The southern side of Dvortsovskaya Ploschad, opposite to the Winter Palace is the General Staff Building.  It was designed by architect Carlo Rossi and built between 1819 and 1829 in the empire style.  It consists of two wings attached via a triumphal arch topped with a statue of a chariot.  The composition is the work of sculptors Stepan Pimenov and Vasili Demut-Malinovsky and features an embodiment of Glory riding a chariot drawn by six horses with two Roman-era soldiers on each side controlling the horses.

  During the imperial era the two wings held the headquarters of the General Staff and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  Now the western wing is occupied by the headquarters of Russia's Western Military District and since 1993 the eastern wing has been used by the Hermitage State Museum.  The museum holds a collection of French 20th century art, but as with the Winter Palace, some of the interiors of the General Staff Building are also works of art in themselves.

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