Founded by Peter I the Great in 1703 as Russia’s new imperial capital, Saint Petersburg is the ultimate embodiment of artistic talent. Europe’s best architects and Russia’s foremost creative talents, including Alexander Pushkin, Nikolay Gogol, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Dmitry Shostakovich and Joseph Brodsky, left their indelible imprints on this remarkable city. Founded in: 1703 Population: 4,848,800 Distance to Moscow: 687 km From architecture and city planning to the performing talents of the Mariinsky Opera and Ballet to the masterpieces of the magnificent Hermitage Museum, everything in this delightful city is focused on beauty and elegance. The city’s legendary drawbridges over the grand Neva River and the famous “White Nights” in June draw tens of thousands of tourists every year. Saint Petersburg city centre is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Tourism is one of the key sectors of the city’s economy. Saint Petersburg welcomes up to five million tourists each year, more than any other city in Russia. In the same artistic tradition, a new state-of-the-art 69,000-seat stadium is being constructed on Krestovsky Island facing the Baltic Sea. Resembling a spaceship, it was designed by the famous architect Kisho Kurokawa. The stadium will have a retractable pitch, ensuring that the quality of the turf remains high regardless of the weather.

Top sights in Saint Petersburg

Kunstkamera is a museum with a collection of curiosities. It has a unique collection of antiques, revealing the history and life of many peoples. The museum is also known for its collection of anatomical curiosities and anomalies. Kunstkamera building is a symbol of the Russian Academy of Sciences since the beginning of the XVIII century. Since its creation in 1727 it was used to collection and research of rarities, both natural and man-made. Currently, the Kunstkamera continues to be one of the largest research centers for the study of the cultural heritage of man, continuing the traditions of Russian ethnographers and anthropologists of the XVIII-XX centuries
Kunstkamera

Kunstkamera is a museum with a collection of curiosities. It has a unique collection of antiques, revealing the history and life of many peoples. The museum is also known for its collection of…

The most famous museum in St. Petersburg and one of the most visited museums in the world. The Hermitage Museum has a rich collection of exhibits - more than 3 million units. There are first of all paintings, sculptures and objects of applied art. To explore all exposures one needs to go for 12.5 miles, and it will take 8 years to view the entire collection if we look at each exhibit for 1 minute. The Museum complex includes 5 buildings: the Winter Palace, Small Hermitage, Old Hermitage, the Hermitage Theatre and New Hermitage. All the buildings are connected by galleries, stairways and passages, and outwardly form a single architectural complex. The most famous of them is the Winter Palace. This is the most famous building by architect Rastrelli. The Palace was built in 1754-1764. The building is richly decorated with columns, windows with stucco architraves and sculptures. The interior is decorated with marble, malachite, jasper, stucco and pictorial decorations, bronze and gilding, precious woods. Before the revolution the Palace was a Russian tsars residence. Today, in the Palace and the surrounding areas are kept works of Leonardo da Vinci, Rubens, Raphael, Rembrandt,Velazquez, van Dyck and other great masters.
The Hermitage

The most famous museum in St. Petersburg and one of the most visited museums in the world. The Hermitage Museum has a rich collection of exhibits - more than 3 million units. There are first of all…

The third hightest domed building in the world (102 meters). The length is 111.2 m, width 97.6 m It was built by design of Auguste Montferrand, and the sculptural image of the architect can be found on the frieze of one of the porticos. The construction of the giant cathedral lasted for forty years, from 1818 to 1858. It was built by 440 thousand builders. The Cathedral can accommodate inside up to 13 thousand people at the same time. The building is decorated by 382 works of sculpture, painting and mosaic, made by the best masters of the XIX century.St. Isaac's Cathedral is an outstanding example of late classicism. New renaissance, byzantine style and eclecticism already start to appear in this style. A viewing platform is arranged on the dome, from which can be seen a magnificent panorama of the central part of the city. Today St. Isaac's Cathedral is a Museum and it is one of the finest cathedrals in Europe and one of the most visited museums of St. Petersburg.
St. Isaac's Cathedral

The third hightest domed building in the world (102 meters). The length is 111.2 m, width 97.6 m It was built by design of Auguste Montferrand, and the sculptural image of the architect can be found…