St. Petersburg, Russia 6-22/23

The Hermitage Museum. This museum is overwhelming in size and the vast collections of original paintings housed here is mind-boggling. There are literally hundreds of originals by Cezanne, Picasso, Rembrandt, Renoir, Matisse, Monet, Van Gogh, and so many others. The collection was begun by Catherine the Great (Catherine II) who was Peter the Great's daughter. She sent representatives throughout Europe to purchase art and other items so that her collection would rival any other in the world. There are 2.7 million paintings and 5 million pieces in the entire collection. If you stood in front of each painting for 1 minute, it would take you 11 years to view them all. Unfortunately, they are virtually unprotected from sunlight and are quite exposed to room air.