsk===
The Hermitage-Siberia is due to open in [[Omsk]] in 2016.<ref name="theartnewspaper1"/>

===Guggenheim Hermitage Museum, Vilnius===
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.<ref>{{cite news| author=Ben Sisario| title=ARTS, BRIEFLY; Lithuania Approves Guggenheim Project| newspaper=[[The New York Times]]| date=12 June 2008| url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9905E6DE1538F931A25755C0A96E9C8B63&scp=3&sq=Guggenheim%20Hermitage%20Museum%2C%20Vilnius&st=nyt | access-date=30 May 2012}}</ref>

===Former dependencies===
The [[Guggenheim Hermitage Museum]] in Las Vegas opened on 7 October 2001 and closed on 11 May 2008.<ref name="vegas">{{cite press release|title=Guggenheim Hermitage Museum in Las Vegas concludes seven-year residency at the Venetian Hotel-Resort-Casino |url=http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/press-room/releases/press-release-archive/2008/1814-guggenheim-hermitage-museum-in-las-vegas-concludes-seven-year-residency-at-the-venetian-resort-hotel-casino |publisher=Guggenheim Foundation |date=9 April 2008 |access-date=29 November 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130104065817/http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/press-room/releases/press-release-archive/2008/1814-guggenheim-hermitage-museum-in-las-vegas-concludes-seven-year-residency-at-the-venetian-resort-hotel-casino |archive-date=4 January 2013 }}</ref> The [[Hermitage Rooms]] in London's [[Somerset House]] opened on 25 November 2000.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/13/hm13_1_001.html |title=The Hermitage Rooms in Somerset House, London |website=www.hermitagemuseum.org |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140808074724/http://hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/13/hm13_1_001.html |archive-date=8 August 2014 }}</ref> In 2004, the rooms hosted ''[[Heaven on Earth: Art from Islamic Lands]]'', a joint exhibition with the [[Khalili Collection of Islamic Art]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=26 May 2004 |title=Heaven on Earth exhibition |url=https://www.antiquestradegazette.com/news/2004/heaven-on-earth-exhibition/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |work=Antiques Trade Gazette|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221128205449/https://www.antiquestradegazette.com/news/2004/heaven-on-earth-exhibition/ |archive-date=2022-11-28}}</ref> The exhibition was closed permanently in November 2007 due to poor visitor numbers.<ref name="stockley">{{cite news| author=Philippa Stockley| url=https://www.standard.co.uk/arts/josephines-farewell-from-the-hermitage-7400596.html| title=Josephine's farewell from the Hermitage| work=[[The Evening Standard]]| date=30 October 2007| publisher=standard.co.uk| access-date=29 November 2012}}</ref>

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]].<ref>{{cite web| website=Reuters.com | url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-dutch-hermitage-opening-idUSTRE55H6OC20090618 | title=Russia's Hermitage museum opens Amsterdam branch }}</ref> Following [[Russian invasion of Ukraine|Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine]], the Amsterdam Hermitage severed ties with St. Petersburg,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Solomon |first=Tessa |date=4 March 2022 |title=Amsterdam's Hermitage Museum Outpost Severs Ties with St. Petersburg Flagship Institution |work=[[ARTnews]] |url=https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/amsterdam-hermitage-museum-severs-ties-st-petersburg-flagship-1234621085/ |url-status=live |access-date=5 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230905110712/https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/amsterdam-hermitage-museum-severs-ties-st-petersburg-flagship-1234621085/ |archive-date=5 September 2023}}</ref> being renamed to ''[[H'ART Museum]]'' the following year.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1 September 2023 |title=Hermitage to become H'ART Museum |url=https://hartmuseum.nl/en/hart-museum/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230905111307/https://hartmuseum.nl/en/hart-museum/ |archive-date=5 September 2023 |access-date=5 September 2023 |website=[[H'ART Museum]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=26 June 2023 |title=Amsterdam's Hermitage museum is renamed after cutting ties with Russia following Ukraine invasion |work=[[Associated Press News]] |url=https://apnews.com/article/amsterdam-hermitage-museum-art-8e953bd2ceca3ebc48755aacba627f6f |url-status=live |access-date=5 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230905111737/https://apnews.com/article/amsterdam-hermitage-museum-art-8e953bd2ceca3ebc48755aacba627f6f |archive-date=5 September 2023}}</ref>

