An overview of the State Hermitage Museum of Leningrad's collection of paintings, sculpture, jewellery and other arts. The collection was started in 1764 by Catherine the Great, to decorate what was then the Winter Palace of the Russian Czars. There are now over three million works of art displayed by masters such as Leonardo da Vinci, Cezanne, Matisse, El Greco, Rembrandt and many others. This book is the officially authorized introduction to the collection, and a paperback edition is on sale to the visitors to the Hermitage each year. "The Hermitage" is also published in Spanish, Italian, French, German, Dutch, American English and Russian.