The Hermitage

By Margaret Pearce

The Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg is the largest in the world and was founded in 1764 when Empress Catherine acquired an impressive collection of 600 paintings. In 1779 a collection of 198 paintings once owned by Robert Walpole were added to the museum.
It has the largest collection of Rembrandt in the world.  In 1843 a great vase made of jasper weighing 42,000 lbs was installed before the walls of the Room of the Great Vase were erected.
Initially given the name Hermitage because of its exclusivity, in the early days only a few people were allowed to visit.



The museum celebrates it’s founding every year on December 7th – it has been opened to the public since 1852.
There are over 3 million items but only a small part is on permanent display – it has the largest collection of paintings in the world. The collections occupy a large complex of 6 historic buildings including the Winter palace, the Menshikov palace, the Museum of Porcelain, storage facilities and a wing of the General Staff building are also part of the museum.
The Hermitage is a federal state property and 5 of them are open to the public, foreign tours pay more than the citizens of Russia and Belarus. The first Thursday of every month it is free for all visitors and free daily for students and children.
The collection includes – Egyptian antiquities, classical and prehistoric art, jewellery and decorative art, Italian Renaissance, Italian and Spanish fine art, Flemish baroque. German, Swiss, British and French fine art – to mention only a few. The Imperial collection was enriched by Greek and Scythian artefacts excavated within the Russian empire.
The Collection was started by Catherine the Great in 1764.  The buildings served as a home and work place for nearly a 1000 people – many events were held in these buildings – masquerades for the nobility, grand receptions and ceremonies.  It was not only a dwelling place for the Imperial family but as a symbol and memorial to the Imperial Russian State.  Catherine acquired 4000 paintings, 38000books, 10.000 engraved gems and 16,000 coins and medals.
After the 1917 revolution formal Imperial residencies were proclaimed state museums.  In 1928the Soviet government ordered the Hermitage to compile a list of art for export and in 1930 over 2000 works of art were clandestinely sold abroad.
In 1941 before the siege of Leningrad 2 trains with considerable part of the collection was evacuated – in 1945 the collection was brought back and the museum opened in 1945.
In 1991 it became known that the Red Army had looted some paintings and were held in the Hermitage.
In 1994 the Hermitage announced that it was secretly holding a major trove French Impressionist from a German collection.  In 2006 the museum announced that 221 minor items had been stolen worth $543,000 but by the end of 2006 several stolen items had been recovered.
In 2004 another work of art by Rubens, apparently looted by Soviet troops from a castle in East Prussia in 1945 was found.
There is a population of cats who live in the Hermitage.
The Russian national TV programme “My Hermitage” has been presenting a programme to the general public for years.