General Staff Building

The western wing of this magnificent building on Dvortsovaya pl was formerly used by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including private apartments for the minister himself. The fabulous Carlo Rossi–designed interiors have been meticulously maintained, and today house exhibition hallsdisplaying items from the Hermitage collection. Here, the art of 20th-century French painters Pierre Bonnard and Maurice Denis is on permanent display. Monarchists will appreciate the ‘heraldic eagle’, also featured in 600-plus examples of graphics, paintings and applied arts from Russia and Western Europe.