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Excursions in the city
St. Petersburg city tour
During city tour our experienced guides will tell you about history, culture and architecture of the former capital of Russia Empire, founded by Peter the Great more than 300 ago.
You can also visit the magnificent St. Isaac Cathedral (Issakievsky Sobor) , the biggest Orthodox Cathedral in St.Petersburg or the Peter and Paul Fortress (Russian language only)
When Peter the Great re-conquered the lands along the Neva River in 1703, he decided to build a fort to protect the area from possible attack by the Swedish army and navy. The fortress was founded on a small island in the Neva delta on May 27, 1703 (May 16 according to the old calendar) and that day became the birthday of the city of St Petersburg. The Swedes were defeated before the fortress was even completed. For that reason, from 1721 the fortress housed part of the city's garrison and rather notoriously served as a high security political jail. Among the first inmates was Peter's own rebellious son Alexei. Later, the list of famous residents included Dostoyevsky, Gorkiy, Trotsky and Lenin's older brother, Alexander. Parts of the former jail are now open to the public...
In the middle of the fortress there is the Peter and Paul Cathedral, a church where all the Russian Emperors and Empresses from Peter the Great to Alexander III are buried. The Cathedral was the first church in the city to be built of stone (in 1712-33). The design of the cathedral is most unusual for a Russian Orthodox church (come over to St Petersburg and you will learn why). On top of the gilded spire is an angel holding a cross. This weather vane is one of the most prominent symbols of St Petersburg. At 404 feet the cathedral is the highest building in the city. Other buildings in the fortress house the City History Museum and the Mint, one of the two places in Russia where coins and medals are minted. >>>
The State Hermitage occupies six magnificent buildings situated along the embankment of the River Neva, right in the heart of St Petersburg. The Winter Palace plays the leading role in this unique architectural ensemble, the residence of the Russian tsars that was built to the design of Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli in 1754-62. The eastern wing of the General Staff building, the Menshikov Palace and the recently constructed Repository, extends this ensemble, formed in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Put together throughout two centuries and a half, the Hermitage collections of works of art (over 3,000,000 items) present the development of the world culture and art from the Stone Age to the 20th century. Today the Museum is creating its digital self-portrait to be displayed around the world. Computer technologies enable the State Hermitage Museum to provide people from all over the world with wider access to information about the Museum and its treasures. >>>
The State Russian Museum is the world's largest museum of Russian art. It is located in the very center of St Petersburg, just of the city's central magisterial, Nevsky Prospekt. The museum is housed in the former Mikhailovsky Palace, a stunning monument of Empire architecture.
The collection of the Russian Museum numbers some 400,000 works and covers the entire history of Russian fine art from the tenth century to the present day. It reflects virtually every form and genre of art in Russia, including a unique collection of Old Russian icons, works of painting, graphic art and sculpture, decorative and applied art, folk art and numismatics, as well as the world's finest collection of Russian avaunt-garde.
In 1998 the State Russian Museum celebrates its centenary jubilee. There was a cycle of exhibitions entitled World Museums and Galleries on the Occasion of the Centenary of the Russian Museum. Visitors will also be able to see the newly - restored halls of its three new palaces. There will also be a series of books devoted to the collections and history of the Russian Museum. >>>
Country residences of Russian Tsars
The Tzarskoje Selo State Museum Reserve is a brilliant monument of world architecture and park and garden artistry of the 18th-20th centuries. A magnificent group of architects, sculptorsand painters brought the desires of their royal clients to fruition here.
In Tzarskoje Selo the full range of artistic styles is represented, from the Baroque (in buildings by Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli) and Classical eras (buildings by Charles Cameron, Giacomo Quarenghi, Vasily Stasov and others). Imperial rulers from Catherine I to Nicholas II have left their mark on Tzarskoje Selo.
The compositional center of the ensemble is the Catherine Palace, a magnificent baroque-style palace. The Great Hall of the palace and the Golden Enfilade of formal halls, among which can be found the Amber Room currently under restoration, amaze with the luxury of their decoration. When you enter the palace halls, you will sense the spirit of the eras of Elizabeth and Catherine, and to a certain extent the age of Emperor Alexander I, and see rare objects of applied art. The Alexander Palace is one of the best examples of world architecture executed in the classical style. Passing through the rooms of Emperor Nicholas II and his wife, Alexandra Fyodorovna, in this palace you will come up close to the artistic tastes of the last Romanovs, and view the Emperor's State Study, decorated in fin-de-siecle style.
More than 100 architectural objects with a total area of 300 hectares occupy the territory of the Catherine and Alexander Parks: from the most magnificent palaces and monuments, to pavilions and bridges. Strolling through the alleys of these parks, you will be treated to views of whimsical lodges, elegant classical buildings, many monuments executed in marble, exotic constructions designed to imitate gothic style, and also Turkish and Chinese architecture which lend the park a romantic air. >>>
The world-famous palace, fountain and park ensemble of Peterhof is an outstanding landmark of Russian artistic culture of the 18-19th centuries. Founded in the very beginning of the eighteenth century by Emperor Peter the Great not far from his new northern capital St Petersburg, Peterhof was intended to become the most splendid official royal summer residence.
Credit for its creation should go to a great number of eminent architects, artists, and anonymous folk craftsmen. Its wonderful parks, 176 fountains of various forms and styles and four cascades, majestic palaces, numerous gilded statues of ancient gods and heroes, remarkable collections of sculpture, painting and works of the minor arts make Peterhof a veritable gem of art, often called "Capital of Fountains", unique in the world.
After 1917 the Peterhof ensemble was taken into state custody and turned into architecture and art museum. Nowadays, due to the unforgettable beauty of its fountains, parks and palaces, Peterhof has become the most attractive for numerous Russian and foreign visitors suburban royal park and palace ensemble of the northern Russia's capital. To feel happy, to make their spirits high, people often come to Peterhof and enjoy its magic charms. >>>
The Museum-Reserve includes the following architectural monuments:
The Great Palace, the Monplaisir Palace, the Marly Palace, the Hermitage Palace, the Cottage Palace, Peter I's Palace, the Grottos, the Benois Museum, the Catherine Block, the Bath House, the Chapel, the Upper Garden, the Lower Park, the Alexandria Park. On the territory of Museum-Reserve there are about 150 fountains, including 4 cascades: the Great Cascade, the Chessboard Hill Cascade, the Golden Hill Cascade, and the Lion Cascade.
A superb palace and park ensemble, dating from the late 18th to the 19th century, Pavlovsk was a summer residence of the Russian emperor Paul I and his family. Its architects were amongst the greatest of the period: Cameron, Brenna, Quarenghi, Voronikhin and Rossi. The landscape park, one of the largest in Europe, covers an area of 600 hectares.
The formation of the Pavlovsk Palace collections was closely connected with the journey by its owners through Europe in 1781-82. They visited workshops of well-known artists, ordering and acquiring paintings, furniture, bronze articles, silk fabrics, china sets, etc. They also brought back to Russia a large number of antique sculptures from Italy, and gifts from European royal courts. Many of these treasures are on view, together with an excellent collection of portraits by Russian artists, and a number of Pavlovsk landscape paintings and drawings.
Following a long restoration, the ravishingly beautiful private rooms of Empress Maria Fedorovna, which were decorated Quarenghi and Voronikhin, are again open to the public. >>>
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