==Management==

===Hermitage directors===
{{div col|colwidth=22em}}
* [[Florian Gilles]]
* [[Stepan Gedeonov]] (1863–78)
* [[Alexander Alekseyevich Vasilchikov|Alexander Vasilchikov]] (1879–88)
* Sergei Nikitich Trubetskoi (1888–99)
* [[Ivan Vsevolozhsky]] (1899–1909)
* [[Dmitry Tolstoi]] (1909–1918)
* [[Boris Legran]] (1931–1934)
* [[Iosif Orbeli]] (1934–1951)
* [[Mikhail Illarionovich Artamonov|Mikhail Artamonov]] (1951–1964)
* [[Boris Piotrovsky]] (1964–1990)
* [[Mikhail Piotrovsky]] (1992–present)
{{div col end}}

===Volunteer service===
The Hermitage Volunteer Service allows people to volunteer in helping to run the museum.{{fact|date=November 2024}} 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.{{fact|date=November 2024}}

===Cats===
{{main|Hermitage cats}}
[[File:Hermitage cat.jpeg|thumb|One of the [[Hermitage cats]]]]
A population of cats lives on the museum grounds and serves as an attraction.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/russia/st-petersburg/articles/St-Petersburg-the-cats-of-the-Hermitage/|title=St Petersburg: the cats of the Hermitage|last=Cole|first=Teresa Levonian|date=5 February 2016|work=The Telegraph|access-date=6 March 2018|language=en-GB|issn=0307-1235}}</ref>

==In popular culture==

===Films===
*''[[Russian Ark]]'' (2002), the Russian film by [[Alexander Sokurov]], was filmed entirely in the Hermitage Museum, showing the [[Winter Palace]] at various stages of its history.
*''[[War and Peace (film series)|War and Peace]]'' (1966–67), an [[Academy Award|Oscar]]-winning Soviet adaptation of [[War and Peace|the 1869 novel]] by [[Leo Tolstoy]], was partially filmed in the [[Winter Palace]].

===Television===
[[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.<ref>Matveev, Vladimir, "The Hermitage and its Links with Regions of Russia," Museum International 55, no. 1, 68.</ref>

''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.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3830664/|title=Hermitage Revealed|website=[[IMDb]]}}</ref>

===Literature===
* ''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 (novel)|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 (novel)|Ghostwritten]]'', by [[David Mitchell (writer)|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===
*The Hermitage appears in the video games ''[[Civilization IV]]'', ''[[Civilization V]]'' and ''[[Civilization VI]]'' as a [[wonder of the world]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=9393423&postcount=1 |title=Civilization Fanatics' Forums – View Single Post – Civ5 Confirmed Features and Versions |date=19 July 2010 |publisher=Forums.civfanatics.com |access-date=7 September 2012}}</ref>
*The Hermitage appears in the first mission of the Soviet campaign in the video game ''[[Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3]]''; it is under attack from forces of the Empire of the Rising Sun.

