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About st petersburg

Saint Petersburg, the second largest city in Russia and one of the most beautiful cities in the world, was founded in 1703 by Peter the Great. Peter wanted this city to become a “window to Europe”. In 1712 Saint Petersburg became the capital of the Russian Empire and within the next fifty years turned into a city of great beauty, with magnificent palaces, cathedrals, churches and government buildings. Famous architects brought from Italy and France design and built many historical monuments like the Winter Palace, the residence the Russian czars, which is currently the home of the world-famous Hermitage museum.

Because of its magnificence St Petersburg is often called the Palmira of the North and because of many rivers and canals which crisscross the city (65 in total) it is also called the Northern Venice. There are many large and small beautiful bridges in St Petersburg. Eight bridges across the Neva River are raised every night to let big ships pass through. The longest bridge is the Alexander Nevsky Bridge across the Neva River. The Blue Bridge over the Moika River is the widest and completes the ensemble of St. Isaac`s Square.

Moika River

St Isaac's Cathedral

During the first 300 years of its history St Petersburg was renamed several times. When the First World War broke out in 1914, the German-sounding name Saint Petersburg was changed to the Russian equivalent - Petrograd. After the death of the Bolshevik dictator Vladimir Lenin in 1924, the city was called after him – Leningrad. Only in 1991, weeks before the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the city returned its original name of St Petersburg.

This days St Petersburg with it’s 5 mln population is an important economic, cultural and educational centre. The city boasts almost 100 universities, more than 400 scientific-research institutes encompassing 10% of Russia’s scientific potential. St Petersburg is a seat of Russia’s Constitutional Court and the Supreme Command of the Russian Fleet.

Saint Petersburg is a home to more than two hundred museums, many of them hosted in historic buildings. The largest and the most famous of them is the Hermitage Museum located in the Winter Palace and housing a preeminent collection of Ancient and Modern Art. The Russian Museum is a large museum devoted specifically to Russian fine art. The Kunstkamera, the first museum in Russia, is a place where various curiosities and natural artefacts collected either by Peter the Great or at his request can be seen. The apartments of some famous inhabitants of St Petersburg, including Alexander Pushkin, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Feodor Chaliapin, Alexander Blok, Vladimir Nabokov, Anna Akhmatova, Joseph Brodsky, as well as some palace and park ensembles of the southern suburbs and notable architectural monuments such as St. Isaac's Cathedral, have also been turned into public museums.

St Isaac's Cathedral

Moika River

There are lots of theatres in St Petersburg to suit all tastes – the Mariinsky Theater or the Maly Opera House, the Tovstonogov Bolshoi Drama Theater, the Alexandrinsky Theater and many others.

The State Hermitage Museum

The Hermitage is one of the second largest museum in the world. It was founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great. Its collections, of which only a small part is on permanent display, comprise over three million items including the largest collection of paintings in the world. The museum houses masterpieces by Leonardo da Vinci, Picasso, Renoir, Vincent van Gogh, Rembrandt and many others. It is estimated that to see all the exhibits in the Hermitage Museum will take about 11 years.

The Peter and Paul Fortress

The Peter and Paul Fortress was one of the first buildings to be erected in St Petersburg. It was founded by Peter the Great in 1703 and built to Domenico Trezzini's designs from 1706 to 1740 as a star fortress. The Baroque Peter and Paul Cathedral is the final resting place of the Romanov Czar Family and it is where the remains of Nicolas II and his wife and children are buried.

The Nevsky Prospekt

Nevsky Prospekt is the main street in St Petersburg which was cut through thick woodland in 1718. The Kazan Cathedral with its impressive colonnade is located just in the heart of the street. The prospect is lined with numerous cafés, restaurants and shops.

The Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood

The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood with its colourful domes and bright mosaics was constructed in the early 20th century on the spot where Tsar Alexander II was assassinated on March 13, 1881. During the Second World War when many people were starving due to the Siege of Leningrad by Nazi German military forces, the church was used as a temporary morgue for those who died in combat and from starvation and illness. It was finally reopened to the public in 1997.

The Mariinsky Theatre

First opened in 1860 the Mariinsky Theatre has long been one of the world’s most prominent venues for ballet and opera. Its dance school trained such world-famous ballet dancers as Rudolf Nureyev and Vatslav Nijinsky. Many of the stage masterpieces of Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, and Rimsky-Korsakov received their premieres here. The world-famous conductor Valery Gergiev serves as the theatre's general director.

The Russian Museum

St Isaac’s Cathedral

The gold-domed 19th-century St Isaac’s Cathedral is one of St Petersburg’s most famous landmarks. It is the largest orthodox basilica and the fourth largest (by the volume under the cupola) cathedral in the world. It offers wonderful views of the city from its gilded viewing platform. Statues of the Apostles stand guard at the top of St Isaac’s, while its massive doors are decorated with biblical scenes. Inside, the cathedral boasts a vast ceiling painting by Karl Bryullov as well as St Catherine’s Chapel.

Spit of Vasilyevsky Island

The Spit of Vasilyevsky Island, the largest island in St Petersburg, offers a bizarre selection of attractions including a pair of 15th-century Egyptian sphinxes on the river side, the Kunstkamera museum, where various biological oddities are on display, such as the skeleton and the heart of Peter the Great’s gigantic personal servant and the 19th-century Rostral Columns whose torches are lit on special occasions. It’s a great place to enjoy the beauty of St Petersburg.

The City of St Peter