The Hermitage Gallery

I'd like to tell you about the Hermitage Gallery, one of the largest and well known museums in the world. Two months ago together with my classmates I was on an exertion in S. Petersburg. I visited many places of interest including the Hermitage Gallery. I was greatly impressed by visiting this museum of art. It was founded in 1764 by Catherine the Second when she bought 225 pictures in Berlin. Now the Hermitage consists of five buildings.

Now I'd like to tell you about pictures, sculptures and other works of art I've seen in the Hermitage Gallery. A great number of wonderful pictures are offered there. Everyone can find some kind of pictures to enjoy, for example the pictures by the world's greatest masters : Michelangelo, Raphael, Rembrandt, Rubens and many others. All great schools of paintings are represented there: Italian, Spanish, German etc.

A few words about sculptures. I saw a lot of vases, statues and fountains. The most beautiful thing I have ever seen was the fountain belonged to Alexander the Second.

Among other outstanding pieces of art I saw the coach of Catherine the Second and beautiful gobelens. It took 60 years to made one of these gobelens.

In conclusion, I'd like to stress that no one can see everything for the one visit. To enjoy the Hermitage Gallery you must visit it several times.

The State Hermitage in St Petersburg is one of the world's most outstanding art museums. It is the largest fine arts museum in Russia.

World famous is the collection of West-European paintings covering a span of about seven hundreds years, from the 13th to the 20th century, and comprising works by Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Titian, El Greco. Velasquez, Murillo; outstanding paintings by Rembrandt, Vandyke, Rubens; a remarkable group of French 18th-centure canvases, and Impressionist and Post Impressionist paintings. The collection illustrates the art of Italy, Spain, Holland, Belgium, Germany, Austria, France, Britain, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and some other countries. The West-European Department also includes a fine collection of European sculpture, containing works by Michelangelo, Canova, Falconet, Houdon, Rodin and many other eminent masters. The Hermitage, together with the Pushkin Fine Arts Museum in Moscow, must be ranked among the richest in the world in respect of Impressionist art.

In addition to the works of Western masters, the Hermitage has sections devoted to the arts of India, China, Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Pre-Columbian America, Greece and Rome, as well as a department of prehistoric art, not to mention a section devoted to Scythian art. People come to admire the collections of tapestry, precious textiles, weapons, ivories, pottery, porcelain and furniture as well.