Hermitage gold room ???

[BLS]

We are booked with Red Oct for Sept. Need to decide about the Gold Room--to visit or not.

Is is worth the extra time and $$$$??

We're so excited and don't want to miss anything!

 

thanks bunches

[Bill S]

Bev: we visited the Gold Room last summer on our Red October tour. It is a VERY impressive collection of gold and jeweled items. I am glad we saw it.

I'm sure you will see more opinions on the Gold Room. In St. Petersburg, there is so much to see - the choices are hard to make for just a two-day visit.

[Jane110]

We loved it and were glad we saw it.

 

You're paying so much for your cruise and perhaps it's not likely you'll ever be in St.P again, why miss a place for a few extra dollars?

 

Jane

[BLS]

Thank you!

We're going for it!

[mycruz]

Good decision! Why travel all that distance and not see the Gold Room? I know you will not be disappointed. The Hermitage is a huge place, I wish we had a whole day there.

[VinTek]

There are two "Gold Rooms" at the Hermitage. One has Scythian gold on display, the other one - the gold and jewelry of the Russian nobility. A standard excursion at each has a duration of around 40 minutes. It is not easy even for the locals to visit the Gold Rooms - tickets must be pre-booked separately and only for group tours. Generally speaking, they are very much worth visiting.

 

Alexei,

 

I have no doubt that you know more about the Hermitage than I do, being a Russian as you are. But I was aware of only one Gold Room (the one with Scythian art). I always thought that the Royal jewels were housed at the Kremlin Armory Museum of Moscow. What is this gold and jewelry of Russian nobility at the Hermitage? I didn't see it, but I would like to on our next visit to St. Petersburg and I need to know what to request of my tour guide. Many thanks.

[VinTek]

The Gold Rooms at the Hermitage go by numbers: #1 and #2.

#1 has various precious things given to the Russian empresses - Elizabeth and Catherine the Great - as gifts, some Faberge articles, some jewelry of the Russian nobility of those times and a little Scythian gold.

#2 has mostly Scythian gold, some ancient Greek gold and even some ancient Chinese gold.

You can either tell your guide the number of the room you want to see or what you'd like to see. On the other hand, it doesn't make much sense to tell this your guide - the tickets must be pre-booked if you want to have your entry secured - the travel agent should be told about it instead. There is also a chance to join some group, but then you need to come with the guide at the opening time and there's still no guarantee.

 

Many thanks Alexei. We were able to see Gold Rooom #2 by ordering tickets with RO ahead of time. We will be sure to do the same thing with Gold Room #1 before returning to St. Petersburg. Many thanks for the new information. From the literature I've read from the tour operators, there are only references to "The Gold Room," with no indication that there is more than one. I would look forward to seeing the items in room #1, and am sorry that I missed them last time. Again, my thanks to you for enlightening me.

[swdke]

Everyone in our group did the Gold Room, there were no regrets. Everyone simply wanted to see all that there was to see.