1771-1787: Construction of the Great Hermitage

In 1771, Empress Catherine II ordered construction of a new building next to the Small Hermitage, which was to become known as the Great Hermitage. Yuri Velten, the architect, was instructed to create a building which could accommodate the Empress's ever-expanding library and collections of works of art. Although it was in the austere 18th-century Neoclassical style, the three-storey structure was nonetheless in keeping with the overall palace ensemble. Decoration of the facade is based on a combination of vertical and horizontal lines.

In 1792, Giacomo Quarenghi built an extension to the Great Hermitage to house the Raphael Loggias, 18th-century copies of the original frescoes in the Vatican, Rome. In turn, a gallery was strung on a bridge connecting the new building and the Theatre, which stood on the opposite side of the Winter Canal.