Leningrad

When I was a kid, I saw the movie White Nights with Mikhail Baryshnikov and Gregory Hines.  The story took place in Leningrad and since then I always wanted to visit the city.  Well even though Leningrad is now once again called St. Petersburg, it's still possible to get a glimpse of Leningrad since the city has more than 230 places still associated with Lenin.

After the fall of communism, many countries were quick to get rid of the socialist art.  However, St. Petersburg isn't hiding from its history.  I was told that after the USSR collapsed, the government needed all of its money to keep the country going.  There weren't a whole lot of rubles left over to remove all of the hammer and sickle designs from the building facades.

Five days after Lenin died, Petrograd was renamed Leningrad, on 26 January 1924, and it remained until 1991.



In front of the Finland station, at Lenin Square, is a big stature of Vladimir Lenin.  In April 1917, this is where he returned to from exile.   



The train that brought him back to Russia is sealed and on display.  On 1 April 2009, some vandals used dynamite to blow up part of the statue.  The hole in Lenin's backside has since been repaired.


In 1945, Joseph Stalin named Leningrad as a hero city of the Great Patriotic War (WWII).  To celebrate the 20th anniversary of victory, the city was awarded the Order of Lenin and the USSR's Gold Star medal for heroic resistance and the tenacity of the survivors of the Siege.  In 1985, the Hero City obelisk with the gold star was unveiled.

Leningrad siege memorial

The "Big House" was the city's KGB Headquarters.  This is where thousands of people were interrogated, shot or deported to labor camps.  Today the building is still used by the FSB; Russia's Federal Security Service. 

The largest Lenin statue in St. Petersburg is at Moskovskaya Square in front of the House of Soviets.

The Solovetsky Stone is a 10 ton granite boulder which was brought from the Solovki prison camp where mass executions took place.  In 2002, it was dedicated as the Memorial to the Victims of Political Repressions in Petrograd - Leningrad.

Today, St. Petersburg is the most western and modernized city in Russia. 

At the same time, it's pretty surreal to see so many reminders of the Soviet Union still around.

Hermitage State Museum

The Winter Palace

The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world.

Catherine the Great

It was founded by Catherine the Great as a private collection in 1764 and was opened to the public in 1852.

The collection of more than three million pieces includes the world's largest collection of paintings.


The main museum complex is made up of six buildings (five are open to the public) with the primary building being the Winter Palace which was the former home of Russian emperors. 


After the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 the Hermitage was declared state property.  From 1920 to 1930, the collection increased in size as private collections were nationalized.


Many works were then transferred to other art museums in the USSR.  At the start of WWII, prior to the Leningrad siege, many important pieces were evacuated to the Urals.


This is one of the best museums I've ever visited.  It's simply incredible!!

Da Vinci's Madonna and Child

Here's an interesting video I found on YouTube about the museum's cats.

© Museum Secrets TV

Saint Petersburg, Russia

St. Petersburg is the second-largest city in Russia.  Санкт-Петербург lies on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland.  It is 306 km (190 miles) from Helsinki, 324 km (201 miles) from Tallinn, and 630 km (392 miles) from Moscow.  About 5.3 million people (the same as Atlanta) call St. Petersburg home.

Peter the Great wanted Russia to have a seaport for trading with other seafaring nations so St. Petersburg was founded in 1703.  The city was named after Saint Peter; not after Peter the Great.  From 1713-1728, and again from 1732-1918, it was the capital of Imperial Russia.

During World War I, the city was renamed Petrograd (Peter's City) so that it would not sound so "German".  In 1924, the city was renamed Leningrad (Ленинград).  In 1991, during the breakup of the Soviet Union, the city's name was changed back to Saint Petersburg.

The city is absolutely gorgeous!!  If you like Baroque and Neoclassical architecture then this is the place to visit.  The city's historic center and a number of monuments were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1990.

The Peter and Paul Fortress was the first structure built in St. Petersburg in 1703.  It never served its intended function as a defensive fortress.  Instead it served as a military base, home to various government departments, the burial ground for the Russian Imperial family and as a jail for political prisoners.

The Peter and Paul Cathedral was built between 1712 and 1733.  The bell tower is the world's tallest Orthodox bell tower.

The State Hermitage Museum is one of the city's most popular attractions.  With over 3 million items in the collection it is one of the world's largest museums.  The Hermitage was founded by Catherine the Great.  The bulk of the collection is located in the Winter Palace which was one of the official residences of the Romanov Czars.

The Alexander Column is named for Emperor Alexander I who reigned from 1801-1825.  The monument was erected to honor the Russian victory in the war with Napoleon.

Saint Isaac's Cathedral took 40 years to built but it was consecrated in 1858.  During the Soviet Era the building was stripped of religious artifacts and in 1931 it became the Museum of the History of Religion and Atheism.  Today it is the city's largest Russian Orthodox cathedral.

The Kazan Cathedral is officially the Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan.  It opened in 1818 after 17 years of construction.  In 1932, it too served as a museum of atheism.  Church services resumed in 1992 and in 1996 the cathedral was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church.  It is now the mother cathedral for St. Petersburg.

