St. Petersburg
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1. Piskaryevskoye Cemetery
Vyborg SideThe extent of the city's suffering during the 900-day siege by the Nazis between 1941 and 1944 becomes clear on a visit to this sobering place in the northeastern outskirts of the city, used as a mass burial ground for 500,000 World War II victims. The numbingly endless rows of common graves carry simple slabs indicating the year in which those below them died, some from shelling, but most from cold and starvation. Memorial monuments and an eternal flame commemorate the dead, but most moving of all is an inscription on the granite wall at the far end of the cemetery: a famous poem by radio personality Olga Bergholts ends with the oft-repeated phrase, "No one is forgotten, nothing is forgotten." The granite pavilions at the entrance house a small museum with photographs and memoirs documenting the siege. (Start with the one on the right side; the pavilions are open until 5 and admission is free.) On display is Tanya Savicheva's "diary," scraps of paper on which the young schoolgirl recorded the death of every member of her family. The last entry reads, "May 13. Mother died. Everyone is dead. Only I am left." (She, too, died as a result of the war.) To reach the cemetery go to Ploshchad Muzhestva metro station, then take a public bus 123 or 178 up Nepokoryonnykh prospekt to the stop marked "Piskaryovskoye Kladbische."
72 Nepokorennykh pr., St. Petersburg, St.-Petersburg, 195273, Russia812-247--5716-toursSight Details
Rate Includes: Free, Daily 9--6 -
2. Smolny
Liteiny/SmolnySomeone mentioning the Smolny may be referring to either the beautiful baroque church and convent or the classically designed institute that went down in history as the Bolshevik headquarters in the Revolution of 1917. The two architectural complexes are right next door to each other, on the Neva's left bank. Construction of the Smolny convent and cathedral began under Elizabeth I and continued during the reign of Catherine the Great, who established a school for the daughters of the nobility within its walls. The centerpiece of the convent is the magnificent five-domed Cathedral of the Resurrection, which was designed by Bartolomeo Rastrelli and which is, some historians say, his greatest creation. At first glance, the highly ornate blue-and-white cathedral seems to have leaped off the pages of a fairy tale. Its five white onion domes, crowned with gilded globes supporting crosses of gold, convey a sense of magic and power. Begun by Rastrelli in 1748, the cathedral was not completed until the 1830s, by the architect Vasily Stasov. Few traces of the original interior have survived. It's currently used for concerts, notably of Russian sacred music, and rather insignificant exhibits.The cathedral tower offers the highest viewing point in the city.
3/1 pl. Rastrelli, St. Petersburg, St.-Petersburg, 191124, Russia812-271--9182-informationSight Details
Rate Includes: 250R, Thurs.-Tues. 10--6, Closed Wed. -
3. State Museum "Smolny"
Liteiny/SmolnyGiacomo Quarenghi designed this neoclassical building between 1806 and 1808 in the style of an imposing country manor. It's here where Lenin and his associates planned the overthrow of the Kerensky government in October 1917, and Lenin lived at the Smolny for 124 days. The rooms in which he resided and worked are now a memorial museum. The museum also has an exhibit on the Russian Institute of Noble Girls, which was in the building from 1808 through 1917. The school was founded by the decree of Catherine the Great in 1764 and aimed to turn out well-educated women and future mothers, who would go on to raise similarly worthy children. The Institute enrolled girls from noble families from six years of age, and they graduated when they turned 18, after intense instruction in science, crafts, and the arts. They were allowed to see their parents rarely, and only with special permission. Today the rest of the building houses the offices of the governor of St. Petersburg and can be visited only by special request. To see the museum, make an appointment at least a week in advance. Tours are in Russian only, so you may want to bring an interpreter. Admission to the Smolny is only through a tourist company or some other official or business organization and arrangements must be made at least four or five days in advance.
1 Proletarskoy Diktatury, St. Petersburg, St.-Petersburg, 193060, Russia812-576--7461-toursSight Details
Rate Includes: 300R, Mon.-Thurs. 10--6, Fri. 10--3; Sat.-Sun. 10--5 -
4. Ulitsa Zodchevo Rossi
Liteiny/SmolnyThe street named for architect Carlo Rossi, the Italian architect who designed many of the classical buildings in St. Petersburg, has extraordinary proportions: it's bounded by two buildings of exactly the same height, its width (72 feet) equals the height of the buildings, and its length is exactly 10 times its width. A complete view unfolds only at the end of the street, where it meets ploshchad Lomonosov. The perfect symmetry is reinforced by the identical facades of the two buildings, which are painted the same yellow and both decorated with impressive white pillars. One of the buildings here, at Number 2, is the legendary Vaganova Ballet School (founded in 1738), whose pupils included Karsavina as well as Pavlova, Nijinsky, Ulanova, Baryshnikov, and Nureyev.
Ulitsa Zodchego Rossi,, St. Petersburg, St.-Petersburg, 191023, Russia -
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