On 29 March 2005 a press conference was held in the General Staff dealing with the plans for reconstructing and restoring the Eastern Wing of the General Staff building, which is one of the most important parts of the Great Hermitage program.

On 4 August 2004 the Russian Federation, as represented by the RF Ministry of Culture and Mass Media, and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development signed an Agreement on a loan to finance the project known as The Economic Development of the City of St Petersburg. Within the context of this Agreement the State Hermitage was assigned roughly $21 million to finance the restoration and reconstruction of the Eastern Wing of the General Staff complex, which is an outstanding architectural landmark created in accordance with a design prepared by Karl Rossi during the first third of the 19th century. The budgetary cost of the first phase entailing the reconstruction of the building has been set at $18 million. The winner of the tender for the project which was carried out in 2002 is the Petersburg firm of architects Studio 44.

Among those who will participate in work on the project for reconstructing the Eastern Wing of the General Staff complex are the State Hermitage’s consultants: the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and the Dutch architectural studio headed by Rem Koolhaas. The consultants’ work is financed from the World Bank loan. The Hermitage’s partner in the project of reconstruction is the firm Interros.

The restoration and reconstruction of the Eastern Wing and Arch of the General Staff is one of the major components in the Great Hermitage development program. This architectural complex has a total surface area of 38,200 square meters. The Eastern Wing of the General Staff will house the museum’s exhibition of 19th and 20th century art.

The Project assumes that the ground floor will be open to the city. It will be possible to pass through the building from the embankment of the Moyka River to the Palace Square and Bolshaya Morskaya Street, passing a variety of stores, restaurants, an internet-cafe, that is to say, the kind of amenities which accompany a major museum. The museum’s exhibition halls will be situated on several levels. They begin on the first floor, which is reached via the main staircase. The presently existing inner courtyards on the second level will be joined into an unusual enfilade or suite of spaces where gardens alternate with large exhibition areas. The upper level will become a terrace protected by a glass roof.