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C I T I E S & B E YO N D
st.
petersburg
RUSSIA
When Peter the Great, one of the most
powerful rulers in Russian history, built a
city, it was never going to be ordinary. Sure
enough, St. Petersburg, which he founded in
1703 and which remained Russia’s imperial
capital until 1918, is a metropolis built on
the grandest scale. Noble squares and wide
thoroughfares, best enjoyed by taking a
stroll along the stately Neva River, provide a
vast stage for hundreds of magnificent state
buildings, churches, and the vast neoclassi-
cal facades of countless palaces.
DON’T MISS
The Hermitage, one of the world’s greatest museums
with some three million artifacts, occupies six his-
torical buildings on the beautiful waterside Palace
Embankment, including the former Winter Palace of
the Romanov emperors.
The Church of the Savior of Spilled Blood, dedicated
to the memory of Tsar Alexander II