Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia

Hermitage

The Hermitage is one of my most favorite museums in the world. The State Hermitage is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It was founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great and has been open to the public since 1852. Its collections, of which only a small part is on permanent display, comprise over three million items, including the largest collection of paintings in the world. The collections occupy a large complex of six historic buildings along Palace Embankment, including the Winter Palace, a former residence of Russian emperors.

Hermitage Winter Palace

Of six buildings of the main museum complex, four, named the Winter Palace, Small Hermitage, Old Hermitage and New Hermitage, are partially open to the public. The other two are the Hermitage Theatre and the Reserve House.

Grand Staircase

Sleigh

Wall Detail

Cupid and Psyche

Cupid

Museum Feet at End of Day

St. Isaac's Cathedral, St. Petersburg, Russia

St. Isaac's Cathedral was originally the city's main church and the largest cathedral in Russia. It was built between 1818 and 1858, by the French-born architect Auguste Montferrand, to be one of the most impressive landmarks of the Russian Imperial capital. One hundred and eighty years later the gilded dome of St. Isaac's still dominates the skyline of St. Petersburg.

The cathedral's facades are decorated with sculptures and massive granite columns (made of single pieces of red granite), while the interior is adorned with incredibly detailed mosaic icons, paintings and columns made of malachite and lapis lazuli. A large, brightly colored stained glass window of the "Resurrected Christ" takes pride of place inside the main altar. The church, designed to accommodate 14,000 standing worshipers, was closed in the early 1930s by the communist soviet government. Under the Soviet government, the building was stripped of religious trappings and reopened as a museum. Today, church services are held here only on major ecclesiastical occasions.

Beautiful Mosaic

Heavenly Dome

Boat to St. Petersburg, Russia

We took the boat overnight to St. Petersburg, Russia.  I have never seen so much herring before.  They must have had at least herring 40 different ways.

Neva River, St. Petersburg

Neptune's Trident and Sea Horses on Bridge

Neo-classic Architecture

Saint George and the Dragon