Return to the Hermitage. Slow Reading. Information for Visitors

The three main rules

• Electronic tickets are to be purchased through the website tickets.hermitagemuseum.org.

• A ticket is valid for a single visit to the museum for a particular time slot and one of the available fixed routes.

• All visitors must wear personal protection.

Planning a visit

• Opening hours for the Main Museum Complex and the General Staff building: on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays from 11.00 am to 7.00 pm. On Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays the museum stays open until 8.00 pm. Time slots: 11.00 am, 11.30 am, 12.00 pm, 12.30 pm, 1.00 pm, 1.30 pm, 2.00 pm, 2.30 pm, 3.00 pm, 4.00 pm, 4.30 pm and 5.00 pm. Evening time slots on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays are at 5.30 pm and 6.00 pm.

• Time slots for visits to the Gold Rooms as part of a tour group: Time slots from Tuesday to Sunday: 11.00 am, 11.30 am, 12.00 pm, 12.30 pm, 1.00 pm, 1.30 pm, 2.00 pm, 2.30 pm, 3.00 pm, 4.00 pm, 4.30 pm and 5.00 pm. Additional evening time slots on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 5.30 pm and 6.00 pm.

• Each time slot is a period of 2 hours from the starting time.

• We recommend arriving at the museum 15 minutes before the start of your time slot.

• Visitors will be allowed to enter the display area no later than 30 minutes after the start of their time slot.

Entry to the Main Museum Complex is from Palace Square through the Great Courtyard of the Winter Palace, with visitors exiting onto Palace Embankment. Entry to the General Staff building is from Palace Square, with visitors exiting near the Choristers’ (Pevchesky) Bridge over the River Moika.

Fixed Routes

The Hermitage has devised several fixed routes that allow people to acquaint themselves with the Hermitage’s collections and its masterpieces, but each have a different emphasis for viewing. All the routes reflect the universal character of an encyclopaedic museum, the breadth and variety of its collections.

• Fixed Route No 1 around the Main Museum Complex (starting in the direction of the Jordan Staircase).
  This route primarily features the state rooms of the Winter Palace and the displays in the Old and New Hermitages. It is the best choice if you want your visit to concentrate on viewing Western European fine art and the Hermitage picture gallery, as well as acquainting yourself with the museum’s Classical Antiquities.
  You can view a plan of the route here. 

• Fixed Route No 2 around the Main Museum Complex (starting in the direction of the Church Staircase).
  Choosing this route will primarily give you access to the halls of the Winter Palace: palatial interiors and living apartments of the imperial family, the permanent displays of Russian culture and of the countries of the East, as well as British and French art. On the second part of the route, you will also be able to view some of the Winter Palace state rooms (beginning with the Armorial Hall), the Picture Gallery and the art of the Ancient World. Please note that most of fixed route No 2 is not equipped with lifts (elevators) and stair-lifts.
  You can view a plan of the route here.

• Fixed route for the General Staff building
  Choosing this route, you will see one of the world’s finest collections of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings: the Sergei Shchukin and Morozov Brothers Memorial Gallery, which also features masterpieces by Matisse, Picasso, Maurice Denis and many others. The route includes the Carl Fabergé memorial halls, the Museum of the Russian Guards and the display of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. You will also be able to acquaint yourself with art of the 20th and 21st centuries and view the temporary exhibition “Studio 4. The Enfilade”.
  You can find a detailed description of the route here.

Within the fixed routes visitors are able to make individual choices, deciding which halls to view in greater detail and which to pass by. At certain points, you will be able to decide which way to continue – depending on that choice, you will only be able to see particular halls. Members of the Hermitage staff will also be stationed at the junction points along the routes and be able to direct you to the hall or exhibit that particularly interests you. Movement around the displays is strictly one-way (for visitors’ convenience information signs have been installed accordingly).

