With its white snowfalls and predilection towards orchestra and ballet, the city of Saint Petersburg is a majestic, ethereal beauty. It exudes the strength that winter-worn Russia is known for, but manages a delicate, ephemeral elegance thanks to its preservation of artistic and historic culture.
The city boasts over 200 museums, from the grand (the Hermitage Museum situated inside the Winter Palace) to the niche (multiple puppet museums). Celebration of art permeates the Saint Petersburg atmosphere, as the city is host to hundreds of yearly festivals, carnivals, and competitions dedicated to culture and performance.
Cathedrals, palaces, and fortresses adorn the landscape. History is etched into every single building in the city, as much of the Baroque and neoclassical architecture from the 18th and 19th centuries remain in tact.
The crowning jewel of Saint Petersburg, however, is ballet. The legendary Mariinsky Theatre blends the magnificent power of the orchestra and gentle refinement of ballet to create performances unlike any others found on earth. Nothing else captures the city's unyielding balance of strength and grace quite like the ballet.
Church of Our Savior on Spilled Blood
St. Isaac's Cathedral State Museum-Memorial
The Naval Cathedral of Saint Nicholas in Kronstadt
Great Palace (Peterhof)
State Hermitage Museum and Winter Palace
Catherine Palace and Park (Pushkin)
Tsarskoye Selo State Museum Preserve (Pushkin)
Palace Square (Dvortsovaya Ploshchad)
State Russian Museum
State Academical Mariinskiy Theatre
Mikhailovsky Opera and Ballet Theater
Grand Maket Russia Interactive Museum
Pavlovsk Palace and Park (Pavlovsk)
Peterhof State Museum Preserve, The Bath Block
Neva Embankments
Palace Bridge
Anichkov Bridge
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