Private tours in Russia,St. petersburg City Tours

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Suggested Program for 2 days in St. Petersburg (also popular with overnight cruise clients)

Arrival to St.Petersburg. Meeting with a guide near the cruise ship. Departure to excursion.

Tsarskoe Selo (Pushkin).- The Palace-and-Park Ensemble - a former residence of the Russian emperors - is a spectacular monument of architecture and art of gardening of XVIII-XIX centuries. Its three parks cover 600 ha housing over a hundred of buildings from magnificent palaces and monuments to intimate pavilions and sculpture. The compositional center of the ensemble in the Catherine's Palace with collections of exquisite decorative objects, furniture, Russian and Western-European painting, china, amber, arms, bronze articles and sculpture. All together there are about 20 thousand exhibits. The Tsarskoselsky Lyceum, an elite school for children from noble families established in the beginning of the XIX century, is situated near the Palace. The great Russian poet A.S. Pushkin attended this school and nowadays it is a branch of the Museum of A.S. Pushkin. The exhibition "Recollections in the Alexander's Palace" is opened in the Alexander's Palace (architect G. Guarenghi, XVIII century) telling about the last residence of the Russian emperors. Paintings, drawings, decorative and applied art, costumes, personal belongings related to life of its owners are represented in 12 halls with authentic or partially restored interiors.

The superb Palace-and-Park ensemble of the late XVIII - the beginning of the XIX centuries is the former summer residence of the Russian Emperor Paul I and his family. This is one of the largest landscape parks in Europe, which covers the area of 600 ha. The works on the creating of the ensemble on the banks of the Slavyanka River were held for 50 years by architects Ch. Kameron, G. Guarenghi, A. Voronikhin, C. Rossi. The collection of the Palace is closely connected with journeys of the owners round Europe in 1781 - 82. They visited workshops of famous artists and bought canvases, furniture, bronze articles, silk, china, ancient sculptures from Italy. They brought to Russia presents from European royal courts. There is a excellent collection of Russian portraits, Pavlovsk landscape oil paintings and drawings. Interior of rooms which belonged to Maria Fedorovna deserves special attention because of their unique beauty and harmony designed by G. Guarenghi and A. Voronikhin in the beginning of the XIX century. Of special interest is the newly redecorated Rossi library built for Maria Fedorovna to store her collection of books and rarities.

St Petersburg city tour – all major city attractions (3 hours) with visit to Peter and Paul Fortress. You will see the magnificent St.Isaac’s cathedral, Vasilyevsky island, The University, The Winter Palace, the Palace square, Church of the Savior on the Blood, the square of Arts and other famous places and monuments.

Excursion to Peter& Paul Fortress includes a visit to the Cathedral, which serves a Burial place of Romanov Dynasty of Russian Tsars.

It was built in 1754-62 as the principal home of the tsars, and was later rebuilt in 1839 after the original was destroyed by fire. One of the world’s great art museums, it is housed in the tsar’s former Winter Palace, overlooking the imposing Palace Square. Tsarina Catherine II began the collection, and those following added much more. One can spend many hours wandering around the museum's 500 rooms and exhibits; to see everything reportedly requires walking 14 miles. There are entire rooms devoted to each of the Grand Masters.

Tsarskoe Selo (Pushkin).- The Palace-and-Park Ensemble - a former residence of the Russian emperors - is a spectacular monument of architecture and art of gardening of XVIII-XIX centuries. Its three parks cover 600 ha housing over a hundred of buildings from magnificent palaces and monuments to intimate pavilions and sculpture. The compositional center of the ensemble in the Catherine's Palace with collections of exquisite decorative objects, furniture, Russian and Western-European painting, china, amber, arms, bronze articles and sculpture. All together there are about 20 thousand exhibits. The Tsarskoselsky Lyceum, an elite school for children from noble families established in the beginning of the XIX century, is situated near the Palace. The great Russian poet A.S. Pushkin attended this school and nowadays it is a branch of the Museum of A.S. Pushkin. The exhibition "Recollections in the Alexander's Palace" is opened in the Alexander's Palace (architect G. Guarenghi, XVIII century) telling about the last residence of the Russian emperors. Paintings, drawings, decorative and applied art, costumes, personal belongings related to life of its owners are represented in 12 halls with authentic or partially restored interiors.

Peterhof is a jewel of the Russian art, a town of parks, palaces and fountains. In the past it used to be an exquisite summer residence of the Russian tsars. The Upper and the Lower Parks are the masterpieces of art of gardening numbering over 170 fountains, 5 monumental cascades. In August 2000 after a 60-years break the second largest cascade Lviny was opened. On the territory of the reserve there are 9 working museums: the Grand Peterhof Palace, Monplaisir, Catherine's Block, Marli, Hermitage, Saint-Alexander Nevsky Church, the Benois family museum, Cottage and the Bath block with newly restored rooms and kitchen. Excursion in Peterhof is often enlarged with the excursion to Oranienbaum, which is 15 minutes, by car from Peterhof.

Return to Nevsky: you’ll see the Kazan Cathedral opposite. Built 1801-1811. Stone colonnade encircles small garden and fountain. Closed for services in 1929, opened as Museum of Religion and Atheism in 1932. Premises now shared. Also Gostiny Dvor shopping mall, constructed 1757-1785. Renovated after Siege of Leningrad.

The Peter and Paul Fortress was founded by Peter I in 1703 as the fortification building on Zayachy Island. Apart from the ancient fortifications, on the grounds of the fortress one can visit the Peter and Paul Cathedral (the first half of the XVIII century, D. Trezzini) with the tombs of Peter the Great and other Russian Tsars, the Trubetskoy Bastion casemates and the following permanent exhibitions: "The History of Saint-Petersburg", "The History of Missilery and Cosmonautics. Gas-dynamic Laboratory", "The History of the Imperial Mint", "Petchatnaya". There is a new excursion route "Nevskaya Panorama" along the roofs of fortifications.

The Church on the Spilt Blood was built in 1907 on the site of assassination of Alexander II, who was one of the most progressive Russian Tsar of the XIX century. Pseudo-Russian style combined with applied art of the end of XIX - the beginning of the XX centuries and mosaic interiors create an unforgettable impression of Russian Fairy tales. The Church belonged to the Tsar family and was closed for ordinary visitors for a long time. Nowadays it works as a museum of mosaic art.

Excursion to St.Isaac’s cathedral:

The Saint-Isaac's Cathedral is one of the finest monuments of architecture of the XIX century after the project of A. Montferrand. The Saint-Isaac's is the former principal cathedral of the Russian Capital, the largest cathedral in the city with capacity up to 10 thousand people. It is decorated by 112 monolith granite columns 114 tons each and by 400 relieves and bronze sculptures. You'll enjoy a splendid panorama of Saint-Petersburg and its suburbs from the colonnade. The dome is covered with the thinnest layer of gold, which was painted into green during the Blockade to prevent it from being destroyed.

1) Services of an English-speaking guide and foreign air-conditioned mini-van or sedan car

Please email us number of people, your dates to inquire for prices and details. If arriving on cruise ship, needs cruise line/ship info and time in port.

Please note that planning is done around opening times in all sites, so dates are important to supply.

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