Visit Nyevski Prospect St. Petersburg Russia

The Nyevski prospect crosses the city between the Alexander Nyevski monastery and the Admiralty. The Nyevski is the most well known avenue and shopping street to the city. Throughout the years, many songs and poems were written about it. Keeping up with the times, we can find a Western style shopping mall here as well, where residence to Saint Petersburg hungry for such things in the communist era can choose among the most fashionable boutiques. Between shops, fast food restaurants and café are for refreshments but of course, at much greater expense than local eateries.

Most foreigners are surprised if they can see so many luxurious cars in the street of Saint Petersburg and that local people live much better than assumed. And the years when goods were not so readily available, there were long cues in front of the shops. Today, the crowd is smaller since shopping opportunities have expanded.

Most people still do their shopping in the merchant court yard opposite which is a merchant in market place from 1761. It was designed by the French man Vallin de la Mothe.

Merchants of various goods offer their products and strictly separated lines as Turkish and heir of merchants still do today. Approaching in the winter palace, we can admire the castles of former aristocrats and rocky merchants. For example, the [Foreign Language] palace which was turned into decorative house or the academy of sciences designed by--.

The Palace Square, a masterpiece of usage or space is living proof of the genius of the architect Carlo Rossi. In the middle of the huge semi-circular façades of the building at the general staff headquarters, stands a monumental triumphal arch. On its top at the height of 28 meters, stands the statue of the goddess of victory. The triumphal arch is directly opposite the façade of the Winter Palace. A 15-meter high granite column rises at its axel which was erected in memory of the Russian victory over the troops of Napoleon. The 600 ton block is held only by its own weight. It’s not even tipped from the volume of hammering rock music or concerts held here recently.

The Winter Palace made famous by the October revolution, was built by Bartolomeo Rastrelli to the order of Elizabeth of Russia in Baroque style. As the emperor dismissed him, his work was finished by the De la Marc and Renaldi. The palace stretches on three and a half hectares. Its 1,507 rooms in which Catherine the Great and her court home once lived is now home to the Hermitage Museum. This is one of the biggest fine art collections of the world. In the mean time, the little Hermitage, the old Hermitage and the new Hermitage belonged to the building. Nevertheless, not all significant artworks can be shown to the guests. In fact, Hermitage is a French word that means hermitage and it’s an 18th century fashionable architectural expression, it meant a place where one could find shelter to deliberate alone.

This luminous is impossible to find nowadays in the hermitage. Visitors even have to book their tickets by phone or on the internet in advanced to avoid long cuing. The half completed palace was damaged by fire and while the outside is redecorated according to the original designs, inside it became even more magnificent. The redecoration process was led by the best architects who employed 3,000 people at the same time. The marble colonnaded the main staircase link by arches to which they gilded stairway, the hall ornamented with mirrors and statues depicting the ancient --, the storing baroque style, semi precious stones. Rooms covered with colorful Uralian marble and decorated with carvings and wall paper, laced with gold was completed in 15 months.

Compared to other stair room museums where art works hang on bare white walls here, the rooms, the walls and the ceilings are also works of art. Ornate fire places can be found on the rooms, the frescos are the works of famous artists and gold framed mirrors reflect the image of thousands of visitors.

The collection was created on the initiative of Catherine the great in the 1760’s. Today, apart from Russian art work it consists of 2,700,000 artworks. It means that if we spend only ten seconds on every object, it would take three and a half years to finish our visit. Of course it’s worth it to choose just a few paintings which interests us the most and view them with the aid of the catalogue or went in a walk in or booking a tour with the guide.

“Only the mice and I are able to admire this brilliant creations,” said Catherine the great, who collected the most exquisite creations of the world for 30 years. Her minion -- perused indefatigably the art treasure collections and options of Europe. Among the many masterpieces or paintings by Leonardo the Vinci and Titiano, sculptures by Michelangelo and pictures by El Greco, van Dyck, Murillo, Goya, Velazquez, Tintoretto, Veronese Rubens and Rembrandt.

In 1764, collector from Berlin managed to buy 225 pictures before Fredo – could do so. This collection consisted of 13 Rembrandt’s, 11 Rubens, two Rafaelo’s, and two Jovan’s. The Flemish painters are exhibited in a separate room in the Hermitage. These are the French and Italians. These trials range from the renaissance to impressionism up to cubism. During the revolution, the collection grew immensely as a result of requisitions and nationalization giving it a total of more ten times the size of the collection of the Louver.

The paintings are arranged according to period and style. Some foreign and Soviet Russian works are exhibited in the Russian museum. There’s a separate gallery of 300 portraits of soldiers raging war against Napoleon. In addition to the paintings, there’s a rich collection of objects from ancient cultures; the Orient, Egypt, Babylon, Assyria and classic antiquity.

A Greek culture is featured in five halls and Roman in eight. In addition to the culture of former Soviet satellite countries, there are also objects from China, India and Japan. The collections of drawings, etching and metals are also impressive. The gold of the [Foreign Language], the gold room and the dining room may only be viewed on previous notice and with a guide.

Victor – wrote the following in his guide book, “A few years ago, there was a TV program showing the army of cats serving in a cellar of the Hermitage. During the day, people deal specifically with them but at night, they’re released into the halls because these good Russian cats are the only ones who can rid the palace of its rats and mice.

It seems Catherine the great complaint was justified. The paintings of the impressionist Cezanne, Matisse, Monet, Degas, Gauguin, and Renoir are among the most popular and are the result of the work of two collectors, -- and Morisot. Picasso’s work fills two halls. Besides walkman, which can be rented, there are video guides in some of the halls. These built in computers provide audio and video information about single works and artists.

The Admiralty is located at the bank of the Neva in the Alexander garden. It’s the former site of the shipyard of Peter the great. Its gold peak signifies the geographical center of the city in the form is identical to the tower of the Saint Peter and Paul cathedral. The building visible today is built by André Zhakarov according to the designs of Alexander the second. The main façade of the -- palace is 407 meters long. In the park in front, still stands the oak tree which was planted personally by the Tsar.

Today, the building serves as a Naval College. We go on by boat to the Moika canal to the foot of the Anichkov Bridge from where we can see the equestrian statue of Nicolas the first. The square in front of the triangle with the -- prospect and the vast Nyevski prospect and the doom of Saint Isaac cathedral really stands out of the surroundings.