Four days exhaustive tour for intellectually curious in Saint Petersburg Russia

Four days exhaustive tour for intellectually curious in Saint Petersburg Russia

If you are tired of standard packaged holidays forced upon you by your regular run of the mill tour operator where you just driven around to make photostops, Please join me for my informative lecture tours, where you would be able to find out not only the facts, such as who, what, for how long or for how much and using how many kilos, but learn both iconography, namely what allegories are used in that particular object of art or architecture, along with iconology, meaning what values were its owners and creators trying to convey.I am a pedant recountuer, which means I can be both academic and entertaining, yet not overload you with unnecessary details. I offer walking tours around St.Petersburg and its environs, which are extremely detailed.

I have an extensive experience in guiding and culture studies, related to world and art history, but area, where I really excel is that of Russian history, you do not need to look any further I am your man if you are interested in it.

Itinerary
This is a typical itinerary for this product

Stop At: Nevsky Avenue, Nevsky pr., Sankt-Peterburg, Russia

You will see all the main ensemble surrounding thoroughfare which tied up with Neva river at the begining and the end of the avenue. It is the area of the city closely connected with the so called silver age of the city, the time of capitalistic development and thriving of art and culture during the end of 19th and beginning of 20th centuries along all the avangard, futurist and decadent movements, that appeared during the last days of Russian Empire. We start from the walk along Nevskii prospect, the oldest and most glamorous avenue in St.Petersburg, is compared to a spinal cord of the city and learn how this former supply road was gradually turning from a wild boar and wolves hunting ground into the most fashionable St.Petersburg avenue. See beautiful ensembles which consist of buildings belonging to every style, that were used by many of the chief architects of St.Petersburg during its 300 history. Observe how they developed from the first baroque palaces on the former outskirts of the city to classical ensembles of the Empire style capital, interspersed with eclectic, representing different historical trends and modern style buildings at the beginning of XX-th century. It was a street of "many faiths" where Russian Orthodox churches stand near Protestant, Catholic and Lutheran cathedrals. It was a street of commerce with its first shopping malls and headquarters of banks, credit and insurance organizations. Libraries, theaters, bookstores and concert halls made it a cultural capital of Russia.
Take a walk with me alongside Nevskii prospect-main avenue of St.Petersburg, which used to be called a "big perspective road" connecting the Admiralty shipyard with the rest of Russia. We gonna see the ensembles surrounding Nevskyi, built by high classical architect Rossi, such as Ostrovsky square with Catherine the Great monument in the middle, with all her trusted advisors surrounding pedestal under her feet, with the first drama theater at the background and street of perfect proportions behind it, where everything, including hight, width and length is in relationships to everything else, but consisting of just two buildings on each side, one of them being Royal academy of ballet, where all the famous ballerinas graduated from. Next ensemble, adjacent to Nevskyi, built by ubiquitous Rossi is an Art square with monument to Pushkin the most famous Russian poet, whose marriage to the foremost beauty in St.Petersburg lead to his death at the duel is one of the most dramatic pages in Russian history. We going to see Our Lady of Kazan cathedral, built by Russian architect as а Russian orthodox church, but in Roman style, because the tzar, who commissioned it, Paul I, wanted to become the next Pope himself. We will see art nouveau buildings of the turn of the 20th century, such as Eliseev food emporium, which started as a small market and grew into the whole complex with theater, concert hall and fashionable restaurants, beautifully decorated inside and outside. We will see Signer Sewing machines building, which were built as a headquarters of the company but not in American skype scraper style, because no building supposed to be higher, than Winter palace and that's why we have unique UNESCO protected by putting it on heritage list St.Petersburg skyline. We gonna see the Wavelberg italian palazzo style building built by Swedish banker with stones he hauled all the way from Sweden, but was criticised for it, because natural stones of grey colour might be good for Italy where blue skies and sunshine are prevalent most of the time, but not for St.Petersburg, where they are a rear occasion. We travel back in time to see where enormous 2000 thousand room Winter palace made of wood for Elizabeth, while the present version made of stone was still under construction, stood and how chance meeting with one of the Orlov's brothers, who were guards officers there, turned the fate of little known Grand Duchess who eventually became Catherine the Great. We see a Stroganoff mansion, built by the family, which owned half of Siberia, and had an open house dinners there, prepared by chef from whom this slowly stewed beef recipe come from. We'll see a little cafe, which has to do with death or misfortune of the best Russian poet, writer and composer. Learn this and much more by taking a leisurely stroll along Nevskyi prospect and surrounding squares.


