Saint Petersburg Things to Do Tips by AndreasK

Situated in the center of St. Petersburg the Hermitage Museum is housed in five magnificent buildings created by celebrated architects of the 18th to 19th century. The Winter Palace, formerly the residence of Russian Emperors which was constructed between 1754 and 1762 after a design of Bartolomeo Rastrelli, occupies an important place amongst the other constructions of the overall Museum ensemble. In December 1837 a fire broke out in the heating shaft and engulfed the building, burning for three days and reducing it to ashes - only a few walls remained standing.

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The Kazan Cathedral is one of the earliest buildings of Alexander's and was built between 1801-11. This was meant to accommodate the miraculous icon of the Virgin of Kazan. The architect Voronikhin used St Peter's in Rome as his inspiration, with the idea of the great colonnaded piazza, four columns deep, facing Nevsky Prospekt. Kazan Cathedral has now been returned to the Russian Orthodox Church and the ridiculous anti-religious museum that occupied it for so long has been closed.

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Pushkin, a suburb of St. Petersburg, is mainly notable for two things: the Lyceum, the school where the poet Pushkin studied, and the Grand Palace of Catherine the Great. The Catherine Palace is a large Baroque structure. Inside is a dizzying array of beautifully adorned rooms and halls second only to the interior of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg itself.

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The Bolshevik coup was engineered with the Winter Palace as its main goal which was taken on the night of November 7 with hardly a shot fired. In 1922 the palace was placed at the disposal of the Hermitage Museum. The art collection had been open to the public in the Hermitage buildings adjacent to the palace since 1852. Since then it has been used to display the works of art acquired by the rulers of Russia, particularly Catherine II. The vast collection of works of art total over 3 million items. It is considered by some the grandest and greatest museum in the world.

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Hall of twenty columns in the Hermitage was created after a design of the Munich-based architect Leo von Klenze in the mid-19th century and was originally intended for an exhibition of antique painted vases. Two rows of polished columns made of granite from Serdobol, Karelia, divide the Hall into three sections. The stone mosaic floor and the pictorial decoration of the walls and ceiling show patterns typical of Antiquity. Works of art of ancient Italy, mainly painted vases, are on display in this hall.

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Church of the Saviour on the Blood is situated at the spot where Alexander II was blown up in 1881 and where for many years a canopy protected the blood-stained pavement. Built by Alfred Parland between 1887-1907, the church’s architecture is based on St. Basil's in Moscow. Its large cupolas and stylised peaks today are the city's strangest landmarks. There are numerous mosaic panels that cover the church inside and out. The original canopy marking the spot of the assassination was exchanged for a more permanent structure on four jasper columns under the church's bell tower, pulled down after the Revolution.

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Smolny Convent was designed by Rastrelli in his luxuriant rococo style; it was completed in 1764. In 1917 Smolny was turned into the headquarters of the Bolshevik Party during and after the Revolution, its name becoming synonymous with their rule.

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Next to the Smolny Convent is the Smolny Institute, originally a school for the daughters of the nobility. The building was subsequently involved in major political events: the Petrograd Soviet, led by Trotsky and dominated by the Bolsheviks, established its headquarters here in the summer of 1917. It was from here that the Bolsheviks organized the coup of October 1917 that brought about the Revolution. Lenin lived and worked here until March 1918, when the government moved to Moscow. It remained the Leningrad party headquarters until 1991. It has now been taken over by the mayor's office of Petersburg.

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The Admiralty was built between 1806-23. It symbolizes and proclaims Russia as the major sea power it had become in the century since Peter founded the navy. The three main avenues of St. Petersburg radiate from the Admiralty: Nevsky Prospekt, Gorokhovaya St. (Dzerzhinsky), and Prospekt Mayorov. During the war the Admiralty was hit by some seventy bombs and suffered extensive damage, but it was repaired in the 1950s.

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The church of the Holy Trinity has been restored after suffering fire damage in the war and has recently opened again for services.

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