Top architectural sightseeing and landmarks of Saint Petersburg - ideas on city exploration routes

» The Church of the Savior on Blood is one of the main sights of St. Petersburg, which is the museum and a monument of Russian architecture.
» The temple was erected on the site, where in 1881 Alexander II was killed. The temple was built as a memorial to the King Martyr.
» The height of the central dome of the temple is 81 m; the temple accommodates up to 1,600 persons.
» The building represents a congregated image of the Russian Orthodox church. The architecture of the temple is an example of the late stage in evolution of the Russian style.
» The Church of the Savior on Blood is a veritable museum of mosaic, covering an area of 7,065 square meters. Mosaic was created in the workshop of Russian artist Vladimir Frolov on sketches by more than 30 artists

» The Catherine Palace is one of the largest palaces in the vicinity of St. Petersburg; that’s former imperial palace.
» The building was laid in 1717 by the order of Russian Empress Catherine I.
» The Catherine Palace was built in Late Baroque style.
» One of the most famous rooms in the Catherine Palace is the Amber room, which was decorated mainly with amber.
» During World War II, German invaders stole the Amber Room decoration and put it in the Amber Museum in Konigsberg. That was the last place where it was shown.

» The Peter and Paul Cathedral is the Orthodox Cathedral of Peter and Paul Fortress and the tomb of the Russian emperors.
» The height of the cathedral is 122.5 m. Until 2012, the cathedral has been the tallest building in St. Petersburg. Since 2013, it’s the third tallest building in the city.
» The Peter and Paul Cathedral is the rectangular building stretched from west to east characterized by Western architecture. The length of the cathedral is 61 meters, and the width is 27.5 meters.
» The spire of Peter and Paul Cathedral is decorated with a vane in form of a flying angel; its height is 3.2 m and width is 3.8 m.
» More recently, visitors could climb the tower of the cathedral to learn the history of the fortress and to see the unique and complex bell carillon, a musical instrument with keys and a system of 51 bells.

» The Saint Michael Castle is the former imperial palace in the heart of St. Petersburg, built by order of Emperor Paul I at the turn of 13-19th centuries; the place became a place of his death.
» The name of the castle was due to the temple of Archangel Michael in its territory.
» Paul himself has created first sketches of the castle. Work on the project of the future of the Imperial Palace began in 1784.
»  Architecture of the Saint Michael Castle was unusual for St. Petersburg at that time. The construction is more like a medieval fortress, being the only Russian palace building in the style of romantic Classicism.
» Legend tells that the ghost of the Emperor Paul I murdered by conspirators can’t leave the place of his death. Soldiers of the garrison have seen the ghost, and the new inhabitants of the palace and passersby noticed the shining figure at the window.

» The Alexander Palace is one of the imperial palaces of Tsarskoye Selo (now Pushkin), built by order of Empress Catherine II as a gift for the wedding of her grandson, Grand Duke Alexander Pavlovich.
» In 1918, the Alexander Palace was opened to the public as a museum exhibition which included historic interiors on the ground floor in the central part of the building and residential apartments of the Romanov family in the right wing of the palace.
» Internal and external decoration of the palace has no glamour and excessive luxury. Inside the palace there is no gilding, no paintings, and no ornaments.
» The beauty of this structure isn’t achieved by decorative and architectural solutions.

» Kunstkamera is the first museum in Russia, established by Emperor Peter I.
» The museum has a unique collection of antiques, revealing the history and life of many nations.
» Many tourists know this museum for the collection of freaks that contains exhibits with anatomical deformities and various natural rarities.
» Due to the abundance of material in the 1830s, Kunstkamera has been divided into a number of museums: the museum of zoology, ethnography, botany, and mineralogy.

» The St. Vladimir Cathedral holds a special place among the other Orthodox shrines of St. Petersburg, as it’s associated with a variety of historical events from the times of Peter to the present day.
» The St. Vladimir Cathedral is the monument of Russian church architecture featuring unique artistic look. The cathedral is very cozy and very harmonious.
» This cathedral is one of the few churches in the oldest part of the city, which has survived to these days. Other temples in this part of the city were closed and destroyed in the early 1930s.
» The Sunday school and the parish library has being successfully acting at the St. Vladimir Cathedral.
» The cathedral has a folk choir that sings for early liturgies on Sundays and public holidays.