What to see in St. Petersburg? Palaces, museums, cathedrals, park ensembles, popular tourist spots

St. Petersburg is called the "northern Venice" and the cultural capital of Russia. The city and its suburbs host many historical and architectural monuments. The historical centre of Petersburg is especially attractive to tourists: wide squares, avenues, boulevards, parks and gardens, picturesque Neva embankments and an extensive network of rivers and canals. We have compiled a list of sights worth seeing.

MUSEUMS, PALACES, CATHEDRALS AND GALLERIES

State Hermitage (Winter Palace)

The Hermitage is one of the largest and most famous museums in the world. The main complex is located in the Winter Palace — the former imperial residence. The main museum complex includes six interconnected buildings: the Winter Palace, the Reserve House of the Winter Palace, the Small Hermitage, the Large (Old) Hermitage, the New Hermitage and the Hermitage Theatre. The collection comprises more than 3 million works of art and cultural monuments. The museum's European painting collection numbers over 8,000 works by masters of various schools and includes works by Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael Santi, Titian and Rembrandt. The Winter Palace building is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

State Russian Museum

Russian Museum. Photo: Pixabay.

The first state museum of Russian fine art in the country, founded by decree of Alexander III. The exhibition includes over 400,000 items and presents the history of Russian art spanning 1,000 years — from ancient Russian icons to 20th-century art. The museum complex includes the Mikhailovsky Palace, the Benois Building, the Stroganov and Marble Palaces, the Mikhailovsky Castle, the Mikhailovsky and Summer Gardens, the Cabin of Peter I and other sites.

Fabergé Museum

The Fabergé Museum is located in the Shuvalov Palace. The private museum houses a unique collection of Russian jewelry and decorative-applied arts of the 19th–20th centuries, foremost among them the nine imperial Fabergé Easter eggs.

Russian Museum, Benois Building

Photo: extraguide.ru

The Benois Building was originally intended to host exhibitions of various artistic associations and unions. In the early 1930s the building was transferred to the Russian Museum. Today you can see permanent exhibitions of art from the late 19th to the early 21st century, including works of the avant-garde, socialist realism, the severe style, nonconformists and conceptualists. Temporary exhibitions are also held.

Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood

A unique architectural monument built on the site of the fatal wounding of Emperor Alexander II between 1883 and 1907. The church's interior is decorated with mosaics covering more than 7,000 square meters. It is a branch of the State Museum-Monument St. Isaac's Cathedral.

St. Isaac's Cathedral (St. Isaac's Cathedral Colonnade)

One of the largest and most beautiful cathedrals in the world, functioning as a museum. Built in the late classical style, it is decorated with numerous sculptures, mosaics and paintings. The observation deck on the colonnade offers a panoramic view of the city.

Museum of Railways of Russia

Photo: rzd-museum.ru

At the Museum of Railways of Russia you can see pre-revolutionary steam locomotives, special limited trains, models of the country's first railways and other historic artifacts of the past century. It is one of the largest railway museums not only in Europe but in the world, and is also practically the only closed-type railway museum.

Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera)

Photo: Pixabay.

The Kunstkamera in St. Petersburg is one of the largest ethnographic museums in the world and the first public museum in Russia. It was founded by decree of Peter I — the great reformer who sought to educate the Russian people. The museum's exhibition is based on Peter's personal collection, acquired during his first trip to Western Europe.

Yusupov Palace on the Moika

Photo: A. Savin.

Former residence of one of the wealthiest and most influential aristocratic families of Russia — the Princes Yusupov. The palace is known for its luxurious interiors and for being the site where Grigory Rasputin was murdered in 1916.

State Museum-Reserve 'Tsarskoye Selo' (including Catherine Palace and the Amber Room)

The State Museum-Reserve 'Tsarskoye Selo' is an architectural and park ensemble of the 18th–early 20th centuries, located in the town of Pushkin (part of the Pushkin district of St. Petersburg). The Catherine Palace was built in the Baroque style. In one of its halls is the Amber Room, which contains amber panels that were presented to Peter I by the Prussian king Frederick William I.

