State Russian Museum, St Petersburg

Russian Museum tickets and prices

The Mikhailovsky Palace ticket costs 700 ₽ and covers both floors of the permanent collection plus the Academic Rooms with Bryullov. Unlike some Russian museums, the Russian Museum currently charges foreign visitors the same adult price as locals. Students pay 500 ₽, children aged 7–14 350 ₽, under-7s go free.

The combined ticket for the palace and the Benois Wing is 1,000 ₽ (students 700 ₽). Take it if you want both the 19th-century masters and the avant-garde. The last slot is 16:30, so you have time for both buildings. The Benois Wing alone is 500–600 ₽.

Entry is by timed slot every 30 minutes. Temporary exhibitions need their own tickets, and refunds are only possible more than 3 days ahead.

Paying as a foreigner: Visa and Mastercard cards issued abroad have not worked in Russia since March 2022, so you usually can’t buy online. Bring roubles in cash or a Russian Mir card and buy at the box office on the day. The museum says its official website and its own ticket desks are the only official sellers — look-alike sites charge a markup.

Is the Russian Museum worth visiting?

Yes, if you have more than a day in St Petersburg. The Hermitage shows world art; the Russian Museum shows what you won’t see anywhere else — Bryullov, Repin, Aivazovsky, Kuindzhi and the Russian avant-garde at their best. It is also calmer and more manageable than the Hermitage.

It is not the place for a first-day, one-museum trip — that’s the Hermitage. And if Russian painting leaves you cold, the palace interiors alone won’t justify two hours. But for anyone curious about how Russia saw itself, it is one of the best museums in the country.

What to see: the masterpieces

• The Last Day of Pompeii by Karl Bryullov — the huge canvas in Academic Rooms 14–15 of the palace, included in the standard ticket.
• Icons from the 12th–17th centuries upstairs, including the Angel with the Golden Hair and works from the circle of Andrei Rublev and Dionisius.
• Ilya Repin: Barge Haulers on the Volga, the Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks, Sadko and the vast Ceremonial Sitting of the State Council.
• Moonlit Night on the Dnieper by Arkhip Kuindzhi — the painting that seems to glow on its own.
• 18th-century portraits by Levitsky and Borovikovsky and sculpture by Shubin.
• The Ninth Wave by Aivazovsky — currently in the Benois Wing exhibition, separate ticket.
• Our Avant-Garde in the Benois Wing — more than 400 works by Malevich, Kandinsky, Goncharova and Filonov; the collection includes Malevich’s Red Square and a version of the Black Square.
• The White Hall — the one Rossi interior of the palace that survives almost unchanged.

Exhibitions on now

Three big shows run in autumn 2026, each with its own ticket. Ivan Aivazovsky in the Benois Wing has about 200 works, including The Ninth Wave and The Brig Mercury; it opened on 16 October 2026 and, according to city listings, runs until 10 May 2027.

Ivan Shishkin. Russian Forest brings together about 120 of his works in Benois rooms 106–109 for 700 ₽; the museum’s box office sells slots only until 9 November 2026. Great: The Image of Women in Russian Art fills rooms 18–28 of the palace until 11 January 2027 — 900 ₽ on weekdays and 1,000 ₽ at weekends including the palace collection, cheaper in early and late slots.

The Benois Wing and the other buildings

The Benois Wing, built in 1914–1919 along the Griboyedov Canal, continues the palace. Its upper floor holds art from around 1900, Soviet painting and the avant-garde; the ground floor hosts the big exhibitions.

The other Russian Museum buildings are separate museums with their own tickets: Mikhailovsky Castle, Emperor Paul I’s fortress-palace with a national portrait gallery; the Marble Palace on the Neva embankment; and Rastrelli’s Stroganov Palace on Nevsky Prospekt. The Summer Garden and the Mikhailovsky Garden behind the palace belong to the museum too.

There is no one-day ticket for everything — only a two-day combined ticket. On a first visit, YesGo suggests the palace, plus the Benois Wing if you still have energy.

Russian Museum vs Hermitage vs Fabergé Museum

With two or three days in the city, make the Russian Museum your second museum after the Hermitage. The Fabergé Museum fits a spare hour.

St Petersburg palaces and museums compared

Every palace and museum in St Petersburg rated by YesGo. Tap a column heading to sort.

Nearby — add to your day

75

Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood

St Petersburg, Russia

45 min · 700 ₽, under 7 free · 4 min walk

Yes — add to my route: Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood

54

Mikhailovsky Castle

St Petersburg, Russia

1 h 30 min · ≈ 700 ₽ · 6 min walk

Yes — add to my route: Mikhailovsky Castle

72

Kazan Cathedral

St Petersburg, Russia

30 min · Free · 11 min walk

Yes — add to my route: Kazan Cathedral

46

Summer Garden

St Petersburg, Russia

1 h · Free · 12 min walk

Yes — add to my route: Summer Garden

How to do it right

• In 2 hours: Bryullov in the Academic Rooms → icons and the 18th century upstairs → Repin and Kuindzhi downstairs, passing through the White Hall.
• In 3–4 hours: the combined ticket, then the avant-garde in the Benois Wing — cross over before 17:00.
• Weekday mornings are quietest.
• For lunch, Nevsky Prospekt is 5 minutes away down Mikhailovskaya Street.
• Leave through the Mikhailovsky Garden and you come out right by the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood.
• The Hermitage is a 20-minute walk away — but doing both in one day is a lot of art.

Questions