A sum of some $373 million will be allocated by the state for the festivities and events marking the 250th jubilee of St. PetersburgÜs Hermitage Museum. One of RussiaÜs main museums - the State Hermitage is celebrating its anniversary in 2014. ­Acording to Baltinfo, the astounding sum was announced by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak. He said all the events and celebratory actions will be held in December 2014. By 2014, the authorities and the museum administration plan to complete a series of reconstruction and renovation works. According to the museumÜs irreplaceable director Mikhail Piotrovky, it is planning an extensive exhibition program dated for the milestone birthday. Preparations and organizational work are already underway. The Hermitage Museum, one of the largest and oldest museums of the world, was founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great. Today its collection totals some 3 million pieces, including the worldÜs largest collection of paintings. The Museum currently occupies a complex of buildings in central St. Petersburg, with the main one being a former Imperial residence - the Winter Palace.