St. Petersburg and the surroundings. Guide (+ card)

"Foreigner in his native Fatherland", "The Most Non Russian City of Russia", "European in an Asian country" - so often they say about St. Petersburg and its suburbs. For 200 years, this unusual city on the shores of the Baltic Sea was the capital of the Russian Empire, although to Finland closer than to Moscow. The main attractions of the former Russian capital - architectural ensembles, palaces, temples - created outstanding foreign masters (Italians B.F. Rastrelli and K. Rossi, French A. Leblon and O. Montferrand, German A. Schluther), who were guided by the monuments of Rome, Paris, Berlin. The first structures on the projects of Russian architects appeared only at the end of the XVIII century. And at the beginning of the XXI century. The most high -profile architectural projects - the new scene of the Mariinsky Theater, the reconstruction of the new Holland - are also created with the participation of foreign specialists. Petersburg is one of the first cities (not only in Russia, but throughout the world), built according to a clearly thought out plan. Now it seems natural that the city must be divided into quarters, that the streets should be wide and straight, we are familiar with at the end of the street to see a tower, a spire, a church dome. And in the XVIII century. Petersburg made a stunning impression on those who were used to wanding along the winding streets of old Russian cities. The basis of the St. Petersburg layout is the so -called "Nevsky Trident" - three rays -prospects departing from the Admiralty: Nevsky Prospekt, Gorokhovaya Street and Voznesensky Prospekt. They cross the three main water arteries covering the city center: Moika, Griboedov Canal and Fontanka. But the most important "street" of St. Petersburg is Neva, connecting Lake Ladoga with the Finnish bay of the Baltic Sea. It is the main city buildings that are oriented to the Neva, the front facades of the palaces are deployed to it