The Hermitage has the necessary facilities providing all visitors with the opportunity to acquaint themselves with the world- renowned collections and masterpieces of the museum.
The Entrance to the Main Museum Complex
The entrance from the Palace Square is accessible by a ramp and a lifting facility. Lifts are located in the Rastrelli Gallery, the Commandant Gallery and Room № 106.
For further inquiries about the museum’s disability access, including wheelchair hire, please speak to the administrator in the Main Entrance Hall, or call +7 (812) 710-90-79.
Admission prices
Free entry tickets are provided for the following visitors:
– people with disabilities (categories 1 and 2), a disabled child with one accompanying person (for Russian and Belarusian citizens);
– disabled people suffering from orthopedic injuries and being unable to walk on their own, with one accompanying person (regardless of their citizenship);
– wheelchair users with one accompanying person (regardless of their citizenship)/
Free entry tickets are provided only if the appropriate documents confirming one’s right to free admission is shown (during the opening hours of the ticket offices in every Museum Complex).
Trip for Disabled Visitors
This tour will acquaint you with the major permanent displays, which occupy four buildings of the Hermitage museum complex.
The tour starts at the foot of the Main Staircase of the Winter Palace. The lift on the right will take you to the upper landing. After the devastating fire of 1837, which destroyed all the palace interiors designed by F.B. Rastrelli in 1754-1762, the Baroque-style ceremonial staircase was recreated by the architect V.P.Stasov. You will acquaint yourself with the state rooms of the official residence of the Russian emperors including the Fieldmarshals’ Hall (room № 193), the Memorial Hall of Peter the Great (the Small Throne Room) (room № 194), the Armorial Hall (room № 195), the 1812 War Gallery (room № 197) and the St George Hall (the Large Throne Hall) (room № 198).
Walking through one of the two galleries of the Small Hermitage (Yu.M.Felten, Jean Baptist de la Mothe , 1764-1775), you will find yourself in the festive Pavilion Hall (room № 204) with the celebrated Peacock Clock ( the work of James Cox , the mid-18th century, Great Britain).
The Old (Large) Hermitage (Yu.M.Felten, 1771-1787) houses the collection of the Italian Renaissance art, which possesses the paintings by Leonardo da Vinci and Titian (rooms № 207-223).
The exhibition in the rooms of the New Hermitage building (designed by Leo von Klenze in 1752), which houses the imperial museum, will allow you to continue your acquaintance with the Italian art collection boasting the paintings by Raphael, Michelangelo, Caravaggio and Tiepolo (rooms № 229 - 238). One of the three Skylight Rooms is devoted to Spanish painting (room № 239). The Tent Hall presents the collection of 17th-century Dutch artists (room № 249). After that you will be introduced to the works of the brilliant Flemish masters Rubens (room № 247) and Van Dyck (room № 246). The doors of the Van Dyck Room lead to the Main Staircase of the New Hermitage. The collection of European sculpture located on the staircase upper landing, as well as the Gallery of the History of Ancient Painting (room № 241) definitely deserve your attention. You will find the lift at the end of the gallery on the left, behind the massive door.
When you get down to the ground floor, we advise you to look around the hall with the extremely large Kolyvan vase, the work of 19th-century Russian stone-carvers (room № 128), and also the Jupiter Hall (room № 107), where on display are the excellent examples of Ancient Roman sculptures. When you return to the landing, please phone 1079 to contact an administrator, who will assist you in using the lift to get to the room showing the art works of Ancient Egypt (room № 100). After leaving this room you will return to the Main Staircase of the Winter Palace. We wish you an enjoyable visit to the Hermitage!
