Vibrant, traditional, and modern, Russia’s two major cultural centers represent centuries of the country’s rich and turbulent history. If you want to explore streets packed with museums and galleries, an online tour of Russia’s top five museums offers armchair travelers a perfect getaway. Thanks to these virtual tours, you can discover famous figures such as Fyodor Dostoevsky and Carl Peter Fabergé or explore a thousand years of history and art from the Mongol invasion to the Romanovs and the Soviet period from the comfort of your home.
1. State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg
Often known as the Venice of the North, St. Petersburg sits on 42 islands intersected by 68 canals and rivers. Hundreds of bridges span these waterways, connecting the city’s historic districts. Peter I, Russia’s first emperor, built St. Petersburg in 1703. It served as the capital of imperial Russia from 1712 to 1918. It was also the official residence of Tsar Nicholas II and his family, who lived there until the 1905 Revolution.
Known for its stately, Western-style buildings as well as its art, history, and culture, St. Petersburg became Russia’s “Window on the West.” In contrast, Moscow retained a more colorful and Russo-centric flair. Today, St. Petersburg is the second-largest city in the country after Moscow.
Here, visitors can walk in the footsteps of Fyodor Dostoevsky, who made St. Petersburg his home for almost thirty years and set many of his novels against the city’s backdrop of poverty and splendor.
Like Venice, St. Petersburg is built on a swamp and features many fascinating museums. One of these museums is the State Hermitage Museum. It is an outstanding example of Russian Baroque architecture with a neoclassical interior designed by Italian architect Francesco Rastrelli. Completed between 1754 and 1762 during the reign of Catherine the Great, the palace complex includes six buildings.
The Winter Palace’s neoclassical façade, adorned with ranks of windows, faces the Neva River. Its space and light present a dramatic background for the tsars’ private art collections. Under Nicholas I, the Hermitage opened select rooms to the public for the first time in 1852. By 1880, over 50,000 visitors had viewed the museum’s thousands of paintings and archaeological exhibits.
The Hermitage remained an imperial residence for 150 years. Following the Russian Revolution, the Winter Palace opened to the general public.
The Winter Palace offers a magnificent setting for the 3 million works of art, sculptures, European and Eurasian antiquities, and artifacts housed in over 1,000 rooms. In contrast, the Louvre houses about 500,000 items. While it could take weeks to explore everything the Hermitage offers in person, you can take this high-resolution virtual tour to dive into the collections of one of the world’s largest museums.
Enjoy a high-definition journey through masters such as Rembrandt, Rubens, Raphael, Van Dyck, da Vinci, Monet, and Van Gogh. Experience Scythian gold, gems, and jewelry that once belonged to the Romanov family, Fabergé eggs, and even a Diamond Room.
The grand entrance zone leads to the Jordan Gallery, where visitors can climb the royal Jordan Staircase. Step into a gold, cream, and white Pavilion Hall decked in giant chandeliers. On leaving this area, you can exit into a passageway between the small and large Hermitage to discover seemingly endless corridors of art.
From there, wander through the Hall of Italian Renaissance Art, which showcases significant masterpieces from the 13th to 16th centuries, the Leonardo da Vinci Hall, the Hall of Venetian Art, the Titian Hall, or the soaring arches of the Raphael Loggias gallery.
Explore rooms bursting with ancient relics from cultures across Eurasia, Near and Middle Eastern artifacts, sculptures from Ancient Greece and Rome, English, French, German, Flemish, Spanish, and Russian art and culture, and much more.
More treasures await in the Bronze Age Hall, the Hall of Ancient Egypt, Greek Antiquity and Early Middle Ages Halls, Archaeology of the Silk Road, and the Italian Cabinet. From there, the Small Italian Skylight room flows into the breathtaking Large Italian Skylight Hall.
Booklovers will especially appreciate browsing the virtual shelves in Nicholas II’s personal sanctum in the magnificent neo-Gothic library.
The exploratory possibilities feel infinite. Tour the Gallery of the History of Ancient Painting or peruse the Knights Hall, packed with 15th to 17th-century Western armor and weapons. Wander through the Hall of Flemish Art, the Van Dyck Hall, Rubens Hall, Rembrandt Hall, the Romanov Gallery, a silver room, and wind up in the hanging garden space for a refreshing moment if you need a break from all that glitter.
