St. Petersburg is known as one of the top tourist destinations in Russia, which hosts many tourists annually and tries to attract the attention and satisfaction of its visitors by providing the best tourism services. Many tourists who visit St. Petersburg on tour to Russia do not have enough time to see this historic city's tourist attractions. There are numerous art museums, cultural centers, historical landmarks, and natural sights in and around St. Petersburg that are on the main program of the St. Petersburg tour. However, many of St. Petersburg's tourist attractions are not well visited by tourists, and the only reason for this is the limited time tourists have during their trip to St. Petersburg. It may take weeks to see the currently displayed exhibits at the Hermitage Museum, the world's second-largest art museum. That is why many tourists use the programs offered by travel agencies and tour operators in Russia when they decide to travel to St. Petersburg. However, during the limited free time that tourists have outside of the St. Petersburg sightseeing program, they also visit the tourist attractions that are not included in the main St. Petersburg tour programs, which sometimes surprise tourists why they haven't been listed as places of interest by travel agencies, but this is not the only strange thing that tourists encounter when they roam around the city.
St. Petersburg is one of the most historic and vital cities in Europe, planned in the best possible way. Its urban plans are arranged precisely according to the particular tastes of the emperors who ruled it. The architecture and decoration of the city of St. Petersburg are beautiful, magnificent, orderly, ornate, and in most parts, it is pretty serious and orderly. The magnificent sculptures used to decorate various buildings in St. Petersburg also show the importance of making St. Petersburg magnificent. In recent years and decades, contemporary artists have tried to reduce the seriousness of this atmosphere using contemporary art. For that matter, various artists have created modern sculptures and interesting monuments for urban decoration. That is why the encounter with some of these monuments and statues in the city may surprise tourists who do not expect it during the tour to Russia program in St. Petersburg. In the following, we are going to review some examples of the strangest sculptures of St. Petersburg, which are very popular among the people of St. Petersburg and often attract the attention of lots of tourists on St. Petersburg tour.
The Sphinxes
Perhaps one of the strangest sculptures on a St. Petersburg tour that no tourist in Russia would expect to see is The Sphinxes on the University Embankment in front of the Academy of Arts. These two magnificent statues are nearly 3,500 years old and are considered one of the finest examples of Egyptian statues outside Egypt. Once located in front of the tomb of Pharaoh Amenhotep III, these two large statues, one of the pharaohs of ancient Egypt, were discovered during excavations in the 1820s, purchased by the Russian Empire, and placed on the Nova River. The two large statues, each weighing about 23 tons, once overlooked the Nile River but today overlook the Nova River on granite platforms designed for them by Konstantin Ton. The two statues have been rebuilt several times, the last of which occurred in 2003. Although the issue of moving the two statues inside the Hermitage Museum to prevent their destruction in the cold and dry climate of Russia has been explored, tourists can still see the two statues on University Street and enjoy their splendor. To take.
Lions on Palace Pier
Among the strange sculptures you see during your St. Petersburg sightseeing program, the Lions on Palace Pier are among the most famous examples that most tourists can recognize. These two lions are located in front of the eastern wing of the Admiralty building. The quay, designed by Carlo Rossi, was initially located right next to the Winter Palace. Still, before the construction of the palace bridge began, the quay and its two guard lions were moved to their current location. The palace pier was used as a venue for theater performances until 1970. Still, after 1986 and the demolition of the theater building, the appearance of the palace pier changed from a cultural center to an entertainment center. The two lion sculptures kept on the pier are among the most famous examples of a ceremonial lion made by the renowned sculptor Ivan Prokofiev in 1832.
The Four Horse Tamers
Another recognizable monument in St. Petersburg that most tourists have seen during their trip to St. Petersburg is the four famous Anichkov Bridge statues. As they cross the Anichkov Bridge, passers-by see four bronze sculptures, each trying to tame a wild horse. This group of sculptures of horse tamers is recognizable throughout St. Petersburg, and St. Petersburg residents and even tourists on Russia tour will point to Anichkov Bridge by looking at their pictures. The sculptors were designed by the former Russian Imperial Artillery Officer, Baron Peter Clodt von Jurgensburg, of German descent who had a particular interest in animals, especially horses. Of course, he designed only two sculptures, and two more were later added to the collection. The statues were removed during World War II to prevent injury and buried in the courtyard of Anichkov Palace. The Anichkov Bridge suffered extensive damage during the war but was completely rebuilt after the end of the war and contains only one pedestal as a war memorial with the effects of artillery fire, which is also reminded to passers-by on a plaque.
Chizhik-Pyzhik
One of the strangest and most remarkable sculptures that tourists will encounter during their travel to Russia and visiting St. Petersburg is undoubtedly the 11 cm Chizhik-Pyzhik statue. This small statue of a siskin, erected near the Summer Garden, is based on a nursery and folk song. One of the fascinating legends about this statue is that if tourists can throw a coin at this statue and this coin stays on the platform of this statue, luck will open its doors on the lives of those people. This legend, of course, did not bring good luck to this statue itself, since over the years, this statue has been stolen from its current location many times, and its replicas have been replaced.
Monument to Mumu
Another strange monument in St. Petersburg that attracts a lot of attention is the monument, which is based on one of the masterpieces of Ivan Turgenev. The story of Mumu and Gerasim is a short story about the cruelty and oppression of the Russian serfdom system. The statue of the oppressed and quiet dog named Mumu is located in Turgenev Square next to the entrance of Mumu Cafe. Tourists visiting the café can also find the Gerasim monument inside the café.
The Hare
On our list of bizarre monuments on our tour to Russia, the last statue is the statue of a frightened-looking metal hare on a wooden platform in the water next to the Ioannovsky Bridge. When you cross the Ioannovsky Bridge to reach the Peter and Paul Fortress, if you look to your left, you'll see a small metal hare statue on a wooden pedestal. The island that now hosts Peter and Paul Fortress was once the living area of these hares (Hare Island). Legend has it that during one of the floods in St. Petersburg, a hare who found himself trapped in the middle of rising water jumped and grabbed the boots of Peter the Great, who was getting off the boat to save itself. The monument is a memorial to the 18th- and 19th-century floods of St. Petersburg, erected in 2003 on the current location. Tourists can also see the amount of water rising during those floods on the wooden plaster beneath the hare.
