Showing 1-24 of 24 results
-
Anichkov Palace
Occupying an entire block between pl Ostrovskogo and the Fontanka River, the Anichkov Palace was built between 1741 and 1750, with input from a slew of architects, including Rastrelli and Rossi. The palace was twice a generous gift for services rendered: Empress Elizabeth gave it to her favourite Count Razumovsky and later Catherine the Great presented it to Potemkin.
-
Beloselsky-Belozersky Palace
The salmon pink exterior of the 1840s Beloselsky-Belozersky Palace provides a photogenic backdrop to Anichkov most. The palace was formerly a home of Communist Party officials, and now continues to serve in various official capacities.
-
Bolshoy Dom
Noi Trotsky's monolithic design for the local KGB headquarters (and current Interior Ministry headquarters) is referred to by everyone as the 'Bolshoy Dom' or 'Big House'. It's a fierce-looking block of granite built in 1932 in the late-constructivist style and was once a byword for fear among the people of the city: most people who were taken here during the purges were never heard of again. Employees who have worked here include former president Vladimir Putin during his days as a KGB man.
-
Botanical Gardens
On eastern Aptekarsky (Apothecary) Island, this quiet jungle was once was once a garden of medicinal plants that gave the island its name. The gardens date to 1714, when they were founded by Peter the Great himself.
The botanic gardens contain 26 greenhouses on a 22-hectare site. It is a lovely place to stroll and a fascinating place to visit - and not just for botanists.
-
Dostoevsky Houses
Fyodor Dostoevsky lived in three flats on this tiny street alone. From 1861 to 1863, he lived at No 1. In 1864, he spent one month living in the faded red building at No 9, before moving to No 7. Here, he lived from 1864 to 1867 and wrote Crime and Punishment ; indeed, the route taken by the novel's antihero Raskolnikov to murder the old woman moneylender passed directly under his window.
-
Gosudarev Bastion
The Gosudarev Bastion, in the southeast corner of the grounds of Peter & Paul Fortress, contains a passage into the hidden walkway inside the fortress walls. The passage used to be secret, but now it houses the 'Neva Panorama' exhibition.
-
Mars Field
Once the scene of 19th-century military parades, the grassy Mars Field lies immediately east of the Summer Garden (south of Troitsky most). Formerly known as the Tsarina's Meadow (Tsaritsyn lug), it's a popular spot for strollers. At its centre, an eternal flame burns for the victims of the 1917 revolution and the ensuing civil war. Don't take a short cut across the grass - you may be walking on the graves of the victims or of later communist luminaries also buried here.
-
Menshikov Palace
The first stone building in the city, the Menshikov Palace was built to the grandiose tastes of Prince Alexander Menshikov, Peter the Great's closest friend and the first governor of St Petersburg. Menshikov was of humble origins (he is said to have sold pies on the streets of Moscow as a child), but his talent for both organisation and intrigue made him the second-most important person in the Russian Empire by the time of Peter's death in 1725.
-
Monument to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad
Pl Pobedy (Victory Sq) is one of the first sights of the city that visitors see on the road from the airport to the city centre, making a deeply Soviet impression for a town as imperial as St Petersburg! The square now houses the vast Monument to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad, which is the city's most moving monument. The front line was only 9km from this spot.
Read more about Monument to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad
-
Peter & Paul Fortress
Tiny Zayachy Island contains the oldest building in town - the Peter & Paul Fortress. It was built in 1703 while Peter the Great was still roughing it in a log cabin overlooking his golden embryonic city (the cabin is preserved as a shrine-like museum), and designed according to plans by the man himself.
-
Advertisement
-
Peter's Cabin
In a patch of trees east of the Peter & Paul Fortress is a little stone building known as Peter's Cabin, St Petersburg's oldest surviving structure. This log cabin was supposedly built in three days in May 1703 for Peter to live in while he supervised the construction of the fortress and city. During Catherine the Great's time, the house was protected by a bricklayer.
The cabin has always been a sentimental site for St Petersburg.
-
Petrodvorets
Most European rulers had at least one Versailles, and Peter the Great was no exception. He built a series of palaces on the site now known as Petrodvorets. Fountains play a very large part in its grandeur. Petrodvorets' other charms include the Grand Palace, enlarged for Empress Elizabeth and later remodelled by Catherine.
