State Hermitage Museum, Russia

State Hermitage Museum. Between 1764 and 1775, Catherine the Great set out, in a race with rulers whose treasures were much richer than the Russians, to acquire some of the most beautiful works of art in the world. The result was the Small Hermitage, completed in 1770 by Valen de la Motte.
The Old Hermitage was built by Yuri Felten in 1783. It houses some of the works of art owned by the imperial family. The New Hermitage was built in 1852 during the reign of Nicholas I, grandson of Catherine the Great. Its facade is especially impressive. It is decorated with ten male figures made of monolithic gray granite blocks that serve to support the portico. Here you can see works by Florentine, Venetian and other Italian masters. Some of them are: Madonna Benoit and Madonna Liszt of Leonardo da Vinci; Michelangelo's bent boy; two works by Raphael and many more. others.
The love of the Empresses Elizabeth and Catherine for French art can be judged by the number of works exhibited in the museum. The Hermitage's collection of works of French art is the second largest in the world after that of the Louvre. The most interesting and most difficult to access sector of the Hermitage is the Gallery of Jewels, also called the Golden Hall. The rich collection of gold, silver and royal jewels is worth seeing.