Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
14
Exploring
St. Petersburg
St. Petersburg is a coherent and
carefully planned city, and the value of its
individual buildings is best appreciated
when you take a step back and view the
ensemble to which the buildings contrib-
ute. Sculpted parks and curving canals are
part of the plan, and well worth a detour—
though be sure to have a map in English
and
Russian, because off the main roads,
street signs are usually in the Cyrillic
alphabet only.
The city is Russia's principal port, and
its geography and history make it immedi-
ately distinguishable from Moscow. St.
Petersburg did not grow gradually from
provincial backwater to major metropolis
like its southern rival, and it was never the
capital of world Communism—this city
was built up from the bogs, fast and furi-
ous, to be an imperial capital, and it served
as such for 2 centuries. St. Petersburg is
better at celebrating the past than at
choosing a direction for the future, which
means that museums, palaces, and ballet
and opera houses are where its strengths
lie; daring modern art and architecture are
not. The Hermitage is a crucial stop but
far from the only museum you should visit
on this trip.
St. Petersburg's relative youth and the
secular ideas of its founder, Peter the Great,
mean that cathedrals play a less crucial and
less religious role here than in 850-year-old
Moscow. Still, your visit should include a
church or two; the ones listed below are
architecturally or historically notable. Some
cathedrals remain museums as they were in
Soviet days, but many are again functioning
churches and hold services throughout the
day. For hints on avoiding offense while
visiting Orthodox cathedrals, see the box
“Visiting Churches” on p. 145.
Museum entrance fees are often higher
for foreign visitors than for Russians, and
even higher than those in western Europe.
Be prepared to surrender your coat or
jacket at the coat check any time of year
(see the box “Cult of the Coat Check” on
p. 150). Be aware that many museums are
closed 1 day a month for “sanitary days”—
especially important to note if you're in
town for only a few days.
1
HERMITAGE & ENVIRONS
The State Hermitage Museum and the Winter Palace
The Winter
Palace would be a museum itself even if it didn't hold the Hermitage Museum, one of
the world's largest and most valuable collections of fine art. The patterned parquet floor-
ing, dazzling chandeliers, and extravagant and turbulent history of the 1750s-era palace
almost distract from the riches on display—but not quite. Most of the Hermitage's mas-
terpieces lie in warehouses or the museum basement, but they're hardly missed; it's
exhausting enough to view the permanent collection, which, among other treasures,
includes more French artworks than any museum outside France. Hall nos. 185 to 189
are worth a glance even if their labels, russian culture and state rooms, don't enthrall
