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St. Petersburg,
Russia
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UNESCO lists St. Petersburg as a World Heritage Site
with 36 architectural complexes and 4000 individual
monuments. Despite some wartime destruction and Soviet
construction, St. Petersburg (called Leningrad from 1924
to 1991) has retained a unique reserve of architectural
styles of the past three centuries. |
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The town of Peterhof lies on the southern shore of the
Gulf of Finland and can be reached by hydrofoil from St.
Petersburg.
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Peterhof's city centre and palace complex are
UNESCO World Heritage sites, sometimes called the
"Russian Versailles." The Grand Peterhof Palace and the Grand
Cascade are the centerpiece. |
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The Grand Palace overlooks an immense park which houses
additional pavilions and more than 120 fountains. |
The gardens have been designed in the style of French formal
gardens of the 1700s.
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The complex is remarkable for its fountains which have no pumps
but are entirely gravity fed. |
The Chess Mountain fountain simulates a chess board with its
chute of black and white tiles.
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The Sea Channel is the most immense waterworks of the Baroque
period. Its water activates rotating fountains. |
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The rococo style Catherine's Palace, located in Tsarskoya Selo,
was the summer residence of the Russian Tsars. |
The interior is elaborately decorated with inlaid floors, silk
brocade wallpaper, marble chimneys and gold gilded adornments.
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The Mariinsky Theatre has hosted operas, musicals and ballet
performances since 1859. |
The St. Petersburg Metro system was opened in 1955. It has five
lines and 67 stations, each of which is unique,
elaborately decorated with marble, bronze, and tile mosaics.
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The Monument to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad on Victory
Square commemorates the efforts of the soldiers on the Leningrad
front to repel the Nazis during the 900 day siege. |
In addition to viewing the ornate rooms and theatre space at the Polovtseva
Mansion, there are also reinactments of events from
Soviet history.
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The economy has grown rapidly since Soviet times and been
influenced by globalization.
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As our ship departed St. Petersburg, we passed active port
communities and many sea-going vessels including oil tankers and
submarines. |
