The Hermitage Museum, occupying the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, began with Catherine the Great's acquisition of western European art. She famously boasted that compared to the Hermitage, other European collections were mere amusements. The museum expanded through state-sponsored archaeological excavations in areas like Siberia and Crimea. Today, the Hermitage's collection spans antiquities, Western European art, and Russian art, housed in a complex of buildings along the Palace Embankment. Its holdings of Byzantine art, including mosaics and cameos, are particularly strong, reflecting the historical ties between Russia and the Byzantine Empire.