Sightseeing

City Tour

A bus tour around Saint-Petersburg will let you to get acquainted with all main places of interest in our city.

Tour begins usually from the Gostiny dvor on Nevsky prospect. You 'll see Arts' Square, a famous architectural ensemble of the centre of St. Petersburg, created to the design of C. Rossi, consisting of the Russian Museum (Michailovsky palace), Museum of Ethnography and Mussorgsky Theatre of Opera and Ballet.

Then you will see Cathedral of Our Saviour-on the Spilled Blood, erected on the canal Griboedova embankment, a traditionally Russian construction in a European city of St. Petersburg.

Further, passing by the Admiralty, you will approach the famous Palace Square and see building of the Headquarters with its marvelous arch, the State Hermitage ensemble and its most famous building - the Winter Palace, a masterpiece of Russian baroque style and the former imperial residence. In the centre of the square is located the huge Alexander column, crowned by a figure of an angel.

The Palace Bridge will bring you across the Neva tjo the Spit of the Basil Island, you will see the Rostral columns - immense lighthouses, symbolizing Russian sea power, building of the Stock Exchange. Along the University embankment, you will see buildings of the Chamber of Curiosities (Museum of Anthropology named after Peter the Great), the University, the Menshikov Palace and the Academy of Arts.

Having crossed the Neva you'll find yourself on the Senate square with its monument to Peter I, then you will visit the Isaac's square with St. Isaac's Cathedral and the Mariinsky Palace.

Crossing the Palace Bridge for the second time, you will turn right and get to St. Peter-and-Paul's Fortress, a masterpiece of fortification art, the first important construction in St. Petersburg. Then the bus takes you to the Smolny and Tavrichesky Palaces with neighbouring gardens .

Suvorovsky and Staro-Nevsky prospect will bring you to the Uprising square and further on - back to Gostiny Dvor, the place the excursion began. On the way you will know much interesting about palaces and monuments of the Nevsky prospect.

Boat trips

Saint-Petersburg is often compared to Venice as in this city you are guaranteed to see many remarkable riverside sights. And indeed, after you step on board of a boat, you will see the city in a different way. St. Petersburg was designed to have the mighty Neva river as its "main street", so many beautiful buildings and squares face the river and some riverside views are truly breathtaking. You will see the Spit of the Vasilyevsky Island, Peter-and-Paul Fortress, Palace Embankment, Summer Garden and many other highlights.

Helicopter sightseeing

In a flight you will fly from the Fortress of Peter & Paul, then follow the Neva River through the heart of St.Petersburg. Many great landmarks can be seen from the air: The Winter Palace, St.Isaac's Cathedral, Nevsky prospect, Kazan Cathedral, Church of our Saviour, Field of Mars, the Admiralty to name a few. The feeling of cruising through the air at low level, with a birds eye view of the ground, is unforgettable.

Peter and Paul fortress

Peter-and-Paul Fortress - the initial core around which the city was centred. This fortress was founded on 16 (27 - new style) May 1703, when the head stone of Peter-and-Paul Cathedral was laid by Peter I. This date is considered to be the date of origin of Saint-Petersburg and every year big celebrations are held on this day.

The first construction on the territory of the fortress was the beautiful Peter-and-Paul Cathedral built under the guidance of Dominico Trezini. It is not only a historical and architectural monument of 18th century but also a burial-vault of Russian Emperors. It's gilded spire crowned with a figure of an angel reaches 122.5 meters and remains to be the second highest construction in St-P after a TV tower built after the war.

Fortress was the politician prison, where famous public figure of that time were put .

Nowadays there is in Peter and Paul fortress the Museum of city history.

St. Isaac's Cathedral

St. Isaac's Cathedral is the most lavishly decorated cathedral of St.Petersburg. It is called after St.Isaac , the patron of Peter the Great. Peter I was born on the 30th of May, the feast day of a famous Dalmatian monk, and wanted to dedicate the church to him.

The present cathedral is the 4th dedicated to St. Isaac. It was designed by architect Monferan in classical style. The construction works lasted for 40 years and were finished in 1858. St. Isaac's Cathedral amazes us with its huge dimensions. The height of the cathedral is 101.5m, it weighs 300 tons. It covers an area of 4 000 square meters and can place a crowd of 12 000 people. The dominant feature is a gilded dome, 100 kg of gold were used for gilding. St. Isaac's is the 4th tallest cathedral in Europe among the constructions with cupolas. It used to be the main cathedral of Russian Empire.

Nowadays St. Isaac's Cathedral is a museum.

Cathedral of Resurrection

Cathedral of Our Saviour on the Spilled Blood (Church of Resurrection of Christ) was constructed in 1883-1907 on the former Ekaterininsky, now Griboedova, canal embankment, where on the 1st of March, 1881 Ignaty Grinevitsky, member of the "Peoples' Will", mortally wounded the emperor Alexander II.

