St. Petersburg is not without reason referred to by local residents as the gorod muzei or "city museum." The former capital of a vast and glorious empire which reached from the Barents Sea to the Silk Road and Central Europe to the Pacific Ocean, St. Petersburg is brimming with history, and fortunately for us this history is well preserved in the city's more than 50 museums. Whether you want to immerse yourself in the world-renowned Hermitage Museum's more than 1000 rooms which collectively house one of the world's greatest collections of Western European Art or visit the widely acclaimed Russian Ethnographic Museum's truly rich exhibit of the life and culture of the over 100 peoples of Russia, you are sure to be impressed and wanting to come back for more.

Academy of Fine Arts Museum

Many prominent Russian artists graduated from the Russian Academy of Fine Arts and the Repin Institute. The museum's exhibitions, displayed in the former building of the Academy, feature graduation and study projects completed by students of the Academy, a number of works by the Academy's teaching staff and various paintings related to the history of the Academy. Although this is hardly the most impressive art collection in town, you will still find some excellent pieces and gain an interesting insight into St. Petersburg's artistic education of the past. The museum also features temporary exhibitions of works by prominent local artists in the Titian Hall and the annual art exhibition of the Academy, which is now based in Moscow.

After entering the building through the main entrance, go upstairs and buy your entrance ticket from the small booth. Address:   Universitetskaya Naberezhnaya 17
Metro: Gostiny Dvor, then trolleybus 10 towards the beginning of Nevsky Prospekt
Open: Wednesday to Sunday, 11am to 7pm
Closed: Monday and Tuesday
Telephone: +7 (812) 213-6496; +7 (812) 213-3578

The Applied Art Museum

This is one of St. Petersburg's best-kept secrets! Located only a block away from the Mikhailovsky Castle and the Field of Mars, the Applied Art Museum is little known and rarely included in tourist itineraries. Yet the museum, which was established to provide education and stimuli to future generations of Russian artists and designers, is a real treasure for anyone interested in the fine arts and antiques. Its collection of over 30 thousand exhibits includes various decorative arts and crafts, including furniture, porcelain, chandeliers, tiled stoves, artistic metalwork, bass relieves and carvings.

The museum was established in 1878 as a part of the Baron Schtieglitz School of Technical Drawing, which in the 20th century evolved into the Artistic Industrial Academy.

The museum's building is a masterpiece in its own right and was built in eclectic style by the architect Maximilian Mesmacher, specifically to house the museum's collection. The building's huge Grand Hall, incorporating an impressive glass roof, recently underwent an extensive program of restoration. Some of the museum's elegant smaller halls, including the Antique, Medieval and Ancient Russian rooms are definitely worth a look even if you don't plan on staying to browse through the museum's main collections.

Finding the museum tucked away on the premises of the Academy can be quite a challenge! Visitors need to take the main entrance into the Academy, located at Solyanoy Pereulok 13, then go up the grand staircase, turn right, walk along the corridor and take the first narrow staircase on your left down to the next floor. The museum's entrance is on the lower landing of the staircase and the ticket counter is just on the left as you walk in. As with most Russian museums, all visitors are asked to leave coats and larger bags in the cloakroom. Don't be surprised to see dozens of students throughout the museum and the Academy, busy sketching the museum's exhibits as well as the magnificent building in which they are housed. Location:   Solyanoy Pereulok 13-15
Metro: Chernyshevskaya
Telephone: +7 (812) 273-3258
Open: Daily, 11am to 5pm

St Isaac's Cathedral

St. Isaac's Cathedral was originally the city's main church and the largest cathedral in Russia. It was built between 1818 and 1858, by the French-born architect Auguste Montferrand, to be one of the most impressive landmarks of the Russian Imperial capital. One hundred and eighty years later the gilded dome of St. Isaac's still dominates the skyline of St. Petersburg. Although the cathedral is considerably smaller than the newly rebuilt Church of Christ the Savior in Moscow, it boasts much more impressive fades and interiors.

The cathedral's facades are decorated with sculptures and massive granite columns (made of single pieces of red granite), while the interior is adorned with incredibly detailed mosaic icons, paintings and columns made of malachite and lapis lazuli. A large, brightly colored stained glass window of the "Resurrected Christ" takes pride of place inside the main altar. The church, designed to accommodate 14,000 standing worshipers, was closed in the early 1930s and reopened as a museum. Today, church services are held here only on major ecclesiastical occasions.

Foreign visitors should buy entrance tickets just inside the right-hand door in the southern facade (not at the street-level ticket booth). We also recommend that you climb the 300 steps up to the cathedral's colonnade, and enjoy the magnificent views over the city. Address:   Isaakievskaya Ploschad 1
Metro: Nevsky Prospekt/Gostiny Dvor
Telephone: +7 (812) 315-9732
The Cathedral Open: Thursday to Tuesday, 11am to 7pm, last admission is at 6pm
The Colonnade observation point is open: Thursday to Tuesday, 11am to 6pm, last admission is at 5pm
Closed: Wednesdays

N.B.! No photography or video-filming is allowed in the Cathedral or at the Colonnade.