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The Hermitage Museum is located in the Romanov's Winter Palace, built by Rastrelli on commission from Czarina Elizabeth, daughter of Peter. Constructed between 1754 and 1762 at the cost of two and half million rubles (the equal of the value of 45 tons of silver). It was rebuilt after an extensive fire in 1837 and remained the czar's official residence until the Revolution of 1917. Peter the Great started collecting art in the early eighteenth century and Catherine the Great set aside part of the Winter Palace in 1764 to display her own collection of art. She called that part of the palace the Hermitage. Today the Hermitage contains almost three million items and is one of the largest and most valuable collections of art in the world.
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