Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
student R110/70; 11am-6pm Thu-Tue; Admiralteyskaya)
History buffs should not miss
this oft-overlooked but superb local museum. It is housed in the majestic 1826 man-
sion of Count Nikolai Petrovich Rumyantsev, a famous diplomat, politician and
statesman, as well as an amateur historian whose personal research library became the
basis for the Russian State Library in Moscow. The history of the mansion and its
owners is fascinating in itself, and the few restored staterooms at the front of the
house suggest daily life for the Rumyantsevs was a pretty opulent affair.
Part of the State Museum of the History of St Petersburg, the mansion contains an
exhibition of 20th-century history, including displays devoted to the 1921 New Eco-
nomic Policy (NEP), the industrialisation and development of the 1930s, and the
Siege of Leningrad during WWII. Exhibitions are unusual in that they depict every-
day life in the city during these historic periods. While each room has an explanatory
panel in English, the individual labelling is in Russian only.
MMUSSEUUM
POPOV COMMUNICATIONS MUSEUM
per 4; adult/student R100/50; 10.30am-6pm Tue-Sat; Admiralteyskaya)
Housed in the
fabulous 18th-century palace of Chancellor Bezborod-ko, this museum of communic-
ations is the perfect addition to Pochtamtskaya ul (Postal St). It is named for Professor
AS Popov, inventor of the radio, and it covers all manner of communication, from the
Pony Express up through the modern era (on-site computers offer 30 minutes of free
internet access to all museum guests). Exhibits are interactive and interesting, includ-
ing an antique telephone switchboard that still works, the first civil communications
satellite Luch-15, which occupies a prominent place in the atrium, and plenty of mul-
timedia explanations of how things work. Stamp collectors will have a field day ad-
miring the national philatelic collection.
MMUSSEUUM
MUSEUM OF THE HISTORY OF RELIGION
adult R220; 11am-6pm Thu-Tue; Admiraltey-skaya)
Back in the day, this was called
the Museum of Atheism; it had a very strong anti-religious bias and it was housed in
the Kazan Cathedral. Now the name has changed, as has the location, but the fascinat-
