Art - Museums and Galleries

One calls the art the memory of the nation. It connects us with earlier generations, with the history of our own nation and the whole civilization. With the help of the art the person can be formed and the best qualities cultivated. The art brings a lot of joy to the person, appeals to our feelings, makes us to share them, teaches us to think.
There are different types of art: painting, graphic arts, sculpture, literature, architecture, theater, movies. Each of this type is rich in contents and actually. 
There are many world-famous museums and galleries in Russia where painting, graphic arts and sculpture of Russian, as well as of foreign artists are exhibited. There are some galleries in my hometown also, there works of local artists are displayed there. I like to go to a picture gallery or to a museum and visit there new and constant exhibitions. I have spent my last holidays in Saint Petersburg and have visited its nice museums and galleries. I might tell a little bit about them.
The Hermitage in Saint Petersburg is one of the biggest and famous museums of the world. The main building of the Hermitage is the Winter palace on the Palace square. More than 2.5 million masterpieces of Art are collected here. The best masterpieces from Russia and Europe are displayed in 5 buildings in more than 350 halls which form the Hermitage. If one is examining every masterpiece in the Hermitage for one minute, one needs more than 11 years for the inspection of the whole exposition! 
One of the most famous museums of Saint Petersburg is the Russian museum. This is the Treasure chamber of the national art. The museum disposes of one of the nicest collections of Russian painting, of the biggest collection of the national sculpture in the state, and of giant collections of drawings and patterns of decorative applied folk art and old Russian art. More than 300 pieces of art of 11th century to our time are collected here.