Erarta Museum of Contemporary Art

Photo: erarta.com

The largest private museum of contemporary art in Russia. Its collection contains thousands of works by Russian artists, and world-class temporary exhibitions are regularly held. In addition to exhibition halls, Erarta has a cinema hall, a theatre, an art shop and a cafe.

ROSFOTO, State Museum and Exhibition Center of Photography

Photo: rosfoto.org

The only federal institution in Russia entirely dedicated to photography, with an extensive archive. Exhibitions of both Russian and international photography masters are held here. An excellent place for photography lovers.

Art Center 'Pushkinskaya 10'

A historic site that became the cradle of the Petersburg underground. It is an entire art cluster where most spaces (such as the Museum of Nonconformist Art, the Museum of the New Academy of Fine Arts, various galleries and studios) are private initiatives offering a wide range of alternative art.

A.A. Blok Memorial Apartment Museum

Photo: culture.ru

The museum is located in the house where Blok lived for the last nine years of his life. The museum features a literary exhibition dedicated to the poet's creative path. Walking and bus tours, literary-musical evenings, lectures and exhibitions are held here. For children from age 5 there are interactive activities that help them discover the world of poetry and develop their own creative potential. Visitors can take a group or individual guided tour that recreates the atmosphere of that time.

A.I. Kuindzhi Memorial Apartment Museum

The Kuindzhi Memorial Apartment Museum recreates the atmosphere that surrounded the legendary artist during the last thirteen years of his life. The studio features an exhibition reflecting his teaching activities at the Academy of Arts, where he served as professor of landscape painting and led the studio from 1894 to 1897. Kuindzhi was drawn to the apartment because of its large attic, which offered views of the city, Vasilievsky Island and the Petrograd side. After the master's death, his pupil Nikolai Rerikh proposed creating a museum in the studio, which was done for the 150th anniversary of Arkhip Kuindzhi's birth.

I.I. Brodsky Memorial Apartment Museum

Photo: fotostrana.ru

The I.I. Brodsky Memorial Apartment Museum is located in the very center of St. Petersburg, on Arts Square. Brodsky lived here for the last fifteen years of his life. In 1949 a museum dedicated to his work was opened in the house. The exhibition presents a collection of works by Russian artists collected by I.I. Brodsky, and memorial items: furniture, books, photographs with celebrities' autographs. Temporary exhibitions of contemporary artists are also held. On the second floor there is a studio where chamber concerts of classical music take place.

V.V. Nabokov Museum

Photo: mail.ru

The Museum of Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov at Bolshaya Morskaya 47 is the only museum in the world dedicated to the life and work of the writer. It is located in a three-storey mansion in the early modern style that belonged to the Nabokovs since 1898. The dining room and library interiors in the Louis XV style have been preserved. The museum's collection includes the writer's personal belongings, items related to the history of the house and the Nabokov family, first editions of the author's works, as well as a large research library. The exhibition also features Nabokov's unique butterfly collection, unparalleled in Russia.

Anna Akhmatova Museum in the Fountain House

The Anna Akhmatova Museum in the Fountain House was opened in 1989 to mark the poet's centenary and became the first museum dedicated to representatives of the Akhmatova generation. In 2005 the exhibition 'Joseph Brodsky's American Study' was opened, dedicated to the meeting of Akhmatova and Brodsky. A branch of the museum is the memorial apartment museum of Lev Nikolaevich Gumilev, in which the authentic apartment setting, library and archive of the outstanding scholar and historian have been preserved. The museum's mission is to preserve the memory of Lev Nikolaevich and his father — the poet Nikolai Stepanovich Gumilev.

