Tours to St. Petersburg
Museums and excursions in Saint-Petersburg
Theatres and concerts in Saint-Petersburg

City tour
During the tour you will become acquainted with architecture, history and present day life of the former capital of Imperial Russia, the history of the Romanov dynasty. Among the rich parade of sights to be enjoyed will be Palace Square with the Winter Palace, the Square of Arts with the Russian Museum, the Smolny Convent, the famous Nevsky Avenue, the Summer Garden and the Field of Mars. You will enjoy the classical ensemble of Senate Square with its famous "Bronze Horseman", the spit of Basil's island, many other architectural monuments, bridges and embankments.


Peter and Paul's Fortress
Peter and Paul Fortress is the first structure of Saint Petersburg. By the order of Peter the Great it was constructed here to defend these lands from Sweden, during the war, which lasted 21 years and came down into the history as Northern War. The first day of the construction of the fortress became the Birthday of the whole city - 27th of May 1703. The first architect of the city - Domenico Trezini, constructed it. For a long period of time the fortress was used as a political prison. The architectural centre of the ensemble of the Fortress is the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul. Cathedral is a burial place of Russian Emperors from the time of Peter I. In 1998 the remains of the Russian Emperor Nicholas II, his family and entourage were buried in the Cathedral.


St Isaac's Cathedral
St. Isaac's Cathedral is the largest cathedral of the city. It is also one of the biggest one-dome cathedrals in the world after St. Peter in Rome and St. Paul in London. It was designed by the French architect A. Montferrand. It took 40 years to construct it. The cathedral is filled with mosaics, painted ceiling murals, bronze gilt statues. The cathedral is surrounded by 112 monolith granite columns, which were transported from one of the suburbs of the city. St. Isaac's Cathedral was the main cathedral of the city from the second half of the 19th century. Now the cathedral houses the museum, but on Greatest Orthodox holidays Religious services are held here.


St. Petersburg at Night
To feel the unique spirit of St. Petersburg one have to look at it at night. Far from being a dusty museum piece St Petersburg is a thriving modern city that really knows how to enjoy itself, and there's nowhere better to take St Petersburg's pulse than along Nevskiy Prospect. It is busy round the clock everyday. This handsome boulevard doubles as the city's commercial aorta. A comfortable couch will drive you around the downtown, which is extremely charming at night both in romantic twilights of the Wight Nights and electric lights in winter. Saint Petersburg is also known as the City of Bridges. There is no wonder, because the city is situated on more then 45 islands. Saint-Petersburg wins the leading position in Russia in the quantity of bridges. Of course the most amazing fact about the St.Petersburg bridges is that all the bridges across the Neva river are drawbridges. It means that at night they are lifted to let the big steamers and ships pass through the the river into Ladoga Lake. That is the picture of majestic beauty, especially during the famous period of Wight Nights from May till July, when nights are as light as daytime and there is a wonderful feeling of magic all around the city.


Alexander Nevsky Laura
The Alexander Nevsky Lavra is a true artistic landmark of St Petersburg. Founded by Peter the Great's decree in 1710, the monastery became one of the first building sites in the Northern Russian capital, parallel with the Peter and Paul Fortress. Russian and foreign architects worked on creation of the ensemble of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. Among those who took part in the designing and construction of its churches, towers and aisles were the outstanding architects Domenico Trezzini, Piotr Yeropkin, Mikhail Zemtsov and Ivan Starov, the sculptor F. Shubin and many other masters. The monastery was built during the eighteenth century. In the Lavra there are three cemeteries which were named after the churches erected there. These are the St Lazarus (Lazarevskoye) Cemetery, the Tikhvinskoye Cemetery and the St Nickolas (Nikolskoye) Cemetery. Suvorov, Lomonosov, Dostoyevsky, Chaykovsky are buried here.


The Hermitage
Hermitage is one of the largest museums in the world after Louvre (Paris) and the National Gallery (London). The collection of it numbers over 3 million exhibits from prehistoric to modern times. It was founded by Russian Empress Catherine II in 1764, when she bought a large number of Western European paintings. For this collection she ordered to construct a new building. Now the permanent museum display occupies five buildings, which form a brilliant architectural ensemble. The museum interiors were decorated by the remarkable architects and sculptors of 18th - 19th centuries. A number of staterooms where official ceremonies used to be held preserve their sumptuous d©cor. The Hermitage acquires authentic masterpieces by the greatest painters and sculptors as Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Titian, Rembrandt, Rubens, El Greco, Claude Monet, August Renoir, Paul Cezanne, Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, Pablo Picasso and Matisse. The Hermitage complex is a veritable spiritual universe created in the course of times and filed with the unique gifts of creativity.