This cathedral was erected on the place of assassination by architect Parland in Neo-Russian style, which imitates Russian architecture in the second half of the nineteenth century. The cathedral is 81 meter high and is richly decorated with mosaics. The overall area of mosaic decoration amounts to 7 500 square meters. So the Cathedral of Resurrection can be truly regarded as the museum of the art of mosaic in Russia. The cathedral itself has a tragic history: after the revolution it was used as a storage for vegetables and in the days of blockade even as morgue, all these has damaged the cathedrals decoration greatly. In the soviet days there were several projects to put the cathedral down. Fortunately neither of the projects was carried on and now you have an opportunity to admire this wonderful masterpiece of Russian architecture. It is open as museum now.

The State Hermitage museum

The State Hermitage is one of the oldest and largest museums in the world. It has only few followers around the globe comparable for the scale and quality of the collection, the size and the beauty of the exhibition halls. They are Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Britain Museum together with National Gallery.

There are millions of objects of art at the Hermitage and, of course, it is impossible to see the grandeur of its treasures in several hours. Besides, the Hermitage is the most sumptuous palace of St. Petersburg.

The museum is located in 5 historical buildings of Saint-Petersburg, including the Winter Palace - the former residence of Russian tsars. Now the Hermitage includes 15000 pictures, 12000 sculptures and about 220000 items of applied art, numerous collections of coins, medals and drawings. The exhibitions are arranged according to the countries and schools in a chronological order.

Summer Garden

Summer Garden is the oldest garden in Russia. It was laid out by the order of Peter the Great after a design of Leblon. The Garden is decorated with Italian statues which were commissioned in Venice by Peter the Great. Now there are 89 sculptures.

Summer Garden's railing is one of the highlights of St. Petersburg. It was designed in 1770-1784 by Yu. Felten and P. Yegorov. It is considered to be one of the best examples of casting of that time. In the garden there was also situated the so-called Summer Palace of Peter the Great.

Russian Museum

The State Russian Museum is the world's largest museum of Russian art. It is located in the very centre 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 avant-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 (the Stroganov Palace, the Marble Palace, the St.Michael's Castle) . There will also be a series of books devoted to the collections and history of the Russian Museum.

This park was laid out in 1704 and soon became the site for official receptions, assambleys (parties), they celebrated here Russia's military victories over Sweden. It was the first formal garden in Russia adorned by numerous marble statues and busts brought from Italy by Peter I. The Summer Garden is one of St.Petersburg's favorite places of relaxation.

The Michailovsky palace

The basis of the collection and the central exposition are located in the building known as Michael's Palace, one of the masterpieces of Russian architecture from the classical epoch. Michael's Palace is considered one of the most significant architectural sights of Saint Petersburg. This large and harmonious building is located on Arts Square in the very heart of the city. The Palace was built from 1819 to 1825 according to the design of leading architect Carlo Rossi. For many years it was the residence of Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich, the fourth son of Emperor Pavel I. In 1912-1916, in connection with the significant increase in the Museum's collection, an additional adjacent building was assigned to the Russian Museum - the so-called Benois Wing, from the designer-architect L. N. Benois.

More than 5000 works of art are permanently exhibited from more than 300000 items which there are in store-room of museum.

The Stroganov Palace

The Stroganov Palace was built for baron Sergei Stroganov in 1753 by the court architect Francesko Bartolomeo Rastrelly (1700-1771). This was a time when Russian architecture was "trying out" new devices, borrowed from Western Europe and Scandinavian architecture. Foreign architects worked alongside their Russian counterparts on the construction of the capital. The Stroganov Palace - represent the apex of Russian baroque; original, colourful, and distinct from west European Baroque. The Palace was passed through several generations of Stroganovs, one of Russians oldest and most illustrious families.

New life was only breathed into the Palace in 1989 when it was transferred to the Russian Museum. The interiors of several state rooms are already accessible to visitors.

The Marble Palace

The Marble Palace is a vivid memorial to architecture of the early classical period. Various types of marble and granite were widely used for details of the facade and decoration of the interior. Exhibits in the Marble Palace are devoted to expansion of the inter-connections between Russian and Western art. The permanent exhibit "Foreign artists in Russia" presents numerous works by masters of painting and sculpture who influenced the development of Russian art from the 18th to the first half of the 19th centuries. A unique complement to this area is "Ludwig Museum in the Russian Museum". The permanent exhibit of a collection donated by Peter and Irene Ludwig includes a large number of works of Western and Russian artists of the post-war period (1949-1990-ies), ranging from Pablo Picasso to masters of the 1990s. Displayed together, they provide a presentation of contemporary Russian art as part of world culture. Interim exhibits of Russian and foreign contemporary artists are held in the halls of the Marble Palace's third floor.