==Gallery==
<gallery heights="150" mode="packed">
File:Стела начальника гончаров Пепи.jpg|[[Ancient Egyptian art|Ancient Egyptian]]: Limestone stele of a chief potter (18th century BC)
File:Urartian Art 04b~.jpg|[[Ancient Near East]]: [[Urartu]] deity (7th–5th century BC)
File:Ermitáž 57.jpg|[[Ancient Greek art|Ancient Greek]]: [[Red-figure vase]] (5th century BC)
File:PazyrikHorseman.JPG|Ancient [[Steppes]]: [[Pazyryk burials|Pazyryk horseman]] (3rd century BC)
File:Cammeo gonzaga con doppio ritratto di tolomeo II e arsinoe II, III sec. ac. (alessandria), da hermitage.jpg|[[Hellenistic art|Hellenistic]]: [[Gonzaga Cameo]] (3rd century BC)
File:Hermitage room 91 - Palmyra 02.jpg|Classical Near East: [[Palmyra Tariff]] (2nd century CE)
File:Portrait of Lucius Verus (Hermitage) - Портрет Люция Вера 2.jpg|[[Roman art|Ancient Roman]]: Bust of [[Lucius Verus]] (160–170)
File:030526-SaintPetersburg-IMG 0261-2.jpg|Ancient Roman: [[Statue of Jupiter (Hermitage)|''Statue of Jupiter'']] (1st century AD.)
File:Buddha pensieroiso padmapani, slate, gandhara, II-III sec.JPG|[[Indian art|Indian]]: statue of [[Buddha]] (2nd–3rd century)
File:Szent gellért 1.jpg|[[Gothic art|Gothic]]: [[Anjou Legendarium]] (1330)
File:Angelico, maria tra i santi domenico e tommaso d'aquino.jpg|[[Early Renaissance]]: ''[[Madonna and Child with St Dominic and St Thomas Aquinas]]'' by [[Fra Angelico]] ({{circa|1435}})
File:Leonardo da Vinci attributed - Madonna Litta.jpg|Early Renaissance: ''[[Madonna Litta]]'' by [[Leonardo da Vinci]] ({{circa|1490}})
File:Titian - Danae (Hermitage Version).jpg|[[High Renaissance]]: ''[[Danaë (Titian paintings)|Danaë]]'' by [[Titian]] (1553–1554)
File:Correggio, Ritratto di dama, c.1517-1518.jpg|High Renaissance: ''[[Portrait of a Lady (Correggio)|Portrait of a Lady]]''  by [[Antonio da Correggio|Correggio]] ({{circa|1517}}–{{circa|1520}})
File:El Greco - Апостолы Петр и Павел - Google Art Project.jpg|[[Mannerism]]: ''[[Saint Peter and Saint Paul (El Greco, St Petersburg)|Saint Peter and Saint Paul]]'' by [[El Greco]] (1592)
File:Jacopo Pontormo 036.jpg|Mannerism: ''[[Holy Family with the Infant Saint John the Baptist (Pontormo)|Holy Family with the Infant Saint John the Baptist]]'' by [[Pontormo]] ({{circa|1522–1523}})
File:Michelangelo Caravaggio 020.jpg|Italian [[Baroque]]: ''[[The Lute Player (Caravaggio)|The Lute Player]]'' by [[Caravaggio]] (1596)
File:Guercino - Martyrdom of St Catherine - WGA10940.jpg|Italian Baroque: ''[[The Martyrdom of Saint Catherine (Guercino)|The Martyrdom of Saint Catherine]]'' by [[Guercino]] (1653)
File:Diego Velázquez 016.jpg|[[Baroque|Spanish Baroque]]: ''[[The Lunch (Velázquez)|The Lunch]]'' by [[Diego Velázquez]] (1617)
File:Murillo Descanso en la huida a Egipto.jpg|Spanish Baroque: ''[[Rest on the Flight into Egypt (Murillo)|Rest on the Flight into Egypt]]'' by [[Bartolomé Esteban Murillo]] (c. 1665)
File:Jacob Jordaens - Self-Portrait with Parents, Brothers and Sisters.jpg|[[Flemish painting|Flemish Baroque]]: ''[[Portrait of the Artist with his Family]]'' by [[Jacob Jordaens]] (1615)
File:Bacchus.jpg|Flemish Baroque: ''[[Bacchus (Rubens)|Bacchus]]'' by [[Peter Paul Rubens]] (1638-1640)
