In 1703, Tsar Peter The Great founded St. Petersburg in the swampy delta mouth of the River Newa and today it is a living monument to the lives and times of Russia’s Imperial Tsars

The Winter Palace contains Russia’s largest museum, the Eremitage, which houses more than two and a half million exhibits. Since Peter the Great, Russian rulers purchased many major works of art, but it was Catherine The Great who acquired complete collections from the auction houses of Europe.

The Admiralty, with its needle-shaped, gold-plated tower, is one of the city’s most famous landmarks, its grand architecture depicting the emergence of Russia as a naval power and the marvellous Isaaks Cathedral has the third largest dome in the world. Twenty four thousand tree stumps were used for its foundations and it can accommodate a congregation of 14,000.

At the widest part of the Newa is the regal and dominant, Peter And Paul Fortress that Peter The First had built to protect his capital city from Sweden and to guard Russia’s passage to the East Sea. The focal point of the fortress is the Peter And Paul Cathedral that served as the burial place of the Tsars and contains the marble coffin of Peter the Great.

Russian Baroque and Russian Classicism were established in St. Petersburg – city of monumental events, outstanding architecture and an Imperial metropolis on the grand scale.