The Gold Rooms and Gems of the Archaeological Collection

From 23 July, the State Hermitage is offering the opportunity to take a guided tour of the Gold Rooms, part of the museum’s Treasure Gallery, and also to view gems of the Hermitage’s archaeological collection and artistic arms from the East.
On a tour of the Gold Rooms, visitors will see the Siberian Collection of Peter I, treasures of ancient and mediaeval nomadic peoples. masterpieces created by craftsmen of Classical Antiquity and the lands of the East.

After the guided tour, participants can independently view the displays on the ground floor of the western wing of the Winter Palace (part of the Main Museum Complex). This is the location of the “Eastern Arsenal” and its famed collection of Eastern arms and armour from the 15th–19th centuries; the celebrated murals from ancient Penjikent and exhibits from Zoroastrian Sogdiana; works of art and cultural artefacts from the ancient state of Urartu; the world’s oldest surviving artistic carpets and fabrics from the Pazyryk burial mounds in the Altai mountains.

Visits to the Gold Rooms are only possible as part of a tour group of no more than 5 persons, in time slots 30 minutes apart (from 12 noon to 2.30 pm, then from 4 pm to 7 pm).

The total length of each time slot, including the guided tour and independent viewing of the other displays, is 2 hours.
Entry to the museum is through the Saltykov Entrance from the Great Courtyard of the Winter Palace. We recommend arriving at the meeting point for tour groups 15 minutes before the start of your tour.

Ticket-holders who arrive late for the tour will not be allowed into the Gold Rooms but will be able to independently view the display of the ancient and mediaeval art of Central Asia, the Caucasus and Southern Siberia, and the Eastern arms and armour of the 15th–19th centuries for the remaining duration of the time slot for which their tickets are valid.

Diamond Rooms of the Treasure Gallery

On show in the Diamond Rooms are unsurpassed masterpieces of the jeweller’s art from ancient times through to the early 20th century. Unique creations of ancient craftsmen, the works of Byzantine, Western European and Russian jewellers from the Middle Ages, outstanding pieces by masters of the jeweller’s art from the 18th–20th centuries, including works of Jérémie Pauzié, who was employed by three empresses, and products of the celebrated House of Fabergé; pieces of jewellery from the collections of members of the Romanov family and private St Petersburg collections; works of ecclesiastical art and diplomatic gifts received by the Russian court.

On the way to the tour of the Diamond Rooms, ticket-holders ascend the Jordan Staircase of the Winter Palace, pass through the grand Field Marshals’ Hall and the Ministerial Corridor, visiting one of the museum’s most beautiful rooms, the Pavilion Hall, home to the famous Peacock Clock, and go down the Council Staircase to pass through the displays of the art of Classical Antiquity – the Twenty-Column Hall, Augustus Hall and Hall of the Hellenistic Era.

The duration of a visit, including the guided tour and independent viewing of the displays, is 2 hours. After the guided tour, ticket-holders can independently view the displays of the art of Classical Antiquity and Ancient Egypt, and also visit those halls that are part of fixed route No 1 (entry by way of the Jordan Staircase), following the direction of movement determined by the museum.

Visits to the Diamond Rooms are only possible as part of a guided tour group of no more than 5 persons by time slots.

Tickets

Tickets are sold through the State Hermitage’s official website tickets.hermitagemuseum.org. Each ticket costs 500 roubles.

The price of an electronic guided tour ticket to visit the Gold Rooms and the archaeological collections in the Main Museum Complex is 600 roubles

The electronic ticket is valid for the chosen time slot and route only on one particular day. We recommend arriving at the museum 15 minutes before the start of your time slot. Visitors will be allowed to enter the display area no later than 45 minutes after the start of their time slot. After that moment, a ticket is no longer valid.

You can print out your ticket or store it in electronic form on a mobile device. To enter the museum, you will need to present the barcode to the reader at the turnstile. If you have any problems with the reader, you should consult the administrator on duty.

