Top 7 tourist attractions in Sankt Petersburg

The Church of the Saviour in Blood ©Alexxx1979/Flick

The majestic image of the city of Sankt Petersburg is given by its various architectural details: long, straight boulevards, vast spaces, gardens and parks, decorative wrought iron fences, decorative monuments and sculptures.

The Neva River, with its many canals, bridges and piers of granite gives the city a unique, unmistakable note. Because of the many channels city is also known as “Venice of the North”.

The city has a magnificent, powerful atmosphere. The buildings, made to amaze and impress visitors give the impression that still dominate the city through their architecture and style.

Out of the hundreds of attractions full of history artistic treasures of the city we have chosen the top 7 tourist attractions in Sankt Petersburg worth visiting especially that you can make more concrete idea of ??what this gorgeous city has to offer.

Church of the Savior in Blood

One of the most famous tourist attractions in Sankt Petersburg is the Church of the Savior in Blood, also known as Church of Resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is a traditional Russian style monastery, built on the spot where Tsar Alexander II was assassinated in 1881. The interior is elaborately decorated with over 6.000m2
of mosaic.

The Church of the Saviour in Blood ©Alexxx1979/Flick

Peter and Paul Fortress

The Peter and Paul Fortress, which also was a political prison occupies a dominant position in the center of Sankt Petersburg. It is one of the top tourist attractions of the city, and a bridge was built over a portion of the fortress wall, giving visitors a broad view of the river to the south.

Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral

The Peter and Paul Cathedral, built between 1712-1732, is the symbol of the city for a long time. It houses the tomb of Peter the Great and other Russian emperors and is located in the Peter and Paul Fortress.

Peter and Paul Fortress with the Church ©Alexxx1979/Flick

Saint Isaac’s Cathedral

The Russian Orthodox Saint Isaac’s Cathedral was built in 1818 to the request of Tzar Alexander I and is a top tourist attraction in Sankt Petersburg. It is the third largest cathedral in the world.

The Hermitage

Undoubtedly, the most famous museum is the Hermitage. The museum has one of the richest collections of Western European art. Its vast collections were presented to the public for the first time in the Greek Revival style wing built by Leo von Klenze, (1838-1852), now called the New Hermitage wing.

Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera)

This museum is famous mainly because of its deformed fetuses collection in formalin from 300 years ago. The rest of the museum consists of ornaments of different cultures of the world.

Menshikov Palace

The Menshikov Palace was built in Petrine Baroque style for Peter the Great’s favorite and first governor of St Petersburg. Today is a branch of the Hermitage Museum with a collection of Russian art of the late 17th-early 18th century, being a famous tourist attraction.