St Petersburg's two great art museums stand ten minutes apart, and on a short trip you have to choose between them. The difference is not size or prestige — it is subject matter.
The Hermitage is about world art inside an imperial palace. The Russian Museum is about Russian art, and only that.
What each one actually is
The Hermitage gives you two experiences at once. First the Winter Palace itself: state staircases, throne rooms, parquet and gilding — the imperial residence as an exhibit in its own right. Second the collection: Italians, Dutch, Spanish masters, antiquity, Egypt, and across the square in the General Staff Building, the Impressionists along with Matisse and Picasso.
Which brings us to the Hermitage's defining quality: it is vast and exhausting. Something like a mile and a half of state rooms, and after two hours the eye stops distinguishing one painting from another. This is not a museum you finish — it is one you pick a route through.
The Russian Museum holds the largest collection of Russian art anywhere, from icons to the avant-garde. Here hang the paintings every Russian grows up knowing: Bryullov's "The Last Day of Pompeii", Aivazovsky's "The Ninth Wave", Repin's "Barge Haulers on the Volga". Its main building, the Mikhailovsky Palace, is handsome too, but it does not overwhelm you: the rooms are human-sized, the route is legible, and the crowds are far thinner.
Like the Hermitage, the Russian Museum occupies several buildings — besides the Mikhailovsky Palace there are the Marble Palace, the Stroganov Palace and St Michael's Castle. Tickets are separate, so check which address you actually want before setting out.
Which one suits you
First time in St Petersburg, one museum for the whole trip. The Hermitage — not because it is better, but because it is palace and museum at once, two essential Petersburg experiences in one building.
You have already done the Louvre, the Prado, the National Gallery. Then the Russian Museum. You have seen European painting; you almost certainly have not seen Bryullov or Repin.
Travelling with children. The Russian Museum. It is smaller, calmer, and narrative paintings like "The Last Day of Pompeii" hold attention far better than an enfilade of golden halls.
You dislike crowds. The Russian Museum, without hesitation. In season the Hermitage funnels a dense stream of visitors along one and the same ceremonial route.
You came for the Impressionists. The Hermitage — but the General Staff Building across Palace Square, not the Winter Palace. It is also quieter and more comfortable than the main building.
How much time to allow
- Hermitage, Winter Palace: three hours minimum, realistically four or five. Two hours buys you the state rooms and a couple of collections, no more.
- General Staff Building: another two hours, separately.
- Russian Museum, Mikhailovsky Palace: two and a half to three hours, and that is genuinely enough.
Doing both in one day is a bad idea. That is six or seven hours of painting, and the second half will not register. If you have several days, separate them and put a walk in between.
