Catherine the Great’s Winter Palace
Before heading to St Petersburg, Russia, I had not researched a lot about what there was to see there… but I had heard of the Hermitage. (Turns out, other countries have their own Hermitages–but the one in St Petersburg is really the only one you need to know of). This museum, housed inside Catherine the Great’s Winter Palace, rivals the Louvre for beauty and expanse. In fact, it has the largest collection of paintings in the world. In the 1700s, Catherine commissioned her minions to essentially collect and build her own private museum – it wasn’t until 100 years later that it was even opened to a small selection of the public.
A Long History
The museum itself has grown through the years with the additions of several more buildings attached to the original (aka the Small Hermitage), named the Old Hermitage and the New Hermitage (not confusing at all). It was no longer used as a home after 1881 due to the difficulty in securing it (aka one too many assassination attempts). Filled with art from Bolshevik confiscations and Red Army seizures in conquered Germany, the Hermitage collection is vast and wide-ranging. There are Rubens’, Rembrandt’s, and even two of DaVinici’s works. A 3-hour tour barely touches on the beauty it holds. Equally impressive, and even more interesting to some are the stunning rooms of the Winter Palace. Lets just say, the Tsars loved their gold.
An Excellent Tour
Museums like this are best to arrive at early and with a guide. Since we came with the cruise tour, we were one of the first ones into the museum WHICH WAS MAJOR! (You can read about other reasons to book tours in this post). In fact, they let the tour groups enter an hour before the museum is even open for individual entrance. This allowed us to actually view the rooms and art without being smothered by the crowds. We just barely got a taste of it when we were heading out, and eyed the massively long lines waiting to get in. Our tour took us through the main highlights over about 2 hours, talking to the history of the rooms and the art. I really wished I had studied up on my old humanities courses before the visit!
Travel Tip: Keep some money on hand (Euro or USD works) so you can buy some of the souvenirs from the guys selling them outside the Hermitage – it’s the best deal you are going to get on some of the Russian nesting dolls and a few other items!
Xx
Kali