The State Russian museum
The State Russian Museum is called a treasure house of Russian art. This is the first state - owned collection of works of Russian art and culture which amount to over four thousand items. It was established in 1895 as the centre of art and history of Russia and was officially opened to the public in 1898. It was the first museum in Russia officially opened to the public. It situated on one of the most beautiful squares in Saint Petersburg - on the Square of Art in the Mikhailovsky Palace. It was constructed at the beginning of the 19th century for the Grand Prince Michael, the son of Russian Emperor Paul I. Hence the name of the Palace. Museum contains unique collections from icon-paintings to Avan-Garde and social realism, and includes the works of outstanding painters, sculptors and graphic artists of the 18th - 20th centuries and pieces of decorative, applied and folk arts.


Yussupov Palace
It is one of the most sumptuous palaces in Saint Petersburg. It's one of the rare works of architecture whose history is closely associated with the names of the aristocracy, eminent architects, artists of the 19th and early 20th century. It belonged to the Yussupov family, the family of fabulous rich. The palace is also famed as the scene of Rasputin's murder in December 1916.


Temple on the Spilled Blood (Church of Resurrection)
The artistic concept of the cathedral goes back to examples of Moscow architecture of the 16th century. Temple on the Spilled Blood was built at the end of the 19th century on the place where the Russian Emperor Alexander II was mortally wounded by the members of the revolutionary movement on March 1, 1881. The cathedral is known all over the world due to the interior and exterior decorations. The walls of the cathedral are faced with 7 thousand square meters of mosaic panels. The mosaics were made after the design of many prominent Russian artists. The Cathedral was badly damaged during the second world War. It was under the restoration works for a long period of time and only in 1997 it was re-opened to the public.


The Dostoyevsky Museum
This is the memorial museum of the famous Russian writer F. Dostoyesky. It was opened to 150- anniversary of F. Dostoyevsky in 1971. In this building there was Dostoyevsky's last flat. Here he wrote his famous "Karamazovs Brothers". The interiors of the flat are restored in accordance with archive documents. The collection of the museum has unique, authentic things which belonged to Dostoyevsky himself.


Pavlovsk
It is a superb park ensemble of the late XVIII - beginning of the XX centuries, which was, used as a summer residence of the Russian emperor Paul I and his family. The landscape park with different pavilions covers the area of 600 ha. The formation of the Pavlovsky Palace collections was closely connected with the trip of its owners around Europe. Paul I and his wife visited workshops of well-known artists, ordering and acquiring paintings, furniture, bronze articles, silk fabrics, china sets, etc. They brought to Russia large number of antique sculptures from Italy, as well as gifts from European royal courts. And now all these items are exhibited in the halls of the Palace.


Pushkin (Tsar's Village)
It is a fascinating example of the world's architecture and gardening. Peter the Great ordered to construct the small palace for his wife, future empress Catherine I. In the middle of the 18th century the palace was rebuilt and became the purl of that period architecture. The grandeur of the artistic decor of the facades, the moulded decorations, the gilding of architectural and sculptural details, all echoes the majesty and elegance of the interior decoration of the Catherine Palace. The Amber Room, which was presented to Peter I by the Prussian King in 1716, known as the Eighth Wonder of the World, used to be in this Palace. The amber ornamentation of this room, missing since 1945, is now reconstructed by Russian gem carvers. The park of Tsarskoye Selo (Tsar's Village) was the favourite recreation place of the Russian Tsars. The paths around the Catherine Palace invite for a walk to see park pavilions built by the famous architects and sculptors of Russia. To the North of the Catherine Palace there is marvellous Alexander Palace which was build by the Catherine's order for her favourite grandson Alexander, the future Russian Emperor Alexander I.


Peterhof
It is a jewel of the Russian art, a town of parks, palaces and fountains. It was built by the order of Peter the Great to commemorate the victory of Russia over Sweden in the Northern War. The architectural ensemble of Peterhof used to be rival the summer residence of the French kings - Versailles. In the past it used to be an exquisite summer residence of the Russian tsars. The centre of the ensemble is the Grand Palace with the brilliant interiors, which were badly damaged during the time of the Second World War. The restoration works were made after the photos and descriptions of the palace of the beginning of the XX century. From the Grand Palace three monumental cascading fountains lead to the Low Park, the real masterpiece in itself with 173 fountains of different kinds on its grounds.


