The Hermitage is one of the largest museums in the world. It is located on the banks of the Neva River in St. Petersburg.
The State Hermitage Museum consists of six buildings, five of which are open to the public: Winter Palace, Small Hermitage, Old Hermitage, New Hermitage, and Hermitage Theatre. A rich collection of fine art, precious stones, medals, coins and other art objects are featured in an incredible total of 350 exhibition halls.
Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘Madonna Litta’, Rubens's ‘The Descent from the Cross’, and van Rijn’s ‘The Return of the Prodigal Son’ are just a few of the famous artworks found in the Western European Art collection. Of course, a large part of the collections is dedicated to Russian art and culture, including Russian painters, and icons and altars from Orthodox churches.
Over 150 years of history
Empress Catherine the Great founded the collection in 1764 with the intention of increasing her personal prestige, and it was first opened to the public in 1852. The collections grew over time, and the post-revolutionary nationalization in 1917 further enriched the gallery with more paintings and applied art.
The Tsars had their palace rooms decorated very lavishly, as they were used for festive occasions. As such, the chambers themselves are also very interesting and uniquely decorated.
Renowned actor introduces art
The award-winning actor Toni Servillo (European Film Award Best Actor for ‘The Great Beauty’/ Italian: ‘La grande bellezza’) is your guide on the way through the museum in the documentary. He explains the history of this famous museum and of the breath-taking city of St. Petersburg over the past 250 years. Servillo acquaints art lovers with Russian and Soviet history, but mainly with the works of incredible artists, including Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Van Eyck, Rubens, Titian and Rembrandt, which will be introduced for the first time in high definition on the big screen.