05. The Hermitage Museum

St. Petersburg is known as the cultural capital of Russia (if not the entire world) and the numerous amazing museums here are among the reasons why. And the best of the lot is the Hermitage Museum. This was the one sight that I was most looking forward to during my time here. It has multiple buildings (all historic), tons of amazing art in its collections, and more items on display than a person could reasonably see in a year, let alone a single visit. 

Last weekend, I spent a full day at the main museum complex, several interconnected buildings collectively known as the Winter Palace. This was the official residence of Russian monarchs for almost two centuries. Here's a nice view (it's the large green and white building on the right) from the colonnade of St. Isaac's cathedral (more on that in a future post) --

There aren't a whole lot of museums where the building itself is as much of the focus as the artwork inside:

But, make no mistake - the collection of art is second to none. One room has several Leonardo da Vinci paintings, and another room has literally dozens of Rembrandt paintings. And those are just two of several hundred rooms! Here were just a few of the paintings that I connected with:

 

These are all old master paintings - all the artwork from the mid-nineteenth century to the present is displayed in other Hermitage buildings that I have not visited yet. I spent 6.5 hours in the Winter Palace and saw just about every room, although many only for a brief time. 

My plan is to make a membership donation in the next few weeks, which will allow me unlimited access to the Winter Palace as well as the other four complexes that comprise the Hermitage. That should give me plenty of time over the next year to get really familiar with the institution and the collections. 

I also enjoyed the ornate chandeliers in many of the rooms:

Not to mention the collections of archaeological and ethnographic materials from around the world. Plus, there was beautiful furniture on display all over the place, much of it designed by architects who worked on different sections of the Winter Palace over the centuries --

All in all, the Winter Palace at the Hermitage Museum lived up to - if not exceeded - its reputation. I've been to the Met, the Louvre, and the British Museum (among many others), but in my estimation, the Hermitage just might stand alone at the top of the list.