Looks like the museum decided to hand out free admission and people flooded in en masse. I'm wondering if this is an ongoing promotion or a one-time thing? And when can you actually go there without standing in line for an hour?
It's not quite right to say they're "giving out free tickets" - the Hermitage has permanent free admission days, not some surprise promotion. Usually it's the first Thursday of the month, plus there are days for certain groups (students, pensioners, children). The fact that this is known in advance attracts a lot of people because they specifically plan their visit for those dates. That's where the queue comes from.
But honestly, going to the Hermitage on a free day is masochism. The line can be two hours or more, and then inside it's packed with people, so you won't get any impression from the paintings, just the backs of other tourists. It's much better to pay for a ticket and come on a regular day - usually people realize the free day exists and come on other days, so it's way less crowded.
If you want to avoid crowds altogether, you need a weekday in late autumn or winter, and not on holidays. Or you can buy a ticket online a few days ahead and come at a specific time - that'll save you even more time than free admission.
Have you ever tried going to the museum at non-traditional hours? The problem is really just the concentration of people - free days attract crowds, and everyone wants to show up around the same time. If you don't stick to Thursdays and other discount dates and just buy a ticket on a regular weekday morning, there are practically no lines.
Which day exactly did you catch that queue on? The thing is, these free days aren't a one-time promotion - they're an ongoing scheme, so people have known about them for ages and plan their free time around them. When word gets out that you can get in free tomorrow, thousands of people who wouldn't normally go show up suddenly remembering they're free, and they storm the place. Plus tourists from other regions specifically come for those days - the savings on admission are pretty substantial.
As for when it's calmer there: people are partly right that you'll find smaller queues at off-peak times, but there's actually a much better approach. Try coming to the museum on a regular day, but late in the day - like three or four hours after it opens. Most tourists come in the morning and early afternoon, and it gets noticeably emptier closer to closing. Yeah, the ticket costs money, but in an hour and a half or two you'll see more than if you spent an hour standing in a queue and then another hour squeezing past people in the galleries. Sometimes paying for comfort just makes sense.
The queues there are genuinely insane, but it's not really about "handing out" free tickets. The Hermitage has had a system in place for ages: the first Thursday of every month is free for everyone, plus there are discounted hours for certain categories. The scheme has been running for years, so it's not news to locals and tourists who plan their visits specifically around those days. That's where the crowds come from - concentrating people at the same time creates a real bottleneck.
But here's what matters: not all hours on those days are equally hellish. If you show up when the museum opens (usually around 10-11 in the morning), there will be a line, but it moves noticeably faster. By noon - already a nightmare, by evening - even worse. I'd suggest going either first thing in the morning or on a Tuesday or Wednesday afternoon, when it's a paid day and there are way fewer people. An hour in line is not normal, you just need to rethink when you're visiting.
As for whether it's permanent - yeah, it's not a special promotion, it's the museum's regular policy. But a lot of people just don't know about it until they end up in the crowd themselves. If you want to skip the lines, buy a ticket in advance online for a paid day - it's cheap, and the payoff is huge.
The problem isn't the free tickets themselves, but the fact that these days are well-known and everyone wants to save money on them - peak hours turn into a nightmare. If you want to avoid the crowds, try coming either early in the morning on a free admission day, or just buy a ticket on a regular day when there are way fewer people. Yeah, you'll spend money, but you'll save your health and your nerves, and you'll also be able to actually look at the stuff you came to see in peace.
The main thing is don't come on the first Thursday of the month during standard hours if crowds scare you. Yeah, it's a regular thing, not a one-time handout, so people have known about it for ages and deliberately plan their day around the free admission. The result is massive crowds at basically the same time. The line can really be brutal, like two or three hours easy, especially if you show up after 11 or 12.
The catch is that even if you know about the first Thursday, it doesn't guarantee you'll escape - the free day might fall on a weekend, and then the flow of people is just crazy. Try coming early in the morning when the museum just opens, or on weekdays around 9 or 10. On regular days (when tickets cost money) there are way fewer people, and sometimes the price difference is worth it just for the time you save.
Another option is buy your ticket in advance online if you can. Even if it's not super cheap, you skip standing in line at the ticket counters and go straight in. Sometimes that's worth the money just for your peace of mind if you hate crowds.
Actually, it's not exactly a "giveaway" - the system has been in place for a long time and almost everyone knows how it works. The first Thursday of the month is free admission day, plus there are discounted entry options for certain categories of visitors. It's not a one-time promotion, it's a permanent arrangement.
The lines there are absolutely massive precisely because everyone knows about these days and specifically plans their visit around them. So thousands of people are trying to get in during the same time window. If you show up at 10 in the morning on a free day - expect to wait an hour or more. People pile up in the hallways and galleries, literally stepping on each other.
If you want to avoid the crowds - come on a regular day when admission is paid. Or at least go early or late in the day when there are fewer tourists. Some museums in situations like this introduce online booking even for free days, but given the scale of the Hermitage, it doesn't work perfectly.
The problem is that these days have been common knowledge for a long time, so people specifically plan their visit around them! If you want to avoid the crowds, try coming on a regular weekday, but not on weekends and not on a free admission day - you'll have better odds. Or go in the morning when the museum just opens, there are way fewer people than by noon.
The main thing is don't go there on the actual free day - it's pointless. But if you really want to save money, it makes sense to check if you fall into any category that gets discounts (student, pensioner, disabled person, and so on) - they often have separate admission times or at least separate ticket windows where the line is shorter. Honestly though, it's easier to just buy a ticket on a regular day - cheaper than the stress it'll cost you.
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