Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
church was used until recently as a hospital. Take the stairs to the 2nd floor where you
can see the small church and chat with the charming nuns who look after it.
MMUSSEUUM
MUSEUM OF EROTICA
(
Музей Эротики
; ul Furshtatskaya 47; admission R100; 8am-9pm Mon-Fri, 9am-6pm Sat
& Sun; Chernyshevskaya)
It is odd enough that a museum should be housed in a
venereal disease clinic, but even more surprising is that the chief attraction is a 30cm-
long grey, embalmed penis that allegedly belonged to Rasputin. The chief of the pro-
state research centre of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, Igor Knyazkin, as-
sembled this collection of sexually themed trinkets his patients had given him over the
years. At the very least, it gives patients something to do in the waiting room. Other
exhibits include the bone of a sea lion's penis and various statuettes of people and an-
imals in a variety of sexual positions.
MMUSSEUUM
WORLD OF WATER MUSEUM
(
Мир воды
; Shpalernaya ul 56; adult/student R250/100; 10am-6pm Wed-Sun;
Chernyshevskaya)
The handsomely restored complex of 19th-century brick buildings
between Tauride Gardens and the Neva River houses St Petersburg's water treatment
company Vodokanal and its museum. The 1st floor has an interesting multimedia ex-
hibition about what goes on underneath St Petersburg. The upper floors of the water
tower contain historical exhibitions, including the construction of waterways in the
city and the water system during the blockade. Displays are slick and informative,
though only in Russian.
HIST
HISTORIC
ORICAL B
AL BUILDING
UILDING
BOLSHOY DOM
(
Большой дом
; Liteyny pr 4; closed to the public; Chernyshevskaya)
Noi Trotsky's
monolithic design for the local KGB headquarters (and current Interior Ministry
headquarters) is referred to by everyone as the 'Bolshoy Dom' or 'Big House'. It's a
fierce-looking block of granite built in 1932 in the late-constructivist style and was
once a byword for fear among the people of the city: most people who were taken
here during the purges were never heard of again. Employees who have worked here
include Vladimir Putin during his days as a KGB man. The Bolshoy Dom made the
news in 2010, when the political art collective Voina (War) drew a 65m-long penis on
