A long wander in the Hermitage - St. Petersburg, Russia

St. Petersburg is one of my favorite cities. The historic center is a beautiful place, especially during the endless summer days when the sun sets after 11 pm. Perhaps my favorite thing about the city, however, is its history. Although a young city by Russian standards at just over 300 years, Petersburg has had a disproportionate influence on the world's cultural, artistic, and even political history. 

The Winter Palace, on the banks of the Neva River, is in many ways the cultural epicenter of this cultured city. The sprawling palace is one of four buildings that compose the State Hermitage Museum, founded by Catharine II in the mid-eighteenth century to house her growing collections of ancient and contemporary art. Additions by later rulers and a couple of the collections of two leading Russian collectors of French nineteenth and early twentieth century art have created one of the world's greatest museums. 

Below, a few images of the Winter Palace, as well as a few of the treasures found therein. 

The Winter Palace, viewed from Palace Square

The Jordan Staircase, the ceremonial entrance to the Winter
Palace and the main entrance to the modern Hermitage

The Malachite Room. It was in a small dining room off of this
that the Provisional Government surrendered to the
 Bol'sheviks in 1917. 

A typical gallery in the Hermitage

The Peacock Clock room in the "New Hermitage,"
designed for Catharine the Great

The world's oldest rug - from a Siberian burial sight - circa 400 BC.
Although the museum's collection of ancient Greek and Roman
art, and its modern European paintings, are not to be missed,
this exhibit of ancient Siberian artifacts from Tuva may be
one of the highlights of the museum.

Return of the Prodigal Son - Rembrandt - 1660s