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In order to really understand St.Petersburg, to grasp its spirit, you have to view it as a single whole, to examine the main architectural ensembles, which formed and determined the face of Russia’s northern capital. The city is inimitable in its beauty. It is one of 8 the most beautiful cities in the world. Many of its ensembles and buildings are real masterpieces not only of Russian, but of world architecture.
A sightseeing tour around St.Petersburg starts from Palace Square. It is the historic centre of the city, one of the world’s finest architectural ensembles in the classical and Baroque styles. The immense square creates a harmonious impression.
The main structures are the Winter Palace (the former royal residence), the General Staff Building, the Alexander Column and the Guards Headquarters. From the corner farthest away from Nevsky Prospect you can have a splendid panorama. In the centre is the remarkable Alexander Column which is held only by its own weight. The column was erected in 1834 to a design by Augusto Montferrand to commemorate Russia’s victory over Napoleon in the 1812 War. On the top of the column is the astonishingly expressive figure of an angel whose face is portrait likeness of Alexander I (sculptor B.Orlovsky).
The Hermitage is one of the world’s greatest museums, founded in 1764 and occupying buildings of the Winter Palace and Small, Old and New Hermitages. The museum’s collection now numbers more than 3 million items – paintings, graphic art, sculptures, applied art, coins and archeological finds.
The State Russian Museum of Fine Arts has about 300,000 items in its collection. It keeps the largest collection of Russian pictorial art. There are some unique museums in the city such as the Museum of Arctic and Antarctic, the Chamber of Curiosities, etc.
The Main Admiralty building is one of the finest architectural monuments in the city and a unique example of Russian Classicism. It is the hub of the city centre, uniting three squares: Palace, Decembrists’ and St.Isaac’s ones. The gilded spire of the Admiralty, topped by a caravel-shaped weathervane, is 72meters above the city. It is one of the symbols of St.Petersburg.
Away to the left of Palace Square is the city’s main thoroughfare, Nevsky Prospect. In order to get a feel of the city, one should walk it from one end to the other because this is the quintessence of St.Petersburg, the symbol of its outstanding historical culture. There are many theatres, museums, publishing houses, hotels and important shops, the National Library of Russia in and around it. It is adorned by such remarkable works of architecture as the Kazan Cathedral (architect A. Voronikhin), the Anichkov and Stroganov Palaces and the Alexandrinsky Theatre, etc. Every building here is part of the history of the city.
Saint Isaac’s Cathedral is one of the world’s most beautiful churches. The weighty mass of St. Isaac’s Cathedral dominates the skyline of St.Petersburg. Its gilded dome covered with 100kg of pure gold, soars over 100meters into the air, making it visible far out onto the Gulf of Finland. The Cathedral was commissioned by Alexander I in 1818 and took more than three decades to complete. Its architect, August Montferrand, pulled out all the stops in his design, incorporating dozens of kinds of stone and marble into the enormous structure and lading its vast interior with frescoes, mosaics, bas-reliefs, and the only stained glass window in the Orthodoxy. Both the exterior and the interior of the cathedral deserve prolonged observation, and the view from the dome is stupendous.
Peter I, who laid the foundation of not only St.Petersburg but a whole new Russia, became established in the popular memory as Peter the Great, creator of the Russian Empire, a ruler who directed the country into course of dynamic development on the heels of the greatest European powers. That is why he is depicted in the monument that stands by the Neva opposite Vasilyevsky Island. The Bronze Horseman became one of the chief sights of the city. One of the finest equestrian statues in the world, it was designed and unveiled by the sculptor Etienne-Maurice Falconet. The rider’s head was moulded by Mary-Ann Collot, a pupil of Falconet.
Alexander II, who succeeded Nicolas I, has gone in history as liberator-tsar. In 1861 he issued a decree finally abolishing serfdom. By a wicked irony of fate the revolutionary movement selected this Tsar a target for assassination. In memory of Alexander II, the magnificent Church of Resurrection of Christ, popularly known as Our-Saviour-on-the-Split-Blood, was constructed on the site of the fatal attack, close to Nevsky Prospect. The church’s unique decorations, both interior and exterior, include icons and panels made from majolica and mosaic created by the leading Russian artists of the XIX century.
One of the city’s most important historical and architectural monuments Peter and Paul Fortress was founded on 27 May 1703 to defend St.Petersburg against enemy raids. From the middle of the 18th century it contained Russian political prison. The complex included Peter and Paul Cathedral, designed by Dominico Trezzini, which is the city’s tallest building (the height of the spire is 121.8meter), the house of the grandfather of the Russian navy, where exact copy of Peter I’s little boat is kept and the Mint.
There is not enough time to describe even briefly all the main sights of St.Petersburg – they are so thick on the ground in the central part of the city and so many historical events are associated with them.
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