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Regional Representative
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Saint-Petersburg
SIGHTSEEING
St. Petersburg is a city with more than 300-year history. Admittedly a
few centuries is not a considerable age for a city, but during its three
hundred years of prompt growth and development, marking turn-ups of the
itinerary and of choosing its own way, St. Petersburg has been forming as
the "eternal city", whose beauty and internal harmony have no equal. St. Petersburg is reasonably called "the city of
muses" for a remarkable feature — the ability to develop imagination and
creativity. Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Mussorgsky, Shostakovich, Shaliapin, Nizinsky
— the names and destinies of these people eternally belong here. According to
the UNESCO evaluation, St. Petersburg is included in the list of the world's most attractive tourist destinations.
Located here are unique monuments of Russian and world culture, architectural
ensembles of which the most beautiful cities of the world could envy.
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Fine Arts Square is a testimony to the effectiveness of the
originally planning that went into the city. The square's plan was drawn up by
the Italian architect Carlo Rossi, who spent most of his life working in Russia
and is considered by many to be a native Russian architect. He was responsible
for all the most prominent buildings built on the
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square, including the
Mikhailovsky Palace, which today houses the Russian Museum. According to the
"Classical" style of the day, all the buildings lining the square are
similar in design and form a harmonious architectural ensemble. Other architects
and landlords then had to follow his design.
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Nevskiy Prospect is the main
avenue of Saint-Petersburg. It is the centre of business and trade activities and
cultural life of the city, a prime place for shopping, entertainment and
nightlife. A walk down Nevskiy is a walk into the heart of the new Russia:
colorful shops, restaurants, bars, cinemas, art galleries, largest banks.
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The Spit of Basil Island. The cape of Basil Island (Vasilievsky Island) is called a Spit (Strelka) (Tongue of Land)
because it sticks out into the Neva River in the shape of a
spit and divides it into two estuaries. The spot ranks as one of the most
prominent architectural sights in St. Petersburg. As in the 18-19th century
there was the largest river and seaport, vessels from all over the world used
to tie up here. Each building on this very place was constructed for the needs
of the port. Now that place can be called "The museum on the open air".
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The Decembrists' Square was given its
present name in 1925 in honor of the first feeble attempt at a Russian
revolution - the Decembrists' Uprising of 14 December 1825. Inspired by radical
ideas from France during the Napoleonic campaigns, young officers tried to depose the new Tsar
Nicholas I by drawing up troops in the square. But they allowed their opponents
to argue
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with them and were finally dispersed with grapeshot. Most of the
leaders ended up on the gallows or in Siberia.
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St-Isaac Square, St-Isaac Cathedral – The magnificent cathedral, which is a work of life of famous French
architect August Montferrand. Its construction took 40 years! Also you will see
the building of the City Council and a monument to the Russian emperor of 19th
century – Nicolas the 1st, which is a very rare equestrian statue,
standing on only two points of support.
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Palace Square – One of the most
beautiful architectural ensembles of Saint-Petersburg.
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The State
Hermitage is one of the oldest and largest museums in the
world. The museum is located in 5 historical buildings of St.Petersburg,
including the Winter Palace - the former
residence of Russian tsars. The buildings of the museum, by themselves, are
architectural chef d'oeuvres. The collections of The Hermitage number over 3
million
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items from prehistoric to modern times. Magnificent works of art
embracing prehistoric culture, Egyptian art, the art of Antiquity, and great
collections of Western-European paintings and sculptures are displayed in 400
halls of the museum.
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Church of the
Resurrection (The Church of our Savior on the Spilled Blood).
This marvelous
Russian-style multicolored, onion-domed church was built on the spot where
Emperor Alexander II was assassinated in March 1, 1881. On this site a terrorist Grinevitsky, a
member of the revolutionary organization People's Will, mortally wounded Tsar,
by tossing a bomb at at his royal carriage.
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Peter and Paul fortress – the first structure of the city, from here
Peter the Great started the construction of our city. The highest cathedral of the
city is Peter and Paul cathedral, and in the same time it is a burial place for
all Russian emperors.
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Cruiser ship Aurora is famous in the
entire world because of the blank shot which was made from a fore gun and it
was a signal to start revolution.
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Smolny Convent – marvelous 18th century architectural ensemble, created by the Italian architect Rasstrelli,
one of the best examples of Russian baroque style.
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You can visit one of the theatres of our city, which
are known all over the world.
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The Mariinsky
Theater (formerly the Kirov Academic Opera and Ballet Theater) is one of the
biggest and oldest music theaters in Russia that is famous all over the world. The theater was named after the wife of
Alexander II. Operas and ballets written by the Great Russian composers were
put on the stage of the theater.
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Mussorgsky opera
and ballet theatre. The theatre is famous by being the first to stage the works
of modern composers. The building that houses the theater is called
Mikhailovsky to honor the brother of Emperor Nicolas I. It was built in 1831-33
to the design of the architect A. Brullov.
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