File:Nicolas Poussin 080.jpg|[[Classicism]]: ''Tancred and Herminia'' by [[Nicolas Poussin]] (1649)
File:Claude Lorrain - Côte vue avec Apollon et la Sibylle de Cumes.jpg|Classicism: ''Coast View with Apollo and the Cumaean Sibyl'' by [[Claude Lorrain]] (between 1645 and 1649)
File:Descent from the Cross (Rembrant).jpg|[[Dutch Golden Age painting|Dutch Baroque]]: ''[[The Descent from the Cross (Rembrandt, 1634)|The Descent from the Cross]]'' by [[Rembrandt]] (1634)
File:Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn - The Return of the Prodigal Son.jpg|Dutch Baroque: ''[[The Return of the Prodigal Son (Rembrandt)|The Return of the Prodigal Son]]'' by [[Rembrandt]] (1661–1669)
File:Thomas Gainsborough - Portrait of a Lady in Blue - WGA8414.jpg|[[English art|English]]: ''[[Woman in Blue]]'' by [[Thomas Gainsborough]] ({{circa|1770s}})
File:Reynolds Joshua - Cupid Untying the Zone of Venus.jpg|English: ''[[Cupid Untying the Zone of Venus]]'' by [[Joshua Reynolds]] (1788)
File:Jean-Honoré Fragonard 007.jpg|[[Rococo]]: ''[[The Stolen Kiss (Fragonard)|The Stolen Kiss]]'' by [[Jean-Honoré Fragonard]] ({{circa|1780}})
File:Antoine Watteau 062.jpg|Rococo: ''[[Actors of the Comédie-Française]]'' by [[Antoine Watteau]] ({{circa|1711–1718}})
File:Psyché.jpg|[[Neoclassicism]]: ''[[Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss]]'' by [[Antonio Canova]] (1800–1803)
File:Sappho-and-phaon.jpg|Neoclassicism: ''[[Sappho and Phaon]]'' by [[Jacques-Louis David]] (1809)
File:Francisco-Goya - Portrait-of-the-Actress-Antonia-Zarate.jpg|[[Romanticism]]: ''[[Portrait of Doña Antonia Zárate (1810–1811)|Portrait of Antonia Zarate]]'' by [[Francisco Goya]] (1810)
File:Caspar David Friedrich 004.jpg|Romanticism: ''On the Sailing Boat'' by [[Caspar David Friedrich]] (1819)
File:Claude Monet 022.jpg|[[Impressionism]]: ''[[Woman in the Garden]]'' by [[Claude Monet]] (1867)
File:Edgar Degas Place de la Concorde.jpg|Impressionism: ''[[Place de la Concorde (Degas)|Place de la Concorde]]'' by [[Edgar Degas]] (1875)
File:Vincent Willem van Gogh 098.jpg|[[Post-Impressionism]]: ''[[Memory of the Garden at Etten (Ladies of Arles)]]'' by [[Vincent van Gogh]] (1888)
File:L'Ouverture de Tannhauser, par Paul Cézanne.jpg|Post-Impressionism: ''[[The Overture to Tannhäuser|The Overture to Tannhauser]]'' by [[Paul Cézanne]] (1868)
File:Pablo Picasso, 1901-02, Femme au café (Absinthe Drinker), oil on canvas, 73 x 54 cm, Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia.jpg|[[Picasso's Rose Period]]: ''Femme au café (Absinthe Drinker)'' by [[Pablo Picasso]] (1901–02)
File:Pablo Picasso, 1908, Dryad, oil on canvas, 185 x 108 cm, The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg.jpg|[[Proto-Cubism]]: ''Dryad'', by [[Pablo Picasso]] (1908)
File:Matissedance.jpg|[[Fauvism]]: ''[[Dance (Matisse)|The Dance]]'' by [[Henri Matisse]] (1910)
File:Maratha Armor.jpg|[[Maratha Confederacy|Maratha India]]: ''A [[Maratha Empire|Maratha]] Armor and Helmet''
File:Vassily Kandinsky, 1913 - Composition 6.jpg|[[Abstract art|Abstract]]: ''[[Composition VI]]'' by [[Wassily Kandinsky]] (1913)
File:Fath Ali Shah(hermitage1).jpg|[[Persian art|Persian]]: ''Portrait of [[Fath Ali Shah]]'' (1813–1814)
