Dancingbeartour

The Hermitage was founded in 1764 as a private museum of Russian tsarina, Catherine The Great. Catherine was never interested in painting but to have a collection was a matter of prestige- all European monarchs had their own ones, why should she be an exception? Each next Russian tsar contributed to the treasures and by the end of the XIX century it became one of the best in the world! In 1837 Royal collection became available for the wide public: a special building, New Hermitage, was created by order of Nicholas I The 1917 October Revolution, on one hand, enriched the collection greatly as many masterpieces from private collections of Russian nobility became part of the museum, from the other hand, Bolsheviks started selling treasures abroad as the young soviet state was in need of money. Right now the collection is more than 3mln pieces of art and a visitor have to spend 9 years inside the museum if he wishes to enjoy each piece of art during 1 minute Any standard tour includes a vi...