Duration: 6 hours

Stop At: Peter and Paul Fortress, Petropavlovskaya Fortress, 3, St. Petersburg 197022 Russia

We will take a walk around historical parts of the city where it had its humble wooden beginning. We would be able to see the places that awe and things that educate.
We start from Peter and Paul fortress and surrounding area, where the nucleus of the city was situated starting from Peter the Great's cottage, built by soldiers in three days out of wooden logs and painted to look like small one storey Dutch house made of bricks, and now completely overshadowed by the huge monstrosity of Stalin's Empire style buildings, showing power and might of the Soviet State. Visit Kshessinskaya prima ballerina and lover of the last tzar Nicolas II mansion, which was taken over by Bolshevick's revolutionary committee, where from its balcony Lenin proclaimed his "All power to the Soviets" speech. Walk with me along the river Neva embankments, where every stone remembers the past. Enjoy a breathtaking view from its bridges and solid granite embankments that don't exist anywhere else in the world. You will be able to see the Admiralty, Palace, English, Peter's, University embankments and much more. A visit of Peter and Paul fortress is included or another museum of your choice, such as political history museum or Aurora cruiser's museum, with the gun, that signaled the beginning of Bolshevik revolution with a its blank shot across the bow. We can visit city history museum inside the fortress. As an extra bonus we would be able to visit miniature version of St.Petersburg with all the replicas of iconic buildings presented on scale.
Find out about the history of Peter's creation. Was he right when he willed into existence his "Window on the West", counting the cost of thousands of human lives in the process of his reforms? These reforms were intended to socialize the barbaric Russian population and train them in new European ways. Starting from Trinity square, under protection of the Peter and Paul Fortress, place of public executions and bacchanalian procession of Peter's "all drunken all jesting" unholy council of court dwarfs, the official center of the city moved first to Basil Island and Admiralty side after that. We proceed to places connected with more recent Russian history. We learn the story of love affair between the young girl, who just graduated from Imperial ballet academy and a future tzar of all Russias, when they met at the graduation ceremony and stayed lovers, before Nicolas became happily married to his wife. Though Matilda Kshessinskaya, who became prima ballerina and continued her affair with two of the Grand Dukes, living in a mansion, built for her by tzar's family and stuffed with jewelry made by Faberge, eventually lost everything, when Lenin, arriving from Switzerland, send by German government in a sealed train as plague bacillus to destroy the whole Russia, made his way on an armored car to her mansion to turn it into headquarters of military revolutionary committee of the Bolshevik party, organization that took power in October 1917. We'll see the Peter and Paul fortress maximum security political prison, where the brother of Vladimir Lenin along with other comrades and predecessors such as utopian socialist democratic writer Cherniyshevskyi, the one, who wrote the book while sitting there, which according to Lenin's own words, "plowed him up" were incarcerated. Many of those people who belonged to different socialist parties moved after revolution to more comfortable, though also sinister looking barebones constructivist building constructed in the 1930s just opposite the fortress and intended for the community of former political prisoners who were actively involved in revolutionary events, but were purged there by Stalin, who executed from 70 to 90 percent of its dwellers, trying to revise history and erase from it all other parties except Bolsheviks. And we'll visit Peter and Paul Cathedral with its bell tower, rising into the air to the height of 122 miters, which was higher than Ivan the Great tower in Moscow, and intended by Peter I as a statement that this territory belongs to Russia once and for all times, and under which, the first political prisoner was buried, Peter I own son, prince Alexei, whom Peter had tortured and killed in the prison for the political expediency sake, as he might have been a rallying point for the opposition, same as the last heir to the throne young boy Alexei, is buried on the other side of the church with his whole family, which was executed by Bolsheviks in Ekaterinburg along with doctor and servants, just because he might have been the rallying point for the opposition to communist's regime.


Duration: 6 hours

Stop At: Smolny Cathedral, Rastrelli Sq., 1, St. Petersburg 191124 Russia

We will be able to find out how the "men of steel and iron" influenced the course of Russian and even world's history through their force and fiat. We are going to see how the old history of Russia is intertwined with more recent one during 18-20th centuries. We look at the history of struggle for democracy in Russia in the beautiful surroundings of baroque and classical ensembles of the Smolny convent and institute, which was the headquarters of Bolshevik's revolution and Taurida palace, which was a seat of first Russian democratically elected parliament Duma and first Soviet of soldiers, sailors and workers deputies, that resided in its opposite wings, during the period of so called conflict of dual power, which latter was to be resolved only by violence on part of revolutionary sailors, ordered by Trotsky to march there from Kronshtadt. We learn about other events that started with plots to take power through murder and coup d'etat starting from the very foundation of the city to its Soviet past, those that shook the world and changed its history.

