The State Hermitage Museum is one of the world’s largest and oldest art museums, spanning the Winter Palace and four connected buildings along the Neva River in St. Petersburg. Founded by Catherine the Great in 1764, it now holds more than three million items ranging from Old Master paintings to Scythian gold.
Highlights include Rembrandt’s Return of the Prodigal Son and Danae, Leonardo da Vinci’s Benois Madonna and Madonna Litta, Michelangelo’s Crouching Boy (the only Michelangelo sculpture in Russia), the mechanical golden Peacock Clock, and the General Staff Building’s wing of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works by Monet, Van Gogh, and Picasso.
The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10:30am to 6pm, with extended hours until 9pm on Wednesdays and Fridays, and is closed Mondays. Booking timed tickets in advance helps avoid long queues at the entrance.