Almost 4 million people visit the Hermitage every year, and almost a third of them use free tickets. You can get to one of the oldest museums in the country without paying a penny if you are eligible for benefits. In addition, the Hermitage periodically hosts free days for all categories of visitors.
Days of free visit to the Hermitage
Free days are held at the State Hermitage Museum every month. The day set for this is the first Thursday of the month.
In addition, the museum opens its doors to everyone on December 7th. This is a gift to the residents and guests of St. Petersburg in honor of the birthday of the Hermitage. It was on this date in 1764 that Catherine II acquired a collection of paintings from the German merchant Johann Ernst Gotzkowski, which laid the foundation for the future museum.
On these days, admission to the museum is carried out with free tickets, which are issued at the box office of the Hermitage. They begin to be drawn up from the moment the museum opens at 10.30. The ticket offices close at 5 pm, an hour before the Hermitage closes its work. However, if the birthday of the museum falls on Wednesday or Friday, the Hermitage, according to the schedule, is open until 9 pm, and tickets are issued until 8 pm.
When planning a visit to the Hermitage on a free day, one should bear in mind that the influx of people wishing to visit the museum on these dates is especially high - and the throughput capacity of the palace is limited. According to the fire safety rules, the number of visitors simultaneously in the museum should not exceed 7000 people. Based on this figure, both the wardrobe capacity and the number of cash desks have been calculated in the Winter Palace.
As a result, on the days of free visits, one can stand in line at the Hermitage ticket offices for several hours. This is especially true when it comes to the summer months (when the influx of tourists to the city is especially high) or the period of winter holidays. In this case, the queue can stretch across the entire Palace Square. Therefore, you should not postpone a trip to the museum until the afternoon - otherwise there is a risk of wasting time waiting and, as a result, not having time before the ticket office closes.
The second point to keep in mind is that free admission does not mean “free excursion service”. Ordering excursions for these days is still paid, as well as additional services (for example, renting an audio guide).
Who is entitled to free admission to the Hermitage on any day
It doesn't make sense for everyone to stand in long queues at the Hermitage on free days. The list of categories of "beneficiaries" who have the right to enter the most famous museum in Russia is quite wide.
You can get a free ticket to the Hermitage on any day:
- Russian pensioners,
- children of school and preschool age, regardless of citizenship,
- university students from any country,
- students of colleges and lyceums, if they are under 18 years old,
- cadets of departmental educational institutions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the FSB, the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the Ministry of Defense;
- Russian conscripts;
- large families (citizens of the Russian Federation);
- employees of Russian museums and members of the International Council of Museums, as well as members of "specialized" creative unions of the Russian Federation (artists, architects and designers).
- Heroes of the USSR or RSFSR, Heroes of Socialist Labor, as well as full holders of the Orders of Glory or Labor Glory;
- veterans and invalids of the Second World War, blockade soldiers, former juvenile prisoners of fascism;
- people with disabilities of I and II groups (only citizens of Russia);
- disabled people who are deprived of the opportunity to move independently, including wheelchair users (the right of free passage in this case also applies to one accompanying person).
A free ticket is issued during the opening hours of the ticket office after a document is presented confirming that its bearer belongs to one of the preferential categories. This can be a pension certificate, a membership card of a creative union, a student or military card, a certificate of a large family, and so on. An exception to this rule can only be preschoolers and schoolchildren - if their appearance allows them to be attributed without a doubt to children who have not yet celebrated their 18th birthday, supporting documents are not required. It is better for senior pupils to stock up on documents confirming their status as a "student".
Branches of the Hermitage that can be visited on free days
When people talk about the Hermitage, they usually mean its main building - the famous Winter Palace, built during the reign of Empress Elizabeth. However, from an organizational and legal point of view, the St. Petersburg Hermitage is a huge complex, which also includes a number of branches located in other buildings.
Therefore, all the conditions for a free visit to the Hermitage also apply to the following museums that are part of the Hermitage complex:
- Main Headquarters,
- Winter Palace of Emperor Peter I,
- Menshikov Palace,
- Porcelain Museum,
- Storage of the Hermitage.
The General Staff building is located on the other side of the Palace Square, opposite the Winter Palace. The exhibition halls are located in the eastern wing of the gigantic "horseshoe" of the General Staff. Here you can see collections of fine art of the 19th-20th centuries, in particular, paintings by impressionist painters, paintings by Picasso, Matisse, Gauguin. In addition, temporary exhibitions of contemporary art are held in the halls of the General Staff.
The Winter Palace of Peter I is also located not far from the main building of the Hermitage: it is located on the embankment of the Neva, next to the Winter Canal. The premises of the personal residence of the first Russian emperor, recreated by the restorer, are “hidden” inside the building of the Hermitage Theater. Here you can see items that belonged to Peter, get acquainted with the interiors of the "sovereign" office, dining room, turning workshop, etc.
The palace of Menshikov, the first ever governor of St. Petersburg, is located on Universitetskaya Embankment, on Vasilyevsky Island (Vasileostrovskaya metro station). In the halls of the museum you can get acquainted with an exposition dedicated to Russian culture of the early 18th century and see the interiors of the Peter the Great era.
The Porcelain Museum, in contrast to the above objects, is located outside the historical center of the city - next to the Lomonosovskaya metro station, on the territory of the former industrial suburbs of St. Petersburg. The museum is located on the territory of the famous Imperial Porcelain Factory (also known as the "Lomonosov Factory") and introduces the three-century history of Russian production of "white gold". A significant part of the exposition is devoted to the "imperial" collections of porcelain figurines and the famous propaganda porcelain.
In all these museums, on the days of a free visit to the Hermitage, you can issue entrance tickets “for nothing”, and visitors from privileged categories can get free tickets on the same conditions as in the main museum complex. In the Staraya Derevnya Restoration and Storage Center, where the Hermitage's Depository is located, the situation is slightly different.
“Free visitors” are not allowed in the ultra-modern building of the Storage Facility - only a visit as part of an excursion group is possible, and for this you must first register by phone (812) -340-10-26 for a specific date and time. The cost of visiting on "regular" days is made up of the ticket price and excursion voucher. At the same time, the ticket costs a little more than the service. Therefore, on the days of a free visit to the Hermitage Depository, you will still have to pay money for the visit - but the savings will be very significant. The center is located near the metro station "Staraya Derevnya". A tour of the new building of the Hermitage provides an opportunity to look “behind the scenes” of the famous museum and get acquainted with exhibits that were previously inaccessible to the public.
