Each year during the period from March to May the staff of the Methodological Sector of the Hermitage carry out special training programs for interpreters and guides who work for the tourist agencies of St Petersburg. These courses are open strictly to those named on lists provided by the companies. After successfully completing colloquia, the interpreters-guides receive a certificate giving them the right to conduct overview tours in a foreign language. Only companies having a contract with the museum are entitled to conduct tours of the Hermitage. The courses are paid.

• History of the museum
  
• Architecture of the buildings
  
• Department of Archeology
  
• Ancient Egypt
  
• Department of the Ancient World
  
• The Middle Ages in Western Europe
  
• The art of Italy in the 13th-18th centuries.
  
• The art of Flanders
  
• The art of Holland
  
• The Low Countries - Germany
  
• Spain - England
  
• France in the 15th - 18th centuries
  
• France in the 19th - 20th centuries
  
• Department of history of Russian culture
  
• Department of the Orient
  
• Methodology of conducting overview tours

Seminar for teachers of schools of higher learning
This seminar brings together teachers of the humanities who work in schools of higher learning in St Petersburg. It works according to special programs, in accordance with the professional requirements and by individual order of the participants. Seminar activities take place during the period from October to May.

1 General course. Universal history of the arts.

• A systematic and thorough-going presentation of the development of world art from the age of primitive cultures to our own day. 20-25 sessions.

2 Special courses

In-depth courses around separate topics and issues in the history of world art and culture with the addition of a special session devoted to methods of using art material when teaching humanities courses in institutions of higher learning.

• Ancient Civilizations
  
• The Middle Ages
  
• The Italian Renaissance
  
• The Renaissance in the North
  
• European Art of the 17th-18th Centuries
  
• Art of the 20th Century
  
• West - Russia. Ties and Parallels
  
• Forms of art and the methodology of analysis of art and historical monuments

Club for Consultants to the Public
The Consultants' Club accepts as members persons who are knowledgeable about and love both art and the Hermitage, who possess free time to spend serving in the halls of the museum and who have experience in communicating with visitors to the museum. Acceptance of new members is based on a competition. Museum staff conduct in-depth courses in the halls and storage facilities of the Hermitage especially for these consultants.