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Hermitage[er´´mEtAzh´] Pronunciation Key, museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, one of the world's foremost houses of art. It was reconstructed in the neoclassical style in the 19th cent. from the original pavilion palace erected by Catherine II. Although opened to the public in 1852, it contained only the imperial collections until 1917. There are now more than 40,000 drawings, 500,000 engravings, and 8,000 paintings of the Flemish, French, Dutch, Spanish, and Italian schools, including many by Rembrandt, Rubens, Picasso, and Matisse, which represent only a fraction of the riches of the museum. The most popular section, "The Heroic Past of the Russian People," includes the War Museum and a tribute to Peter the Great. Another part is devoted to the life and works of Pushkin. The collections include the art of India, China, Egypt, pre-Columbian America, Greece, and Rome, as well as Scythian art from the Eurasian steppe. There are also tapestries, ivories, and furniture. Russian art is exhibited separately in Mikhailovsky Palace, which was opened in 1898.
See V. Suslov, ed., Great Art Treasures of the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg (2 vol., 1995) and the catalog Hidden Treasures Revealed: Impressionist Masterpieces and Other Important French Paintings Preserved by the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg (1995).
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