Winter Palace, Russia

Houses where (in the opinion of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s researchers) the heroes of his immortal novel “Crime and Punishment” lived, remain the unique landmark places of St. Petersburg: Raskolnikov’s House is located on Grazhdanskaya Street, and the House of the old money-lender can be found while walking along the embankment of the Griboyedov Canal. If we are to go by the words of Alexander Griboyedov’s contemporaries, the initial episodes of the comedy play “Woe from Wit” were written in this exact place. Moviegoers can enjoy the excursion that takes place at “Lenfilm” – the country’s oldest film studio (it was founded in 1914). It was here that the famous Soviet films “The Twelfth Night”, “The Wedding in Malinovka”, and “Cinderella” were shot.

An unusual construction is the so-called “Gingerbread House”, which stands out sharply against the rest of the buildings. It was built at the beginning of the 20th century in the Art Nouveau style. Nowadays it still evokes in people’s minds associations with a fairytale house. The beautiful Nikonov Hotel is also located here. The Brusnitsky mansion, which was built in 1884, is another remarkable building in St. Petersburg. The first owner was a peasant, Nikolai Brusnitsyn, who established a leather workshop here in 1847. Later in 1882, the building was rebuilt according to the design of Anatoly Kovsharov, who created a beautiful example of eclectic architecture. During the October Revolution, the last owner of the mansion, Nikolai’s son, Alexander Brusnitsyn, was imprisoned by the Bolsheviks. Back then it was decided to use the building as a state tannery.
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