The Lomonosov Porcelain Factory
The first Russian manufacture, which was established in St. Petersburg by the order of Empress Elizabeth in 1744. Till the 1917 the factory was the property of the Romanov dynasty hence was the name The Imperial manufactury. The name of Lomonosov was given to the factory only in 1925. This factory is the only one in Russian which manufactures thin-walled bone china.Within the walls of the museum established in 1844 you will see wonderful displays of Lomonosov porcelain dating back to the 18th century.


Boat trip "Along The Rivers and Canals"
A relaxing cruise by boat along the Neva River and some out of the 66 rivers and canals of "Northern Venice", as they used to call St. Petersburg, is one of the unique ways to discover city. Saint Petersburg is situated on the banks of the river Neva, which is one of the youngest rivers in Europe. The magnificent architectural ensembles, churches, cathedrals and monuments seem to exist in astonishing harmony with the watery element. All the St. Petersburg embankments, faced with granite, have their own distinctive character.


Gatchina
The palace and park complex of Gatchina, a town located 45 km south-west of St. Petersburg, is an outstanding example of eighteenth-century landscape architecture. The palace, built in the Early Classical Style to a design by Antonio Rinaldi between 1766 and 1781, was enlarged by Vincenzo Brenna in 1796 - 1798, and reconstructed by Roman Kuzmin between 1845 and 1860. The landscape parks, occupying an area of 700 hectare, are enlivened by the calm waters of picturesque lakes, ponds, and canals. The arbitrarily scattered bridges, terraces, obelisks, piers, and gates made of local limestone add a romantic air to the beautiful scenery. During Word War II, both the palace and parks of Gatchina were severely damaged. In the post-war years, many of the destroyed parks structures have been restored; the restoration of the state rooms in the palace is under way now.


Kronshtadt
On the small island of Kotlin in the Gulf of Finland, it is one of the chief naval bases for the Russian Baltic fleet. The harbor is icebound for several months each year. It was founded (1703) by Peter I as a port and a fortress to protect the site of St. Petersburg, and it was the commercial harbor of St. Petersburg until the 1880s. The port lost its commercial value after the development of St. Petersburg. The visit (1891) of a French naval squadron to Kronshtadt was followed by a Franco-Russian military agreement heralding the formation of the Triple Entente of France, England, and Russia. Mutinies of the naval garrison took place in 1825 and 1882 and played a part in the revolutions of 1905 and 1917. A revolt of the sailors in March 1921 was instrumental in establishing Lenin's New Economic Policy. The general unrest among peasants and workers touched off this mutiny of the naval garrison that had been loyal to the Bolsheviks during the revolution. This was the culmination of the anti-Bolshevik unrest in the country. In World War II, Kronshtadt played a major role in the defense of St. Petersburg (then Leningrad) against the Germans. It is also spelled Cronstadt.


Lomonosov/Oranienbaum
The palace and park complex of Oranienbaum is located 39 kilometers south of St.Petersburg on the south coast of the Finnish Gulf near Kronshtadt. In 1707 Peter the Great gave the grounds near the seaside to Duke Menshikov. The architects D.Fontana and G.Shedel built in 1710-1727 the Grand (Menshikov) Palace that was connected by the channel with the Finnish Gulf. At the same time the regular Lower Garden decorated with fountains and sculptures and the Upper Garden were laid out. From 1743 Oranienbaum became the summer residence of Grand Duke Peter Fedorovitch, the heir of Empress Elizabeth (future Emperor Peter III). During the ten-year period B.F. Rastrelli reconstructed the Grand Palace adding beauty to its decor. In 1756 -1762 the Petrstadt Fortress ensemble was constructed on the bank of the Karost River for Grand Duke Peter Fedorovitch where a tiny palace and the Gates of Honor with the tower crowned by a spire were erected to the design of A. Rinaldi. In 1762 Empress Catherine II ordered that the suburb residence called "My Own Countryside House" should have been established. For that purpose A. Rinaldi created in 1762-1774 the Chinese Palace and the Katalnaya Gorka Pavilion (roller coaster) with a cupola pavilion.