Page 16 - (DK Eyewitness) Top 10 Travel Guide - St. Petersburg

14 ❯❯ Top 10 St Petersburg Highlights

The Hermitage

This grand ensemble of buildings on the bank of the
Neva river houses one of the world’s greatest art
collec tions. Built up by successive tsars, the museum
boasts masterpieces by Picasso and Rembrandt, as well
as prehistoric, Classical and Oriental art exhibits. It also
contains the Winter Palace, the pre-revolutionary
residence of the tsars and headquarters for the
Provisional Government after the 1917 Revolution
(see p38). It’s said that it would take 11 years to
examine every one of the Hermitage’s exhibits.

Palace Square
1
This imposing square (below), designed by
Carlo Rossi, overlooks the Hermitage’s main
entrance and was the setting for the Bloody Sunday
massacre of 1905 (see p38).

Winter Palace
Raphael
2 5
Loggias
The opulent Winter
Palace was built for Tsarina This corridor (below) is
Elizabeth between 1754 and a copy of the Vatican’s
1762. It contains the magnificent famous 16th­century
Malachite Room, decorated with gallery, with 52 chrono­
over two tonnes of ornamental logical biblical sce nes.
stone, and archi tect Francesco
Bartolomeo Rastrelli’s master­
piece, the Main Staircase.
General Staff
3
Building
The Impressionist and Post­
Impressionist collection has
moved to new galleries within
this 19th­century building.
Atlantes
4
Ten 5­m­ (16­ft­) tall granite Atlantes (above)
prop up the Hermitage’s former public entrance.
A tradi tion is to rub the toe of one and make a wish.

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