I have been trying to book on line tickets for October 8th but the calendar they have on site won't allow access after September 29th. I wrote to them 2 days ago about this but no response. Does anyone have any insite as to what the problem may be? I posted awhile ago about advanced tickets and it was advised for weekends yes. This is for a Monday would I need advance tickets? The Van Gogh is closed and some of the art is at the Hermitage that is why I want to go.
The Van Gough closes on August 31, so my guess is the Hermitage might not be selling tickets until they are certain that all the art works have been transferred and displayed properly. It going to be a huge logistical operation.
Actually, the Van Gogh Museum is open in it's current location until Sunday, September 24th--they're just not selling tickets online for any day after August 31st. In response to the OP's question, my guess is that the admission price for the Hermitage is going to rise on September 29th, when the Van Gogh exhibit opens, and it doesn't appear that their website is set up to deal with this. I would keep checking back online to see if it changes. I hope you have a great trip!
Just to let you folks know - the Hermitage Museum sent me a very nice letter indicating that tickets will not be sold on-line until September 29th 2012 for the Van Gogh exhibit.