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Tours in St Petersburg |
Hermitazh (Hermitage)
The Hermitage is one of the greatest art collections of the world, housed in a vast architectural tour de force. At its heart is one of the world's most luxurious royal palaces, the ornate Baroque Winter Palace, designed by the Italian architect Bartolomeo Rastrelli, and perfectly situated, looking out over the River Neva at the soaring gold spire of the Cathedral of St Peter and St Paul. The setting and the exterior of the building are stunning but, once inside, the vast carved and gilded white marble Jordan Staircase leads to fabulous columned state rooms with gilded ceilings, crystal chandeliers and intricately patterned mosaic and parquet floors. Added to these riches is an art collection started by Catherine the Great in 1764, with 255 paintings, now grown to around three million exhibits. It includes works by Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian, Rembrandt, Rubens, French Impressionists (Renoir, Cezanne, Manet, Monet and Pissarro), as well as Van Gogh, Matisse, Gaugin and Rodin. It would take around 10 years to tour the Hermitage, spending just one minute at each exhibit, but the 90-minute guided tour of the highlights with commentary in English gives a good overview for a first visit.
Dvortsovaya Naberezhnaya 34
Tel: (812) 311 3465.
Website: www.hermitagemuseum.org
Opening hours: Tues-Sat 1030-1800, Sun 1030-1700; ticket offices close one hour before closing time.
Admission charge.
Isaakievsky sobor (St Isaac's Cathedral)
St Isaac's Cathedral was built in 1818-58 by French-born architect Auguste Montferrand. Commissioned by Tsar Alexander I to build a spectacular imperial cathedral, he executed a masterpiece of engineering on the marshy ground. The gilded dome of St Isaac's still dominates the skyline of St Petersburg but the price was high - thousands of serfs died in the building, numerous sculptors decorated the façades and pediments, tons of granite columns supported it and Alexander and his successor were dead before it was completed. The interiors are dazzling, with malachite and lapis lazuli columns, mosaic icons, painted ceilings and, in the sanctuary, a large stained-glass ‘Resurrected Christ'. The climb to the colonnade of the dome is rewarded by panoramic views over the city. During the Communist years, the church became a museum of atheism. It is still a museum but church services are held here on special occasions.
Isaakievskaya ploschad 1
Tel: (812) 315 9732.
Opening hours: Thurs-Tues 1100-1900, last admission 1800 (Cathedral); Thurs-Tues 1100-1800, last admission 1700 (Colonnade).
Admission charge.
Petropavlovskaya krepost (Peter and Paul Fortress)
Peter the Great laid out the plans for the Peter and Paul Fortress on Zayachy Island in 1703 to defend the area from the Swedes. Entered through imposing gates and containing most of the island within its massive defensive walls, the fortress housed part of the city's garrison and notoriously served as a high-security political jail. Among the first inmates of the Trubetskoy Bastion was Peter's own son, Alexei, who was tortured and died here. The bleak cells, which held many famous residents, including Dostoevsky, Gorky and Trotsky, are now a museum, as is the Commandant's House where prisoners were tried.
Next to the Commandant's House lies the Cathedral of St Peter and St Paul, its distinctive high slender spire a landmark throughout the city. The elegant simple spire belies the richly coloured Baroque interior, carved in marble, inlaid with gold and sparkling with crystal, which provides an opulent resting place for Peter the Great and his successors.
Petropavlovskaya krepost
Tel: (812) 238 4550.
Opening hours: Tues 1100-1600; Thurs-Mon 1100-1700; closed last Tues of month.
Free admission, charge for the museum.
Muzyei-domik Petra I (Cabin of Peter the Great)
The first house built in the newly founded St Petersburg in 1703 was the humble wooden Cabin of Peter the Great, from which Peter supervised the construction of his grand imperial city. Now encased in a protective brick enclosure and furnished with period furniture, its spartan simplicity is a strange contrast to the grand cathedrals and palaces that surround it. Peter lived here between 1703 and 1708 and some of his belongings remain, including his boat, his compass and his icon of the Redeemer. The functional minimalism of the possessions emphasises the frugal life he led in this tiny three-roomed house.
Petrovskaya Naberezhnaya 6
Tel: (812) 232 4576.
