What do you like to see in a museum? Architecture, history, art, culture, interiors, antique collections, sculpture, paintings? The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg has it all.
Fact: Did you know that the Museum has about 3 million exhibits on display?
The State Hermitage Museum is the second-largest museum in the world after the Louvre in Paris. The total area is ~720,000 square feet. Massive, isn’t it?
↪️ Download your free Hermitage Museum guidebook ↩️
Wikipedia says that there are totally
- 1,886 doors
- 1,945 windows
- 1,500 rooms
- 117 staircases.
I am sure that the numbers are now even higher.
Currency: Russian Ruble (RUB)
- 1 € ~ 86 RUB
- 1 Indian Rupee (INR) ~ 1 RUB
Entrance fee: 500 RUB
The admission is free every third Thursday of the month. But it may change. I visited on Wednesday and luckily it was free entry.
Look into the Hermitage official website for more information. You can even buy tickets online.
Opening times: They are complicated. The Museum complex, Gold rooms, General staff building, all have separate timings. The best thing you could do is to look at the Hermitage website directly before your visit.
Blog Contents
Winter palace
The walk starts with the Winter Palace, the first among the 5 buildings from the Hermitage museum in St. Petersburg. Inside the palace, everything glitters. The grand staircase is called the Jordan staircase. It was like a royal walk and you feel like a King (just for few seconds and reality strikes)
Built-in the 18th century, the Russian Royal family used the palace as the main residence for almost 155 years. The architecture is in Elizabethan Baroque, the green and white mixture. The intrinsic design is something to watch out for.
Hermitage Museum first look
I was blown away by the size and quickly realized, ‘Oh my God, I can’t complete this today. It’s like a maze’. Going through each hall inside is like walking through history.
You need at least two days completely to see the museum, similar to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. But if you are on a day trip to St. Petersburg like me, then spend a couple of hours maximum. But it doesn’t do any justice compared to the museum volume.
Hermitage rooms
There are over 1,500 rooms in the Hermitage collection and practically not possible for anyone to see everything. Some of them are
- Room of Ancient Egypt
- Room of Bronze age
- Culture and art of Nomadic tribes in 6th century BC
- Moorish dining room
- French art rooms
- The gold and diamond rooms
Pick your favorite rooms from the Hermitage list and try visiting it. I have picked two of my favorites below.
1. The Gold room
It’s the treasure gallery of the museum. Dating back to the 4th millennium BC, there is an antique collection of rings, bracelets, earrings, teacups, chairs, and clothes.
The other notable thing in the room includes the gold horse attire containing 16,000 diamonds presented to King Nicholas.
2. Room of ancient Egypt
There is a dedicated area for Egyptian exhibits. The mindblowing one for all should be the one from the family of Royal Mummies.
I felt that the exhibits showed a glimpse of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
Palace square
The Museum has 5 interconnected buildings that form like a square. In the center, you have the Palace square with the flags from all the countries.
Try finding out your country flag. It’s fun.
River Neva is close to the square. You can even stroll through the riverside post the museum visit.
What you can expect?
Some call it the Winter Palace, some call it the Hermitage Museum. Both refer to the same. I highly recommend you to visit the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg.
If you are a museum lover, then you will be busy the whole day. Just make sure that you don’t get lost inside. Near the exit, there is a gift shop for souvenirs and a small cafe to refresh.
Overall experience: 
out of 5
Time of visit: May 2016
” I’d rather live in a cave with a view of a palace than live in a palace with a view of a cave ” – Anonymous