HERMITAGE MUSEUM: PERSIAN ART COLLECTIONS. The State Hermitage Museum of St. Petersburg, Russia, possesses some of the richest collections of Persian art. With a collection of over 3 million art works, put together throughout two centuries and a half, the Museum presents the development of world culture and art from the Stone Age to the 20th century. It is housed in a complex of six magnificent buildings, with the leading architectural edifice of the Winter Palace, the residence of the Russian tsars that was built to the design of Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli in 1754-62. The Hermitage is distinguished with a rich and wide-ranging collection of Persian art in both the pre-Islamic and Islamic periods. Sasanian items of the Museum include a vast array of important silverware, glyptic art, and coins. Persian art works of the Islamic era in the museum include an excellent collection of metalwork and other objects covering the 7th to 19th centuries; they include several exquisite masterpieces.
i. Collection of the pre-Islamic period.
ii. Collection of the Islamic period.
(B. I. Marshak and A. B. Nikitin, Anatol Ivanov)
Originally Published: December 15, 2003
Last Updated: March 22, 2012
This article is available in print.
Vol. XII, Fasc. 3, pp. 240-254
