St. Petersburg

St. Petersburg
"The Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments" is the full name for this entry. The shape of the city was developed by Peter the Great during the 18th century. In communist times, it was officially renamed in Leningrad.

Among the "related group of monuments" mentioned above is the Peter and Paul Fortress. This was the first project taken up by Czar Peter, and he moulded it after architecture he had seen in the Netherlands.

The magnificent Hermitage (Winter Palace) is also in St. Petersburg. It's one of the best museums in the world, and the collection has both volume and quality.

Year Decision Comments
1990 Inscribed Reasons for inscription



Visit July 1990

St. Petersburg appeared to have more in common with its Scandinavian neighbours than Moscow. They were proud of that too: during my 2 week trip the Russian guide kept telling us "Wait til we get to St. Petersburg, its the best of Russia's big cities".

Actually, when we finally got there after Moscow and Kiew I didn't totally agree. I found it to be cold (in the psychological sense of the word). It also definitely is a harbour city, so you must like water and watching ships (I don't).

Besides the stunning Hermitage I visited the house where Pushkin used to live. It was a solemn expedition: the man was an icon in Russia.

Reviews

Emilia Bautista King (U.S.A.):
I agree that The Hermitage is one of the best museums in the world. If you are visiting St. Petersburg, put aside one day to visit it. On my last day in the city (then Leningrad), which was also my last day in the country, I got lost with 2 friends from my group. We were in a panic, as the rest of our group was waiting for us at our hotel, preparing to leave for the airport. I will never forget that a young Russian man helped us get back on the right bus back to our hotel. We were so grateful that we tried to offer him some money but he refused and was rather amused by how appreciative we were. We barely made it back to the hotel on time!
Date posted: February 2006
Ingemar Eriksson (Sweden):
The town centre is a vison fulfilled by Tsar Peter. Sweden had to be cleared out from the north shore of Neva and then all rich people of Russia had to build a palace there in order to stay in the upper class. From nothing there, in the borderline between Russia and Sweden 1703, 100 years later it was a magnificent town, and continued to grow until 1917. Luckily, there is not much Soviet architecture present i centre. Not
The Neva is about 500 m wide and that sets the size of everything. I did not rent a cycle but that could be a good idea if you want to come out from the centre for a while.
Don´t miss the Heremitage, Peterhof, Peter-Paul fortress and the artillery museum.
The canal boats gives nice wievs but it seems to be hard to find someone giving service in other languages than Russian. The hard problem to find service in other language than Russian is a general problem.
If you are in to military history, try to get out to Kronstadt which now can be visited by foreigners.
Be there in the summer! The streets does not seem to have lights except in the very centre. It is dark in the winter but lovely in the summer. The white nights are really existing.
Date posted: January 2006
Gatis (Latvia):
I have been living for two years there. Physically it is cold, and true - in a way also psychologically. But I learned to love this city -its enormous classicism ensemble, comparatively low ornate houses located along wide streets and channels. Huge, unbelievably rich museums - if you are fed up by art - visit the Zoological museum or the incredibly rich and ornate geological museum at Gornij Institut. Still many people there posess the specific intelligence, enlightement of this city - but for the bypasser from the very different West this may be invisible. And these enlightened people unfortunately do not dominate the streets of this city...
 


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