St. Petersburg: City of Books and Culture
Welcome to St. Petersburg! City of some of the best museums in the world. City of famous writers and artists. City of magnificent churches and buildings. City of literature and 24 hour book stores.
This past weekend we took a trip to St. Petersburg. The weather was pretty awful, rain and snow almost the entire weekend, but despite that Petersburg was really pretty!
The first morning, we went to the State Hermitage Museum. It was founded by Catherine the Great, who wanted it to become the best museum in Europe. Since the Revolution, the Hermitage has been partially housed in the Winter Palace, one of the tsars' residence. Part of the museum is a preservation of the royal apartments and room. Even in the parts of the palace that now house various art collections, the splendor of the Winter Palace is still evident. In my opinion, it is worth going to the Hermitage just to see the building and royal apartments. It's a lovely light and beautiful palace and it turned out to be one of my favorite parts of this trip!
And as an added bonus, totally by accident, I ran across my favorite Rembrandt!
In the evening we went to the Mariinsky 2 theater and say Tchaikovsky's opera Queen of Spades (Пиковая дама), an adaption of Pushkin's short story of the same name. It was an amazing opera. The singing, acting, orchestra, staging, and even the theater were simply amazing! On a related note, there are small theater stalls where you can buy tickets to shows all over the city and in the metro!
The next day we went to the Dostoevsky museum. Inside the museum are a few (seemingly) random exhibitions that are only somewhat connected with Dostoevsky. Dostoevsky's apartment is on the second floor and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing my favorite writer's apartment! Dostoevsky was very close to his wife and family and this is reflected in his apartment and the museum.
Next I went to Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood (Храм Воскресения Христова Спас на крови). This was on my list to see because I did a 3D puzzle of this church with a friend a while ago. This church is dedicated to the memory of Emperor Alexander II, who was fatally wounded in 1881. Around the outside of the church are a number of stones with various crests on them. My language partner told me that these crests represent all the cities that donated money to help build the church. My city, Vladimir, also has a crest on the church, but I wasn't able to find it. The inside of the church is almost all mosaic work and stunning!
The other main thing I wanted to do in St. Petersburg was go to Dom Knigi (Дом книги) one of the main bookstores in the city. Anyone who knows me knows that I have a problem when it comes to books and always end up buying too many books. And St. Petersburg just fed my addiction. This has got to be one of the only cities that has 24 hour bookstores! I left Dom Knigi with a whole bag of new books and a lighter wallet.
There are a lot of famous landmarks and museums that I did not get to, but it was great to get a feel for St. Petersburg. On the negative side, Petersburg is very western, which makes it great for tourists, but not for those of us studying Russian. But even so, nothing could dampen the feeling that literature and culture is in the air there. As a literature addict, St. Petersburg was a book-lover's dream and I hope I get to go back again!
This past weekend we took a trip to St. Petersburg. The weather was pretty awful, rain and snow almost the entire weekend, but despite that Petersburg was really pretty!
The first morning, we went to the State Hermitage Museum. It was founded by Catherine the Great, who wanted it to become the best museum in Europe. Since the Revolution, the Hermitage has been partially housed in the Winter Palace, one of the tsars' residence. Part of the museum is a preservation of the royal apartments and room. Even in the parts of the palace that now house various art collections, the splendor of the Winter Palace is still evident. In my opinion, it is worth going to the Hermitage just to see the building and royal apartments. It's a lovely light and beautiful palace and it turned out to be one of my favorite parts of this trip!
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| The library of Nicholas II / Библиотека Николая II |
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| The War Gallery of 1812 / Военная галерея 1812 года |
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| Palace Chapel / Храм дворца |
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| St. George Hall (Throne Room) / Георгиевский зал |
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| Garden / Сад |
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| Main Staircase / Главная лестница |
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| Rembrandt's The Return of the Prodigal Son / Возвращение блудного сына Рембрандта |
In the evening we went to the Mariinsky 2 theater and say Tchaikovsky's opera Queen of Spades (Пиковая дама), an adaption of Pushkin's short story of the same name. It was an amazing opera. The singing, acting, orchestra, staging, and even the theater were simply amazing! On a related note, there are small theater stalls where you can buy tickets to shows all over the city and in the metro!
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| The Mariinsky II Theater / Мариинский II |
The next day we went to the Dostoevsky museum. Inside the museum are a few (seemingly) random exhibitions that are only somewhat connected with Dostoevsky. Dostoevsky's apartment is on the second floor and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing my favorite writer's apartment! Dostoevsky was very close to his wife and family and this is reflected in his apartment and the museum.
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| View from Doestovsky's apartment |
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| Dostoevsky's desk and study / Кабинет Достоевского |
Next I went to Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood (Храм Воскресения Христова Спас на крови). This was on my list to see because I did a 3D puzzle of this church with a friend a while ago. This church is dedicated to the memory of Emperor Alexander II, who was fatally wounded in 1881. Around the outside of the church are a number of stones with various crests on them. My language partner told me that these crests represent all the cities that donated money to help build the church. My city, Vladimir, also has a crest on the church, but I wasn't able to find it. The inside of the church is almost all mosaic work and stunning!
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| Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood / Храм Воскресения Христова Спас на крови |
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| Inside of the church / Внутри храма |
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| Canopy over the place where Alexander II was mortally wounded / Сень над местом смертельного ранения императора Александра II |
The other main thing I wanted to do in St. Petersburg was go to Dom Knigi (Дом книги) one of the main bookstores in the city. Anyone who knows me knows that I have a problem when it comes to books and always end up buying too many books. And St. Petersburg just fed my addiction. This has got to be one of the only cities that has 24 hour bookstores! I left Dom Knigi with a whole bag of new books and a lighter wallet.
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| Dom Knigi (Bookstore) / Дом Книги |
There are a lot of famous landmarks and museums that I did not get to, but it was great to get a feel for St. Petersburg. On the negative side, Petersburg is very western, which makes it great for tourists, but not for those of us studying Russian. But even so, nothing could dampen the feeling that literature and culture is in the air there. As a literature addict, St. Petersburg was a book-lover's dream and I hope I get to go back again!
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| On the main staircase of the Winter Palace / На главной лестнице зимного дворца |
That was a fun puzzle! Glad you got to see the church in person.
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