 | It is difficult to imagine Saint Petersburg without this great museum, attracting visitors from the entire world. The Hermitage along with the Louver in Paris, the National Gallery in London and the Prado in Madrid ranks as one of the world’s largest and greatest collections of art. The date of its foundation is considered to be 1764, the year when Catherine II purchased 225 paintings from the merchant Gotzkowski. Today, the collection numbers over 3 million items among them the works of art of prehistoric culture, Egyptian art, Antiquities, Scythian gold, great collections of Western European paintings and sculptures (from Picasso to Rembrandt). The museum’s architecture will also impress with its solemnity and elegance – the museum being housed in the former Winter Palace of the Russian Tsars |