The Hermitage/Winter Palace - From 1732 to 1917, the official residence of the Russian Tsars. It is also one of the largest and oldest museums of the world, it was founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great and open to the public since 1852.The collection of the State Hermitage includes more than three million works of art and artefacts of the world culture. Among them are paintings, graphic works, sculptures and works of art, archaeological finds and numismatic material.