Things to Do in St. Petersburg
St Petersburg, Russian Sankt-Peterburg is absolutely an amazing place to visit with its well-known white nights when daylight extends to nearly 19 hours.
It’s the capital of Northern Russia, second largest city in Russia and the cultural capital of Russia.
Peter the Great have found it in 1703 as Russia’s “window on Europe,”. As a result, it is now one of the world’s major cities.
Let’s take you in a journey to the city of Caesars; a destination for every fan of Russian culture and architectural landmarks because it mixes the western European and Russian architecture. We will list below things to do in St. Petersburg and how not to get lost in its incredible palaces and waterways.
The city strives to keep its possession in competition with Moscow.
The short but full-flowing canals of the Neva River stretching to the Baltic coast are inseparable from St Petersburg’s panorama.
Palace Square
You can start here in the heart of St Petersburg, where nothing changed for the last 300 years. It’s the nerve center of the city.
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You would like to stand in front of Alexander Column which was built in the square in honor of the victory of the Russian armies over Napoleon.
Alexander column has a crown depicting an angel defeating a snake with a cross. To clarify, it is the symbol of the good defeating the bad
And you can see the angel’s head because it is bent to the ground so his face is seen from below.
However, the palace square is a must-go in St Petersburg.
You can take your rides on a carriage and feel the huge energy inside of you when you are in front of amazing buildings.
Then it takes you to the most beautiful building on the palace square, Winter Palace.
The state Hermitage Museum and the Winter Palace
Another thing to do in St Petersburg is visiting the Hermitage Museum, which is one of the largest artistic and cultural and historical museums in Russia and one of the largest in the world.
Here you can get a chance of watching many of the three million items dating from the Stone Age to the present during your visit.
Among them is one of the world’s richest collections of western European painting since the Middle Ages, including many masterpieces by Renaissance painters.
In addition, if you are a fan of art, you should know that in the Hermitage collection there are two paintings by Leonardo da Vinci and sculpture by Michelangelo, which can be found nowhere else in Russia, as well as the largest collection of Rembrandt’s paintings outside Netherlands.
Touring St. Petersburg Winter Palace
You can enjoy looking at the fashionable, huge palace, this monument will remind you of the Baroque art.
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Beautiful white columns on a green background is highlighting the amazing presence of the palace with 176 Golding sculptured figures lining the roof.
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Moreover, the design of the outside and the inside of the palace is bright and elegant. Each façade of the palace has a different distinctive design.
You can watch the well-known Neva river from its magnificent northern façade.
After that you can take a walk in the exhibition placed in the palace.
Above all, you can make a tour in the grand halls and chambers, and fill your eyes with the beauty of the collections of the antiquities of Eurasia and the East, as well as collections of European and Eastern paintings, sculptures and decorative art works.
Exploring St. Petersburg Peter and Paul fortress
You can’t visit St. Petersburg without visiting the oldest church in the city and the highest cathedral in Russia.
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It’s officially labelled as a “Museum of the History of the City”.
Peter purposed the fortress at the center of his city to serve not only a military task, but also as a symbol of his union of state and religious foundations within a new political order in Russia.
Beautiful gardens are surrounding the several buildings inside the walls of the fortress, the most famous is the 18th-century Peter and Paul Cathedral, where the Russian czars took it as the final resting place for them.
One of the interesting things that you can do there is to climb the bell tower of the Cathedral. You would enjoy a panoramic view and have a chance of getting to know the Orthodox music.
Church of the savior on spilled blood
The church of the savior on spilled blood is one of the most famous churches in Russia.
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The Romanov imperial family funded it in honor of Alexander II, and the suffix “on Spilled Blood” refers to his murder.
The church marks the birthplace of the city.
You’ll notice the special architecture of the cathedral and enjoy the thousands square meters of mosaic inside on its walls and ceilings, which is almost more than in any other cathedral in the world.
They’re mostly representing biblical events and personalities.
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Images have very fine patterned borders that clearly separate them from each other.
Peterhof Palace and watching the Great Cascade of St. Petersburg
If you want a romantic atmosphere, you must go to the Gardens of Peterhof Palace which they create to rival the palace of Versailles in France.
You can pass through the gates and the view of the palace’s warm-yellow exterior will greet you.
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If you wish to go back outside, you can make your way onto a walkway overlooking Peterhof’s crown jewel: The Grand Cascade, we’ll talk about it later in this article.
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After that, it’s time for you to explore the park.
There are hundreds of hectares to explore, featuring meticulously manicured gardens, trellis’, many palaces and the canal-like reservoir that stretches away from the Grand Cascade.
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The Great Cascade of St. Petersburg
Here you will stand before the shimmering waters of the Great Cascade.
A historical succeed of engineering with more than 60 fountains entirely without pumps.
The Grand cascade is the most grandiose fountain structure of the Peterhof group.
It is one of the most wonderful fountains in the world.
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Isaac’s Cathedral
St. Isaac’s Cathedral is Saint Petersburg’s largest Russian Orthodox church.
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It’s the fourth largest cathedral in the world with a seating capacity of 14,000 people.