The St. Michael's Castle

An original architectural memorial, Michael's (Engineers') Castle was built as the formal residence of Pavel I in 1797-1801. Following the death of Pavel I, the Primary Engineers' College was located here, giving the palace its second name. Currently, a permanent exhibition of formal court portraits is on display in Michael's Castle. This is the first attempt to create a national portrait gallery in Russia. The basis of the exhibit is made up of representative portraits of Russian monarchs from Peter I to Nicholas II and also numerous representatives of the tsars' families. Supplementing this gallery are portraits of leading generals and state figures of Russia. Many of the portraits were done by famous national and foreign masters.

Alexander-Nevsky Monastery

Alexander-Nevsky Monastery is one of the largest architectural ensembles of the city. It was founded by Peter I in 1710 in honor of the victory over Sweden in 1240. The general layout of the Alexander-Nevsky Monastery belongs to the architect Domenico Tresini.

This monastery trained priests of high rank for the orthodox church. In 1797 the monastery got the Laura status, which means a monastery of high rank. This highest rank was shared with only 3 others in Zagorsk, Kiev and Volin'.

In the 18th-century Necropolis you can see tombs of aristocracy and highest officials of the Russian Empire, many prominent figures in Russian science and culture are buried here: the architects Andreyan Zakharov, Andrei Voronikhin, Ivan Sarov and Thomas de Thomon, the great Russian scientist and poet Mikhail Lomonosov. In the Necropolis of the Masters of Arts you will find tombs of celebrated figures in Russian culture.

Yusupov Palace

The most sumptuous non-imperial palace in St. Petersburg was the home of rich and powerful Yusupov family, who from the mid-18th century (when the first version of this palace was built) until the revolution, moved in the most powerful circles in Russia.

The Yusupovs were great collectors of art, and their collection was known well beyond Russia. After the revolution most of the collection was moved to the Hermitage, though traces of the incredible wealth that once kept this palace pulsating with life still remain: the various sitting rooms, the intricate chandeliers and candelabras that adorn every room and corridor, and the beautiful private theatre that looks like a cosy version of the Mariinsky. Recently the palace opened an exhibit concerning an event that occurred in the palace in the winter of 1916. It is the palace where the assassination of Rasputin, one of the most scandalous figures in Russian history, took place. The exhibit shows two rooms where it all happened.

Private museum of gramophones and phonographs

It's the unique museum in Russia, the founder of it - former circus artist, a clown, an animal trainer Vladimir Deriabkin. "If all gramophones were collected from all the world, it would be the greatest collection". This phrase, which once he had read in a book, defined the way of his life. He established not only a museum, but also the real cultural center.

The museum is located in an old private house, many noble people lived there. The famous singer Shalyapin lived near there.

Ice-breaker "Krasin"

It's the only floating ice-breaker-museum in the world. It was built in 1916. It's completely restored nowadays. All mechanisms and equipment work and satisfy the acting requirements.

The exposition of museum is about 688 exhibits. The main theme of exposition is the history of shipbuilding, ice-breaker fleet, "Krasin" participation scientific-research arctic expeditions, in transport convoy during the second world war. The most part of the exhibition is dedicated to ice-breaker "Krasin" participation in rescue of expedition of Umberto Nobile after the crush of dirigible "Italy" in 1928.

Museum of dramatic and musical art

Saint-Petersburg state museum of dramatic and musical art is located in the building of where the imperial theatres directorate. This building is one of main exhibits of exposition.

The collection of the museum and its branches (Rimski - Korsakov museum, Shalyapin museum, museum of Samoilovi actor family, Musical museum in Sheremetevsky palace) includes portraits of well-known dramatic actors of the past, theatre sketches of famous painters, playbills, documents, stage properties, scale models - all that helps to imagine legendary dramatic and musician performances.

Among the best persons, who are closely related to the collection, there were producers V. Meyerhold and A. Tairov, actors Savina and Komissarjevskaya, painters Benua and Baxt, composers Rimsky-Korsakov and Shostakovich, singer Shalyapin.

There are also some personal things of famous composers, singers, actors that let to recall the atmosphere in which they lived and created.

Nowadays meetings with well-known actors and singers, composers and painters are organized in concert halls of the museum and its branches.

Menshikov Palace

Occupies the first stone building erected in St.Petersburg (architects G.Fontana and J.Schedel) - the palace of the first city's general governor A.D.Menshikov. In the building, original fragments of the interiors of the XVIII century have been preserved, among them the famous Dutch tiles. Exhibition of The State Hermitage Museum, dedicated to Russian culture of Peter I's age, is open to the public.