The Hermitage cats are older than the Hermitage.

1745 · 1764 · apart: 19 years

In 1745 Empress Elizabeth had the best mousers brought from Kazan to the Winter Palace; Catherine II bought the paintings that began the museum only in 1764.

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The event

• Founding of the Hermitage1764 · Saint Petersburg. In 1764 Catherine II bought a collection of 225 paintings from the Berlin merchant Gotzkowsky. This is regarded as the founding of the Hermitage, at first the empress's private collection, opened to the public in 1852.

18th century

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