Guided Tour to the Hermitage
Tour Overview
Experience visiting the Hermitage museum with private English speaking guide. Walk through the galleries of magnificent halls of the Winter Palace. Learn the history of the Russian Tzars. Enjoy the masterpieces of Leonardo da Vinci and Rembrandt. Meet your guide at the Palace square before entering the Hermitage museum.
- Price €120
- Group up to 7 persons
- Duration 3 hours
- Transportation By foot
- Activity level Moderate
- Unavailable on Monday
Tour Highlights
- Winter Palace with royal interiors
- Collection of Italian Renaissance including Leonardo and Raphael
- Masterpieces of Dutch painters
Included
- English speaking guide
- Hermitage ticket
- Acoustic system
The Winter Palace
The Winter Palace, the oldest, the largest and the most famous building of the Hermitage Museum complex. It was commissioned by Peter the Great’s daughter Elizabeth as her winter residence and it was designed in the Russian baroque style by the architect Rastrelli and built between 1754 and 1762. For over 150 years the Winter Palace remained the main residence of the Russian royal family – the Romanovs.
The October revolution of 1917 started with the storming of the Winter Palace, which was considered by the Bolsheviks the symbol of monarchy. On 25 October 1917, following the blank shot from the cruiser Aurora, revolutionary soldiers and sailors stormed the palace and arrested the Provisional Government. As a result of the revolution, the Soviet government headed by Lenin was formed. The Winter Palace was nationalized and became part of the State Hermitage Museum. Fortunately, the palace wasn’t destroyed by the revolution. All of its interior decorations, as well as the priceless art collection, survived.
The Hermitage
The State Hermitage Museum is one the greatest museums in the world. It is famous not only for its enormous collection of art from all over the world from ancient times to nowadays, but also for its rich history and unique interior decorations. The history of the Hermitage dates back to the middle of the 18th century. In 1764 Catherine the Great bought 225 paintings by West European masters and, for the display of the collection, a small building was constructed next to the Winter Palace on the Neva River Embankment. Catherine the Great called it the Hermitage. It is a French word L’Eremitage which means solitary place. Since that time the collection was growing all the time, new buildings were added on one after another.
After the revolution of 1917 the Winter Palace, which was the residence of the Russian tsars, was nationalized and turned into a museum. Nowadays, 250 years later, the State Hermitage Museum numbers about 3 mln exhibits and it is a complex which is comprised of several buildings, five of them are interconnected and situated one next to another: the Winter Palace, the Small Hermitage, the Old Hermitage, the Hermitage Theatre and the New Hermitage.