Catherine the Great's collection in the Winter Palace.
Saint Petersburg, Russia Founded 1764
Catherine the Great began the collection in 1764 by buying a group of paintings from Berlin. It grew into one of the largest museums in the world, spread across the Winter Palace of the Russian tsars and the buildings beside it.
Its rooms hold paintings by Rembrandt and Leonardo, Scythian gold, and treasures from Central Asia, Iran and the Islamic world.
Art
A pink stone palace by the Arabian Sea.
Art
Michelangelo's ceiling and the art of the popes.
Art
A royal palace turned into the world's most visited museum.
Art
Rembrandt, Vermeer and the Dutch Golden Age.
Art
A rain of light under a floating dome.
Art
Treasures of the Chinese emperors, carried across the sea.
Art
One family's collection from the court of Hyderabad.
Art
5,000 years of art on Fifth Avenue.
Art
1,400 years of Islamic art in I. M. Pei's desert fortress.