F. M. Dostoevsky Literary-Memorial Museum

Photo: md.spb.ru

The F. M. Dostoevsky Literary-Memorial Museum is located in the house where the writer lived and worked twice. The museum hosts temporary exhibitions, lectures, literary-musical evenings, concerts, theatre performances, and publishes books. Each year the museum also holds the international scholarly conference 'Dostoevsky and World Culture', which discusses issues of the reception of Dostoevsky's work in the modern world, the influence of his spiritual legacy and other topics. In addition, the museum actively participates in organizing the 'Dostoevsky Day' festival, which takes place each year on the first Saturday of July.

Memorial Apartment Museum of the Samoilov Actors' Family

Photo: idemvmuzei.ru

The memorial apartment museum of the Samoilov actors is the fifth branch of the St. Petersburg State Museum of Theatre and Music. The house was owned by the famous actor Vasily Vasilyevich Samoilov. Today the museum is the only museum in the city devoted to dramatic actors. The exhibition is dedicated to the history of the remarkable dynasty of actors of the Alexandrinsky Theatre, as well as to the personality of V. V. Samoilov.

A.S. Pushkin Memorial Museum-Dacha

Photo: museumpushkin.ru

The A. S. Pushkin Memorial Museum-Dacha is one of six branches of the All-Russian A. S. Pushkin Museum in the town of Pushkin (until 1918 known as Tsarskoye Selo). The dacha is recognized as a cultural heritage site of federal significance. The one-storey wooden building belonged to the widow of the court valet A. K. Kitaeva. In this house Pushkin rented eight rooms and lived here with his young wife from May to October 1831. The interiors of the rooms, recreated based on contemporaries' recollections, and the materials on display tell about the poet's life and work during this period.

N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov Memorial Apartment Museum

The N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov Memorial Apartment Museum is located at 28 Zagorodny Prospekt, where the composer lived for the last fifteen years of his life. Eleven of his fifteen operas were created here. After the deaths of Rimsky-Korsakov and his wife the apartment became communal, but the possessions and furniture were carefully preserved by the composer's descendants.

Museum of Sigmund Freud's Dreams at the East European Institute of Psychoanalysis

The Sigmund Freud Museum is located in the building of the East European Institute of Psychoanalysis. Lectures, exhibitions and scientific conferences are held here; objects that belonged to Sigmund Freud, materials about him and books on the history of psychoanalysis and psychotherapy are exhibited.

Museum of Emotions

Photo: thecity.m24.ru

'Museum of Emotions' was created by artist Alexey Sergienko. The space is divided into zones connected by labyrinth-like corridors, each representing a separate emotion. Objects, scents, sounds — all this creates an atmosphere for immersion in various emotions and moods.

Museum of the Brain

Photo: official museum group on VKontakte.

The museum is divided into three parts: exhibits with an audio guide, the attraction 'The World Through a Baby's Eyes', and an interactive section consisting of neurointerfaces — gadgets by which, using strength and concentration, you can control robot spiders.

Museum of Body Anomalies

Photo: art-attractions.ru

The museum is dedicated to physiological pathologies of humans and animals. The exhibition features shocking antique medical instruments and preparations, photo zones and installations.

Grand Maket Russia

This interactive museum is the largest model of the country in Russia and the second largest in the world, depicting everyday life in miniature from Kaliningrad to the Far East. Trains and cars move on the model, the time of day changes and many scenes from people's lives are staged.

Museum of Shadows

Photo: Oleg Zoloto.

The founders of the museum were inspired by the shadow art movement. The museum hosts the exhibition 'Petersburg of Shadows', showcasing contemporary art objects in the shadow art style. Here you can see the mysterious shadows of multifaceted Petersburg, Peter I, a gryphon, Pushkin, Gogol and others. The ticket price includes: a guided tour, tea/coffee, the opportunity to create a piece yourself, an interactive zone and access to a secret room.

Museum of Sound

Photo: official museum group on VKontakte.

