Photo Collection: Saint Petersburg, Russia

Hello again! It’s Gabe here, and right now I’m busy watching the FIFA World Cup in Russia, so I figured I would share some pictures of Saint Petersburg, which is one of the Host Cities. As always, the pictures are courtesy of me!

NOTE: If you would like to see more of St. Petersburg, check out our article from the Trip Around the Baltic series here.

This above grouping of photos were all taken aboard a short afternoon cruise on the Neva river, which flows right through St. Petersburg. The top left photo is the outside of the Winter Palace which was built for the Russian tsars in the mid 1700s. The Winter Palace today now houses the Hermitage museum, which is one of the largest and most famous art museums in the world. Just to the right of that photo is a photo of the Russian battleship Aurora, which was completed in 1900, and was used in the Russo-Japanese War, the October Revolution mutiny, and World War II. Today, the ship sits in St. Petersburg and functions as a museum to showcase the storied history of the ship. The bottom photo shows St. Peter and Paul fortress in St. Petersburg.

This next grouping of photos is from one of the most famous landmarks in St. Petersburg, which is the Church of our Savior on Spilled Blood. This church was built on what is the supposed site of Alexander I's assasination in 1881. Construction of the church began in 1883, and was completed in 1907 during the rule of Tsar Nicholas II. The outside of the church is shown in the photo on the top right, with the other two photos being the lavish interior of the church. The chuch was built in the sort of onion-domed style that many in the west associate with Russia, St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow is another such example.

This grouping of photos is a variety of sights from around St. Petersburg. The photo on the top left is a monument to Nicholas I, which was completed in 1859. At the time of the monument's completion it was a technical wonder, being the first equestrian statue in Europe with only two support points (the rear hooves of the horse). The photo just to the right of that comes from the lavish interior of the Hermitage museum, which features marble colums, and gold pleated frame work around the ceiling, windows, and features of the walls. Just below that is a photo of St. Nicholas' Naval Cathedral, wich has a very opulent exterior featuring towering columns, a nice blue color, and gold domes.

As always, comment below if you have been to St. Petersburg, recognize any of the sights, or if you now realize that a trip to St. Petersburg is now on your list!