St. Petersburg is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Russia, and with good reason. It’s lovely year-round, offering plenty to see and do both in the summer and when the weather is not so great. But if you’ve already done the tourist circuit, checked out the Hermitage and the Church of the Spilt Blood and even the Kazan Cathedral, you can be left wondering whether there’s anything left to see in this city.
Luckily, there are lots of little undiscovered gems hidden within St. Petersburg. Here’s a list of some of my favorite off-the-beaten-path sights and attractions:
Griffon tower. There is a myth that the destinies of the people which lived here changed dramatically for the better. For example, Karl Simence founded the Soviet electro-technical industry, and poor student Mikhail Kolchanov suddenly became rich. The tower goes by several other names, such as the Lonely Optimist Tower or Figure Tower. It’s 11 meters high and every brick is numbered for some unknown reason – and it’s even been rumored that sometimes the numbers shift around… It is said that Wilhelm Pel, the tower’s former owner, found “the happiness formula” which is now guarded by the griffons. You can find the tower on the 7th line of Vasilyevsky Island.
Sphinx. In 1832, by pure chance, several spinx figures were placed in front of the Academy of Arts. Originally it was meant to be statues of horses, which were instead placed on the Anichkov bridge.
It just so happened that these creatures were bought by someone and brought to St. Petersburg at just the right time. Previously they guarded the pharaohs’ graves. A great deal of Russian Royal family members died violently near the Academy of Arts. Some say that these things are related...
Find this beautiful building at Universitetskaya Embankment, 17.
Courtyards. If you’re looking to get away from the crowds, St. Petersburg offers several stunningly beautiful courtyards where you can rest for a while and really feel, smell, and experience the vibe of the city. Some notable ones are: Emerald city, Pravda st., 2-8; Historical yards, Gorohovaya, 31-37; Kondratievsky sad, Kondratievsky pr., 40; Mosaics Yard, Chernishevskiy st., 2; and the courtyard at Tolstov’s house at Rubinshtain st., 15-17
Underground Culture Tour. St. Petersburg was an important hub for underground culture during the Soviet era, when anything that could be considered anti-Soviet was strictly forbidden. Many key places where the birth of the cultural revolution (both literary and musical) took place can still be found in the city. On Admiralteyskaya Naberezhnaya you can find a statue of Peter the Great with an axe; this served as a sort of speakers’ corner for writers and poets from the 50s to the 70s. There are also several cult Russian Rock bars and cafes whose previous locations you can still visit. These cafes were well-known subculture hubs, places to exchange ideas and escape the oppressive regime, and everything that went on inside them was a small act of rebellion. Some good ones to check out are: Cafe Saigon (at the corner of Nevsky Prospekt and Vladimirsky prospekt, now sadly just a wall, but a wall against which many Russian legends leaned against with a cigarette in hand!) and its neighboring Cafe Elf, at Stremyannaya Ulitsa 9, which has an adjoining garden where again, a great deal of Russian icons spent a lot of their time.
The Old Bridge. If you’re willing to travel, you can take a trip to a small town to the southeast of St. Petersburg called Kolpino. Once a key town for the Russian iron industry, it was heavily bombed during a revolution at the time of the Great Patriotic War. Now there is not much to see except a mass grave, but it may be worth a visit to find the stunningly beautiful Old Bridge (not to mention experience a bit of small-town Russia).
Luckily, there are lots of little undiscovered gems hidden within St. Petersburg. Here’s a list of some of my favorite off-the-beaten-path sights and attractions:
Griffon tower. There is a myth that the destinies of the people which lived here changed dramatically for the better. For example, Karl Simence founded the Soviet electro-technical industry, and poor student Mikhail Kolchanov suddenly became rich. The tower goes by several other names, such as the Lonely Optimist Tower or Figure Tower. It’s 11 meters high and every brick is numbered for some unknown reason – and it’s even been rumored that sometimes the numbers shift around… It is said that Wilhelm Pel, the tower’s former owner, found “the happiness formula” which is now guarded by the griffons. You can find the tower on the 7th line of Vasilyevsky Island.
Sphinx. In 1832, by pure chance, several spinx figures were placed in front of the Academy of Arts. Originally it was meant to be statues of horses, which were instead placed on the Anichkov bridge.
It just so happened that these creatures were bought by someone and brought to St. Petersburg at just the right time. Previously they guarded the pharaohs’ graves. A great deal of Russian Royal family members died violently near the Academy of Arts. Some say that these things are related...
Find this beautiful building at Universitetskaya Embankment, 17.
Courtyards. If you’re looking to get away from the crowds, St. Petersburg offers several stunningly beautiful courtyards where you can rest for a while and really feel, smell, and experience the vibe of the city. Some notable ones are: Emerald city, Pravda st., 2-8; Historical yards, Gorohovaya, 31-37; Kondratievsky sad, Kondratievsky pr., 40; Mosaics Yard, Chernishevskiy st., 2; and the courtyard at Tolstov’s house at Rubinshtain st., 15-17
Underground Culture Tour. St. Petersburg was an important hub for underground culture during the Soviet era, when anything that could be considered anti-Soviet was strictly forbidden. Many key places where the birth of the cultural revolution (both literary and musical) took place can still be found in the city. On Admiralteyskaya Naberezhnaya you can find a statue of Peter the Great with an axe; this served as a sort of speakers’ corner for writers and poets from the 50s to the 70s. There are also several cult Russian Rock bars and cafes whose previous locations you can still visit. These cafes were well-known subculture hubs, places to exchange ideas and escape the oppressive regime, and everything that went on inside them was a small act of rebellion. Some good ones to check out are: Cafe Saigon (at the corner of Nevsky Prospekt and Vladimirsky prospekt, now sadly just a wall, but a wall against which many Russian legends leaned against with a cigarette in hand!) and its neighboring Cafe Elf, at Stremyannaya Ulitsa 9, which has an adjoining garden where again, a great deal of Russian icons spent a lot of their time.
The Old Bridge. If you’re willing to travel, you can take a trip to a small town to the southeast of St. Petersburg called Kolpino. Once a key town for the Russian iron industry, it was heavily bombed during a revolution at the time of the Great Patriotic War. Now there is not much to see except a mass grave, but it may be worth a visit to find the stunningly beautiful Old Bridge (not to mention experience a bit of small-town Russia).
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