Brief History of the Hermitage in Russia

1. Brief History of the Hermitage in
Russia
By: Liliana Bordallo

2. Brief History of the Hermitage in Russia
A lifelong interior design admirer, Liliana Bordallo directs Household Services, Inc., a company that
provides a variety of domestic services to homeowners living in Miami, Florida. Outside of work,
Liliana Bordallo feeds her passion for culture by visiting top museums around the world.

3. Brief History of the Hermitage in Russia
Although London, Paris, and Rome are more widely-regarded as the world’s artistic centers, one of
the world’s largest art museums is actually located in St. Petersburg, Russia. This museum is the
Hermitage and can trace its existence back to Catherine the Great in 1764. In this year, Catherine
the Great founded the Hermitage as a court museum in which she stored her private art collection.
The museum was located next to the Winter Palace, which was Catherine the Great’s home and
served as the primary residence of all other Russian Tsars up until the Romanovs.

4. Brief History of the Hermitage in Russia
Over the years, the Winter Palace and its adjoining buildings underwent several remodels, most
notably in 1837 under the oversight of Nicholas I. In this year, a large fire destroyed much of the
palace and Nicholas I opened up the Hermitage to the public following its reconstruction in 1852.
Much of the imperial art collections became public property in 1917 after the October Revolution,
and the Hermitage was expanded in the 1920s when private art collections were added to the
imperial collection.

5. Brief History of the Hermitage in Russia
Today, the Hermitage consists of five interconnected buildings, including the New Hermitages and
Winter Palace. In these, the museum houses a collection of close to three million pieces dating
from the Stone Age to the present.