Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
an avid collector, and his house-museum contains his collection of thousands of
works, including lesser-known paintings by top 19th-century artists such as Repin,
Levitan and Kramskoy.
MMUSSEUUM
MUSEUM OF ETHNOGRAPHY
R300/150, English group tour R1500; 10.30am-6pm Tue-Sun; Gostiny Dvor)
In an im-
pressive classical building on pl Iskusstv, this excellent museum displays the tradi-
tional crafts, customs and beliefs of more than 150 cultures that make up Russia's fra-
gile ethnic mosaic. There's a bit of leftover Soviet propaganda going on here, but it's
a marvellous collection: the sections on Transcaucasia and Central Asia are fascinat-
ing, with rugs and two full-size yurts (nomads' portable tent-houses). The Special
Storeroom has some great weapons and rare devotional objects. The museum's
centrepiece is the magnificent Marble Hall, a 1000-sq-metre gallery surrounded by
pink Karelian-marble columns.
ARMENIAN CHURCH OF ST CATHERINE
(
Церковь св
.
Екатерины
; Nevsky pr 42; 8am-6.30pm Mon-Fri, 9.30am-1.30pm Sat;
Nevsky Prospekt)
Continuing with a tradition of non-Orthodox churches being built on
Nevsky pr, the Armenian merchant Ovanes Lazarian paid for the city's first Armenian
church to be erected here in 1771. It was designed and built by German architect Ge-
org Veldten and completed in 1780. The Soviet regime deemed it reasonable to bash
the place to bits and install a 2nd floor, which blocked the view of the cupola. Since
then the church has been fully restored, and it's open to visitors.
CHUR
CHURCCH
PLOSHCHAD OSTROVSKOGO
(
Площадь Островского
; Gostiny Dvor)
Ringed with important cultural institutions,
pl Ostrovskogo (Ostrovsky Sq) is named for Alexander Ostrovsky (1823-86), a celeb-
rated 19th-century playwright. An enormous
statue of Catherine the Great
OFFLINE MAP
GOOGLE MAP
(1873) stands amid the chess, backgammon and mah-
jong players who crowd the benches here. At the Empress' heels are renowned states-
men of the 19th century, including her lovers Orlov, Potemkin and Suvorov. This airy
SSQUARE
ARE
