Saint Petersburg __________________________________ Russia Founded by Tsar Peter the Great on May 27, 1703, it was capital of the Russian Empire for more than two hundred years. Ceased being the capital in 1918 after the Russian Revolution of 1917. The city's other names were: Petrograd (1914–1924) and Leningrad (1924–1991)

Saint Petersburg Dvortsovaya Square – Alexander’s Column and General Staff building from the Hermitage

the old Winter Palace – official residence of the Tsars. Saint Petersburg Hermitage Museum from Neva River. Founded in 1764; inaugurated in 1852, it occupies five contiguous palaces, the largest being the old Winter Palace – official residence of the Tsars.

Saint Petersburg Hermitage Museum – Winter Palace – side at Dvortsovaya Square. Designed by Bartolomeo Rastrelli, in Rococo-style green-and-white, it has 1,057 halls and rooms; 1,786 doors and 1,945 windows.

Saint Petersburg Catherine the Great was its first imperial occupant. Its collection exceeds three million art pieces; one of its great first acquisitions was Da Vinci’s The Madonna and Child in 1865.

Saint Petersburg The Hermitage – inside – a balcony

Saint Petersburg The Hermitage – architecture and chandelier’s lights

Saint Petersburg The Hermitage – old royal library

Saint Petersburg The Hermitage - Raphael Loggia’s gallery

Hermitage Museum – the awakening of a new Great Russian artist? Saint Petersburg Hermitage Museum – the awakening of a new Great Russian artist? Who knows…

Saint Petersburg Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan (1810-1811) is the mother cathedral of the metropolis of St. Petersburg

Saint Petersburg Peterhof, the Summer palace, in fact a series of palaces and gardens, built between 1714 and 1725

Saint Petersburg Peterhof Palace - the Samson Fountain and Sea Channel overlooking the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea

Saint Petersburg Peterhof Palace – inner architecture and paintings

Saint Petersburg Peterhof Palace - a dining room

Saint Petersburg Peterhof Palace - a bedroom

Saint Petersburg Resurrection of Christ Church (a.k.a. The Church of Our Savior on Spilled Blood) built between 1883 and 1907

Church of Resurrection of Christ Saint Petersburg Church of Resurrection of Christ (a.k.a. The Church of Our Savior on Spilled Blood) - details

Saint Petersburg The Catherine Palace was the Rococo summer residence of the Russian tsars, located in the district of Tsarskove Selo (Pushkin).

Saint Petersburg Pushkin Catherine Palace – architecture’s details

Saint Petersburg Pushkin Catherine Palace – banquet room

Statue of Alexander Pushkin (1900), Saint Petersburg Statue of Alexander Pushkin (1900), poet which wide knowledge of Russian Idiom and richness in its use influenced authors like Gogol, Liermontov e Turgueiniev.

Saint Petersburg Mikhailovsky Palace, constructed in 1819-1825, houses the State Russian Museum since 1895.

Saint Petersburg Saint Isaac's Cathedral

Saint Petersburg Saint Isaac’s Cathedral – dome with a lavish decoration

Tsar Nicholas II and the Romanov family - 1911 Saint Petersburg Tsar Nicholas II and the Romanov family - 1911 After the 1917 Revolution Petrograd (St. Petersburg), Capital of the Empire, lost its title to Moscow, Capital of Russia.

Saint Petersburg The Aurora Cruiser launched in 1900, achievement of Imperial shipyards, became a symbol of the October Revolution. Nowadays is a museum.

Summer night with Church Our Savior on Spilled Blood in background... Saint Petersburg Summer night with Church Our Savior on Spilled Blood in background...

Saint Petersburg The same place... in a winter day...

Saint Petersburg But Springtime’s colors always comes in St. Petersburg too...

Metro - Avtovo subway station Saint Petersburg Metro - Avtovo subway station

(Kirov State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet from 1935 to 1992) Saint Petersburg Mariinsky Theatre - is a historic theatre of opera and ballet, opened in 1860. (Kirov State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet from 1935 to 1992)

Saint Petersburg Mariinsky Theatre – Royal box

Saint Petersburg Swan Lake – performance of Tchaikovsky’s famous ballet at the Imperial Theatre on the Fontanka.

as beginning of the road to Novgorod and Moscow Saint Petersburg Nevsky Prospekt, or the Neva, is the main street; planned by Peter the Great as beginning of the road to Novgorod and Moscow

Saint Petersburg Nevsky Prospect - today the avenue runs from the Admiralty to the Moscow Railway Station

Saint Petersburg Grand Hotel Europe

Saint Petersburg Breakfast at the Grand Hotel Europe

Saint Petersburg Yusupov Palace, the most sumptuous non-imperial palace, was built in the 1760, and in 1830 the palace became the property of Duke N.B.Yusupov. Visiting Italy the eccentric Duke admired a white marble staircase: bought the entire palace just to have it transported to St. Petersburg... Today, this palace is a Museum.

Saint Petersburg Water Carrier monument - Museum and administrative complex Vodokanal

“Sphynx” by the sculptor Pavel Sokolov - 19th-century Saint Petersburg Egyptian Bridge - carries Lermontov Avenue over the Fontanka River. “Sphynx” by the sculptor Pavel Sokolov - 19th-century

Neva river and the Twelve Collegiums of Saint Petersburg University

Saint Petersburg Bank Bridge - across the Griboyedov Canal – 19th-century Mythological “Griffins” by the sculptor Pavel Sokolov

Dom Knigi “House of books” is located in the Art Nouveau style Saint Petersburg Dom Knigi “House of books” is located in the Art Nouveau style once Singer Building

Saint Petersburg door detail Dom Knigi “House of books” inside

Saint Petersburg Fyodor Dostoevsky , writer whose works, including Portrait by Vassili Perov Fyodor Dostoevsky , writer whose works, including ‘Crime and Punishment’ and ‘The Brothers Karamazov” have had a profound and lasting effect on intellectual thought and world literature.

Dostoevsky Memorial Museum - where he wrote “Crime and Punishment” Saint Petersburg Dostoevsky Memorial Museum - where he wrote “Crime and Punishment”

“Only beauty will save the World!” Saint Petersburg And from the enchanting St. Petersburg Dostoievsky prophesied: “Only beauty will save the World!”

Saint Petersburg So long, St. Petersburg!