the portrait of E.V. Davydov painted by O.A. Kiprensky, to the left — the Mikhailovsky Palace and the date «100 ЛЕТ» (100 YEARS), the inscription along the rim: «РУССКИЙ МУЗЕЙ» (THE RUSSIAN MUSEUM).
The State Russian Museum (up to 1917 the Russian Museum of the Emperor Alexander III) was opened on March 7 (19) 1898 in the Mikhailovsky Palace. Today the architectural complex of the museum consists of the notable monuments of the Russian architecture of the XVIIIth–XIXth centuries: the Mikhailovsky Palace (architect K. Rossi), the Stroganov Palace (architect B. Rastrelli), the Marble Palace (architect A. Rinaldi), the Engineering Castle (architects V.I.Bazhenov, V.Brenna). The museum is of the world importance. It possesses the largest and most complete collection of works of the national fine art, which contains about 400000 exhibits and covers all historical periods and trends representing the development of the Russian art within 1000 years, from the Xth to the XXth centuries.
