The State Russian Museum is the world's largest museum of Russian art. The museum is housed in four palaces located in the historical center of Saint-Petersburg.

Together, these buildings present a retrospective panorama of Russian architecture - Baroque (Stroganov Palace), early and late Neoclassicism (Marble Palace, St. Michael's Palace).

The main building of the museum is the Mikhailovsky Palace, a splendid Neoclassical residence of Grand Duke Michael Pavlovich, erected in 1819-25 to a design by Carlo Rossi on Square of Arts in St Petersburg. Upon the death of the Grand Duke the residence was named after his wife as the Palace of the Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna, and became famous for its many theatrical presentations and balls.

The collection of the Russian Museum numbers some 400,000 works and covers the entire history of Russian fine art from the 10th century to the present day. It reflects virtually every form and genre of art in Russia, including a unique collection of Old Russian icons, works of painting, graphic art and sculpture, decorative and applied art, folk art and numismatics, as well as the world's finest collection of Russian avant-guarde.
The collection of the Russian Museum numbers some 400,000 works and covers the entire history of Russian fine art from the 10th century to the present day. It reflects virtually every form and genre of art in Russia, including a unique collection of Old Russian icons, works of painting, graphic art and sculpture, decorative and applied art, folk art and numismatics, as well as the world's finest collection of Russian avant-guarde.

Completed in 1764, the Hermitage is the largest landmark and symbol of St. Petersburg.

Situated in the centre of Saint-Petersburg the State Hermitage Museum is housed in five magnificent buildings created by celebrated architects of the 18th to 19th century.

The Winter Palace, formerly the residence of Russian Emperors which was constructed between 1754 and 1762 after a design of Bartolomeo Rastrelli, occupies an important place amongst other constructions of the whole Museum ensemble.

The architect designed the palace as a part of the city landscape - a huge closed space with an inner court and free facades secluded from all other buildings.

It was built by order of Empress Catherine the Great. The Hermitage is also known as the Winter Palace. At those times French was the salon language – it was a matter of aristocracy, prestige and high culture, if someone speaks French. Not accidentally, and the name of Hermitage comes from French and means "place of solitude." The name was chosen deliberately. Exactly what was the purpose of the Hermitage - to create a place where the empress to enjoy its solitude and left alone with herself.

Today the Hermitage is a museum. It is one of the best in the world and with certainly the most attractive, with regard to its architecture.