St. Petersburg - the Cultural Capital of Russia

St. Petersburg in my eyes is the most spectacular city on our planet. The Winter Palace, the Hermitage, Catherine Palace, and Peterhof in St. Petersburg define imperial affluence. If I were to see only one city in the entire world, it would be St. Petersburg. Venice of the North. With their magnificent museums and palaces, large and lush gardens, Paris, London, Rome, and Madrid have been the most popular destinations for discerning tourists. And then there are other great European cities like Venice, Milan, Lisbon, Barcelona, Berlin, Budapest, Prague, and Vienna, most with meticulously planned public spaces, some with delightful waterfronts and aesthetic bridges, and almost all with towering churches, spacious plazas, and famous statues and monuments that are architectural masterpieces. Major parts of these beautiful cities have grown organically over centuries. Now imagine a brand-new city planned and developed from scratch and combining some of the best features of the famous older European cities. That was the dream of Tsar Peter the Great. He wanted the best of European art and architecture in one place, his place. So 300 years ago, in the year 1703, he specially commissioned some of the greatest architects of Europe to build for him the city of his dreams. They did exactly what he had in mind and thus was born St. Petersburg. It is simply unmatched in its beauty. If you have been here before, you would want to come back again and again. St. Petersburg is the nation’s cultural capital, rich and diverse in its offerings. It has an astounding number of public facilities—221 museums, 2,000 libraries, more than 80 theaters, and 100 concert organizations. It is home to the Hermitage, one of the greatest art museums in the world, on par with the celebrated Louvre in Paris. Also located here is the world-famous Kirov Dance Company (now Mariinsky), the greatest center of music and ballet and historically, home of brilliant dancers like Rudolf Nureyev, Natalia Makarova, and Mikhail Baryshnikov who are admired throughout the world. Among the innumerable tourist attractions here, the biggest appeal is for the former imperial residences like Peterhof with its majestic fountain cascades and paradise-like parks, and Tsarskoe Selo which has the impeccable Catherine Palace of stunning baroque design.

There are no comments yet.

Please log in to write the first comment.