The State Hermitage is one of the world biggest art and culture museums. Founded in 1764, the Hermitage comprises eight departments: the Primitive Culture, the Culture of Antiquity, the Culture of the East, the History of Russian Culture, the Numismatics, the West European Culture, the Department of Science and Education, and the Restoration Department. There are over 350 halls in Hermitage. The museum keeps 15 thousand paintings, 12 thousand sculptures, 600 thousands drawings, over 600 thousand monuments of archeology, over one million coins and medals, and 4224 thousand items of applied arts. Empress Catherine II initiated the collection of the Hermitage. In the end of the 19th century the museum was opened to public. Paintings of such great masters as Leonard da Vinci, Titian, Raphael, Rembrandt, Poussain, Manet, Renoir are in the ownership of the Hermitage. The Hermitage is famous through its collection of Scythian golden articles.
