St. Petersburg Sights
The majority of people come to St. Petersburg to see with their own eyes the world-famous sights and to get the taste of its unique atmosphere. The city’s incredible presence is the legacy of its founder, Tsar Peter the Great. The robust Russian emperor, enchanted by the appearances of historic cities such as Amsterdam, enlisted Europe’s most famed architects to help him create his new capital. The result was startling. A modern metropolis, in a flurry of will, had sprung out of the marshy Finish Bay of the Baltic Sea.
This seeming mirage was to become the center of an empire, the playground of decadent royal courts, and ultimately the cradle of revolution. It was here amidst clopping of horse-drawn carriages and spindly shadows of street lanterns that Russia’s greatest minds made history. Pushkin, Dostoevsky, and Gogol scribed mesmerizing tales; Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky and Shostakovich composed exhilarating symphonies; Mendeleev and Pavlov advanced modern science; Lenin and Trotsky changed the course of the world political order. Inseparable from the history are the buildings ans sites which provided the backdrop and inspiration: the imperial palaces outside St. Petersburg, where Catherine the Great cultivated high society; the Mariinsky Theater, where Nijinsky dazzled the public; Palace Square, trodden over by Bolsheviks en route to storm the tsar’s residence, Winter palace; and the Peter and Paul Fortress, where Peter the Great conceived this miraculous “window on the West”.
When Peter the Great founded this city he took the best of what he saw in Europe and made it uniquely Russian. It is not by chance that St. Petersburg is called “Venice of the North”. Be prepared for an enchanting river boat tour. One of the best ways to see St. Petersburg is from the water, and you can enjoy a boat ride along picturesque canals and rivers. Form the water you will see the cities most beautiful monuments such as the Peter and Paul fortress, the Admiralty, St. Isaac’s Cathedral, the hermitage and the Church of the Savior on the Spilled Blood.
Take a hydrofoil, which will take you to the royal retreat of Russian Emperors, Peterhof. Often called Russian Versaille, Peterhof has more than three hundred fountains and cascades. The most splendid group of them being called the Great Cascade, centered on the famous sculpture of Samson Tearing the Jaws of the Lion, an allegory of Russia’s victory over Sweden.
|
Nordic Travel is the official accommodation agent for St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2010.