You can see the Gold plated dome of St. Isaac’s Cathedral shining from all over the city.
Josef Hermann decorated the main dome with twelve statues of angels.
You can climb up to the observation walkway at the base of the cathedral’s dome and enjoy the views over the city.
The church itself is an architectural miracle, because it was built to be the main church of the Russian Empire.
When you enter the cathedral you pass through one of the porticos.
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Inside the church many of the icons were created using mosaic techniques.
The cathedral now serves as a museum while it holds services only on significant ecclesiastical holidays.
The museum collection features many ancient icon paintings, mosaic images and colored stonework and marble
Mariinsky theater
If you are lucky enough, you’ll watch a ballet performance in the Ballet and Opera theatre.
It is one of the top ballet and opera companies in the world, and It’s famous all over the world for being the main theatre of St. Petersburg.
The theatre has become a mecca for both Russian and international artists because it enjoys an international reputation, and its resident company is frequently on tour abroad.
They named the theater after the wife of the reigning Tsar Alexander II, Marina.
It’s an icon of Neo-classical style with Neo-Byzantine design elements.
Its impressive and elegant U-shaped auditorium is richly decorated and in fact is one of the most beautiful in the world.
Catherine Palace in St. Petersburg
One of the most magnificent royal palaces in Russia.
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Empress Elisabeth created the huge size palace with azure walls and fantastic gilded ornaments.
Catherine Palace is the top attraction for each visitor of St. Petersburg.
There are chambers, which Catherine the Great wanted to redesign in classical style.
Firstly, you’ll admire the festive reception halls “The Golden Suite”.
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The walls and the doors are full of gilded ornaments.
Secondly, The Amber, Crimson, and Green Pilaster rooms, Portrait hall were good for these friendly meetings.
The multicolored amber panels are hanging on the walls. There are neatness mirror panels in between them.
And The golden suite leads to the private living quarters “The Small Suite”.
The Grand Hall, looks very big because there are a lot of mirrors. They hang on the walls and alternate with double windows, reflecting in one another and making up the illusion of endless space.
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The state Russian Museum Mikhailovsky palace
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We recommend you to visit in your journey The magnificent Mikhailovsky palace and museum with its charming gardens.
You’ll find a carefully planned group of architecture and parkland, with two different but equally impressive facades.
The first façade meeting the Field of Mars across the Moika River.
The other façade across “Arts Square” towards Nevsky Prospect.
There are rich interiors, of which the only surviving examples are the main corridor of the palace and the White Room.
Most importantly, In the museum you can see works of decorative, applied and folk art which includes: handicrafts, embroidery, fabrics, fragments of Russian huts, women’s costumes of different classes and provinces.
Surprisingly for typical St. Petersburg, the architectural surroundings of the palace have changed little in the last two centuries.
Dom Knigi
Another thing to do for readers and lovers of literature; a visit to Dom Knigi and the Singer Building is an important thing to do.
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Dom Knigi, which means ‘House of Books’ in Russian, is the oldest, largest and most famous bookshop in St Petersburg.
It is in the Singer Building, a masterpiece of Art Nouveau architecture in the center of St Petersburg.
The building is crowned with a metal-and-glass tower topped by a glass globe to create the illusion of greater height.
The Estonian sculpture Amandus Heinrich Adamason designed the sculptures on the building.
Certainly, Dom Knigi very quickly became one of the most famous and most-loved on Nevsky Prospekt.
In short, it has long been a focal point of cultural and intellectual life in the city.
You shouldn’t miss it.
A walk around Alexander Park in St. Petersburg
we recommend you to also visit the Alexander park is located in the city of Pushkin in St Petersburg.
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It has two parts. A New Garden and a Landscape Park.
However, You can get there by going to the main entrance to the park which is in the opposite of the Golden Gate of the Catherine Palace.
There are four sides on the lands of the Alexander Park.
One of which now houses a museum, monuments and bridges stand in various architectural styles, as well as ponds, low hills, natural forest areas, alleys and paths for walking with places for relaxation.
In the Northern part of the park you’ll face the most dominant feature of it which is The Alexander Palace.
The Alexander Palace
One of the most creative classical creations of architecture.
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Moreover, Alexander palace is an amazing building with a two-century history.
For more than a century, the Alexander Palace was the preferable home of many generations of the Romanovs.
There are two lines of columns of the Corinthian order in the center of the main northern façade. It will make you more fascinated with the palace.
In addition, from the side of the ordinary part of the Alexander Park, the façade of the building is designed in the form of a semi-rotunda, covered with a spherical dome.
Rostral Columns
As we know from ancient Greece and Rome, a rostral column symbolizes a naval military victory.
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The defining feature of it, is the combination of prows or rams of ships, representing destroyed enemy ships.
In other words, The Rostral Columns is considered the embodiment of strength, power, vigor, and might.
St. Petersburg by Peter the Great’s plan was supposed to be a great port city, which would have the spirit of victory in the naval battles.
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The height of the Columns is 32 meters.
On major public holidays, they light torches on top of them.
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