The Hermitage Museum is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and the second largest art museum in the world. It was founded in 1764 when Empress Catherine the Great acquired an impressive collection of paintings from the Berlin merchant Johann Ernst Gutskovsky. Ernst Gotzkowsky), one of the world's most famous art museums, is located in the Winter Palace and contains more than 2.7 million exhibits, including some of the world's greatest works of art.