Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
the Nicene Creed), Orthodox services are about creating a religious experience. Each
of these elements does its part to help the worshipper transcend the physical world and
enter communion with the spiritual one.
Under communism, the state religion—atheism—trumped the faith professed by
the majority of Russians. The Russian Orthodox Church survived, but many church
buildings were seized by the government and repurposed (as ice-hockey rinks, swim-
ming pools, and so on). Many more were destroyed. Soviet citizens who openly be-
longed to the Church sacrificed any hope of advancement within the communist sys-
tem. But since the fall of communism, Russians have flocked back to their church.
(Even Vladimir Putin, a former KGB agent and avowed atheist, revealed that he had
secretly been an Orthodox Christian all along.) These days, new churches are being
built and destroyed ones are being rebuilt or renovated...and all of them, it seems, are
filled with worshippers. Today, three out of every four Russian citizens follows this
faith—high numbers for a country whose government was aggressively atheistic just
a generation ago.
• Your tour is over. Descend the grand staircase like a 19th-century Russian aristocrat,
walk down the smaller stairs to the coatroom and café area, and find the exit.
Gardens Behind the Russian Museum
The zone behind the Russian Museum is filled with delightful parks and gardens. Directly
behind the building, the inviting, tree-filled
Mikhailovsky Garden
(Михайловский сад)
leads (across the canal) into the geometrically regimented
Field ofMars
(Марсово поле)
park, designed to showcase military parades.
Just to its east (across another canal) is one of St. Petersburg's most enjoyable public
spaces, the
Summer Garden
(Летний сад, Letny Sad). This park—laced with walking
trails, studded with fountains and statues, and generously tree-shaded—was created by
Peter the Great himself, where the Fontanka River meets the Neva. Like St. Petersburg
itself, it's the gorgeous result of the most talented artistic minds of the time—Dutch and
French garden engineers helped to plot and populate the space with beautiful trees and
hedges, and Venetian artists lined its walkways with stony sculptures. Along the Fontanka
is Peter's own
Summer Palace
(Летний дворец)—a strikingly modest mansion where
it's easy to imagine Peter sitting back, relaxing, and gazing out over the waterways of his
namesake city. On a sunny day with some time to spare, there are few more enjoyable activ-
ities in St. Petersburg than strolling through the Summer Garden (garden open in summer
daily 10:00-21:00; off-season Wed-Mon 10:00-19:30, closed Tue).
