The State Hermitage is one of the oldest and largest museums in the world. The museum is located in 5 historical buildings of St.Petersburg, including the Winter Palace - the former residence of the Russian tsars. The buildings of the museum, by themselves, are architectural masterpieces. The collections of the Hermitage include over 3 million items dating from prehistoric to modern times. Magnificent works of art embracing prehistoric culture, Egyptian artworks, the art of Antiquity, Scythian gold, and great collections of Western-European paintings and sculptures are displayed in the 400 halls of the museum.
Average duration 3 hours
Address 34, Dvortsovaya Emb. Open: 10 a.m. - 5 p.m, SUN till 16.00. Closed on MON.

The museum is located in the historical building of the Academy of Fine Arts. One of the oldest buildings in St.Petersburg, it has been in operation since 1757. The displays hold art from the Russian Academic and Soviet Schools of painting. In the museum, temporary exhibitions of students' final examination works are regularly held.
Average duration 2 hours
Address 17, Universitetskaya Emb. Open: 11 a.m. - 6 p.m. Closed on MON, TUE.

Menshikov Palace was the first stone building that was built in St.Petersburg (architects G.Fontana and J.Schedel). The building served as the palace for the first general governor of the city A.D.Menshikov. In the building, original fragments have been preserved, among them are the famous Dutch tiles.
Average duration 1 hour
Address 15, Universitetskaya Emb. Open: 10 a.m - 4 p.m. Closed on MON.

Opened in 1898 in the Mikhaylovsky Palace (architect C.Rossi), The State Russian Museum holds nearly 400,000 pieces of art, making it the largest collection of Russian art in the country. The pieces in the collection range from ancient icons to Avant-garde painting from the XX century.
Average duration 2 hours
Address 2, Inzhenernaya Str. Open: 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., MON till 4. Closed on TUE.

The Marble palace is an architectural monument dating back to the middle of the XVIII century (architect A.Rinaldi). Over 30 tints of marble were used for the decoration of the palace, hence the name Marble Palace. Main exhibitions: "Foreign Artists in Russia" (the XVIII-XIX centuries), "Peter Ludvig in the Russian Museum".
Average duration 1 hour
Address 5/11, Millionnaya Str. Open: 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., MON till 4 p.m. Closed on TUE.

This castle was constructed in order to protect the Russian emperor, Paul I. Ironically, it was here that he was assassinated on the night of March 12, 1801. Beginning in 1817, the castle housed an engineering school, which many great Russian figures of the past attended, including the writer F.M.Dostoyevsky. Permanent exhibitions: portrait gallery of Russian public figures of the XVIII-XIX centuries, and exposition of sculptural portraits of the XVIII century.
Average duration 1 hour
Address 2, Sadovaya Str. Open: 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., MON till 4, Closed on TUE.

Established in 1878. The museum's building is an original sample of the architectural style of "historicism" (architect M.Messmacher). Its inner decoration reflects almost all historical epochs and styles of art. The collection numbers 30,000 items of applied art dating from ancient through modern times.
Average duration 1 hour
Address 13-15, Solyanoy Alley Open: 11 a.m. - 5 p.m., Daily

The Elaginoostrovsky Palace is centrally located in the magnificent palace-and-park ensemble, created in the early XIX century by the architect C.Rossi. The palace houses an exhibition of former imperial residence gala halls.
Average duration 1 hour
Address 1, Elagin Island Open: 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Closed on MON, THU.

The museum is located on the grounds of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, and displays monumental sculpture and tombstones. Many eminent figures of Russian science and culture (Lomonosov, Dostoyevsky, Tchaikovsky, Glazunov, Rimsky-Korsakov) and representatives of the Russian aristocracy were buried in the Lavra's Necropolis during the XVIII and XX centuries.
Average duration 1 hour
Address 179/2, Nevsky Prospekt Open: 10 a.m. - 7 p.m. Closed on THU.

The burial place of prominent writers, artists, and public figures.
Average duration 1 hour
Address 30, Rasstannaya Str. Open: 10 a.m. - 7 p.m. Closed on THU.

Since the 15th Century up until the October Revolution, the Stroganovs were one of Russia's most influential families: rich, powerful, and prolific art collectors. Their home was the muddy-green palace which sits on the corner of Nevsky Prospekt and the Moika Canal. It is one of the city's most beautiful Baroque-styled buildings, and is colored bright rose and white. After a fire in the 1790s most of the rooms were redesigned by Voronikhen in the neo-classical style.
Average duration 1 hour
Address 17, Nevsky Prospekt Open: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Daily