When we visited The Hermitage Museum in June of 2012, our expectations were fairly high, but we knew that it was consistently viewed as number two in the "Museum World" to the Louvre. With that in mind, we entered the former palace and were immediately blown away by the museum's incredible retention of its past as a palace.

Many museums that have moved into old palaces have stripped the building's previous, regal decor and turned the once majestic building into a bland warehouse full of the world's most precious art pieces. On the flipside, The Hermitage Museum has kept to its roots as a palace and delivered a unique experience to the world of displayed art.

Is the art collection at The Hermitage the best in the world? Compared to other museums, an expert probably would say no. Is the Palace itself the most magnificent historical decor in the world. Maybe not. However, the Hermitage does something that, we think, no other palace or museum does: it combines them both, to provide a beautiful venue in which to view prized art.

We highly recommend checking out this unique location that will have you asking the same question we continue to ask ourselves, is The Hermitage better than The Louvre? (Gasp!)

 

• The Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg Russia is a gallery of world art, founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great after she purchased 255 paintings from Berlin, Germany.
• The Hermitage contains over 2.7 million exhibits and displays.
• The Museum is made up of six different buildings, including the Winter Palace (formerly the residence of Russian royalty). In addition, the museum has exhibition centers throughout the world in which it displays its various collections.
• The Winter Palace is the most extravagant building among the six buildings representing The Hermitage. The three-story green and white palace contains 1,786 doors, 1,945 windows and 1,057 halls and rooms.