File:030526-SaintPetersburg-IMG 0431-2.jpg|Hall of [[Iran]], Hermitage Museum, [[Saint Petersburg]], [[Russia]]
File:030526-SaintPetersburg-IMG 0413-2.jpg|Hermitage Museum, [[Saint Petersburg]], [[Russia]]
File:030526-SaintPetersburg-IMG 0429-2.jpg|Hall of [[Iran]], Hermitage Museum, [[Saint Petersburg]], [[Russia]]
File:030526-SaintPetersburg-IMG 0411-2.jpg|Hermitage Museum, [[Saint Petersburg]], [[Russia]]
File:030526-SaintPetersburg-IMG 0405-2.jpg|Hermitage Museum, [[Saint Petersburg]], [[Russia]]
File:030526-SaintPetersburg-IMG 0403-2.jpg|Hermitage Museum, [[Saint Petersburg]], [[Russia]]
File:030526-SaintPetersburg-IMG 0386-2.jpg|Hermitage Museum, [[Saint Petersburg]], [[Russia]]
File:030526-SaintPetersburg-IMG 0371-2.jpg|Hermitage Museum, [[Saint Petersburg]], [[Russia]]
File:030526-SaintPetersburg-IMG 0380-2.jpg|Hermitage Museum, [[Saint Petersburg]], [[Russia]]
File:030526-SaintPetersburg-IMG 0366-2.jpg|Hermitage Museum, [[Saint Petersburg]], [[Russia]]
File:030526-SaintPetersburg-IMG 0363-2.jpg|Hermitage Museum, [[Saint Petersburg]], [[Russia]]
File:030526-SaintPetersburg-IMG 0359-2.jpg|Hermitage Museum, [[Saint Petersburg]], [[Russia]]
File:030526-SaintPetersburg-IMG 0342-2.jpg|Hermitage Museum, [[Saint Petersburg]], [[Russia]]
File:030526-SaintPetersburg-IMG 0355-2.jpg|Hermitage Museum, [[Saint Petersburg]], [[Russia]]
File:030526-SaintPetersburg-IMG 0339-2.jpg|Hermitage Museum, [[Saint Petersburg]], [[Russia]]
File:030526-SaintPetersburg-IMG 0335-2.jpg|Hermitage Museum, [[Saint Petersburg]], [[Russia]]
File:030526-SaintPetersburg-IMG 0315-2.jpg|Hermitage Museum, [[Saint Petersburg]], [[Russia]]
File:030526-SaintPetersburg-IMG 0328-2.jpg|Hermitage Museum, [[Saint Petersburg]], [[Russia]]
File:030526-SaintPetersburg-IMG 0333-2.jpg|Hermitage Museum, [[Saint Petersburg]], [[Russia]]
File:030526-SaintPetersburg-IMG 0292-2.jpg|Hermitage Museum, [[Saint Petersburg]], [[Russia]]
File:030526-SaintPetersburg-IMG 0286-2.jpg|Hermitage Museum, [[Saint Petersburg]], [[Russia]]
File:030526-SaintPetersburg-IMG 0281-2.jpg|Hermitage Museum, [[Saint Petersburg]], [[Russia]]
File:030526-SaintPetersburg-IMG 0278-2.jpg|Hermitage Museum, [[Saint Petersburg]], [[Russia]]
File:030526-SaintPetersburg-IMG 0260-2.jpg|Hermitage Museum, [[Saint Petersburg]], [[Russia]]
File:030526-SaintPetersburg-IMG 0230-2.jpg|Hall of [[Egypt]], Hermitage Museum, [[Saint Petersburg]], [[Russia]]
File:030526-SaintPetersburg-IMG 0224-2.jpg|Hall of [[Egypt]], Hermitage Museum, [[Saint Petersburg]], [[Russia]]
File:030526-SaintPetersburg-IMG 0222-2.jpg|Hermitage Museum, [[Saint Petersburg]], [[Russia]]
File:030526-SaintPetersburg-IMG 0217-2.jpg|Hermitage Museum, [[Saint Petersburg]], [[Russia]]  
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[Baldin Collection]]
* [[List of largest art museums]]
* [[List of most visited art museums]]
* [[List of museums in Saint Petersburg]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Sources==
{{external media| float = right| video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?103301-1/hermitage-biography-great-museum Presentation by Geraldine Norman on ''The Hermitage: The Biography of a Great Museum'', April 2, 1998], [[C-SPAN]]}}
