THE HERMITAGE MUSEUM IN ST PETERSBURG

The Hermitage is located in the heart of St. Petersburg, between the embankment of the Neva river and Palace Square.

The Hermitage occupies five adjoining buildings (the Winter Palace, the Hermitage Theatre, the Small Hermitage, the Old Hermitage and the New Hermitage) forming a beautiful architectural ensemble.

Currently the Hermitage holds more than two and a half of cultural and artistic objects of the peoples of Europe and the Middle million from ancient times to the twentieth century.

Hermitage history begins with Peter the Great, when it acquired several works of art, including David were saying goodbye to Jonathan, by Rembrandt and Venus Tauride. It is considered that the museum was officially born in 1764, when a Berlin businessman sent 225 boxes Catherine II as payment for a debt. Upon receipt Catalina wanted his gallery was unsurpassed by other monarchs collections and started buying almost everything sold in European auctions.

The Winter Palace, which became part of the museum in 1922, was for two centuries the main residence of the czars. It was built for the Empress Elizabeth, daughter of Peter the Great, and their facades, inside the palace church and the majestic main staircase they are a rare example of so-called Russian Baroque XVIII century. However the rooms of the palace are the nineteenth century, because after fire in 1837 were reconstructed according to the fashion of the time. Although it became showrooms have not lost all its splendor. The most beautiful of all is the Malachite room; columns, pilasters, fireplaces, lamps and tables are decorated with malachite of the Ural mountains. The bright green malachite, combined with the brightness of gold and silk furnishings walled with raspberry determine the fantastic impression of this room.

The building of the new Hermitage found a part of the collection of the Italian masters, which was built by Nicolas I and opened the doors to the public 150 years ago. Here is Italian art from the thirteenth to the eighteenth century Annunciation Martini, The Vision of St. Augustine, Lippi, The Virgin and Child Fra Angelico, The Lute Player by Caravaggio. The only work of Michelangelo, The crouching child was destined for the pantheon of the Medici.

In large rooms, decorated with vases of malachite and lapis lazuli, the exhibition of Italian paintings and a collection of Spanish painting, considered one of the best outside the borders of Spain are. There you can see works by El Greco, Velázquez, Ribera, Zurbaran, Murillo and Goya. The rich collection of Spanish painters of the Golden Age belonging to Coesvelt banker, gathered during the Napoleonic War, arrived at the Hermitage in 1814. At this time the purchases were arranged and the museum bought the works that are considered essential to reflect fully art history. In addition to the Spanish paintings in the early nineteenth century paintings by masters of the Netherlands they were acquired. This collection is not large but has masterpieces by Robert Camping, Roger van the Weyden and Hugo van the Goes.

In every era Russian collectors had a special fondness for the work of the Flemish and Dutch painters of the seventeenth century. Five rooms of the Hermitage New treasured works of Rubens, from the earliest to the latest, famous portraits by Van Dyck, hunting scenes and abundant Paul de Vos still lifes of Frans Snyders. Dutch painters collection has more than a thousand pictures of all genres. Rembrandt's paintings occupy a large room and give a clear idea of ​​all so creative work: youth portrait of his wife Saskia, represented as the goddess Flora, the tragic Deposition from the Cross, the gripping portrait of the old man in red ... and end jewel of the collection, the return of the prodigal son, evangelical scene in which the teacher could express their faith in the good and in human love.