From 9 July 2020, the State Hermitage is beginning the sale of electronic entry tickets allowing individuals to visit the museum.
The new museum website tickets.hermitagemuseum.org will have tickets available for the Main Museum Complex and the General Staff building, which will both reopen to visitors from 15 July 2020. Other Hermitage facilities will be reopening later, roughly from 1 August.
The State Hermitage is introducing temporary rules for visitors. Tickets to visit the museum can be purchased online only for a particular time slot and a particular fixed route. These measures will make it possible to distribute the flows of people and to provide for the sanitary-epidemiological safety of both visitors and the museum staff.
The Hermitage has devised several fixed routes that allow people to acquaint themselves with the Hermitage’s collections and its masterpieces, but each have a different emphasis for viewing.
Initially three general routes will be on offer: two around the Main Museum Complex and one around the General Staff building. People who wish to pay a “classic visit” to the Hermitage – enjoying the beauty of the state rooms and also viewing gems of Western European fine art – can choose Route No 1 through the Main Museum Complex (starting in the direction of the Jordan Staircase). Those who are more interested in the Winter Palace as the residence of Russian emperors and empresses and want to view the interiors of their former living apartments will prefer Route No 2 through the Main Museum Complex (starting in the direction of the Church Staircase). This route also features the displays of Britain, France and the countries of the East. Both routes include the displays of Western European art in the Old and New Hermitages, as well as the halls of the art of Classical Antiquity and Ancient Egypt.
Visitors to the General Staff building can view one of the world’s finest collections of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings: the Sergei Shchukin and Morozov Brothers Memorial Gallery, which also features masterpieces by Matisse, Picasso, Denis and many others. The route includes the Carl Fabergé memorial halls, the Museum of the Russian Guards and the display of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Visitors can also acquaint themselves with art of the 20th and 21st centuries and view the temporary exhibition “Studio 4. The Enfilade”.
All three routes reflect the universal character of an encyclopaedic museum, the breadth and variety of its collections.
From 23 July, a special route will be available, at the heart of which is a visit to the Gold Rooms of the Hermitage’s Treasure Gallery where the display includes the Siberian Collection of Peter I, Scythian and Sarmatian gold, the creations of craftsmen of Ancient Greece and the lands of the East. In addition to a tour of the Gold Rooms, participants can independently view the displays devoted to the culture of the nomads of the Altai and Southern Siberia, seeing the famous Pazyryk carpets, and in the halls of Central Asia the murals from the Sogdian city of Penjikent. Visitors will also have access to such archaeological complexes as Arzhan 2, Urartu, and also the Eastern Knights’ Hall (arms and armour from the East). The cost of this special route visiting the Gold Rooms will be 600 roubles per person.
The routes do allow visitors to make individual choices between several alternative tracks, deciding which halls to view in greater detail and which to pass by. The Hermitage’s website provides the opportunity to learn more about each route before purchasing a ticket: you can examine the list of included halls, the way you will go around and information about the exhibits to be viewed.
To conform with sanitary-epidemiological requirements, visits to the Main Museum Complex and the General Staff building will be limited to a period of two hours. Additionally, movement around the museum displays will be strictly in one direction. In the intervals between time slots, the halls will undergo sanitary treatments and airing.
Each day that the museum is functioning, the number of visitors in each time slot will be restricted to allow physical distancing between people and comfortable viewing of the displays. Special markings on the floor in the museum entrance zone will enable visitors to easily find the start of their particular route without getting too close to one another. People must be wearing personal protection in order to enter the museum premises. Anyone who has symptoms of a viral respiratory infection or is running a temperature must avoid visiting the museum.
Under the present circumstances, the Hermitage has been obliged to temporarily restrict the number of categories of visitors accorded the right to visit the museum at a reduced rate or free of charge. These measures are dictated by sanitary safety rules – direct inspection of documents confirming the right to a concession increases the risk of infection for both visitors and staff. As soon as the situation permits, the museum will be gradually returning to its previous social policy.
Only those categories of persons accorded the right under current legislation of the Russian Federation will be able to visit the museum free of charge. Heroes of the Soviet Union, Heroes of the Russian Federation and Full Members of the Order of Glory irrespective of citizenship have the right to visit the museum with a ticket issued free of charge.
From 1 August, on the third Thursday of every month, the right of entry with a ticket issued free of charge will be granted granted to persons under the age of 18; to those following a main course of professional education – students (military cadets), pursuing a course of secondary vocational education, a bachelor’s degree course or a specialist master’s degree course; and to families with three or more children under 18. Visitors with tickets issued free of charge will have to present documents confirming their right to the concession at the entrance to the museum.
From 15 July, the temporary exhibition “I founded therein my royal palace. Assyrian Art from the British Museum” will reopen to visitors. The State Hermitage has decided that, by way of compensation for the inconveniences caused by the temporary restrictions, this unique exhibition will function free of charge for all individual visitors. The rules for acquiring free tickets to the exhibition will be published later.
The temporary rules will be subject to constant adjustment depending on the epidemiological situation in the region. The Hermitage is open to suggestions and will take account of feedback when making changes to the arrangements for visiting the museum.
The Main Museum Complex and the General Staff building will be open from Tuesday to Sunday, from 12 noon until 9 pm. Entry to the Main Museum Complex will be from Palace Square through the Great Courtyard of the Winter Palace, with visitors exiting onto Palace Embankment. Entry to the General Staff building will be from Palace Square, with visitors exiting near the Choristers’ (Pevchesky) Bridge over the River Moika. Time slots for both places will start at 12 pm, 1 pm, 2 pm, 4 pm, 5 pm, 6 pm and 7 pm. Tickets cost 500 roubles and will be valid for the chosen site, time slot and route only on one particular day.
Electronic entry tickets can only be acquired though the website tickets.hermitagemuseum.org.
The rules regarding the purchase and return of tickets, as well as details of the fixed routes and schedule of time slots can be found on the official website of the State Hermitage.
Further information about all the rules for visiting will be found in the FAQ section of the website.