Opening hours: Wed-Mon 1100-2100; closed last Mon of month.
Admission charge.
Khram Spas-na-Krovi (Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood)
Modelled on the 16th-century traditional Russian style of St Basil's Cathedral in Moscow, the Church on Spilled Blood was built on the spot where Emperor Alexander II was assassinated, on 1 March 1881, and named accordingly. The richly ornamented exterior of colourful enamelled domes, gilded mosaic panels, ceramic tiles, columned windows with intricately carved arches is like a confection of bright sugar candy in a sweet shop window. The interior of the church gleams with marble and the semi-precious stones in the extensive mosaics. Since 1970, a long programme of restoration has been in progress to reverse the neglect of the years after the Revolution of 1917.
Naberezhnaya Kanala Griboyedova 2
Tel: (812) 314 4053 or 315 1636.
Opening hours: Tues-Mon 1100-1800; closed Wed; ticket offices close one hour before closing time.
Admission charge.
Russkiy Muzyei (Russian Museum)
The State Russian Museum is often overshadowed by the grand Hermitage. Yet this complex houses a fantastic and as comprehensive a collection of Russian art as one might ever hope to see. The museum was established in 1895 under the decree of the Tsar Nicholas II. From thousand-year-old icons to Russian masters Vrubel, Ilya Repin, Suvurov, Brullov, Aivazovksy, Nestorov to decorative applied art, Russia's great history in art is all on display here. Russian Impressionists have great representation at the museum, as do the artists of the Revolution and ensuing Futurist movement, and Soviet artists thereafter. Paintings by Goncharova, Malevich, Kandinsky and Chagall are but a small representation of the great works that grace these hallowed walls. Additionally, a large restructuring and renovation project has brought several palaces (the Marble Palace, Mikhailovsky Palace, and others) under the guidance of the Russian Museum as new display areas, while bringing their original opulence back after years of Soviet neglect.
Inzhenernaya ulitsa 4/2
Tel: (812) 314 4153.
Website: www.rusmuseum.ru/eng
Opening hours: Open daily 1000-1800, except Tues (closed).
Admission charge.
The Hermitage is one of the greatest art collections of the world, housed in a vast architectural tour de force. At its heart is one of the world's most luxurious royal palaces, the ornate Baroque Winter Palace, designed by the Italian architect Bartolomeo Rastrelli, and perfectly situated, looking out over the River Neva at the soaring gold spire of the Cathedral of St Peter and St Paul. The setting and the exterior of the building are stunning but, once inside, the vast carved and gilded white marble Jordan Staircase leads to fabulous columned state rooms with gilded ceilings, crystal chandeliers and intricately patterned mosaic and parquet floors. Added to these riches is an art collection started by Catherine the Great in 1764, with 255 paintings, now grown to around three million exhibits. It includes works by Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian, Rembrandt, Rubens, French Impressionists (Renoir, Cezanne, Manet, Monet and Pissarro), as well as Van Gogh, Matisse, Gaugin and Rodin. It would take around 10 years to tour the Hermitage, spending just one minute at each exhibit, but the 90-minute guided tour of the highlights with commentary in English gives a good overview for a first visit.
Dvortsovaya Naberezhnaya 34
Tel: (812) 311 3465.
Website: www.hermitagemuseum.org
Opening hours: Tues-Sat 1030-1800, Sun 1030-1700; ticket offices close one hour before closing time.
Admission charge.
Isaakievsky sobor (St Isaac's Cathedral)
St Isaac's Cathedral was built in 1818-58 by French-born architect Auguste Montferrand. Commissioned by Tsar Alexander I to build a spectacular imperial cathedral, he executed a masterpiece of engineering on the marshy ground. The gilded dome of St Isaac's still dominates the skyline of St Petersburg but the price was high - thousands of serfs died in the building, numerous sculptors decorated the façades and pediments, tons of granite columns supported it and Alexander and his successor were dead before it was completed. The interiors are dazzling, with malachite and lapis lazuli columns, mosaic icons, painted ceilings and, in the sanctuary, a large stained-glass ‘Resurrected Christ'. The climb to the colonnade of the dome is rewarded by panoramic views over the city. During the Communist years, the church became a museum of atheism. It is still a museum but church services are held here on special occasions.
