The State Russian Museum is the world’s largest depository of Russian fine art, housed in a unique architectural complex in the historical centre of St Petersburg.
It was the first museum of national art, initiated by Emperor Alexander III. In 1895, Emperor Nicholas II signed a decree ordering «The foundation of a special institution which will be entitled ‘The Emperor Alexander III Russian Museum’ and the assignment of the Mikhailovsky Palace with all its wings, services and the garden, specially acquired by the state treasury for this purpose.» In May of the same year, the architect Vasily Svinyin started the reconstruction of the palace interiors for accommodating future collections of art. The Statute of the Museum was adopted on 3 May 1895.
The ceremonial opening of the Russian Museum took place on 19 (7) March 1898. The basis of the collection consisted of objects and works of art transferred from the Winter, Gatchina and Alexander Palaces, from the Hermitage and the Academy of Arts, as well as from private collections donated to the museum.
The museum collection contains over 440,000 exhibits covering all major periods and trends in the history of Russian art, all main types and genres, trends and schools of Russian art over more than a thousand years: from the 10th to the 21st century. As of 1 January 2023, the museum collection includes 444,705 items, with 423,061 in the main collection and 21,644 in the auxiliary academic collection.
The main retrospective exhibition of the museum is located in the Mikhailovsky Palace (architect Carlo Rossi, 1819–1825), built for the son of Emperor Paul I, Grand Duke Michael Pavlovich, and in the Benois Wing, originally designed as an exhibition pavilion for the Academy of Arts (architects Leonty Benois and Sergei Ovsyannikov, 1914–1919).
Currently, the area of the museum complex is more than 30 hectares. The collection is accommodated in buildings that are outstanding monuments of 18th—19th-century architecture: Mikhailovsky, Stroganov and Marble Palaces, and St Michael’s Castle. The Mikhailovsky Garden, the Summer Garden and the Summer Palace of Peter I, as well as the Cabin of Peter the Great are also part of the museum complex.
The State Russian Museum today is an extensive museum complex. It is a large authoritative institute of academic research, restoration, preservation, and educational centre, supervising the work of all art museums of the country.