The Hermitage is the largest museum in the world, renowned for its valuable collection, which contains more than three million exhibits. The museum's worldwide fame was also brought by its buildings, which form an incomparable ensemble in one of the most beautiful locations in Saint Petersburg. The main building of the Hermitage is the Winter Palace, built for the daughter of Peter I — Empress Elizabeth Petrovna — to a design by the Italian architect Rastrelli in 1762.
The grand construction of the palace took seven years. Some 2,500 stonemasons worked on laying the walls, and glazing all the rooms required 23,000 panes of glass. The Winter Palace was the residence of the Russian emperors for 150 years. Its architecture astonishingly combines Russian daring and European orderliness, pomp and restraint. The palace contains more than 460 rooms, whose interiors were designed by the best architects of Russia and Europe.
During the reign of Catherine II, the buildings of the Small and Large Hermitage were erected next to the palace. Thus, a whole complex of structures grew up on the banks of the Neva. In 1837 the Winter Palace suffered a terrible fire, but thanks to the steadfastness of the soldiers it was possible to save the other buildings of the ensemble and the imperial art collections. The restoration of the Winter Palace took 15 months; it was overseen by prominent Russian architects Vasily Petrovich Stasov and Alexander Pavlovich Bryullov.
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