Winter Palace

More than 70 cats officially protect Hermitage Museum’s basements! (VIDEO)

Saint Petersburg’s Hermitage Museum was founded in 1754 by the Catherine the Great, and opened to the public in 1852. Being one of the largest and oldest museums in the world, it is only natural that the Hermitage houses one of the world’s great collections: more than three million pieces, one third of them accounted for by the museum’s stamp collection alone.