The Hermitage

One of Russia’s foremost museums of art and culture. The State Hermitage Museum houses a collection of approximately three million works of art and artifacts of world culture. Its holdings include paintings, graphic arts, sculptures, decorative and applied arts, archaeological finds, and numismatic material. The main ensemble of the Hermitage consists of: The Winter Palace – the former official residence of the Russian Emperors, the Small, Old, and New Hermitages, the Hermitage Theatre and the Reserve House. The wider museum complex also includes the Menshikov Palace, the Eastern Wing of the General Staff Building, the "Staraya Derevnya" Restoration and Storage Centre, and the Imperial Porcelain Factory Museum. The Hermitage originated as a private art collection acquired by Empress Catherine II at the beginning of her reign. Among the gems of the Old Masters collection are: The Tatistcheff Diptych by Robert Campin, The Benois Madonna by Leonardo da Vinci, Judith by Giorgione, Portrait of a Lady by Correggio, Saint Sebastian by Titian, The Lute Player by Caravaggio, The Return of the Prodigal Son by Rembrandt, Lady in Blue by Gainsborough. The museum boasts extensive collections of works by Rubens, Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Poussin, Titian, Veronese, Claude Lorrain, and many others.