Beyond lie the Gothic, Rococo-Revival, and the Dark Corridor rooms packed with priceless European tapestries. In the Malachite Room, classicism meets Russian culture. The Portrait Gallery of the Romanov Dynasty, Peter the Great’s Small Throne Room, the War Gallery of 1812, and the St. George Hall are just a few of the visual delights to explore at leisure.
Fun fact: The Hermitage is also a cat sanctuary. In the eighteenth century, Empress Elizabeth brought the first cats from Kazan to combat a plague of mice threatening to overrun the palace. During World War II, the cats fell victim to the 900-day Siege of Leningrad. After the war, two carriages of cats arrived to replace them. In the post-Soviet period, museum curators revived this practice by offering the city’s stray cats a home.
Today, the Winter Palace is home to 50 felines. These “guardians of the galleries” rule the palace from their cat’s house in the basement and are treated like royalty by their veterinarians, the Hermitage staff, and doting patrons.
2. The Kremlin Museum, Moscow
Known as the “Third Rome” or the “City of the Seven Hills,” Moscow is Russia’s capital. It is also home to a mix of ancient and modern museums.
The most eye-catching and historically significant of these buildings is the Kremlin. This building has witnessed important historical events, survived the War of 1812 and World War II, and loomed large in Western consciousness since the Cold War. Built in the 14th to 17th centuries, the Kremlin is a fortified citadel complex famous for its brick-red walls and towers topped with ruby-colored Soviet stars.
For thousands of years, the Kremlin area remained a seat of power during the rise of the Rus’. In the early eighteenth century, Peter I transferred the capital to St. Petersburg, which became the new center of power until 1917. After the Bolshevik Revolution, the Soviets moved the capital back to Moscow.
Skip the crowds and dive into a millennium of historical treasures hidden inside these famous walls with these virtual tours of the Kremlin museums.
Discover five palaces and four cathedrals enclosed by the Kremlin wall and guarded by its towers. Take a tour of the Patriarch’s Palace, the Assumption Cathedral (also known as the Uspenski Cathedral), the Archangel Cathedral, the Annunciation Cathedral, and the Church of the Deposition of the Virgin’s Robe located in Sobornaya Square.
Cathedral Square is often called the Circle of Life because Russia baptized its tsars in the first church, crowned them in the cathedral next door, and buried them in the third.
You won’t want to miss the Armory Chambers packed with treasures and antiquities that include ancient jewels, thrones, weapons, and the Diamond Fund. This collection showcases 300 years of Russian gems and coronation regalia. The 22-foot Tsar Bell, the largest bell in the world, is located near the Ivan the Great Bell Tower, while the 86,886-pound Tsar Cannon is located near the Kremlin Armory building.
The tour offers visitors a panoramic view of architectural monuments, frescoes, icons, and a collection of rare wooden sculptures dating from the fifteenth-nineteenth centuries.
Inside the Armory Chambers, explore ancient state regalia, including jewel-encrusted crowns, ceremonial court dress, jewelry, silver, weapons, and royal carriages. Wander through arched medieval rooms for a full immersion experience complete with fine paintings, rare icons, historical fashion, and a dazzling collection of gold, silver, and jewels.
One of the Armory’s most popular attractions is the Great Imperial Crown. Commissioned by Catherine the Great in 1762, the crown witnessed the splendor of Romanov monarchs’ coronations and survived years of political upheaval. After the Russian Revolution, it narrowly escaped being sold by Yakov Yurovsky, the head of the Soviet Gold Department of the State Depository for Precious Metals and the man who oversaw the murders of the Romanov family.
Considered a priceless state treasure, this showstopping crown glitters with 4,936 diamonds, 74 giant pearls, and a 398.6-carat red spinel topped by a diamond cross.
3. The Fabergé Museum, St. Petersburg
Fabergé’s fabulous eggs have enraptured the world since Tsar Alexander III commissioned the “First Hen Egg” from the House of Fabergé in 1885.