The St. Petersburg Museum of Sound is a unique place for the study and promotion of contemporary experimental music, sound art, custom musical instruments and sound production technologies. The museum hosts concerts, lectures, exhibitions, master classes and creative meetings. In addition, it runs a School of Improvisational Music. The museum's exhibitions include custom instruments, graphic scores, multichannel soundscapes and a sound map of St. Petersburg.

Museum of Soviet Arcade Machines

The museum features famous machines from the Soviet entertainment industry, such as 'Sea Battle', 'Safari', 'Sniper', 'Magistral' and others. To operate them you need to use 15-kopeck coins included with the admission ticket. The museum has rocker machines for the youngest visitors. A tour is held every hour during which you can learn many interesting facts about the Soviet Union. You can also refresh yourself with soda water with syrup, call a friend from a phone booth and take a photo in an analog photo booth.

State Museum of Urban Sculpture

Photo: novayagazeta.ru

The State Museum of Urban Sculpture is the only museum in Russia engaged in the study, protection and restoration of monuments of monumental art in the open urban environment. Its establishment was initiated by the 'Old Petersburg' society. In 1932 the 'Museum-Necropolis' was created, and in 1939 it was reorganized into the Leningrad Museum of Urban Sculpture. Today the museum features over 200 city monuments and 750 memorial plaques. In 1987 a new exhibition space — the Narva Triumphal Gate — was opened. In 2002 the New Exhibition Hall was opened, hosting solo exhibitions of artists and sculptors and contemporary art shows. In 2004 the museum was given M. K. Anikushin's workshop, and in 2015 a memorial exposition and a platform for contemporary exhibition projects were opened.

State Museum of Sport of St. Petersburg

Photo: idemvmuzei.ru

The State Museum of Sport is located in the heart of the city, in the former mansion of Prince Abamelek-Lazarev. The museum's exhibition space is located in two halls. In the permanent exhibition hall 'History of Domestic Sport' visitors immerse themselves in the history of sport and travel along a timeline covering more than 100 years of the country's victories and sporting achievements. The second hall is intended for temporary exhibitions. The museum's main exhibition includes over 500 artifacts, among which special attention is given to awards and prizes created by outstanding Leningrad artists, award cups of major all-union competitions, memorial items of athletes born in St. Petersburg, as well as medals and badges, equipment and gear, archival posters, certificates, documents and photographs.

Central Museum of Railway Transport of the Russian Federation

The museum building was built in 1902 to a design by Petr Kupinsky. The Central Museum of Railway Transport of Russia's collections hold 71,000 exhibits, many of which were made more than 150 years ago and have historical and cultural value. For example, more than 30 unique exhibits represented Russia at the 1900 Paris World's Industrial Exhibition, where they were awarded gold medals. The museum also displays a collection of bridge models. All exhibits are arranged thematically in chronological order, beginning with the first third of the 19th century.

Museum of Urban Electric Transport

Photo: idemvmuzei.ru

The first museum in the city's oldest tram depot (then the Leonov tram depot). The opening date was timed to the 60th anniversary of the tram launch in St. Petersburg. The exhibition covers the period from the beginning of the 20th century to the late 1980s. It includes more than 30 trams and 7 trolleybuses formerly used on routes in Leningrad and St. Petersburg.

Museum of Optical Illusions at Nevsky Prospect, 3

Photo: idemvmuzei.ru

The museum has several thematic zones: the optical illusions hall — classic illusions based on plays of light and shadow, perspective and color contrasts. It features impossible objects, disappearing items and people of unusual sizes. The 3D drawing zone — huge drawings on walls and floors create a sense of volume and immerse you in the atmosphere of a fairy tale or cartoon. The attraction room — here you can test your strength and agility on various interactive attractions. For example, walk across a shaky bridge over an abyss, look into a bottomless pit or become part of a picture. Photo zones — the museum offers many ready-made photo zones where you can take original photographs.

