Winter Palace of Peter the Great at the Hermitage
While the magnificent Winter Palace is now home to the immense State Hermitage Museum, part of the original royal residence—known as the Winter Palace of Peter the Great (Peter I)—has been preserved, allowing visitors a glimpse of the emperor’s grand living quarters and personal items.
The Basics
At the Winter Palace, visitors can enjoy access to some of the rooms used by Peter the Great. Highlights include the emperor’s study and dining room, a collection of personal items, and a wax effigy by Bartolomeo Rastrelli. One of the emperor’s horse carriages is also on display in the courtyard.
General entry tickets to the Hermitage Museum include the Winter Palace of Peter the Great, but it’s also possible to purchase an individual ticket to visit the palace on its own. Many visitors book a guided tour of the complex; you can also opt for a private tour and customize your itinerary.
Things to Know Before You Go
Ticket lines for the Hermitage can be extremely long, with waits of well over an hour. Save time by purchasing entrance tickets online in advance.
If you sign up for a general tour of the Hermitage complex, make sure that the Winter Palace of Peter the Great is included.
Admission is free on the first Thursday of every month, but this is also one of the busiest times to visit.
The palace is wheelchair accessible.
How to Get There
The Winter Palace of Peter the Great is located at the eastern end of the Hermitage complex, just across the Winter Canal. The main entrance is at the riverfront. The palace is roughly a 10-minute walk from Nevsky Prospekt, and the closest metro station is Admiralteyskaya (Line 5), which is about 15 minutes away by foot.
Trip ideas
When to Get There
The palace is open from 10:30am to 6pm Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday; and from 10:30am to 9pm Wednesday and Friday. (The museum is closed Monday and on some major holidays.) The palace is generally less crowded than other areas of the Hermitage Museum complex, so you might want to prioritize the main collections and arrive at the palace later in the day.
Exploring the Hermitage Complex
The Hermitage is one of the world’s largest and most iconic museums and houses an incredible three million works of art and classical antiquities. Highlights include a large collection of 19th and 20th century European art. Visitors can explore the main museum complex, including the Old and New Hermitage buildings, as well as the General Staff Building (which houses the museum’s impressionist works), the Museum of the Imperial Porcelain Factory, and the Menshikov Palace.
- Pushkin Museum
- State Hermitage Museum
- The General Staff Building
- Museum of Soviet Arcade Machines
- St. Petersburg Palace Square (Dvortsovaya Ploshchad)
- Admiralty Building
- Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood
- Neva River (Reka Neva)
- Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera)
- State Russian Museum (Russkiy Muzey)
- Stroganov Palace (Stroganovsky Dvorets)
- Peter and Paul Fortress (Petropavlovskaya Krepost)
- Summer Palace of Peter the Great (Letniy Dvorets)
- Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan (Kazansky Sobor)
- Russian Museum of Ethnography