* {{Citation
| last = Frank
| first = Christoph
| year = 2002
| chapter = Die Gemäldesammlungen Gotzkowsky, Eimbke und Stein: Zur Berliner Sammlungsgeschichte während des Siebenjährigen Krieges.
| editor = Michael North
| title = Kunstsammeln und Geschmack im 18. Jahrhundert
| location = Berlin
| pages = 117–194
| isbn = 3-8305-0312-1
| publisher = Berlin Verlag Spitz
| language = de
}}
* {{Citation
| author = The Hermitage Museum
| title = The Hermitage: 250 Masterworks
| publisher = Skira Rizzoli
| location = New York
| year = 2014
| isbn = 978-0-84784-209-4
}}
* {{Citation
| last = Kostenevich
| first = Albert
| title = Hidden Treasures Revealed: Impressionist Masterpieces and Other Important French Paintings Preserved by the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg
| publisher = Harry N. Abrams
| location = New York
| year = 1995
| isbn = 0-81093-432-9
}}
* {{Citation
| last = Norman
| first = Geraldine
| title = The Hermitage; The Biography of a Great Museum
| publisher = Fromm International
| location = New York
| year = 1997
| isbn = 0-88064-190-8
| url-access = registration
| url = https://archive.org/details/hermitagebiograp0000norm
}}
* {{Citation
| last = Renne
| first = Elizaveta
| title = Sixteenth- to Nineteenth-Century British Painting. State Hermitage Museum Catalogue
| publisher = Yale University Press
| location = Yale
| year = 2011
| isbn = 978-0-30017-046-7
}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book | title= Dutch and Flemish paintings from the Hermitage | location=New York | publisher=The Metropolitan Museum of Art | year=1988| url=http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15324coll10/id/59153}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* {{Official website|url=http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/wps/portal/hermitage?lng=en}}
* [https://hermitage-museum.ru Hermitage Museum Unofficial Guide]
* [http://www.hermitage.nl/ Hermitage Amsterdam]
* {{osmrelation|7473498}}
* [https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/the-state-hermitage-museum?hl=en Virtual tour of the Hermitage Museum] provided by [[Google Arts & Culture]]

{{Saint Petersburg}}
{{Hermitage complex on the Neva}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Hermitage Museum| ]]
[[Category:1764 establishments in the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:1764 in art]]
[[Category:Art museums and galleries in Saint Petersburg]]
[[Category:Art museums and galleries established in the 1760s]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures completed in 1764]]
[[Category:Educational organizations established in 1764]]
[[Category:Egyptological collections in Russia]]
[[Category:Landmarks in Russia]]
[[Category:Museums in Saint Petersburg]]
[[Category:Museums of ancient Greece in Russia]]
[[Category:Museums of the ancient Near East in Russia]]
[[Category:Museums of ancient Rome in Russia]]
[[Category:National art museums and galleries in Saint Petersburg]]
[[Category:Russian entities subject to U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctions]]