Founded in St. Petersburg in 1842, the House of Fabergé gained a name for its delicate craftsmanship, commitment to quality, and lavish gold, silver, and gemstone materials that created some of the last significant commissioned objects of art. Fabergé also pioneered exquisite enameling techniques, inventing over 145 new enamel shades that made even non-royal objects glimmer like gems.
Fabergé served as the imperial court jeweler until 1917. His work inspired contemporary rivals such as Tiffany and Cartier. Fabergé’s firm created 50 eggs for the last Romanov tsars, ten during the reign of Alexander III and 40 during Nicholas II’s reign. The last tsar commissioned two eggs per year at Easter, one for his mother, Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, and one for his wife, Empress Alexandra. Only 43 have survived to this day.
In 1918, after the murder of the Romanov family, the Bolsheviks nationalized the House of Fabergé. With his firm shuttered and every member of the Romanov family left in Russia murdered, Fabergé’s world collapsed. He fled the country on what turned out to be the last train to Riga. He escaped to Switzerland, where he died in 1920.
The House of Fabergé is forever associated with the tragic fate of the Romanovs and represents the height of commissioned art during the twentieth century.
If you’ve ever dreamed about seeing the prized Fabergé eggs, here is your chance. The Fabergé Museum offers a 3D tour of the luxurious Shuvalov Palace. You can find the Fabergé Egg collection in the Blue Room, the central hall in the Shuvalov Palace.
Situated on St. Petersburg’s Fontanka River, the splendid 4,700-square-foot Shuvalov Palace hosts a permanent collection of over 4,000 Russian decorative arts displayed in ten stunning rooms. This collection represents the largest public collection of Faberge works in the world and the second-largest collection of Faberge Easter eggs in existence.
These nine eggs include famous pieces such as the First Hen Egg, the Coronation Egg, the Lilies of the Valley Egg, and the Bay Tree Egg. Explore items that once belonged to the Romanov family and Russian aristocracy, decorative and applied arts, jewelry, silverware, and religious icons created by late nineteenth and early twentieth-century masters.
While many visitors come for the eggs, they stay to admire the awe-inspiring magnificence of the Shuvalov Palace and the sheer amount of fine art objects on display.
If you want to see more Fabergé eggs, check out the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts for the Peter the Great Egg, Rock Crystal Egg, Tsarevich Easter Egg, Red Cross Egg, and the Pelican Easter Egg; the Cleveland Museum of Art for the Imperial Red Cross Easter Egg; the Walters Art Museum for the Rose Trellis Egg and the Gatchina Palace Egg; the Hillwood Museum for the Catherine the Great Easter Egg and the Twelve Monogram Egg; and the Napoleonic Egg at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
4. The State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
The State Tretyakov Gallery is another top-rated free museum you can visit from the comfort of your couch. Stroll through courtyards decorated in classic medieval and Russian folk art styles before entering the museum, which is topped by a glass roof reminiscent of famous European and American museums like the Louvre or the Met.
The State Tretyakov Gallery represents one of the biggest art museums in the world. Founded by Moscow merchant Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov in 1856, the gallery contains 170,000 significant works of art created between the 11th and 20th centuries. The vast collection includes paintings, icons, and sculptures that offer a visual narrative of the country’s art.
Inside the main museum building, you will discover over 60 rooms packed with famous artworks by major Russian artists, ranging from medieval to avant-garde.
Since the gallery has the largest collection of Russian fine art anywhere in the world, it can feel overwhelming to tour in person if you have limited time. A virtual tour allows visitors to hit the highlights or delve deep into classic Russian or Soviet art at their own pace.
Use the MyTretyakov navigation button to explore the Tretyakov Gallery’s digital exhibits. The Tretyakov Gallery contains two spaces, the New and Old Tretyakov galleries. From icons to modern graphic art, it’s easy to spend an entire morning wandering through this gallery.
Don’t miss these masterpieces by famous Russian artists during your tour. View well-known masterpieces such as Victor Vasnetsov’s Bogatyrs, an epic portrayal of medieval Rus’ knights, the fairytale-inspired Ivan Tsarevich on the Gray Wolf paintings, or Vasily Surikov’s dramatic arrest of Boyarina Morozova. Other notable artists include Andrei Rublev, Vasily Serov, and Wassily Kandinsky.