Isaakievskaya ploschad 1
Tel: (812) 315 9732.
Opening hours: Thurs-Tues 1100-1900, last admission 1800 (Cathedral); Thurs-Tues 1100-1800, last admission 1700 (Colonnade).
Admission charge.
Petropavlovskaya krepost (Peter and Paul Fortress)
Peter the Great laid out the plans for the Peter and Paul Fortress on Zayachy Island in 1703 to defend the area from the Swedes. Entered through imposing gates and containing most of the island within its massive defensive walls, the fortress housed part of the city's garrison and notoriously served as a high-security political jail. Among the first inmates of the Trubetskoy Bastion was Peter's own son, Alexei, who was tortured and died here. The bleak cells, which held many famous residents, including Dostoevsky, Gorky and Trotsky, are now a museum, as is the Commandant's House where prisoners were tried.
Next to the Commandant's House lies the Cathedral of St Peter and St Paul, its distinctive high slender spire a landmark throughout the city. The elegant simple spire belies the richly coloured Baroque interior, carved in marble, inlaid with gold and sparkling with crystal, which provides an opulent resting place for Peter the Great and his successors.
Petropavlovskaya krepost
Tel: (812) 238 4550.
Opening hours: Tues 1100-1600; Thurs-Mon 1100-1700; closed last Tues of month.
Free admission, charge for the museum.
Muzyei-domik Petra I (Cabin of Peter the Great)
The first house built in the newly founded St Petersburg in 1703 was the humble wooden Cabin of Peter the Great, from which Peter supervised the construction of his grand imperial city. Now encased in a protective brick enclosure and furnished with period furniture, its spartan simplicity is a strange contrast to the grand cathedrals and palaces that surround it. Peter lived here between 1703 and 1708 and some of his belongings remain, including his boat, his compass and his icon of the Redeemer. The functional minimalism of the possessions emphasises the frugal life he led in this tiny three-roomed house.
Petrovskaya Naberezhnaya 6
Tel: (812) 232 4576.
Opening hours: Wed-Mon 1100-2100; closed last Mon of month.
Admission charge.
Khram Spas-na-Krovi (Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood)
Modelled on the 16th-century traditional Russian style of St Basil's Cathedral in Moscow, the Church on Spilled Blood was built on the spot where Emperor Alexander II was assassinated, on 1 March 1881, and named accordingly. The richly ornamented exterior of colourful enamelled domes, gilded mosaic panels, ceramic tiles, columned windows with intricately carved arches is like a confection of bright sugar candy in a sweet shop window. The interior of the church gleams with marble and the semi-precious stones in the extensive mosaics. Since 1970, a long programme of restoration has been in progress to reverse the neglect of the years after the Revolution of 1917.
Naberezhnaya Kanala Griboyedova 2
Tel: (812) 314 4053 or 315 1636.
Opening hours: Tues-Mon 1100-1800; closed Wed; ticket offices close one hour before closing time.
Admission charge.
Russkiy Muzyei (Russian Museum)
The State Russian Museum is often overshadowed by the grand Hermitage. Yet this complex houses a fantastic and as comprehensive a collection of Russian art as one might ever hope to see. The museum was established in 1895 under the decree of the Tsar Nicholas II. From thousand-year-old icons to Russian masters Vrubel, Ilya Repin, Suvurov, Brullov, Aivazovksy, Nestorov to decorative applied art, Russia's great history in art is all on display here. Russian Impressionists have great representation at the museum, as do the artists of the Revolution and ensuing Futurist movement, and Soviet artists thereafter. Paintings by Goncharova, Malevich, Kandinsky and Chagall are but a small representation of the great works that grace these hallowed walls. Additionally, a large restructuring and renovation project has brought several palaces (the Marble Palace, Mikhailovsky Palace, and others) under the guidance of the Russian Museum as new display areas, while bringing their original opulence back after years of Soviet neglect.
Inzhenernaya ulitsa 4/2
Tel: (812) 314 4153.
Website: www.rusmuseum.ru/eng
Opening hours: Open daily 1000-1800, except Tues (closed).
Admission charge.
View Our Airport Guides for St Petersburg:
(St Petersburg) Pulkovo Airport
