St Petersburg  attractions

St Petersburg means 89 museums: 43 natural, scientific and technical, 18 literally, 49 artistic, 39 historical, 24 regional and ethnograthical ones!!! I have listed only some of them below and can be your guide or interpreter in any of them. Please click on the name of the museum to get more information. Unfortunately not every museum has its own site and if yes, not each  site is available in English.

The state Hermitage is one of the oldest and largest museums in the world. The buildings of the museum, by themselves, are architectural masterpieces. The collections of the Hermitage number over 3 million items from prehistoric to modern times. Magnificent works of art embracing prehistoric culture, Egyptian art, the art of Antiquity, Scythian gold, and great collections of Western-European paintings and sculptures are displayed in 400 halls of museum. If you want to see every piece of art and will spend in front of each only 1minute  it will take you 9 years!!! Don't forget to visit special "Golden" and "Brilliant" rooms- you have to buy special tickets to get there and excursions to the rooms are available on certain hours only. I can help you to discover the treasures of the Hermitage with great pleasure and depending on your interests it will take us from quick 1,5 tour up to the whole day.

Russian museum. Opened in 1898 in the Mikhaylovsky Palace. The museum numbers nearly 400,000 exhibits. It is the largest collection of Russian art in the country, from ancient icons to the Avant-garde painting of the XX century. If you are very limited in time and hesitate between The Hermitage and The Russian Museum-my advice-choose the latter!!! For those who are specially interested in Russian painting: www.abcgallery.com

Cruiser Aurora. A battleship of the Russian Navy, put on eternal mooring. Yes, yes, she is exactly that Aurora who fired a blank shot towards Winter palace which marked the beginning of The Great October Revolution

Naval military museum. (for the present moment the site is available only in Russian) is situated in  the building of former  Stock Exchange and of course deserves your attention. According to its name it  really reflects history of the Russian Navy. Among many stories which I am going to tell you is the story about  the captain of U-boat Marinesku, who became Hitler's personal enemy #1.

Chamber of curiosities (Kunstcamera)The collection stems from the exhibits of the first Russian museum - Kunstkamera, founded by Peter the Great. Over 1 million articles are telling about lifestyle of different peoples of the world.

Artillery museum (for the present moment the site is available only in Russian) One of the biggest Artillery museums in the world and a real paradise for little and not very little boys who are carried away by history of ancient and modern arms. While male representatives of your group are getting more about  Kalashnokov  guns or touching one of the antiaircraft guns situated under the open sky, the fair sex will enjoy battle paintings ,huge sculptures and portraits of handsome Russian generals. But if to speak seriously this is exactly the place where you will understand why the Russians became winners in numerous wars, including WWII.

Yusupovsky palace. The palace went down in Russian history as the place where the mysterious Grigory Rasputin was assassinated, a Siberian peasant who became the spiritual mentor and friend of Nicholas II and the Royal Family in the early 20th century. The tragedy took place the night of December 17, 1916 in the private annex of the young Prince Felix Yusupov, now housing a historical exhibit recreating the assassination scene.
The album with the pictures of the most beautiful private palatial mansions of Europe was published in England in 1961 and views of the rooms from Yusupov palace on the Moyka river were among them. It is "a must" for my tourists.

The Holy Trinity Alexander Nevsky Laura (for the present moment the site is available only in Russian) -is situated at the end of Nevsky prospect . "Laura" means the monastery of the highest rank and on its four cemeteries St Petersburg 's aristocracy, merchants, sculptors, writers , artists and composes are buried, including Dostoevsky and Chaykovsky.

"Peter and Paul fortress" (no site is available for the present moment) - is the birth place of St Petersburg. All Russian tsars and tsarinas since Peter the Great up to Nicholas II are buried in Peter and Paul Cathedral . There are also  a prison -"Russian Bastille" and a mint on the territory of the fortress .

The church of "Our Saviour on the Spilt Blood" - designed in the style of 15-16 centuries Moscow and Yaroslavl churches  and famous for its wonderful mosaics which cover more than 7000 square meters of inner space. The church was erected on the place of assassination (on the 1st of March in 1881) of Russian tsar Alexander II

St Isaac Cathedral the third tallest cupola construction in the world. Its cupola served as a model for White  House in Washington. Cathedral is richly decorated inside and outside with different kinds of marble and mosaics. Excursion on colonnade is possible.

Catherine palace (with famous Amber Room) and Alexander palace. The palace-and-Park ensemble of Tsarskoye Selo - a former country residence of Russian emperors - is a fascinating monument of the world's architectural and gardening arts of the 18-19 centuries.The compositional centre of the Tsarskoselsky ensemble is Catherine's Palace with its world - famous Amber Room. The exposition "Recollection in the Alexander's Palace is opened in the last residence of Russian emperors, architectural masterpiece of the 18 century. In its 12 halls, with authentic or partially reconstructed attire, artworks like paintings, graphics, decorative and applied art, costumes, personal belongings etc. are represented, related to the life of its crowned owners.

Pavlovsk. This is a superb palace-and-park ensemble of the late 18 - beginning of the 19 centuries which was used as a summer residence of the Russian emperor Paul the first and his family. Landscape park, one of the largest in Europe, covers the area of 600 ha. The formation of the collection of the Pavlovsky palace was closely connected with the trip of its owners over Europe in 1781-1782. They visited workshops of well-known artists, ordering and acquiring paintings, furniture, bronze articles, silk fabrics, china sets etc.

Peterhof. "RussianVersailles" - is a jewel of the Russian art, a town of parks, palaces and fountains which is very often compared with French Versailles. But  don't believe those who state this: our Petergoff  is much better!!

Oranienbaum (Lomonosov) --This wonderful palace still doesn't have its own site. The only palace in the vicinities of St Petersburg  which survived the chaos of the WWII. Catherine II called it  her " Chinese box" .The style of the palace is  a whimsical mixture of chinoiserie and rococo styles with  the abundance of artificial marble and superb parquet floors. I recommend you to visit it together with Petergoff (it will take you 20 minutes by car to get there from Petergoff) and it is "a must" for art lovers. Closed in Winter!!

Konstantinovsky palace (no website in english is available at present moment)
Long time served as a residence for grand dukes from the Romanovs  dynasty now is a marine residence of our president Putin in St Petersburg, Meeting of "Great eight"  on the 15-18th of  July 2006 will take place exactly here creating a lot of inconveniences for local and foreign tourists.

Novgorod - a trip there will take you the whole day. Novgorod ("New City") had escaped the Tatar hordes and has kept intact through the ages its numerous fascinating written documents, pieces of architecture, painting, applied art of the XI-XII centuries, is one of the oldest cultural centers in the world. All the most famous Novgorod sights are within the Kremlin

Schlisselburg fortress - (no website for the present moment)"Russian  Alkatraz" is situated on the iceland in the mouth of the Neva river  and is one of the oldest fortresses in Russia (built in 1323). Served as  stronghold in the defence system of 15th century Rus, later was turned into a secret political prison(excursions are available inside with breathtaking stories  about prisoners who spend more than 20 years in the solitary confinement) . During the WWII its garrison prevented blockade from completely closing around Leningrad (previous name of St Petersburg).

Inside the fortress there is a monument to the defenders of the fortress-the most impressive military monument which I have ever seen in my  life!!