St. Petersburg

Russian Museum

Russian Museum – the world’s largest museum of Russian art, a unique architectural and artistic complex in the historic center of St. Petersburg.

It is the country’s first state museum of Russian fine art. The decision on the basis of it was taken by Alexander III. Later, in 1895 Nicholas II signed a decree “On the establishment of the establishment of a special titled” Russian Museum of Emperor Alexander III of “and to submit, for this purpose acquired by the treasury of the Mikhailovsky Palace with all the wings belonging to him, services, and a garden.” In May of the same year began the restructuring of the palace premises for future museum exhibitions (architect V. Svinin).

The museum’s collection consists of about 400 000 exhibits and covers all historical periods and trends in the development of Russian art, the main types and genres, trends and schools for over 1,000 years: an X on the twenty-first century.

Today the Russian Museum – a vast museum complex, the largest authoritative Research, Restoration and Storage and methodical center, supervising the work of all art museums in the country.