Episode 14: The Art and Architecture of St Petersburg

Last Updated on February 22, 2023 by Hannah Henderson

Architecture from baroque to skyscrapers, art from icons to the 21st century

Art lovers flock to St Petersburg’s wonderful and extensive collections in the Hermitage and of course we will look at some of the highlights to be found there. But first, a nod to the glorious architectural styles to be found in the city, from the baroque palaces of 18th century St Petersburg, via the much more Russian-influenced Church on the Spilled Blood, to the designs favoured in the Stalinist era. Then, a visit to the Russian Museum, where thousands of exhibits tell the story of Russian art from the earliest icons to the twentieth century and lastly, some pointers for those wanting to see modern art Russian-style.

MORE INFORMATION COMING SOON

More information about St Petersburg coming soon.

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Links & Reading

Useful websites for tourists
St Petersburg City Tourist Information Bureau
St Petersburg.Com (Tourist Information)

2 guidebooks to St Petersburg
Eyewitness Travel Guide to St Petersburg
Lonely Planet Guide to St Petersburg

Travel Book
Among the Russians by Colin Thubron

History
Russian History, a Very Short Introduction by Geoffrey Hosking
The Romanovs by Simon Sebag Montefiore
Caught in the Revolution by Helen Rappaport

Biography
Peter the Great by Lindsey Hughes
Peter the Great by Derek Wilson
Catherine the Great by Simon Dixon
Catherine the Great by Robert K Massie
Rasputin by Frances Welch
Four Sisters by Helen Rappaport (the 4 daughters of Czar Nicholas II)
The Diary of Lena Mukhina (A diary of the Siege of Leningrad)

Art and Culture
A Short Life of Pushkin by Robert Chandler
Nijinsky by Lucy Moore
Rudolf Nuryev The Life by Julie Kavanagh
Anna of all the Russias The Life of Anna Akhmatova by Elaine Feinstein

Anthologies
St Petersburg A Traveller’s Companion by Laurence Kelly
City Pick St Petersburg edited by Heather Reyes
Literary St Petersburg by Elaine Blair

Novels set in St Petersburg
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Siege by Helen Dunmore
The Betrayal by Helen Dunmore
The Suitcase by Sergei Dovlatov