-
Piskaryovskoe Cemetery
It's hard work getting to this rather remote cemetery, but as the main burial place for the victims of the Nazi blockade in WWII, it is a poignant memorial to the tragedy.
-
Pushkin House
The old customs house, topped with statues and a dome, is now home to the Institute of Russian Literature. Fondly called Pushkin House, the handsome building contains a small literary museum with dusty exhibits on Tolstoy, Gogol, Lermontov and Turgenev, as well as a room dedicated to the writers of the Silver Age. Call in advance for an English-language tour.
-
Raskolnikov House
This innocuous house on the corner of Stolyarny per (called 'S… lane' in the book) is one of two possible locations of the attic apartment of Rodyon Raskolnikov, the protagonist of Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment . Those who claim that this is the place go further, saying that Rodyon retrieved the murder weapon from a street-sweeper's storage bin inside the tunnel leading to the courtyard.
-
Sampsonievsky Cathedral
This fascinating pea-green baroque cathedral dates from 1740 and is a beautiful highlight of a remarkably dull industrial area of the Vyborg Side - it's well worth the trip out here. It is believed to be the church where Catherine the Great married her one-eyed lover Grigory Potemkin in a secret ceremony in 1774.
-
Smolny Institute
Built by Giacomo Quarenghi between 1806 and 1808 as a school for aristocratic girls, the Smolny Institute was thrust into the limelight in 1917 when it became the headquarters for the Bolshevik Central Committee and the Petrograd Soviet. From here, Trotsky and Lenin directed the October Revolution, and in the Hall of Acts (Aktovy zal) on 25 October, the All-Russian Congress of Soviets conferred power on a Bolshevik government led by Lenin.
-
Stroganov Palace
One of the city's loveliest baroque exteriors, the salmon pink Stroganov Palace was designed by court favourite Bartolomeo Rastrelli in 1753 for one of the city's leading aristocratic families. Most famously, the Stroganov's chef created a beef dish served in a sour cream and mushroom sauce that became known to the world as 'beef stroganoff'. The building is now owned by the Russian Museum, which uses the splendidly restored rooms for temporary exhibitions.
-
Summer Palace Of Peter I
The modest, two-storey Summer Palace in the northeastern corner of the Summer Garden was St Petersburg's first 'palace', which may seem like a slight misnomer for a remarkably small building. The 14-room baroque palace was built for Peter between 1704 and 1714 by Domenico Trezzini. Today it's open as a museum, showing off some simple 18th-century furnishings, porcelain duct work and ornamental painting. The bas-reliefs around the walls depict Russian naval victories.
-
Tauride Palace & Gardens
Catherine the Great built this fabulous baroque palace in 1783 for Grigory Potemkin, a famed general and one of her many lovers. The palace takes its name from the Ukrainian region of Crimea (once called Tavria), which Potemkin conquered. The palace was a thank you for that acquisition, amongst other things.
-
Advertisement
-
Winter Palace Of Peter I
Opened as a part of the State Hermitage Museum in 1992, this palace on the Neva was the principle residence of Peter the Great, and indeed he died here in 1725. When Giacomo Quarenghi constructed the Hermitage Theatre on this site between 1783 and 1789, he preserved parts of the palace and grounds. Between 1976 and 1986, excavations beneath the theatre stage uncovered a large fragment of the former state courtyard, as well as several suites of palace apartments.
-
Yelagin Island
This entire island is basically a giant park, a delightful car-free zone that is a fantastic place to wander. It was landscaped by the architect Carlo Rossi, so you can expect the loveliest of settings. The centrepiece is the Yelagin Palace, also by Rossi, which Alexander I had built for his mother Empress Maria. The very beautiful restored interiors of the main house include old furnishings on loan from the Grand Europe and Astoria Hotels.
-
Yelagin Palace
The centrepiece of Yelagin Island is Yelagin Palace, which Alexander I had built for his mother Empress Maria. The very beautiful restored interiors of the main house include old furnishings on loan from the Grand Europe and Astoria Hotels; don't miss the stupendous 1890s carved-walnut ensemble in the study and the incredible inlaid-wood floors.
-
Yusupov Palace
This spectacular palace on the Moyka River has some of the most perfectly preserved 19th-century interiors in the city, in addition to a fascinating history. Admission tickets do sell out, so show up before mid-afternoon to ensure your entry. The admission price to the palace includes an audio tour in English and a number of other languages.
Showing 1-24 of 24 results
