Museums
1. The Hermitage
A treasure trove of masterpieces, an architectural wonder, a symbol of the city’s stubborn resistance during WWII – the Hermitage is all this and more. This vast collection features works by Michelangelo, Picasso and Rubens.
2. Russian Museum
Containing a wide range of works and styles, from the jarring avant-gardism of Kazimir Malevich to the massive canvases of Karl Bryullov, this museum boasts one of the world’s best collections of Russian art (for further details see Russian Museum).
3. Kunstkammer
The Kunstkammer was the city’s first museum, built between 1718–34 to house Peter the Great’s collection of anatomical curiosities. The museum’s bizarre first exhibition included live dwarves, giants and two-headed animals. Peter was so eager to share his hobby with the world that he instructed the museum to offer free salo (pig fat) and vodka to boost attendance. Some of the original exhibits are still on display.
4. Stieglitz Museum
Taking its name from Baron Aleksandr Stieglitz, a wealthy industrialist who started an art collection to aid the education of local students in 1876, the museum contains exhaustive displays of glassware and ceramics. The stunning, medieval-style Terem Room is a highlight (for further details see Stieglitz Museum).
5. Pushkin House Museum
In Russia, Pushkin enjoys fame akin to that of Shakespeare in the UK. This museum contains many of the writer’s personal effects.
Nab. reki Moyki 12 • 571 3801 • Open 10:30am–5pm Wed–Mon; closed last Fri of month • Adm
6. Artillery Museum
Military enthusiasts will find a visit to this museum, housed in the outer fortifications of the Peter and Paul Fortress, particularly rewarding. Used at one time as an arsenal, the museum contains more than 600 exhibits, ranging from tanks and rocket launchers to an armoured car in which Lenin rode during the heady days of the 1917 Revolution (for further details see Artillery Museum).
7. Zoological Museum
The Zoological Museum has one of the world’s best collections of mammoths, including a 44,000-year-old specimen dug up in Siberia in 1902. Dating from 1826, the museum contains over 1.5 million specimens, including stuffed bears, wolves and giant crabs.
8. Dostoevsky House Museum
This evocative museum was the final home of novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky. By exhibiting the writer’s personal effects, the museum explores the daily life of this literary genius.Kuznechnyy perulok 5/2 • 571 4031 • Open 11am–6pm Tue–Sun • Adm
9. Nabokov Museum
This museum is housed in the Style-Moderne mansion where the world-famous writer Vladimir Nabokov grew up. After the 1917 Revolution, the Nabokov family’s property was confiscated. As a result, almost all the exhibits have come from friends and relatives of the family, who donated such items as the young Nabokov’s books and the family’s personal items.Bolshaya Morskaya 47 • 315 4713 • Open 11am–6pm Tue–Fri, noon–5pm Sat • Adm • http://www.nabokovmuseum.org/en/
10. Railway Museum
This museum boasts comprehensive displays on the history of the Russian railway system from its inauguration in 1813. Exhibits include a model of a formidable-looking armoured train used to transport Bolshevik revolutionaries in 1917 (for further details see Railway Museum).
