Moscow was the capital of Russia for centuries until the reign of Peter the Great, who had moved the capital to his newly founded city of St. Petersburg. He was also responsible for several cultural changes during his time, including the emergence of western culture into Russian lives; before Peter the Great, none of the rulers of Russia have allowed that cultural blending, but he had permitted multiple changes to happen, including architectural, art, and leisure, which came from western culture. One of the most notable things that came from western culture into Russia was ballet, which was originally from Italy and France; in other words, Peter the Great had provided a platform to found Russian Ballet. As you may know, Russian ballet is one of the top attractions of St. Petersburg, and there are lots of ballet halls that you can visit during your Russia tour.
Since St. Petersburg was newly established, Peter the Great had invited several prominent architects from Italy, France, Germany, and Britain to help him build the new capital. From the arrival of those architects, the architectural method and style had changed in Russia, which led to the establishment of one of the fascinating cities in Russia, even after two centuries. St. Petersburg is one of the best cities in Russia for people who want to enjoy architectural masterpieces on their tour to Russia.
Italian and French architects have done most of the work to build the city from the ground, which each of them had done at least one important thing to construct this magnificent city. Though there are lots of notable architects in each one of these groups, we can name several from each one that made the most influence in St. Peterburg architecture. Jean-Baptists le Blond was one of the top French architects, who have designed most of the urban architecture of the city, and he was the designer of the well-known Peterhof’s gardens as well, and that’s why he’s one of the names on the top of our list; Jean-Baptists de la Mothe was also responsible for the design of multiple famous buildings inside St. Petersburg, including the Great Gostiny Dvor and Yusupov Palace, but he’s more appreciated for his teaching works in St. Petersburg, that introduced several prominent Russian architects to the world; one of the most beautiful spots in Vasilivsky island was designed by Thomas de Thomon, and Auguste de Montferrand had designed the significant St. Isaac’s Cathedral.
Besides French architects, Italian architects were also involved in the development of St. Petersburg; among all the Italian architects who had made impact on St. Petersburg, Domenico Trezzini was one of the first people who had helped Peter the Great from the beginning, and one of the most notable works of him should be the Ss. Peter and Paul Cathedral inside the Peter and Paul Fortress. Francesco Rastrelli was another prominent Italian architect in St. Petersburg, who had designed the Winter Palace and Catherine Palace in Pushkin. We can also mention Antonio Rinaldi, the court architect of Catherine the Great, Vincenzo Brenna, the designer of the unusual St. Michael Castle, and Carlo Rossi on our long list.
The work that those architects and artists had done in St. Petersburg has resulted in turning the St. Petersburg into one of the top tourist destination cities in Russia tour for those who love to see some architectural masterpieces on their travel to Russia, and that’s one of the reasons why we recommend St. Petersburg to our travelers.
While time and incompetence of the Soviet government had destroyed large numbers of this architectural treasure, but some of them have persevered to be an example of the architectural attraction in St. Petersburg on the tour to Russia. Vladimir Palace is one of those lasted imperial palaces that locates on the east of Winter Palace and Hermitage Museum.
Vladimir Palace was designed and constructed for the third son of Alexander II, Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, by a group of architects led by Vasily Kennel. Vladimir Palace was the last neoclassical royal residence constructed in St. Petersburg. The simplistic and pleasant exterior was totally in the opposite of the magnificent interior design of the palace; with a simple look at the exterior and interior of the palace, you will understand that the design team kept most of their focus and creativity on planning the interior and about 360 rooms inside the palace and didn’t try hard to impress visitors with their exterior design. The Vladimir Palace, like Marble Palace and Winter Palace, faces Neva River; the architecture team had chosen Florance’s Alberti Palace as their model and utilized griffin statues for the decoration.
The interior design of the palace, on the other hand, can be introduced as one of the top attractions of Russia tour. Vasily Kenel’s team had used different architectural style to design near 360 different rooms inside the palace; we can name few of them as examples, including the Neo-Renaissance style, which applied to the reception room; the Gothic Revival style that you can see in the dining room; Russian Revival inside the Oak Hall is another style that you can notice inside this palace on your tour to St. Petersburg; Rococo style in the White Hall and Byzantine Style in the study room are other examples beside several more that you can see if you include this palace in your visit-list on your tour to Russia.
Although all of the imperial palaces were seized and nationalized after the October Revolution, most of those palaces severely damaged throughout the Soviet era; most of them had lost their interior design and layout, while some of them even lost their exterior looks; however, Vladimir Palace was one of the few examples of palaces that did not receive severe damages after the revolution, and persevered well throughout the era. The palace was given to the Maxim Gorky House of Scientists after the revolution, which was a club for scientists and intellectuals; it might be one of the reasons why it preserved quite well to this day. The Vladimir Palace had a significant collection of porcelains, which most of them were moved to the Hermitage Museum, but you can still see some of them inside the palace.
We at the Star Travel Company have gathered lots of useful information about the top Russian attractive places as well as our tips and pieces of advice on how to travel to Russia, which you can get for free on our weblog. You can also analyze our Russia tours to find the most suitable options and features for your tour to Russia plan.