Walk with me around St.Petersburg's area connected with the most infamous murderess from Russia's gory history. We learn about appearance of the first Soviets, russian word for council, grass root movement, which started during strikes, when workers sent their representatives on the eve of the first Russian revolution of 1905. We start from Smolnyi monastery iconic baroque building built by Rasstrelly during the reign of Elisabeth, who was Peter the Great's daughter born out of wedlock and who could not be an heiress to the throne, but only succeeded through a coup d'etat. We'll look at the grounds, where Peter moved his family from Moscow, including his only son prince Alexy whom he later tortured and killed because of his desire to move back to old Muscovite ways of running Russia . And we'll see how this conflict between Westernizer's and Slavanofill's about the best ways to rule Russia, whether through democratically elected representative body of parliament or by autocracy was running throughout the whole of Russia's history till the 20th century, until Stalin finalized his Ivan the Terrible style model of personalized power in order to run centralized Muscovite Russia, first by removing all socialist and liberal parties, who participated in real Russian revolution, which is called second February's bourgeois revolution and turning Russia into a one ruling party country and then into a one man ruling party through arranging a murder of popular communist leader and his best friend Sergei Kirov in Smolny institute. We visit Starov's Taurida palace and garden, seat of first Russian democratically elected parliament, which was built as a farewell present for prince Potemkin, a famous statesman and one of the favorites of Catherine the Great, who also came to power through coup d'etat, deposing and killing her husband. We see the whole ensemble and ground estate she commissioned and which is the best example of combination of classical architecture and English "Capability Brown" gardening style, which is possible only in St.Petersburg's flat expanses. And we learn how Lenin, beating all odds, through his sheer determination to start the world revolution, coming from Germany in a sealed train and facing not only opposition within the party and his comrades, revising the whole Marxists theory in the process but also persecution, from provisional government, when he was forced to leave the country managed to come back to Smolny headquarters of the Soviets in disguise to stage his own coup d'etat, which was latter proclaimed the third October revolution. We visit Finland railway station, with the sculpture of Lenin, making his speech on an armored car, proclaiming peace, bread and land to the peasants, who bore the main burden of WWI and promising factories to the workers, nothing of which actually came true and we'll see a steam train on which he arrived from Germany along with his wife and a lover to be greeted by his comrades, one of whom was Stalin, whose bar relief we would be able to see at ploshad Vosstanya (Insurrection square), named so because it was the place, where second February's bourgeois revolution started from spontaneous movement of angry housewives, who could not get bread in the shops waiting for it whole night.


Duration: 6 hours

Stop At: Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, Griboyedova Kanala Emb., 2B/A, St. Petersburg 191186 Russia

Enjoy a walk around shady alleys, lined with beautiful sculptures of the Summer and Michailovskyi garden, that was a part of the former. See the place where Peter himself planted trees and designed the layout of his future garden, which was to rival Versailles and became a playing ground for future emperors. Find out stories, connected with the House of Romanov dynasty, which ruled Russia till the XX-th century. We visit places surrounded by intrigue, mysteries, plots and even murder as it was too often during Russian history. Visit one of the most romantic places in St.Petersburg, St. Michael's castle, which was designed by Paul in order to protect himself from plotters, but still he could not escape his destiny and died a tragic death according to all the prophecies that predicted it. We visit Saviour on the Blood, a Russian revival-style cathedral, which was built on the same exact spot where Alexandr II (the Liberator) was blown up by a bomb, thrown by the hand of a terrorist.
We visit the marble palace, the only one faced with natural stone, red granite, glowing in a setting sun as an afterglow of their affair and which was a parting gift from Catherine the Great to one of her lovers-Grigory Orlov one of the 5 brothers, who brought her to power and later may be even initiated the killing of her deposed husband, because he wanted to marry her, but couldn't do it while Peter III was still alive. We visit St. Michael castle, construction of which cost more than Winter Palace and Hermitage, surrounded by moats and guns built by paranoid Paul I who had every reason to be afraid of assassination and moved in quickly before it was finished only to be killed there by plotters and former associates of his mother. We learn the story of Paul I, "Russian Hamlet" Catherin's sociopathic son, who turned this way because, separated from his own mother at birth and living in constant fear under the shadow of his usurping throne mother, only could guess whether she gave an order to kill her husband and his father. We learn how Alexandr I, son of Paul, called "Russian sphinx" most controversial of Russian tzars, torn between his grandmother's grooming him for the throne with the help of most progressive liberal thinkers of that age at big court and his father military obsessed Prussian sergeant style goose step drilling in small court, became very religious at the end of his life and marched across whole Europe to liberate it from menace of Antichrist personified as Napoleon, but failed to carry out reforms that he so enthusiastically started in his own country at the outset of his reign. How he from liberal reformer turned into conservative religious thinker and protector of thrones and altars in Europe who according to a legend, that became popular after his death, didn't even die but became a hermit monk in Siberia. We learn about Alexandr II, son of Nicolas I , who gave freedom to serfs, living in worse conditions and the number of whom were far superior to slaves liberated by "annunciation of proclamation act", and who was caring project of future constitution in his pocket the day he was killed by terrorist's bomb. And how this assassination of Alexander II, changed the course of Russian history yet again from liberal reforms to slavophile ways, based on special bonding between the tzar and the people and not on democratic institutions. These pre-Petrine Moscovite ways adhered to by successor of killed tzar, Alexander III, the most typical Russian tzar, who could bent horseshoes with his bare hands and whose equestrian colossal representation we will see, found their embodiment in "The Saviour on Spilled Blood" built by him on exact spot of his father assassination inside the church, which became his memorial.


