Beautiful photographs of one of Russia's most cherished gems. Happy birthday, Hermitage!

This article originally appeared at Sputnik News

On December 7, 2014, the Russian State Hermitage Museum, one of the most important museums in the world, celebrates its 250th anniversary.

The Russian State Hermitage Museum was founded in 1764, when Russian Empress Catherine the Great purchased an art collection containing 225 paintings from Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky, a Prussian merchant.

The Jordan Staircase at the State Hermitage Museum in St.Petersburg.

The museum has been open to the public since 1852.

Visitors at the State Hermitage Museum in St.Petersburg.

The State Hermitage collections have over three million items.

Visitors at the State Hermitage Museum in St.Petersburg.

Only a small part of the museum's collections is on permanent display.

Originally, the museum collections were stored in a single building, the Small Hermitage. Today, the museum complex consists of a number of buildings along the Palace Embankment and its surroundings.

Visitors at the State Hermitage Museum in St.Petersburg.

Five buildings which form the main hub of the museum - the Winter Palace, Small Hermitage, Old Hermitage, New Hermitage and Hermitage Theater - are open to the public.

The Winter Palace lost its status as an official imperial residence in 1904.

Soon after the beginning of WWI, the Imperial Collection of jewelry, originally kept in the Winter Palace, was moved to Moscow for safekeeping, where it eventually became a part of the 'Diamond Fund'.

A hall of the State Hermitage Museum in St.Petersburg.

The Hermitage was declared a state museum following the Russian Revolution of 1917.

The museum's birthday is celebrated on December 7 - the feast day of Saint Catherine of Alexandria.

Raphael Loggia at the State Hermitage Museum in St.Petersburg.

During WWII, over 2 million items from the State Hermitage collections were evacuated to the Urals. They were returned in October 1945.

In recent years, the Hermitage Museum launched a number of branch museums, both at home (in Kazan, Vyborg, Vladivostok) and abroad (in the Netherlands, Italy, Spain).

A hall of the State Hermitage Museum in St.Petersburg.

N4756, a minor planet in the solar system discovered in 1978, was officially named "Hermitage" in honor of the museum.

On December 7, 2014, the Russian State Hermitage Museum celebrates its 250th anniversary. To mark this occasion, the museum will offer free admission to all visitors on December 10.