St. Petersburg is a city
of haunting magnificence, an imperial capital that seems to have been
built as a monument to its own passing. Less than three centuries have
passed since Peter the Great began building his grand city on the Gulf of
Finland, but it is difficult to visit its vast, crystalline squares and
palaces without feeling the enormity of the gulf that separates that time
from our own. All of which, of course, makes St. Petersburg more evocative
of Russia's past than any place except perhaps the Moscow Kremlin. This
impression is only deepened by a more familiar acquaintance. The enigmatic
homeliness of Peter's cottage and the city's placid canals may contrast
with the brooding grandeur of the Winter Palace, but they share with it a
graceful stillness that is difficult to forget.
Exploring St. Petersburg
Historical Sites | The
Hermitage & The Russian Museum
The Theatres of St. Petersburg | Cathedrals
| Accommodations
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