The State Russian Museum

The State Russian Museum is the world's largest collection of Russian fine art, founded by decree of Emperor Nicholas II in 1895 under the name "The Russian Museum of Emperor Alexander III." The Mikhailovsky Palace — one of the most magnificent palaces in Saint Petersburg, built between 1819 and 1825 by the architect Carlo Rossi for Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich, the youngest son of Paul I — was acquired by the treasury for the museum. After the grand duke's death, the palace was purchased by the state and rebuilt for museum use by the architect Vasily Svinyin in 1895–1898; the grand opening took place on 19 March 1898.

The museum's original collection was assembled from works transferred from the Hermitage, the Academy of Arts, the imperial palaces, and private collections — notably the major collection of portrait painting belonging to Prince Lobanov-Rostovsky. In the Soviet era the museum's holdings grew rapidly through nationalisation and the work of the State Museum Fund: by 1925 the painting collection already numbered more than three and a half thousand canvases. Today the Russian Museum's collection exceeds 410,000 items and spans the entire history of Russian art — from Old Russian icon painting to works of the 20th and 21st centuries, including works by Karl Bryullov, Ilya Repin, Vasily Surikov, Mikhail Vrubel and the masters of the early-20th-century Russian avant-garde.

The Russian Museum became the country's first state museum devoted exclusively to Russian fine art — before its founding, collections of Russian painting existed only as part of the holdings of the Hermitage and the Academy of Arts.

In addition to the Mikhailovsky Palace with its Benois Wing, the museum complex, covering more than 30 hectares in all, includes the Mikhailovsky (Engineers') Castle, the Marble Palace and the Stroganov Palace, as well as the Summer Palace of Peter the Great in the Summer Garden. In front of the main, southern façade of the Mikhailovsky Palace, facing Arts Square, lies a ceremonial forecourt, while the Mikhailovsky Garden adjoins the building on the opposite side. In 2021 the Russian Museum became the world's second most visited art museum, confirming its status as one of Russia's leading cultural institutions.