Hermitage Volunteer Service Hermitage Volunteer Service The Hermitage Volunteer Service of the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia is an organisation of volunteers that unites foreign and Russian students with the goal of providing assistance to this world-renowned museum. The program aids the Hermitage with its external and internal activities and functions as an informal link between the museum staff and the public, making the knowledge of the museum’s experts accessible to the general community. Volunteers also develop projects reflecting their own personal goals and interests in connection with the museum. The mission statement of the Hermitage Volunteer Service is "Fostering a
Hermitage Museum on permanent display in several small rooms in the northeastern corner of the Winter Palace on the first floor. In 1993, the Russian government gave eastern wing of the nearby General Staff Building across the Palace Square to the Hermitage and the new exhibition rooms in 1999. Since 2003, the Great Courtyard of the Winter Palace has been open to the public providing another entrance to the museum. Also in 2003, the Museum of Porcelain opened as a part of the Hermitage on the basis of the Imperial Porcelain Factory. In December 2004, the museum discovered another looted work of