When the Konstantinovsky Palace was reopened in 2003 as Russia's presidential Palace of Congresses, staff of the State Hermitage were charged with overseeing the interior decoration of the palace's state rooms, and space was set aside to exhibit some of the museum's vast collection of items pertaining to the history of the Russian State.
The initial exhibition, entitled State Symbols of Russia, was opened in May 2003 to coincide with St. Petersburg's tercentennial celebrations, and has since been expanded into two collections entitled the Museum of Heraldry and the Museum of Awards and Decorations. The former examines the history of heraldry in Russia, including the development of the state coat arms, and the heraldic symbols of Russia's greatest aristocratic families. Part of the exhibition is devoted to numismatics and contains a part of the Hermitage's vast collection of Russian and Western European coins. The Museum of Awards is an exhaustive collection of official decorations awarded by Imperial Russia, the Soviet Union, and the modern Russian Federation.
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