Here are 3 world-class Russian museums you can visit online
Museums in Russia may have closed their doors, but their virtual tours are still open for you to get your fill of fine art. Lose yourself under golden arched ceilings and wander around imperial halls admiring Byzantine icons, Renaissance masterpieces, and contemporary Russian art — all within a couple clicks.
State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
Delve into the collection of one of the world’s largest museums in this high-resolution virtual tour. Housed within the grandiose walls of the Winter Palace, this iconic museum complex used to be the residence of the Russian Tsars. Admire the museum’s extravagant interiors and paintings by masters including Van Dyck, Rubens, Rembrandt, and Leonardo da Vinci, in almost life-like resolution. Anyone who’s tried knows that visiting the inexhaustible collection of the Hermitage on foot is unattainable — so you now have the privilege of doing it from the comfort of your home.
State Hermitage Museum. Image Ninara under a CC license
State Russian Museum, St Petersburg
Travel across different periods of Russian art through an online tour of the State Russian Museum. Wander around the complex’s multiple palaces, and admire the legacy of Russian art in this virtual tour. Museums can be overwhelming: if you are tired of the indoors, this virtual tour also lets you roam freely around the museum’s majestic gardens. The State Russian Museum is located in St Petersburg, but it has recently opened a Spanish branch in Málaga — which you can also visit without leaving your seat.
State Russian Museum. Image: Wikimedia Commons
Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow
Pushkin lovers, beware — the Museum has no link to its eponym, other than a posthumous commemoration. Yet, a virtual tour of this iconic museum — which holds masterpieces by Botticelli, Rembrandt and Rubens, as well as Egyptian antiquities — is well worth your time. Famous for its collection of casts and ambitious replicas, such as a huge statue of Michelangelo’s David or a reconstructed Italian Renaissance-era courtyard, this virtual tour of Pushkin Museum is a pleasant escape to faraway places.
Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts. Image: Wikimedia Commons