Browse fairytale-inspired images like the Swan Princess inspired by Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera, The Tale of the Tsar Saltan. Or peruse the revolutionary premonitions of Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin’s 1912 painting Bathing the Red Horse, which juxtaposes apocalyptic colors with traditional Russian icon painting and a bold Cubist style.
The Hall of Old Russian Art includes the celebrated fifteenth-century icon Trinity, encased in a special temperature-controlled glass case to protect the icon from environmental damage.
5. The Catherine Palace, Pushkin
This final virtual tour takes visitors 30 kilometers south of St. Petersburg to the Catherine Palace. Instead of hunting down an elusive ticket office, boarding a crowded train, or standing in long lines, you can roam this spectacular palace from anywhere in the world.
If the prospect of seeing more rooms drenched in gold and amber than you have ever seen in your life excites you, then you’ve come to the right place.
Unlike the name suggests, Catherine the Great, who took power in 1762, did not build the palace that bears her name. Instead, the “Catherine Palace” refers to Catherine I, the second wife of Peter the Great, who commissioned a cozy wooden palace on a picturesque piece of land in 1717. The town of Pushkin, situated outside the capital, became known as Tsarskoe Selo, or the “Tsar’s Village.” In 1723, Catherine replaced the original modest structure with a stone palace.
Under Empress Elizabeth, the Catherine Palace experienced various evolutions as neoclassicism replaced Baroque design. Over 100 kilograms of 24-carat gold was used to gild the magnificent façade. Inside, the walls glimmered with the soft glow of gold, gems, and amber.
By the 1770s, Catherine II decided to use Tsarskoe Selo as her summer palace. Armed with Russian and Western architects, she revamped the entire palace and grounds.
Contrary to popular belief, Nicholas II and his family did not live at the Catherine Palace but in the smaller Alexander Palace nearby. After the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, the Catherine Palace became a state museum. During the Second World War, the Nazis gutted the palace of treasures and then tried to destroy the building. After the war, the Soviets reconstructed the palace, right down to the last detail.
Two palaces sit on the historic Tsarskoe Selo grounds, which cover a sweeping 800 acres, or about 324 hectares. A 1,400-acre park, complete with spilling fountains, picturesque bridges, the Agate Pavilion, and the Great Pond, surrounds the white, gold, and blue palace. Inside, ornate rooms display eighteenth-century paintings, art objects, and showstopping décor.
One room that virtual visitors won’t want to miss is the Bright Gallery. During the day, this room is flooded with light from floor-to-ceiling windows. At night, 696 candles framed by rows of mirrors reflect a gilded mirage that expands the sumptuous space from the parquet floor to the painted ceiling. Damaged during World War II, the Bright Gallery and the Amber Room were restored to their original glory by 130 Russian artisans during the 1950s.
The main attraction, however, is the fabulous Amber Room. Considered the “Eighth Wonder of the World,” these glowing amber panels were gifted to Peter the Great in 1716 by Frederick Wilhelm I to cement a Russo-Prussian alliance against Sweden. Empress Elizabeth later used these panels, offset by gemstones, to create an Amber Room, which she used as her private meditation chamber.
When the Germans laid siege to Leningrad in 1941, Nazi troops occupied the Catherine Palace. Despite Soviet attempts to disguise and protect the Amber Room with padded wall coverings, the Nazis discovered and dismantled the famous room. Within 36 hours, the Amber Room had disappeared. The Nazis loaded the priceless amber onto a ship that sailed to Kaliningrad.
During Soviet bombings at Kaliningrad, the Amber Room vanished when Allied bombs hit Königsberg Castle, where it was being stored. Some people believe that the amber never left the ship at Kaliningrad and may lie at the bottom of the Baltic Sea. Shrouded in myth and mystery, the real fate of the Amber Room remains unknown to this day.
This last palace on our list of virtual Russian museum tours includes a formal French Garden and a lush green landscape preserve, where local wildlife makes their home among a maze of paths, forests, and waterways.
