Russian Museum

The Russian Museum in St Petersburg, along with Tretiakov Gallery in Moscow, is the largest museum of Russian art in the world. It treasures rich collections of ancient and modern art by Russian and Soviet painters, sculptures, and graphic artists.

The museum was founded in 1895 in honor of Alexander III by order of his son Nikolai II. The original collection comprised works from the Hermitage, Gatchina Palace, Academy of Arts Museum and private collections. In 1898 the Russian Museum was open in the Mikhailovsky Palace, built by K. Rossi in 1819-1825.

Today the Russian Museum collections are housed in several buildings (Mikhailovsky Palace, Mikhailovsky Castle, Marble Palace, and Stroganov Palace). Over 400,000 exhibits represent all the stages and all the genres of Russian art - from ancient icons to works dating back to the end of the 20th century.

One of the most fascinating collections of the Russian Museum is the collection of icons, which numbers more than 5,000 items. The oldest icons date back as far as the 12th century. The museum keeps works of Old Russian applied art as well. Some of them date to the 10th century.

The Russian Museum always runs various exhibitions dedicated to different aspects of Russian art - from ancient to very modern.