The State Hermitage Museum, Winter Palace. Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

For the past few weeks, the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, has been hosting a variety of special events to celebrate its 250th anniversary. Founded in 1764, with an art collection from the Russian Empress Catherine the Great, the Hermitage is one of the oldest and largest museums in the world. The institution’s sprawling collection comprises over three million objects and occupies a complex of historic buildings, including the Baroque Winter Palace, a lavish former residence of Russian emperors.

On Saturday, December 6, the Hermitage projected a colorful 3-D show onto the facade of its General Staff Building, located on St. Petersburg’s popular Palace Embankment. More than half a millions viewers visited the Hermitage to catch a glimpse of the three-hour show, “Dance of History,” which presented a historical overview of the museum. Conceived by the institution’s longtime director Mikhail Piotrovsky, the show also featured projections of the Hermitage’s finest works and performances of classical music from various time periods. President Vladimir Putin attended the museum’s jubilee reception on Sunday, December 7, to discuss the opening of Hermitage branches in other areas of Russia. He also presented the museum with two stunning anniversary presents -- a nineteenth-century clock made for Emperor Alexander III and Empress Maria Feodorovna’s twenty-fifth wedding anniversary and a clock-egg by jeweler Carl Fabergé.

The Hermitage also launched a number of impressive exhibitions, including “Francis Bacon and the Art of the Past.” The show brings together over twenty works by the Irish-born British figurative painter from public museums and private collections in Great Britain, Ireland, and the United States, and places them in context with works from the Hermitage’s collection. While some of the pieces had a direct influence on the artist, others reflect his interest in particular art forms, giving visitors a rare chance to explore Bacon’s creative roots.

The Hermitage also unveiled its restored General Staff Building -- a grandiose structure designed by the architect K.I. Rossi and built between 1820 and 1830. The venue houses the Hermitage’s collection of modern European art, which includes Henri Matisse’s seminal large-scale paintings “Music” and “The Dance,” Pablo Picasso’s Blue Period masterpiece “Sisters,” and Claude Monet’s Turneresque “Waterloo Bridge,” as well as the museum’s Russian and European decorative arts holdings.

The sculpture of Ilissos. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

In addition to the anniversary celebrations, the Hermitage has gained attention for hosting a controversial loan from the British Museum. The sculpture of the river god Ilissos is part of the famous Elgin Marbles, which once decorated the facade of Greece's Parthenon. Greece has long lobbied for the return of the marbles, stating that the works were looted by Britain’s Lord Elgin in the 19th century. The Greek government has called the loan a provocation and an insult to Greeks everywhere. The marble will remain on view at the Hermitage through January 18, 2015.