Duration: 6 hours

Stop At: Palace Square, St. Petersburg 191055 Russia

We are going to see the grand area of the city connected with golden age of St.Petersburg. By the first quarter of 19th century St. Petersburg became a city of truly imperial proportions especially within the complex of buildings, which developed around Winter palace and Admiralty. We'll start our excursion by going through the set of three arches leading to Palace Square from Nevskyi, and the view from underneath of those Triumphal arches which were supposed to commemorate victory over Napoleon proves how successfully Rossi could create huge, but strictly controlled spatial perspectives the length of which comprises more than 1300 feet.
Palace square the beautiful example of high Empire classical style ensemble, created by Carlo Rossi, an architect who managed to tie up the whole area into a single whole, when you can not add or subtract anything to or from it without ruining the singularity of purpose, which was to glorify the seat of Russian autocracy- Winter Palace with all the surrounding ministries, such as military- General Staff and Horse-guards buildings, foreign affairs and ministry of finance-which are now part of Hermitage museum complex.
It is hardly surprising that present Admiralty building, which occupies the foot print of former fortified wharf, the word for which came from Dutch, along with other nautical terms, such as matros- ship's hand, skipper-helmsman, gavan-harbour, farvater-fairway and even flot-fleet was first mentioned in Peter's personal diary on November 5, 1704, shortly after city's foundation. Though rebuilt several times in 18th and 19th centuries, the original design was sketched by Peter himself, who had seen great number of wharves in Netherlands and understood them well. Built in Palladian grandiose Empire style and having the length of the facade extended for 400 meters by Adrian Zacharov, European trained architect, who managed it to look not so monotonous in spite of its length, using perfect proportions of protruding parts and central tower with soaring golden spire tipped with the model of the first ship, built in Russia, which also serves as weathervane, designed by Dutchman Harman de Boles, is still one of the most recognizable symbols of St.Petersburg.
The Senate and Synod buildings, connected by the arch, which symbolizes the unity of religious and secular powers were the last among architect Rossi projects constructed in official high classical style, which became his trademark and without which St. Petersburg would loose its distinct look. The Senate and Synod were governmental bodies introduced by Peter the Great. Synod replaced Patriarchate as the supreme governing body of the Orthodox Church, a kind of ministry, presided over by a secular Procurator, reporting to the Tzar directly thus putting Church under the State control, a new system, which replaced Patriarchy and abolished equality of power of Tzar and Patriarch, which existed in Moscow.
You will not only see all major official buildings, such as Hermitage and Winter palace at the Palace square, Admiralty and St.Isaac cathedral at St.Isaac square, Senate and Synod building at Senate square, but also will be able to hear the stories of their construction, including their earlier previous versions. By "peeling off" different layers of each historical building you see how they were gradually constructed to play their unique part in perfect harmony of a complete ensemble. We stop at each landmark monument, such as huge 700 tons solid piece of granite Alexandr's column in the middle of Palace square, dedicated to victory over Napoleon, world famous «bronze horseman» equestrian sculpture of Peter the Great on Senate square and speak of «Peter's creation» across the river Neva, which he overlooks so proudly, from monolith pedestal, weighing 1500 tons and monument to Nicolas I sitting on a horse, standing on its two hind legs, with his wife and three daughters surrounding pedestal and representing different virtues. We look at bar reliefs on monuments and buildings depicting different events from lives of those who ruled Russia and speak of values and ideas, that they tried to convey, such as orthodoxy, autocracy and nationality. After we find out who built those spectacular ensembles, along with for whom it was built and under what circumstances, and only then you'd be able not only look at them, but really see them. And if that's not enough we take a boat ride along the channels to see it all from the vantage point of water level or climb up to the colonnade of the third biggest cathedral in Europe, St.Isaac's, to have a bird's eye view.


Duration: 6 hours