Grail Museum

Photo: idemvmuzei.ru

The research centre 'Grail Museum', led by Konstantin Yuryevich Sevenard, together with the St. Petersburg Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology, runs the project 'Limitless Youth'. Under Sevenard's leadership, many years of work were carried out to search for, analyze and model the characteristics of one of the places associated with prolonging life and youth. The result of this work was a theory of external causes of human body aging, from which one can protect oneself without generally changing one's usual lifestyle.

State Complex 'Palace of Congresses' (Konstantinovsky Palace)

Photo: nevatravel.ru

An 18th-century architectural monument forming a palace and park ensemble in Strelna; since 2003 it has been the State Complex 'Palace of Congresses'. The complex is located on the southern shore of the Gulf of Finland on the Strelna and Kikenka rivers along the Peterhof road, 19 km from the centre of St. Petersburg.

State Museum of the History of Religion

Photo: idemvmuzei.ru

There are few museums in Russia and the world dedicated to the history of religion. One of them is the Museum of the History of Religion, which contains more than 180,000 exhibits from the 6th millennium BC to the present. The museum's main activities are the study of cultural monuments and exhibition work, as well as the creation of various educational and museum-pedagogical programs.

Museum of the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet

Photo: vaganovaacademy.ru

The museum's collections include photographs, portraits, memoirs, diaries, personal autographs, rare books, iconographic material, theatrical photography and paintings by artists, sculptural works and costume sketches. The museum hosts round tables, lectures, exhibitions and performances tracing the history of the Russian ballet school. The museum's exhibition is constantly expanding and being updated.

St. Petersburg State Museum of Theatre and Music

Photo: oteatre.info

The St. Petersburg State Museum of Theatre and Music unites five museums housed in historic buildings of Petersburg: the Sheremetev Palace — Music Museum, the Theatre Museum in the former building of the Imperial Theatres Directorate, the N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov Museum, the Samoilov Actors Museum, and the F. I. Chaliapin House-Museum. The museum's collections hold nearly half a million exhibits reflecting 250 years of Russian theatre and music history. You can see one of the world's largest collections of musical instruments, stage costumes from the Imperial Theatres' wardrobe, portrait paintings of artists, sketches of sets and costumes, unique photographs and rare books. The jewel of the collection is the miraculously preserved sketches by Malevich for the futurist opera 'Victory Over the Sun', and the collection of theatrical-decorative art of Nina and Nikita Lobanov-Rostovsky, which includes true masterpieces — works by Bakst, Goncharova and Larionov, Vrubel, Sapunov, Sudeikin and others.

State Museum of the History of St. Petersburg

Commandant's House. Photo: Andrey Butko.

The State Museum of the History of St. Petersburg is one of the largest historical museums in Russia. The museum's collections hold more than 1.3 million exhibits reflecting the history of the city on the Neva from its foundation to the present day. The centre of the museum is the Peter and Paul Fortress — a unique monument of history, architecture and fortification art of the 18th–20th centuries. The State Museum of the History of St. Petersburg unites several branches: the Rumyantsev Mansion on the English Embankment, the A. A. Blok Apartment Museum, the S. M. Kirov Museum, the 'Monument to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad' Museum on Victory Square, the Press Museum, the Museum of the Petersburg Avant-Garde (Matyushin House) and the Shlisselburg Oreshek Fortress.

Museum of St. Petersburg Art of the 20th–21st Centuries

Photo: Oleg Zoloto.

The Museum of St. Petersburg Art of the 20th–21st Centuries (MISP) has its distinctive cultural profile. It presents, popularizes and studies visual art born in St. Petersburg, and the historical and contemporary artistic processes that arose in the space of the northern capital.

