Saint Petersburg Sights and Attractions

Few cities can offer so many stunning attractions and unforgettable sights as Saint Petersburg, the former capital of Russia. From the vibrant colours of spring, through the sunny summer days and endless twilights of the famous White Nights, the brilliant golden sun of autumn, and into the crisp and brittle brightness of a St. Petersburg winter, the City casts its own unique spell over visitors.

Among the many poetical names applied to St.Petersburg the most common are "Northern Venice" and "Northern Palmyra". It has been called "Venice" because the latter city encompasses a number of islands in the Venetial Lagoon, Adriatic Sea; St.Petersburg is likewise divided into numerous islands by the Neva, Fontanka and other rivers and canals. It has been called "Palmyra" because on its discovery this ancient capital became world famous for the perfection of its classical proportions; similarly, Petersburg presents a perfect combination of logical spacial composition and linear street layout with the wide openings of squares, tall verticals of its towers and belfries, figured railings, arch-shaped bridges and granite embankments, all elements joined together to form a single work of art.

The names of its places and people are almost a roll call of Russian history: the Winter Palace, the tzars, Dostoyevsky, the Peter and Paul Fortress, Tchaikovsky, Lenin, cruiser "Aurora" etc.