Situated on the banks of the Neva River at the source of the Gulf of Finland in the Baltic Sea, Saint Petersburg, also known as Petrograd and Leningrad at one time, is a city founded by Peter the Great, the Czar of Russia. He named the city after his patron saint, the apostle Saint Peter. It remained Russia’s capital for more than two hundred years until the Russian Revolution. Saint Petersburg is the second largest city in Russia after Moscow and is today a major port on the Baltic Sea and an important centre for European culture.
The historic city centre of Saint Petersburg along with Leningrad Oblast is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The city also houses the world’s largest art museum the Hermitage. Some interesting places to see in the city are the Peter and Paul Fortress and the Peter and Paul Cathedral alongside it that dominate a prime location on Zayachy Island on the right bank of the River Neva. Also close by is the Saint Petersburg Mosque. On the southern coast are some grand 18th century buildings that include the Kunstkamera, Menshikov Palace, Imperial Academy of Arts and the Twelve Collegia.
Also on the southern bank past the Palace Bridge lie the Admiralty Building and the colossal complex of the Hermitage that stretches all along the Palace Embankment including the Baroque Winter Palace and the neo-classical Marble Palace. On the left bank is the city’s main avenue, the Nevsky Prospekt. Here too one can find some interesting places to see such as the ruins of St Alexander Nevsky, Church of the Savior on Blood, Russian Museum, Tauride Palace and St Michael’s Castle just to name a few architectural beauties.
There is just no end to the amount of sightseeing that one can do here, as there are a plethora of interesting places to explore. There are numerous museums and some of the most outstanding parks such as the Pavlovsk, which is Europe’s largest English garden, while the Summer Garden, the oldest in Saint Petersburg dating back to the 18th century are both parks that are worth a visit. The city is also home to fifty theatres of which the world renowned Mariinsky Theatre is the grandest of them all. Saint Petersburg has much to offer in way of tourism, culture and natural beauty and is definitely a place worth visiting in a lifetime.
Photo by Roman Sobolenko provided courtesy of Panoramio.com
Photo by Andrey Jitkov provided courtesy of Panoramio.com
Photo by Andrey Jitkov provided courtesy of Panoramio.com
Photo by Roman Sobolenko provided courtesy of Panoramio.com
Photo by Andrey Jitkov provided courtesy of Panoramio.com