Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
and afro-beat. These days the group plays together only occasionally, but its members
are still fixtures on the local scene.
Switch on Russian MTV and you'll see local versions of boy bands and disco divas
all doing their sometimes desultory, sometimes foot-tapping stuff. Meanwhile, St
Petersburg clubs are filled with garage bands, new wave, punk, hard rock and elec-
tronic groups.
VISUAL ARTS
It should come as no surprise that St Petersburg is an artistic place, having been de-
signed by the leading artists of the day. In the early years, aristocrats and emperors
filled their palaces with endless collections of paintings and applied arts, guaranteeing
a steady stream of artistic production. These days, hundreds of thousands of visitors
come here to see the masterpieces that hang in the Hermitage and the Russian Mu-
seum.
But St Petersburg's artistic tradition is not only historical. The city's winding water-
ways, crumbling castles and colourful characters continue to inspire creative types
and in recent years the city has become a nurturing space for artists to work, with
plentiful studios, gallery spaces and new museums interested in modern work.
Anyone interested in the state of contemporary art in the city should head to Loft Pro-
and that legacy endures.
Academy of Arts
Known both as the Imperial Academy of Arts and the St Petersburg Academy of Arts,
this official state-run artistic institution was founded in 1757 by Count Ivan Shuvalov,
a political adviser, education minister and longtime lover of Empress Elizabeth. It was
Catherine the Great who moved the Academy out of Shuvalov's home, commission-
The Academy was responsible for the education and training of young artists. It fo-
cused heavily on French-influenced academic art, which incorporated neoclassicism
and romanticism. Painters such as Fyodor Alexeyev and Grigory Chernetsev came out
of the Academy of Arts.
