St. Petersburg is one of the fascinating cities in Russia with a great history. Most tourists who have decided to travel to Russia are keen to learn about St. Petersburg’s history, and there’s no better way to understand the story of this city other than visiting it. However, there are some stories that you can only learn about by reading about it, such as the history of St. Petersburg during its founder’s era. St. Petersburg was only established when Peter the Great decided to move the capital to the north. If you want to have a more fabulous time in St. Petersburg during your tour to Russia, these pieces of information will significantly help you.
Whether nationalists like him or not, Peter the Great had changed Russia and its history. The first and most important thing that he had done was establishing an entirely new city for his capital. He found the new site for St. Petersburg when he was boating around the Neva Delta with his crew, and immediately saw the perfect place to build the Peter and Paul Fortress. It’s unknown that if Peter and Paul Fortress’s site was chosen intentionally or not, but it was the best strategic place to build a fortress and block the Neva’s entrance to enemy fleets. One of the greatest things about Peter the Great was his ambitions. He wanted to create a city that can compete with significant cities in Europe, and for that, he had traveled to Europe in the last years of the 17th century. Although at first, St. Petersburg didn’t look anything like significant cities in Europe, such as Paris or Amsterdam, but through the years, it has developed to a beautiful city that became one of the main tourist destination cities in Russia Tour. He also wanted to make Russia one of the dominant marine nations in the world. By establishing the Admiralty, the place where the first ships of the Russian navy were made, he had made his first move to create one of the most powerful navies in the world. He had also participated in designing and building the ships himself, and for that matter, he acquired the Tsar Carpenter as a nickname. One of the reasons why nationalists don’t like Peter the Great was that he wanted to bring Western European culture into Russia. He invited multiple artists, including architects, entertainers, craftsmen, composers, dancers, gardeners, etc. to Russia, to achieve that goal. Peter the Great also changed the way of governing by introducing the Senate and Synod. He got rid of several traditions and brought new ones from Europe, such as the way European celebrating Christmas, and many more changes. Although not all of his vision for modern Russia came true after his death, the foundations laid by Peter the Great led to Russia’s development into one of the world’s greatest nations. In 1724, Peter the Great died in his small winter palace and became the first tsar buried inside the Imperial crypt in the Ss. Peter and Paul Cathedral. Even today, lots of people place flowers on his grave on the date of St. Petersburg’s founding.
When you travel to St. Petersburg during your tour to Russia, you can find several monuments to the founder of the city, Peter the Great, all over St. Petersburg. One of the most famous monuments to Peter the Great would be the Bronze Horseman, which places in front of the Senate and Synod building on Senate Square. Bartolomeo Rastrelli had created another equestrian statue of Peter the Great in front of Mikhailovsky Palace. Leopold Bernshtam’s Tsar Carpenter stands on the Admiralty Embankment, which depicts Peter I as a young shipbuilder. There are many other monuments to Peter the Great all over the city, such as in Moskovsky Railway Station or Peterhof’s Lower Park, which only shows how much St. Petersburg admired his founder. You can see each one of these monuments during your tour to St. Petersburg.
Many of St. Petersburg’s historical landmarks were constructed during the Peter the Great’s era, including one of the oldest, and for centuries the tallest, structure in St. Petersburg, Peter and Paul Fortress and its famous cathedral, Ss. Peter and Paul Cathedral. Peter and Paul Fortress is one of the significant attractions of the tour to Russia, which most tourists will visit it at some point during their Russia tour program. It also houses several major attractions of the St. Petersburg tour, which are the reasons behind its importance for the travel agencies.
Another structure built especially for Peter the Great is the Cabin of Peter the Great, which is the first house constructed in the new city of St. Petersburg. This modest and small cabin is the place where Peter the Great had lived from 1703 to 1708. It still preserved today as the first residential structure in St. Petersburg and considers as one of the attractions of Russia tour. The Cabin of Peter the Great still contains several original belongings of Peter I, and you can find it on Petrovsky island near the Peter and Paul Fortress.
There are two structures in St. Petersburg that were quite critical in Peter the Great’s vision. One of them is the Twelve Colleges, which was supposed to house the government of Peter the Great, and The Admiralty Building, where Peter the Great built Russian Navy’s ships. Although the Twelve Colleges didn’t serve its purpose for various reasons, the admiralty building was operational for decades after Peter the Great. Although both of these structures were important in the history of St. Petersburg, there are not many tourist attractions inside them for tourists of St. Petersburg tour. Still, you can visit them and enjoy their architecture and history during tour travel to Russia.
The first museum in Russia, Kunstkamera, is another structure constructed during Peter the Great’s era. This museum, officially known as the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography, is one of the St. Petersburg attractive places that you should visit during your tour to Russia. It’s especially excellent for people who have traveled to St. Petersburg with their family since this museum is an exceptional place for children to learn something new.
Several other notable structures were constructed during the Peter I’s reign, including Peterhof, which was identified as Russian Versaille; the Menshikov Palace, which was the first large stone building erected in St. Petersburg; the Peter the Great Summer Palace and its garden, and many more. If you want to learn more about these places and their history, you can always check our weblog. We also give tips and pieces of advice about how to travel to Russia.