The Bronze Horseman statue of Peter the Great was commissioned by Catherine the Great.  The legend goes that while the Bronze Horseman stands in the middle of St. Petersburg, enemy forces will never be able to conquer the city.

Statue of Catherine the Great

The statue's red granite pedestal is the Thunder Stone which is said to be the largest stone ever moved by man.  The original stone weighed about 1500 tons and was carved down to 1250 tons during its 6 km (4 mile) move to its current site facing the Neva River.

The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood is also known as the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ.  Construction began in 1883 and it was completed in 1907.  The church was built on the site where Czar Alexander II was assassinated.  During the city's siege in WWII, the church was used as a morgue and after the war it became a vegetable warehouse.

The Admirality building used to be the headquarters of the Imperial Russian Navy.  During the 19th century it was re-built to support the Czar's maritime ambitions.  Today it is the headquarters of the Russian Navy.

The Aurora is a 1900 cruiser built in St. Petersburg for service in the Pacific.  The ship was active in the October Revolution and is currently a museum ship.  Officially, it is the oldest commissioned ship in the Russian navy.

The Russian Museum

In Russia, World War II is known as The Great Patriotic War.  During the war, the city of Leningrad was fully encircled by the German army.  For 900 days, from September 8, 1941, until January 27, 1944, the city endured its most painful time.  

The city had almost 3 million civilians, including 400,000 children, endured the most horrible conditions imaginable.  During the siege, at least 641,000 people died but some estimates put the number closer to 800,000.  

The Monument to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad was unveiled in 1975 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of victory.    

Lenin statue

In a lot of former communist countries, socialist monuments were taken taken down.  However, St. Petersburg has let them stand.  It was explained to me that after the Soviet Union fell apart, the Russian government had bigger problems to deal with then taking down all of the communist statues.  The city owns its history, including its communist history.

Metro Station

St. Petersburg is one of my new favorite cities.  There is so much to see and do that I barely scratched the surface in my 72 hour visit.  The thing that stuck out the most for me was just how clean it was.  Even the subways.  They were spotless and no graffiti at all.  I may have to break down and apply for that 3-year Russian visa so that I can come back often.

Helsinki to St. Petersburg Ferry

Getting a visa to visit Russia can be a pain in the arse, not to mention expensive.  However, certain ferries are able to offer visa-free entry to St. Petersburg.  From Helsinki, it's possible to visit St. Petersburg, without a visa for up to 72 hours.

Princess Maria at Helsinki West Port

The rules are pretty simple.  You have to leave in 72 hours and you can't leave St. Petersburg.  However, unlike cruise ship passengers on day trips, you are not required to have an official guide or anything.  The city is yours to explore.

Our cozy stateroom

We boarded the Princess Maria for a 6 pm departure.  After 14.5 hours we made it to Russia.

The cruise was pretty uneventful.  Well except for one little thing.  While we were waiting to board the ship, we were in queue with a bunch of Erasmus students.  I noticed that one of the girls had a Czech passport so I asked her where she was from.  Of course, she said Prague.  She couldn't understand how we live in Brno since we speak English.  I explained where we were from but that we now live in Brno.  "Brno must be like the end of the world for you" was the response we got.

For those who don't know, there is a serious rivalry in Czechland between Prague and Brno.  Praguers look down on Brno as being too country while Brno folk look at Praguers as snobs.

This little 20-something chica was shocked when I said that I much preferred Brno to Prauge.  The funny thing is that I'm sure she isn't even from Prague.  She's probably from some little village, over an hour from the capital, but just happens to study there.  I'm sure my friends at home will get a kick out of how I had to stick up for Brno.

Russian Entry-Exit Forms

Anyway...the rest of the trip was fine.  Everyone has to fill out an entry and exit form.  One half is given to the border guard when you enter Russia and you must keep the other half with you.  The second half is turned in when you depart.  Not having your exit form is a big No No.

Well, we're here.  Now it's time to get out explore St. Petersburg.

Suomenlinna Fortress, Finland

Suomenlinna is a fortress set up on six islands which are part of Helsinki.  It is a popular tourist destination and is only a short 15-minute ferry ride from the market square.

When Peter the Great moved the Russia's capital to St. Petersburg in 1703, he gave Russia a window on Europe and the Baltic Sea.

Sweden wasn't thrilled about Russian expansionism so, in 1748, when Finland was still part of Swedish kingdom, they started building a fortress to protect their eastern territory.

Ausustin Ehrensvärd was laid to rest here in 1783

Ausustin Ehrensvärd was the military architect put in charge of establishing the fortress which was originally called Sveaborg.  France wasn't too thrilled about Russian expansion either so they partially financed Sveaborg. 



In 1808, the fortress was surrendered to the Russians and it was a Russian garrison for the next 110 years.


The church opened in 1854.  The church steeple doubles as a lighthouse.  It's believed that there are only 3 such church/lighthouse combos that still exist in the world. 

When Finland gained independence from Russia in 1918, the fortress was renamed Suomenlinna (Castle of Finland).

In 1973 it was turned over to civilian authorities.  Thee islands have about 900 permanent residents.

In 1991, Suomenlinna was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site as a unique monument of military architecture. 

Here's a Rick Steves video from YouTube about Suomenlinna Fortress.

©Rick Steves