St
Petersburg
Statue of Pushkin and Russian Museum
The former Mikhailovsky palace was designed by Carlo Rossi in 1819-25 for Grand Duke Mikhail (brother of Tsars Alexander I and Nicholas I). The Museum was founded in 1895 under Nicholas II and opened 3 years later.
St Petersburg
Church
Peter the Great founded St Petersburg in 1703 and wanted it to be a European-style city, so most of the architecture is Baroque. However, buildings with white trim often have colourful blue, green, or yellow walls.
St Petersburg
St Peter and Paul Cathedral
This gold baroque confection is the iconostasis; compare it to the traditional Russian style one of the church in Yaroslavl, below. All the Romanov Tsars are buried here but one, who died of smallpox in Moscow. Tsar Nicholas II and his family are interred in a side chapel; the remains of the servants who were killed with them are inextricably mixed with the royal bones, and commoners are not permitted to be buried in the main part of the church.
St Petersburg
The Hermitage
This section, the New Hermitage, was built in 1839-52 for Nicholas I specifically to house the expanding art collection of the Tsars. This room is the Large Italian Skylight Room, designed by Leo von Klenze. Note the large malachite vase.
St Petersburg
The Hermitage
A detail of the ceiling of the Spanish Skylight Hall in the New Hermitage, also by Leo von Klenze.
St Petersburg
The Hermitage
This was originally the small throne room in the Winter Palace, called the Memorial Hall of Peter the Great; the alcove is over the throne. It was designed in 1833.
St Petersburg
Church of the Saviour of the Spilled Blood
In 1881 Tsar Alexander II, who had just emancipated the serfs, was assassinated by a bomb on this site. The Church was completed in 1917 and is one of the few "Russian" architectural style buildings in what is otherwise an 18th Century European-style city (as desired by its founder, Peter the Great, 300 years ago).
Peterhof
The Palace was built as a summer place on the Gulf of Finland 30 km west of St Petersburg for Peter the Great.
Peterhof
The Palace was occupied by the Nazis during the siege of Leningrad (now renamed back to St Petersburg) and destroyed. It has since been reconstructed, including ornate wood inlaid floors and much gilding.
Peterhof
The private chapel, seen from the rear facade of the palace, has beautiful golden domes. Out of view to the left is the Grand Cascade (see below).
Peterhof
The set of fountains called the Grand Cascade was designed by Peter the Great himself. Intended to rival Versailles, the water is not pumped but flows from a natural-spring reservoir in the hills above the Palace. In the distance the Gulf of Finland is visible.
Peterhof
Peter the Great liked trick fountains. This one looks like a tree and flows continuously. Nearby is one that looks like a bench and shoots up water intermittently; when bored, Peter would get some unsuspecting victim to sit on it.
Yekatarinsky Palace
Designed mainly by the Empress Elizabeth's favourite architect Rastrelli in the 1700's, it was modified slightly for Catherine the Great, after whom it is named. The area had several summer palaces of the Tsars and was called Tsarskoye Seloe but is now Pushkin.
Yekatarinsky Palace
This palace contains the famous Amber room, a detail of which is shown here. The whole is overwhelming. Looted and destroyed by the Nazis, it has recently been restored at a cost of millions. The original amber was never found.
Yekatarinsky Palace
One of the Bath Houses on the grounds of the palace.
St Petersburg
Podvorie Dacha Restaurant
The restaurant is supposedly in the style of a Russian "dacha" or country cottage. We ate a "typical" Russian meal here.
