art museum in St. Petersburg founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great as a court museum. It adjoined the Winter Palace and served as a private gallery for the art amassed by the empress.
Under Nicholas I the Hermitage was reconstructed (1840–52), and it was opened to the public in 1852. Following the October Revolution of 1917, the imperial collections became public property. The museum is housed within five interconnected buildings, including the Winter Palace (1754–62) and the Small, Old, and New Hermitages.
The Hermitage has a rich collection of western European painting since the Middle Ages, including many masterpieces by Renaissance Italian and Baroque Dutch, Flemish, and French painters. Russian art is well represented. The Hermitage also has extensive holdings of Oriental art, especially noteworthy being its collection of the art of Central Asia.
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