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Highlights Tour.
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Introduction to St. Petersburg.
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With this tour you get a thorough overview of the center of St. Petersburg. Ideally it is done as an orientation tour in the beginning of your stay, and gives you a feel of the city.
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The tour covers all of St. Petersburg’s favorite sights and includes Nevsky Prospect, St. Isaac’s Square, Senate Square with statue of Peter the Great (the Bronze Horseman), Palace Square, the Hermitage, Square of Arts, Ostrovsky Square with statue of Catherine the Great, the Peter and Paul fortress, the Spit of Vasiliy Island, the Church of the Savior on the Spilled Blood, and the Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan.
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The tour requires a minimum of three hours with transportation and includes several photo stops. It can be expanded to several half-days to allow more in-depth discovery if you prefer, or it can be extended to include a visit to Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral on the grounds of the Peter and Paul Fortress, or combined with a visit to St. Isaac’s Cathedral. An extended tour requires a minimum of 4 hours.
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For other areas of interest, please see below a description of other sightseeing tours.
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The Peter and Paul Fortress. Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral.
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The Peter and Paul Fortress is a unique example of Russian fortification from the early eighteenth century, and an architectural ensemble that has combined the seemingly incompatible. This monumental achievement of military engineering stands in immediate proximity to the refined lightness of the amazing Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral, on the gilded spire of which there hovers an angel - the symbol of St. Petersburg and the city guardian.
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It was with this citadel, founded in May 1703, and called in imitation of the Dutch “Sankt-Piterburgh”, that the city began. The name of the fortress was soon transferred to the whole city, while the fortress acquired the name of Peter and Paul after the name of the cathedral built there. Built with every innovation known to the military engineers of the time, this powerful defensive stronghold was never once attacked by an enemy. Almost from its interception the fortress had a more sinister purpose – the interrogation and incarceration of political prisoners – and thus it became known as “the Russian Bastille”. The first political prisoner to be held in the fortress prison was Czarevich Aleksei, Peter the Great’s son. He was charged with treasonable conspiracy against the crown. He was stripped of the right of succession and condemned to death.
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Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral (built in 1712-1733) is the chief element in the fortress ensemble, while its magnificent spire occupies a dominant position in the panorama of the city’s central embankments. For a long time it was a chief place of worship for the capital, later becoming the court cathedral. Today it retains its significance as a burial place of the Russian czars, a memorial to martial glory, and a remarkable example of Russian architecture.
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A tour to the Peter and Paul Fortress takes half a day and includes a walk around the grounds - including a stop at the controversial statue of Peter the Great and a photo stop on the bank of the Neva for an overview of the city center and a visit to the Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral along with a visit to the fortress prison. It’s also possible to make a visit to the Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral as part of an extensive city tour.
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The Hermitage.
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There can be no better reason for coming to St. Petersburg than to visit the Hermitage. Renowned as one of the world’s leading art galleries, it is also a treasure house of ancient cultures. The collections of the Hermitage include 15.000 paintings, 12,000 sculptures, 600,000 works of graphic art, 224,000 works of applied art, 1,000,000 coins and medals.
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But then, quantity means less in art than anywhere else. The important thing is that the Hermitage collections include world-class masterpieces, among them the madonnas by Raphael and Leonardo da Vinci, Judith by Giorgione, Titian’s St. Sebastian and twenty-four paintings by Rembrandt, including such all-time stars as The Return of the Prodigal Son and Flora. The Hermitage boasts one of the world’s finest collections of the French Impressionists and Post-Impressionists.
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In addition, the Hermitage is an extension of the Winter Palace, former residence of the Russian imperial family, and provides a setting of unparalleled opulence for various dazzling collections. The architectural appearance of the complex of buildings housing the Hermitage today is majestic. Its interior is decorated with magnificent marble stairways and columns, parquet floors of rare beauty, ceilings ornamented with fancy gilt stucco mouldings and period furniture.
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The facts and figures about the Hermitage are astounding: it has nearly 400 exhibition halls and is annually attended by more than 3 million visitors, who would have to walk over 20 km (13 miles) to view the displays in all the halls. If, like most tourists, you only have time for one or two visits, this is a place where you would be better off with a guided tour, which I can provide.
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A standard tour of the Hermitage for first-time visitors lasts 2.5 hours. It takes you through the state rooms of the Winter Palace and covers the highlights of the Western European art collection.
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Another advantage of visiting the Hermitage with a tour is that at the height of the tourist season, the queue for individual tickets can stretch into an hour’s wait. I can arrange advance entrance tickets that can take you to the head of the line.
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