Empress Catherine the Great purchased the initial collection of paintings from Berlin merchant Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky in 1764. This transaction marked the birth of what would become the State Hermitage Museum.
French architect Jean-Baptiste Vallin de la Mothe constructed the Small Hermitage between 1767 and 1775 along the Neva embankment. The neoclassical structure connected galleries where Catherine displayed her growing art holdings.
The New Hermitage opened to the public on the 5th of February 1852 after decades of expansion. Leo von Klenze redesigned interiors between 1842 and 1851 using painted polished stucco and marble columns before this opening.
The museum now holds over three million items across its various collections. Numismatic pieces account for about one-third of this total inventory while Egyptian antiquities occupy a large hall on the ground floor since 1940.
Mikhail Piotrovsky has served as director since July 1992 overseeing significant modernization efforts. He managed transfers such as the eastern wing of General Staff Building which transferred to the Hermitage in 1993 with new exhibition rooms opening in 1999.