Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
257
marked in English, but each room has a panel in English describing its contents. The last
hall shows a video in English and Russian about the blockade, with plenty of chairs to rest
in while you watch. Exhibits include posters for Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony, com-
posed and first performed during the siege; a chronicle of the Road of Life; and a metro-
nome that played on Leningrad radio during the blockade, its speed indicating the level of
danger of shelling on a given day. Both exhibits gloss over Stalin's role in exacerbating the
city's struggle and the country's wartime losses, but even the Soviet propaganda doesn't
overshadow the very real horrors presented by the museums. For an even more powerful
but less intimate way to remember the blockade victims, see the Piskarevo Cemetery review
in the “Monuments, Memorials & Squares” section below.
Memorial Museum of Leningrad Blockade. 9 Solyanoi Pereulok.
&
812/279-3021.
Admission 80 rubles
adults, 30 rubles students and children 8 and over. Thurs-Tues 10am-4pm; closed last Thurs of each
month. St. Petersburg History Museum. 3 Petropavlovskaya Krepost.
&
812/230-6431.
Admission 170
rubles, 80 rubles students and children 8 and over. Thurs-Tues 10am-5pm. Closed last Thurs of every
month. Metro: Sportivnaya.
Kunstkamera
Officially called the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology
and Ethnography, this museum was created back in Peter's day to study the human body
and fight superstition rampant in 18th-century Russia. The 300-year-old building itself
is in a rather sorry state, with its stone staircases uneven from wear, and moldings flaking
off. The real reason people visit is the repulsion and attraction of its “naturalia” collection
of anatomical specimens, including deformed animals, bottled human body parts, and
diseased babies preserved in jars for nearly 300 years. This is not for those with weak
stomachs, or for very young or sensitive children (older ones love the gross-out factor of
the exhibits). It was aimed at advancing Peter's fascination with modern science, which
struck horror in most Russians at the time. Many of today's scientists credit Peter with
laying the groundwork for the institutions that later produced Dmitry Mendeleyev (cre-
ator of chemistry's periodic table) and the Nobel Prize-winning scientists of the 20th
century. The museum also holds a collection of coins and artifacts from around the
globe, which were more remarkable when Russia remained largely cut off from the rest
of the world, but are still impressive for their variety.
3 Universitetskaya Naberezhnaya (entrance from Tamozhenny Pereulok).
&
812/328-0812.
www.
kunstkamera.ru. Admission 250 rubles adults, 150 rubles students and children 8 and over. 100 rubles to
take photos or video. Tues-Sun 11am-6pm; closed last Tues of every month. Metro: Vasileostrovskaya.
Museum of Arctic and Antarctic
(Muzei Arktiki I Antarktiki) This curious collec-
tion of artifacts brought back from polar expeditions is not for everyone, but if you're
fascinated by snow, northern cultures, or geology, stop in. It's also a nice way to cool off
(at least mentally) on a hot afternoon. It's only logical that Russia, whose northern border
spans much of the Arctic, would have a museum dedicated to the Far North—especially
now that it's jockeying for authority over the region's oil reserves. The Antarctic exhibits
were added after a series of Soviet-era expeditions there. Housed in an early-19th-century
church, the museum has a dome inlaid with a mosaic map of Antarctica engraved with
the Soviet-sounding phrase continent of peace and friendship. The English-language
brochures are good but not free. Canadians in particular seem to appreciate this museum.
Allow an hour.
24a Ulitsa Marata.
&
812/571-2549.
www.polarmuseum.sp.ru. Admission 100 rubles adults, 50 rubles
students and children 8 and over. Wed-Sun 10am-6pm. Closed last Sat of the month. Metro: Dostoyevs-
kaya.
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