'Artmuza' Museum of Contemporary Art

Artmuza is a museum of contemporary art and a creative cluster. Until 2013 the building housed a former musical instrument factory, which was later transformed into a cultural space. The museum hosts various galleries and art residencies: theatrical, musical, art studios and schools. In 2017 a concert venue was opened on the roof.

Museum of Nonconformist Art

'Nonconformism' is a phenomenon in the unofficial culture of the Soviet period that manifested itself in visual arts, music and literature. The Museum of Nonconformist Art was founded in 1998 and declared its mission to preserve and study the heritage of the USSR's unofficial culture. The museum's collection includes more than 3,000 works. The museum cooperates with various museums and galleries in Russia, Europe and the USA, specialized universities, and is also part of the ICOM network.

Museum of the Petersburg Avant-Garde (House of M. V. Matyushin)

Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

The Museum of the Petersburg Avant-Garde (House of M. V. Matyushin) is a museum in St. Petersburg devoted to the Russian avant-garde, the former home of Mikhail Matyushin and Elena Guro. It is a branch of the State Museum of the History of St. Petersburg. The museum demonstrates the main stages of the formation and diversity of Petersburg avant-garde culture. It displays a collection of paintings and graphics (works by Mikhail Matyushin, Elena Guro, Alexei Remizov, Nikolai Kulbin, Vladimir Sterligov, artists from the schools of Malevich and Filonov), objects, books, manifestos, brochures, photographs and publications related to the history of the avant-garde movement of the 1910s–1930s. The memorial part of the exposition is the recreated studio of Mikhail Matyushin and Elena Guro's room.

Summer Palace of Peter I

Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

The Summer Palace of Peter I is located within the Summer Garden. It is one of the oldest buildings in St. Petersburg to have survived in its original form. In Peter's time, the palace could be reached both by land and by water — the Fontanka River flows nearby. The Summer Palace was built to a design by the Italian architect Domenico Trezzini and is executed in the Petrine Baroque style. The interior was worked on by architect Alexander Leblon. The Summer Palace became a reflection of the era, an example of Petrine style and the innovations of its time. The palace is open only in the summer and in dry weather because the historic layout of the building does not allow it to be insulated, and high humidity can damage the old interiors.

Peter I's Little Cabin

The Summer Palace of Peter I is located within the Summer Garden. It is one of the oldest buildings in St. Petersburg to have survived in its original form. In Peter's time, the palace could be reached both by land and by water — the Fontanka River flows nearby. The Summer Palace was built to a design by the Italian architect Domenico Trezzini and is executed in the Petrine Baroque style. The interior was worked on by architect Alexander Leblon. The Summer Palace became a reflection of the era, an example of Petrine style and the innovations of its time. The palace is open only in the summer and in dry weather because the historic layout of the building does not allow it to be insulated, and high humidity can damage the old interiors.

Stroganov Palace

Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

The Stroganov Palace in St. Petersburg is an example of Russian Baroque and a branch of the State Russian Museum. The permanent exhibition is 'Russian Empire Style. Decorative and applied arts from the reign of Emperor Alexander I (1801–1825)'. Visitors can also see the mineralogical cabinet, created by architect A. Voronikhin in 1791–1792, intended to house Count A. S. Stroganov's book collection and to display a collection of minerals.

Mineralogical Museum

Photo: culture.ru

The Mineralogical Museum was founded in 1785. Since 1838 it has been located in Saint Petersburg State University's main building — the Twelve Collegia building — in its southern Neva-facing end, on the second floor. The museum's collections include over 30,000 specimens (870 mineral species). The museum houses minerals from which D. I. Mendeleev and subsequent scientists obtained new chemical elements.

Museum of the St. Petersburg Metro

Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

The exhibition is dedicated to the history of the St. Petersburg metro from its inception to the present day. In the museum you can learn about the history of the metro's construction, its engineering, architecture and design, as well as the biographies of metro builders and staff. The museum also has interactive exhibits, such as a model of a metro tunnel along which a model of a 1960s train runs, or an interactive construction cage.