The construction of the building started in the year 1560 under the supervision of Giorgio Vasari. The palace was originally designed for Cosimo I de Medici as the office for the various Florentine magistrates. Thus the palace is named Uffizi which means office. The Palazza degli Uffizi brought together the State achieve as well as the administrative offices and the tribunal under one single room.

The construction of the palace was completed by the end of the year 1581 and after Vasari it was been supervised by Bernardo Buontalenti and Alfonso Parigi. The internal courtyard was very long but was quite narrow it had an opening at a far end to the Arno River.

Vasari was a well known architect as well as a world famous painter. He highlighted the long narrow courtyard with the help of the matching facades as well as continuous roof cornices. The various columns in the palace were filled with the various paintings and sculptures of the various artists of the 19th century.

Over various passing years’ different sections of the palace was opened and was added to the display in the museum. There is a huge display of the collection of Sculptures as well as the paintings which were mostly collected by the Medici family or even commissioned by them. Michelangelo as well as Leonardo da Vinci with many other artists gathered at the Uffizi in 1550 and 1568.

Uffizi was one of the most modern museums. In the sixteenth century the museum was opened to the visitors only by previous request. Later in the year 1765 the museum was officially opened for the public to visit.

The collection of the museum had increased a lot thus later some of the work was been transferred to the various other museums in Florence. To state few examples the famous statues of the museums were transferred t o the Bargello. There is a project that has been planned to expand the museum.

A car bomb exploded near the museum in year 1993 which severely damaged many parts of the museum also five people were killed in this attack. The neo-classical interior, the classical sculptures as well as the Niobe room was severely damaged in the attack but was later restored.

Today Uffizi is one of the most famous tourist destinations in the city of Florence. There is always a huge crowd at the museum hence you are advised to reserve a ticket else you mite require to stand in a queue for minimum five hours.

The nearest airport to the museum is the Regional Florence airport from where you can use train, bus or car to reach Uffizi. If you are using the train option you are required to get down at Santa Maria Novella station you can precede further by bus or foot. If you are walking down the road you will require approximately 20 minutes from the Santa Maria Novella station to reach Uffizi.

The neo-classical building which was designed by the very famous John Russell Pope is also included in the Gallery’s campus. The building is also linked to the modern East building which is located underground as was designed by I.M. Pei. The museum has a 6.1 acre Sculpture Garden in its vicinity. Here mostly the temporary special exhibitions are held.

The building is mostly consist of the Wets building which was constructed in the year 1941 and the East building which was constructed in the year 1978. Both the above mentioned as connected to each other with the help of an under ground path. The west building was then designed by the architect John Russell Pope in the year 1937 as is composed of Pink Tennessee marble. The style of the building is neo-classical; also it has a massive dome and has got its inspiration from the Pantheon in Rome. The East and West are symmetrical as well as a bit large and also they are connected to the central Pavillion. The East building is in contrast to that of the West building. The East building has a cool classicism and is sharply geometrical. When watched from above the East building givea you a view that the building is made up of many interlocking prisms.

The huge collection of Sculptures and paintings which are created by the European masters and belonging ton the medieval period are placed in the West building. The art works of the American artists of the 19th and 20th century is also displayed in the same building. Few of the most impressive art works are the unique paintings by Leonardo da Vinci, Jan Vermeer, Vincent Van Gogh and Claude Monet.

Dulles International Airport is the nearest located airport if you are planning to visit national gallery. Dulles International Airport is very well connected with the important national as well as international cities of the world. From the airport you can take a taxi, train or bus to reach the national gallery.

It was Tsar Peter I of Russia who had built an entire city on the alluvium of Neva. It was named after the saint Peter and Tsar himself: Saint Petersburg. The sawy Italian Architect Bartolomeo Rastrelli was the one who designed the official building all over 44 islands and divided by more than 60 canals. Russians have paid a huge price for the construction of this city as they have lost many of their labor but, still the work was not completed until the reign of Empress Catherine II.

It was Empress Catherine who possessed all the art work which, she had Inherited from her family tree. She had acquired the best collections offered for sale by the heirs of well-known collectors. The collection had grown tremendously in the building. During the era of Catherine, she had acquired 4,000 paintings from the old masters, 38,000 books, 10,000 engraved gems, 10,000 drawings, 16,000 coins and medals and a natural history collection filling two galleries.

No doubt the expansion took at it height in Nicholas I. He had assigned the neoclassicist German architect Leo von Klenze to design a building for the public museum just after there was a huge fire in Hermitage. Leo completed the work in 1852 and then Tsar Nicolas I opened the museum for common people.

The end of October revolution in 1917, the collections was appropriated by the state and now they own them. The hermitage now extends right into the Winter Palace.  The splendid interiors are Jordan staircase and Parade Halls. The immensity of this museum creates a unique atmosphere which is unlike the one Louvre in Paris as it reflects a lot of royalty. The collections are divided in eleven categories and they have acquainted rooms containing the objects of particular style and era.

• Egyptian antiquities
• Classical antiquities
• Prehistoric art
• Jewelery and decorative art
• Italian Renaissance
• Italian and Spanish fine art
• Knight’s Hall
• Dutch Golden Age and Flemish Baroque
• German and French fine art
• Russian art
• Neoclassical, Impressionist, and post-Impressionist art

Collections

Egyptian antiquities includes Limestone stele of a chief potter, 18th century BC

The best in Classical antiquities is Tauride Venus.

Prehistoric art has the world’s oldest surviving knotted pile carpet and a well-preserved wooden chariot.

The world’s oldest surviving knotted pile carpet and a well-preserved wooden chariot is included in Jewelry and decorative art

Italian Renaissance consist of the best Madonna with Beardless St. Joseph by Raphael

Michelangelo’s Crouching Boy is the best art displayed in Italian and Spanish fine art.

The  Three Graces by Canova magnificently stands in Knight’s Hall.

Carl Faberge and Agathon have put together their noteworthy collection. Their Easter Eggs which were decorated pieces made of gold and enamel became widely popular in Tsar courts; Russians were the main customers to buy such items.

One masterpiece of Leonardo’s, the Madonna Litta is been exhibited in hermitage.

The hermitage is just popular for it art work but is also popular for its activities and the projects launched by them.

Here are some popular cultures of art work

Films:

Russian Ark  (2003).

A Russian film by Alexander Sokurov was filmed exclusively in the Hermitage Museum, showing the Winter Palace at various stages of its history.

War and Peace (1967) an Oscar-winning Soviet adaptation of the novel by Leo Tolstoy, was partially filmed in the Winter Palace.

Television

The fifth season of the CBS reality series The Amazing Race, contestants had to locate Rembrandt’s The Prodigal Son in the Hermitage as part of the competition.

Literature

To the Hermitage, by Malcolm Bradbury, retells the story of Diderot’s journey to Russia to meet Catherine the Great in her Hermitage.

Petersburg, by Andrey Bely, features the Winter Canal near the palace as one of its central locations, but never names the Winter Palace directly.

The projects that are were accomplished by hermitage are:

• Hermitage Amsterdam
• Hermitage-Kazan Exhibition Center
• Guggenheim Hermitage Museum, Vilnius

The easiest way to get there is by Nevsky Prospekt Subway Station. And, the opening hours from morning 10.30 to evening 6.00.

It has been the most marvelous experience of my life. I hope you would love the ambience of this museum.