The Hermitage

The Winter Palace itself is an architectural statement of imperial ambition: a long baroque facade of green and white marble overlooking the Neva, its 1,057 rooms arranged around four inner courtyards. The building was designed by Bartolomeo Rastrelli and completed in 1762 for Empress Elizabeth; it has survived revolution, war and flood to remain one of the most magnificent examples of eighteenth-century European palace architecture. Entering through the Jordan Staircase, with its marble columns and gilded stucco archways, immediately establishes the scale on which the Romanovs operated.

The collection's scope is dizzying in a way that smaller specialist museums are not. Egyptian mummies occupy one wing; the next contains Greek and Roman sculpture; three large rooms are devoted to the prehistoric finds from southern Russia. The Italian Renaissance section includes works by Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, while the Dutch Golden Age rooms hold paintings by Rembrandt and Frans Hals. To try to see everything in a single visit is to guarantee a visual headache; the only sensible strategy is to accept partial coverage and return.

Rembrandt's The Return of the Prodigal Son, housed in the museum's Dutch gallery, is one of the most emotionally resonant paintings in the entire collection. The dark palette, the kneeling figure with arms outstretched, the father's weathered hands: these are details that reveal themselves slowly over several minutes of sustained looking, and the museum's policy of allowing close approach — there are no barriers in front of the canvas — means the painting rewards the unhurried visitor in a way that the online reproduction cannot.

The state rooms on the second floor — the Alberti Hall, the Pavilion Hall, the Nicholas Hall — are as significant as the art they contain. Ceilings painted by Russian court artists, parquet floors in geometric patterns, gilded everything: the visual effect is overwhelming in a way that serves the original purpose of impressing foreign ambassadors and domestic rivals. The Armorial Hall, with its massive chandelier and painted ceiling showing Russian and foreign heraldic arms, gives a clear sense of how the empire presented itself to itself.

Beyond the permanent collection the Hermitage also mounts major temporary exhibitions, often in partnership with other top-tier international institutions. Recent shows have included blockbuster exhibitions of Impressionist paintings and ancient Mesopotamian art, and the museum has the space and the prestige to attract work that rarely travels. Check the website before visiting to see what temporary exhibitions coincide with your trip.

The collection spans from prehistory to the early twentieth century, making it one of the few places where a visitor can move directly from Egyptian antiquities to French Impressionism in the same building.

The Winter Palace's baroque interior is an artwork in itself, rivaluing the museum's collection for architectural interest.

The museum's holdings of Russian art, Dutch Golden Age painting and Italian Renaissance work are considered among the finest in the world.