National Geographic Special - The World\'s Most Beautiful Places

81 CITIES & BEYOND

st.

petersburg

RUSSIA

When Peter the Great, one of the most

powerful rulers in Russian history, built a

city, it was never going to be ordinary. Sure

enough, St. Petersburg, which he founded in

1703 and which remained Russia’s imperial

capital until 1918, is a metropolis built on

the grandest scale. Noble squares and wide

thoroughfares, best enjoyed by taking a

stroll along the stately Neva River, provide a

vast stage for hundreds of magnificent state

buildings, churches, and the vast neoclassi-

cal facades of countless palaces.

DON’T MISS

The Hermitage, one of the world’s greatest museums

with some three million artifacts, occupies six his-

torical buildings on the beautiful waterside Palace

Embankment, including the former Winter Palace of

the Romanov emperors.

The Church of the Savior of Spilled Blood, dedicated

to the memory of Tsar Alexander II