Electronic entry tickets can only be returned by the person who purchased them through the museum website. Visitors have the right to return tickets that they have purchased no later than three days before the date of their scheduled visit.

At present, tickets are on sale on the website for visits to the museum from 15 to 31 July 2020 only. This is because the new rules will be subject to constant adjustment depending on the epidemiological situation in the region. The Hermitage is open to suggestions and will take account of feedback when making changes to the arrangements for visiting the museum.

More details on the rules for purchasing and returning tickets can be found here. 

Members of the Hermitage Friends’ Club can obtain entry tickets (free of charge to Friends) for a particular time slot and fixed route by contacting the Friends’ Club office in advance, by telephone +7 (812) 710 90 05 or e-mail hermitage.friends@hermitage.ru.

Further details of the procedure that holders of personal membership cards of the Hermitage Friends’ Club should follow to reach the museum displays can be found in a special section of the website.

Concessions

Under the present circumstances, the Hermitage has been obliged to temporarily restrict the number of categories of visitors accorded the right to visit the museum at a reduced rate or free of charge. These measures are dictated by sanitary safety rules – direct inspection of documents confirming the right to a concession increases the risk of infection for both visitors and staff. As soon as the situation permits, the museum will be gradually returning to its previous social policy.

Heroes of the Soviet Union, Heroes of the Russian Federation and Full Members of the Order of Glory irrespective of citizenship have the right to visit the museum without queueing and with a ticket issued free of charge.

On 23 July 2020, and after that on every third Thursday of the month, the museum will be providing entry free of charge to those categories of citizens who have the right to acquire unpaid tickets under current Russian Federation legislation, which includes children under 18 and large families (with three or more children under 18).

Concessionary categories of citizens wishing to visit the Hermitage need to make a reservation through the special ticket-sale website tickets.hermitagemuseum.org. When completing the order on the web page, they should give details of the document that gives them the right to the concession. Before the start of their chosen time slot, these visitors will then need to exchange the reserved order for entry ticket(s) at the museum ticket office while presenting the documents they specified when ordering.

If the intention is for someone in a concessionary category to visit the Hermitage together with another person (e.g. a child with a parent or other relative), that other person should obtain an entry ticket for 500 roubles at the ticket office in addition to the concessionary order. Each visitor with a concessionary ticket can be accompanied by only one paying visitor who buys a ticket at the ticket office.

For more detailed information about the rules for visiting the museum and obtaining free-of-charge tickets, go here.

Health Safeguards

Before opening to visitors and between time slots, the halls will be cleaned and aired. Protective screens have been installed in places where visitors and staff will interact. Surfaces such as door handles with which people make contact are constantly being disinfected. Hand sanitizer dispensers have been installed in public areas.

All persons entering museum premises must wear personal protection. In the entrance zone special markings have been placed on the floor to enable you to quickly find the way to the start of your chosen route without getting too close to other visitors.

To meet sanitary-epidemiological requirements, a visit to the Main Museum Complex or General Staff building will be limited to a period of two hours and movement around the displays will be strictly one-way to avoid flows of people meeting each other from opposite directions. The number of visitors allotted to each time slot is limited to allow people to observe physical distancing and view the displays in comfort.

Anyone who has symptoms of a viral respiratory infection or is running a temperature must avoid visiting the museum.

Our new rules will allow us to safeguard the health of both visitors and museum staff.

Plans for the Future

From 1 August we plan to resume individual guided tours for small groups of no more than 5 persons.

From 1 August 2020 all the separate Hermitage facilities – the Winter Palace of Peter I, Menshikov Palace, Museum of the Imperial Porcelain Factory and Staraya Derevnya Restoration and Storage Centre – will also reopen to visitors.

The new rules will be subject to constant adjustment depending on the epidemiological situation in the region. Hermitage is open to suggestions and will take account of feedback when making changes to the arrangements for visiting the museum.