The State Hermitage Youth Education Center The State Hermitage Youth Education Center The State Hermitage Youth Education Center (Russian: Молодёжный образовательный центр Государственного Эрмитажа), is a contemporary art education program in Saint Petersburg, Russia that is part of The Hermitage Museum. The program is offered for all students, whether from St. Petersburg, other Russian cities or from abroad. Activities include lectures on the history and theory of art, exhibitions of contemporary art, masterclasses, and access to Museum curators and collections. There are also special semester programs for students studying from abroad. State Hermitage Youth Education Center organizes a number of international festivals and cultural programs on
Hermitage Museum literally "people who live alone", which is in turn derived from ἐρημός ("erēmos"), "desert". The building was initially given this name because of its exclusivity - in its early days, only very few people were allowed to visit. Originally, the only building housing the collection was the "Small Hermitage". Today, the Hermitage Museum encompasses many buildings on the Palace Embankment and its neighbourhoods. Apart from the Small Hermitage, the museum now also includes the "Old Hermitage" (also called "Large Hermitage"), the "New Hermitage", the "Hermitage Theatre", and the "Winter Palace", the former main residence of the Russian tsars. In recent