24. The General Staff Building at the Hermitage
The Hermitage museums are open late on Wednesday and Friday evenings - until 9:00 at night. Work ends an hour earlier for me on Fridays than other days of the week (4:30 instead of 5:30 pm), so I reach the city center by 5:30 on Fridays. The Hermitage is a 10 minute walk from the Nevsky Prospekt Metro station, so it's convenient to stop by for a few hours before a late dinner to enjoy some priceless works of art.
I loved the Winter Palace during my first visit in early May, but it no longer holds any mid-19th through 21st century works. Those were all moved a few years ago to the General Staff building on the opposite side of Palace Square. Unlike the Winter Palace, the entire General Staff Building is not exclusively dedicated for use as a museum. The western wing is still used as one of Russia's four regional military headquarters, with the eastern wing now used as Hermitage exhibit galleries. The building is more than half a kilometer long, so there is plenty of room for both uses.
The exterior of the General Staff building is quite impressive, particularly with the large arch that joins the two wings. However, due to its history as an office building rather than a palace (like seemingly every other building in central St. Petersburg), the artwork is really the star of the show once you're inside. The top floor features hundreds and hundreds of Impressionist masterpieces - I can't imagine that there is a larger quantity Impressionist paintings in one gallery anywhere in the world, except for a few major museums in Paris. The next floor down has some great 17th and 18th century military costumes and a variety of paintings. The ground floor was a bit strange - there are very few exhibits spread across an extensive series of rooms and large internal courtyards. There will certainly be room for future expansion if the museum decides to mount larger temporary exhibitions or to put more of its collection on display.
I spent a bit longer than two hours at the General Staff building a couple Fridays ago, which makes for a long day after work and commuting, but sure beats sitting at home as a fun start to the weekend. And at this time of year, it's still light until well after 10 pm, so it felt like daytime even as I was finishing dinner at a Georgian restaurant off Nevsky Prospekt.
I loved the Winter Palace during my first visit in early May, but it no longer holds any mid-19th through 21st century works. Those were all moved a few years ago to the General Staff building on the opposite side of Palace Square. Unlike the Winter Palace, the entire General Staff Building is not exclusively dedicated for use as a museum. The western wing is still used as one of Russia's four regional military headquarters, with the eastern wing now used as Hermitage exhibit galleries. The building is more than half a kilometer long, so there is plenty of room for both uses.
The exterior of the General Staff building is quite impressive, particularly with the large arch that joins the two wings. However, due to its history as an office building rather than a palace (like seemingly every other building in central St. Petersburg), the artwork is really the star of the show once you're inside. The top floor features hundreds and hundreds of Impressionist masterpieces - I can't imagine that there is a larger quantity Impressionist paintings in one gallery anywhere in the world, except for a few major museums in Paris. The next floor down has some great 17th and 18th century military costumes and a variety of paintings. The ground floor was a bit strange - there are very few exhibits spread across an extensive series of rooms and large internal courtyards. There will certainly be room for future expansion if the museum decides to mount larger temporary exhibitions or to put more of its collection on display.
I spent a bit longer than two hours at the General Staff building a couple Fridays ago, which makes for a long day after work and commuting, but sure beats sitting at home as a fun start to the weekend. And at this time of year, it's still light until well after 10 pm, so it felt like daytime even as I was finishing dinner at a Georgian restaurant off Nevsky Prospekt.
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