Stieglitz Museum of Applied Arts

The project had its beginnings in 1878 when Baron Alexander von Stieglitz (1814–84), a millionaire philanthropist, donated funds to build a museum for the benefit of students of the Central School of Engineering Design, which had been established by him earlier.

The new museum was to accommodate Stieglitz's private collection of rare glassware, porcelains, tapestries, furniture, and tiled stoves.

The ground floor with arched windows is heavily rusticated and the upper storey is turgid with ornate details and statuary.

A room patterned after the Terem Palace particularly stands out as "an opulent knockout", in the words of Tom Masters of the Lonely Planet.

The Stieglitz Museum continued as a branch of the Hermitage until 1926, when it was abolished, only to be restored three years later as a separate institution.