Nevsky Prospekt, a long 4.5 km straight line laid out in 1710s, is the city’s most beautiful avenue and Petersburgers are very fond of its cafés, shops, theatres and cinemas. It is lined with architectural treasures of all styles, from aristocratic p..

The imperial quarter is majestic and formal with its lavish residences, and Palace Square in the centre like a huge lake stretching between the enchanted island of the Winter Palace and the huge wave of the General Staff Building. The enormous space ..

The Winter Palace, seat of the Hermitage Museum since the October Revolution, is very impressive with its long pistachio green façade dotted with 400 immaculately white columns. It was built by the Italian Bartolomeo Rastrelli between 1754 and 1762..

Standing on an island in the Neva, Peter and Paul Fortress was designed to protect the entrance to the delta against the Swedes. Its inauguration on 16 May 1703 marked the birth of Russia’s new capital, St. Petersburg. Alas, it was never used to defe..

You can see it from far off with its impressive (123m high) spindly bell tower, topped by a gilded angel and chimes that play the hymn of the tsars. Peter and Paul Cathedral, built between 1714 and 1733 by Domenico Trezzini, is the Romanov’s necropol..

Symbol of the “capital of the North”, the Hermitage Museum is at once a huge temple devoted to Art, a series of magnificent palaces and an ensemble of historic buildings that is alone worth the trip to St. Petersburg. This gigantic museum boasting ne..

Explore the treasures of Russian painting, sculpture and folk art in this magnificent museum boasting one of the richest collections of Russian art in the country. The museum retraces the spectacular history of Russian art through its different movem..

Palace Square, a focal point in the history of St. Petersburg, notably in the bloody revolutions of 1905 and 1917, is now the city’s cultural centre boasting the prestigious Hermitage Museum . Designed by Carlo Rossi like a stage set, it affords a g..

It was Carlo Rossi who gave Palace Square its current look when he built this grandiose edifice across from the imperial residence. The General Staff Building occupies the entire southern side of the square, its curved façade stretching out for 580..

The Alexander Column, topped by a gilded angel, is 47.5m high, making it the tallest in the world. It was built between 1830 and 1834 by Auguste de Montferrand to commemorate Alexander I’s victory over Napoleon in 1812. It therefore had to surpass th..

The Arts Square Quarter, the heart of the city’s artistic life, is truly enchanting with its numerous museums ( Russian Museum , Russian Museum of Ethnography , Museum of Decorative and Applied Arts ), theatres and concert halls, magnificent resid..

The Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan, inspired by St Peter’s in Rome, boasts an impressive (76m) dome and a long semicircular colonnade on Nevsky Prospekt. Paul I had it built between 1801 and 1811 by Andrei Voronikhin to house the precious icon of the..

This bridge spanning the Fontanka bears the name of military engineer Mikhail Anichkov, who oversaw the construction of the first - wooden -bridge. The bridge is mainly known for its magnificent sculptures of horses and their tamers standing on its c..

In a superb building specially designed by Vassily Svinin, the collection retraces the history of the 150 ethnic groups that have peopled the territory of the former Russian Empire. The Russian Museum of Ethnography, the largest of its kind in the wo..

The Church of Our Saviour on Spilled Blood thrusts skyward its polychrome cabled onion domes on the very spot where Tsar Alexander II, to whom it is dedicated, was assassinated in 1881. Built in the Neo-Russian style and modelled after the Cathedral ..

Peter the Great lived simply, far from the splendour of the imperial palaces and aristocratic homes. His Summer Palace, where he withdrew with his family during fine weather, is proof. It is composed of a dozen very simply decorated rooms, which are ..

The Museum of Decorative and Applied Arts is worth a visit both for its collections and for its interior decor, a subtle blend of Renaissance, Baroque and Medieval styles. Baron Stieglitz, who founded the Central School of Technical Design in 1876, w..

“As it turns out I have spent nearly all my life under the roof of the fountain palace; I entered it poor and I’m leaving it poor...” Thus the poet Anna Akhamatova spoke about the Sheremetev Palace where she lived from 1924 to 1952, receiving poets, ..

In his desire to turn Russia into a military power with a fleet worthy of its name, Peter the Great quite naturally decided to build a shipyard in his capital. In the 19C the Admiralty Quarter lost its military function (except for the Admiralty Buil..

The splendour of this palace is on a par with its illustrious owner, Nikolai Yusoupov, a great art collector who bought it in 1830. The dazzling ceremonial rooms boast walls covered in silk and ceilings painted with mythological scenes. The prince’..