As part of 2011's designation as Spain-Russia Year, the most celebrated museums of the two countries have agreed to exchange some of their most treasured artworks. The "Prado at the Hermitage" exhibit opens February 25 in St. Petersburg with over 60 works on loan from the Spanish museum. In return, the Hermitage will send 170 pieces from its collection to Madrid November 8.

At a press conference at the Prado, director Miguel Zugaza called the exchange "unprecedented," AFP reports. The king and queen of Spain, Juan Carlos and Sofia, will be present at the exhibition's opening at the Hermitage. "Our two museums are very similar in that both tell the story of their respective country," Hermitage director Mikhail Piotrovsky said.

The Prado is sending El Greco's "Christ Carrying the Cross," Murillo's "Virgin with a Rosary," and Titian's "Venus and Cupid with an Organist," along with works by Goya, Velázquez, Zurbarán, Rubens, Watteau, and others. For its part, the Hermitage will lend Titian's "Saint Sebastian," Caravaggio's "The Lute Player," and Velázquez's "Three Men at a Table," as well as paintings by Cézanne, Renoir, Matisse, Kandinsky, and Malevich. The Russian museum will also send two important Rembrandt works, "Portrait of a Scholar" and "Haman Accepts his Fate." In terms of sculpture, Bernini's terra-cotta study for "The Ecstasy of Saint Theresa" and Canova's "Mary Magdalene in Meditation" will also make the trip to Madrid.

The Hermitage, which was founded by Catherine the Great in 1764, has a massive collection numbering close to three million works of art. The Prado, founded in 1819 and based on the former Spanish royal collection, is especially known for European art from the 12th to the 19th centuries.