Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
SIGHTS
Smolny & Liteyny
CATHEDR
THEDRAAL
SMOLNY CATHEDRAL
(
Смольный собор
; pl Rastrelli 3/1; adult/student R150/90, bell tower R100; 10am-7pm
Thu-Tue; Chernyshevskaya)
If baroque is your thing, then look no further than the
sky-blue Smolny Cathedral, an unrivalled masterpiece of the genre that ranks among
Bartolomeo Rastrelli's most amazing creations. The cathedral is the centrepiece of a
convent mostly built to Rastrelli's designs between 1748 and 1757. His inspiration
was to combine baroque details with the forest of towers and onion domes typical of
an old Russian monastery. There's special genius in the proportions of the cathedral
(it gives the impression of soaring upwards), to which the convent buildings are a per-
fect foil.
In stark contrast, the interior is a disappointingly austere plain white as it is no
longer a working church, but serves instead as a concert hall and exhibition space. If
you're lucky there may well be rehearsals for concerts going on while you visit, to
which you're welcome to listen, otherwise it's not really worth paying to enter the
cathedral itself.
By contrast, however, it's definitely worth paying to climb the 277 steps to one (or
both) of the two 63m-high bell towers for stupendous views over the city.
PARK
ARK
TAURIDE PALACE & GARDENS
(
Таврический сад
; Chernyshev-skaya)
Catherine the Great had this fabulous
baroque palace built in 1783 for Grigory Potemkin, a famed general and one of her
lovers. The palace takes its name from the Ukrainian region of Crimea (once called
Tavria), which Potemkin conquered. The palace was a thank you for that acquisition,
among other things. Catherine's bitter son, Paul I, turned the palace into a barracks
after his ascension to the throne in 1796, which ruined most of the lavish interiors.
Between 1906 and 1917 the State Duma, the Provisional Government and the Petro-
grad Soviet all met here; in the 1930s it housed the All-Union Agricultural Commun-
