The Hermitage: the Biography of a Great Museum, by Geraldine Norman (Pimlico, £12.50 in UK)

The Hermitage in St Petersburg (Leningrad no longer!) is one of the world's great museums, reflecting the wealth and collecting manias of the Tsars and their many international links. With the Bolshevist revolution of 1917 it was nationalised and, rather surprisingly, was well protected and even cherished in the grim days of social upheaval and civil war. Confiscations from the property of the nobility and rich businessmen enlarged its scope ezanne etc) while it expanded physically into the Winter Palace and other former imperial buildings. The museum survived not only the second World War but the steel fist of Stalinism, which inevitably interfered with its policies and its administration; for many years, in fact, the directorship was a hot seat. Geraldine Norman has written a well-informed, lively book which also appears to be scrupulously fair.