St. Petersburg is a city covered in canals and rivers, so it’s only logical for the city to have multiple embankments. Some of those embankments are considered as an essential street in St. Petersburg, especially for those who want to wander around the city individually and without their tour to Russia’s group. If you’re going to walk around the city alone, you need to learn about essential addresses in the city, such as great square, main streets, and top places. One of the significant embankments in St. Petersburg is the University Embankment on Vasilievsky Island, not a very long street, yet, it houses multiple notable attractions in St. Petersburg. The University Embankment starts from the Palace Bridge. If you walk toward the end of this street to the Blagoveshchenskiy Bridge, you’ll find several essential attractions of Russia tour, which each of them is worth the visit. The first major attraction that you’ll encounter during your walk is the Zoological Museum.
Zoological Museum
Zoological Museum of St. Petersburg is one of the complete zoological museums in the world, with over 17 million species in its collection. However, only 500 thousand exhibits can be displayed on the museum’s current 19th century home. The Zoological Museum began its work with Kunstkamera’s collection and developed through the years to what we call one of the complete collections among all the world’s zoological collections. This natural history museum is one of the top attractions on Vasiliesvky Island that you can visit during your tour to St. Petersburg. Although many believe that the lack of technology in this museum is somehow the downside of the Zoological Museum, among other St. Petersburg’s museums, it still is one of the best places to bring your children. That is especially so if you or your children want to learn about animals or want to see some enormous skeletons of whales, mammoths, or dinosaurs. We at the Star Travel Group recommend visiting this museum, which is located on the University Embankment on Vasilievsky island during your tour to Russia.
Kunstkammer
Although travel agencies and locals call it Kunstkamera, its official name is the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography. Kunstkamera is the first-ever museum established in Russia. Kunstkamera’s first collection was the private collection of Peter the Great himself. He was the founder of the museum in 1718 and donated all of his collection, which was exhibits that he brought back from his travels around the world to Russia. Currently, the museum has more than a million anthropological, archaeological, and ethnographic artifacts, which is more than impressive for a museum. Kunstkamera is one of the best places for children and adults to learn about other nations, their culture, the way they live, their ceremonies, and their traditions. Kunstkamera and Zoological Museum next to each other is like heaven for people who have traveled to Russia with their children. We at the Star Travel Group massively recommend visiting this museum as part of your Russia Tour program.
Twelve Colleges building
in the 18th century, the Twelve Colleges was supposed to house the Imperial court’s ministry. Peter the Great had pictured this structure to house his entire government. The Twelve Colleges were the government’s complete structure, which included the Senate, the Synod, and the nine ministries. However, his vision didn’t come true since Vasiliesvky island failed to be a logical center for the new capital. Later, in the 19th century, the Twelve Colleges building was given to the St. Petersburg University. The Twelve Colleges was the most massive structure in St. Petersburg that survived to this day from the Petrine era. The architect of this enormous structure, which was 400 meters long, was none other than Italian architect Domenico Trezzini, who had also designed the Peter and Paul Fortress. Although the only attraction inside Twelve Colleges is the Dmitry Mendeleev Apartment Museum, tourists of St. Petersburg Tour have required permission from the university before visiting. The architecture design of the building attracts the attention of tourists who have visited Vasiliesvky island during their travel to St. Petersburg.
Menshikov Palace
The Menshikov Palace was the home of St. Petersburg’s first governor. It was also the first-ever large stone building constructed in St. Petersburg. In addition to those, Menshikov Palace is also the only private structure that has survived from the 18th century in St. Petersburg. The owner of the palace, Alexander Menshikov, was not from a noble family, but because of his career in Peter the Great’s court and his close friendship with the tsar, he was granted Menshikov Palace estate. Although the main attraction of this palace in St. Petersburg tour is the architecture design and the palace’s interior, it also displays a vast collection of Russian applied art and European art from the 18th century. In addition to that, there are multiple exhibitions of contemporary art, including sculpture works and paintings. Menshikov Palace has one of the magnificent interior design among palaces in St. Petersburg, which is why we at the Star Travel Group recommend visiting it during your travel to Russia.
Academy of Arts
The last major attraction on University Embankment is the Academy of Arts. The Academy of Arts was founded in 1757 with the title of Academy of the three most noble arts by the suggestion of Count Ivan Shuvalov and the order of Empress Elizabeth. Although the Academy of arts was initially housed in Count Shuvalov mansion, during the reign of Empress Catherine the Great, it was decided to build an individual building for the Academy. The chief architect of the new Academy of Arts building was one of the Academy’s professors, Jean-Baptiste Vallin de la Mothe, who was invited to Russia by Count Shuvalov to teach at the Academy. Catherine the Great, who herself laid the foundation stone of the academy building in 1765, commissioned De la Mothe to design the new building with an inner yard with the dimensions of the dome of St. Paul’s Cathedral in Rome. Besides the grand architectural design of the building, the main attraction of this place is the Museum of the Academy of Arts, which displays the artworks of past and current students of the Academy, as well as multiple contemporary and classic artists. We recommend you visit this museum on your tour to Russia.
You can learn more about each one of these attractions of Russia tour in St. Petersburg on our weblog. We recommend you read our travel to Russia guides, which will help you have a better and more exciting trip to St. Petersburg.
