Summer is over, but the tourist season in St. Petersburg continues! Walking around the hospitable city can be combined with a trip to museums that will delight both adults and children. These and other interesting objects will be discussed in the pavilions of the City Tourist Information Bureau.
Autumn in St. Petersburg is perhaps the most atmospheric time of the year. This is a wonderful time for walking through city gardens and parks, visiting theater premieres, cozy gatherings in cafes and leisurely family trips outside the city.
A trip to the museum is also in the “autumn collection of cases”. There are more than 200 museums in St. Petersburg, and a visit to one of them can be combined with any program – from sightseeing to gastronomic. It all depends on your mood, interests, weather and the number of free hours.
The whole family can go to the museum and historical park “Island of Forts” in Kronstadt. Last year, 3.3 million people visited this flagship object of the new geography of St. Petersburg – about the same number visited the popular museums of Tsarskoye Selo.
In the museum and historical park “Island of Forts” in Kronstadt. Photo: SPb GBU “GTIB”
Since July last year, the Museum of Naval Glory of Russia has been operating in the park, the main exposition of which is devoted to the history of shipbuilding from Ancient Russia to the present day. The main exhibit is the legendary K–3 Leninsky Komsomol nuclear submarine. In 30 years of service, she has traveled more than 128 thousand miles – almost six equators of the Earth.
Submarine K3 in the museum. Photo: The Committee for the Development of Tourism of St. Petersburg
In a little over a year of the existence of the Museum of Naval Glory of Russia, its visitors have left almost 10 thousand reviews on various platforms. Both St. Petersburg residents and tourists admire the thoughtfulness, scale and richness of the historical component of the multimedia exposition.
They also note a lot of interactive exhibits for children and adults: you can shoot at wooden boats, paint a modern destroyer, navigate an icebreaker along the Northern Sea Route and “dream up”.
“If there had been such museums in my childhood, history would have been my favorite subject,” one of the guests wrote in a review.
WHAT NO TEXTBOOK WILL TELL YOU
The Pushkin Historical and Literary Museum is a real gem among the museums of Tsarskoye Selo. It contains objects of the history of Tsarskoye Selo, including the Soviet period: paintings, graphics, decorative and applied arts, numismatics, rare books and documents, sculpture, photographs, archaeological finds.
The Moscow Gate in the historical and Literary Museum of the city of Pushkin. Photo: the official website of the museum
The museum staff says that 25 thousand exhibits of its collection “contain something that no textbook will tell you about.”
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Here you can immerse yourself in the history of the passenger railway and the scout movement in Russia, learn about electrification and radio, educational institutions, hospitals, police, temples of Tsarskoye Selo and also about the exploits of museum workers who saved the collections of the palace suburbs of Leningrad.
Another reason to visit this museum is its location. It is located in one of the oldest buildings in Pushkin, built in the Empire style by architect V. P. Stasov for the city police. It is part of the architectural ensemble of the central city Cathedral Square. The windows of the museum offer a beautiful view of the Catherine Cathedral.
“The most beloved Pushkin Museum, where it is equally interesting for children and adults. A huge selection of topics, interesting expositions, and most importantly, excellent guides. A lot of interactive storefronts, details – it is clear that everything was done with love and great professionalism,” the tourists write.
THE MOST POPULAR MUSEUM AMONG TOURISTS FROM SAUDI ARABIA
This small St. Petersburg museum is very popular among tourists from Saudi Arabia. In the summer season, Arab guests made up 70% of the total number of visitors to the Shadow Museum in the courtyard well at Bolshaya Konyushennaya 5.
At the Shadow Museum in St. Petersburg. Photo: ATOR
The museum’s exposition on the theme of St. Petersburg is located in three small halls on the ground floor. All art objects are created using light and shadows, which are cast by various objects. The St. Petersburg museum project in the style of shadow art became the first in Russia and Europe. The exhibition is small, but you can hang around each exhibit for a long time, examining every detail.
“This is a great opportunity to test your creative thinking and find new images in what seems clear and obvious in everyday life,” the visitors note.
THE FIRST MUSEUM IN RUSSIA CREATED WITH THE HELP OF AI
Another unusual place is “Art and Facts”: the first museum in Russia created with the “participation” of artificial intelligence. It is located on the territory of the historical complex VOKZAL 1853 and covers an area of more than 1200 square meters.
The slogan of the museum is “The art of learning”, so each exhibit is not just an object, but an art object created by the joint efforts of AI and humans. All of them are complemented by various video and audio effects, many exhibits can be touched and smelled.
In the museum “Art and Facts”, St. Petersburg. Photo: the museum’s website
Surprises everything here: medieval masks of shame, Lego bricks made of pure gold, wooden “geta” sandals worn by Japanese geisha, the world’s smallest bicycle, teeth of a megalodon – a giant shark that became extinct about 3.6 million years ago. There is even a state-of-the-art cyber matryoshka! And you can also hold a real meteorite in your hands, try to get a “gold bar” and chat with the robot Valentine.
“It was as if I had returned to my childhood and was again sincerely surprised at how unusual our world is. It was very interesting and informative. The exhibits are great. I definitely recommend it for visiting with curious children and adults,” one of the visitors noted in the review.
ROUTES AND EVENTS WILL BE DISCUSSED AT THE INFORMATION POINTS OF THE CITY TOURIST INFORMATION BUREAU
St. Petersburg is a comfortable city for tourists. Travelers can always find answers to their “where to go” and “what to see” questions online and offline.
In the Internet space, the city tourist portal Visit Petersburg and its pages on the social networks VKontakte, Odnoklassniki and Telegram will come to the rescue. In popular tourist places, mobile assistants of the Tourist assistance service /Ask Me SPb will tell you the route and orient you on the ground.
For “live” recommendations, free maps and booklets, you can go to the pavilions and information points of the City Tourist Information Bureau, which are located near the main places of attraction for guests of St. Petersburg. There are 12 of them in total: they are located in the historical center, next to the metro, on the territory of railway stations, at Pulkovo airport and in objects of new tourist geography, such as the park “Island of Forts” in Kronstadt and the Park of the 300th Anniversary of St. Petersburg.
The specialists of the information points of the City Tourist Information Bureau will tell you about the eventful calendar, bus and boat trips, and sightseeing routes. By the way, there is even a special children’s area in the flagship pavilion located on the Palace Square. While parents communicate with specialists, their beloved children can draw.
“A single seamless information ecosystem has been created and is developing in St. Petersburg, providing full information support for travelers. It starts literally from the first minutes – from the arrival of guests at Pulkovo airport or at the railway stations of the Northern capital, where the pavilions of the City Tourist Information Bureau are located. It is very important that tourists receive verified first–hand information – this is not only convenient, but also makes their stay in the city comfortable and safe,” sums up the acting chairman of the Committee for Tourism Development of St. Petersburg, Nana Gvichia.
Elena Myagkova
