Winter Palace SUMMER GARDEN & PALACE


The Summer Garden occupying the banks of the Neva River is considered the city’s finest park. Created during the reign of Peter the Great, it constitutes a green oasis in the heart of the Russian metropolis. Sweeping avenues lined with trees and marble statues traverse the attractive grounds. The Summer Palace, which the Tsar had built as a royal residence at the north-western end of the park, is more akin to a comparatively modest mansion house than a palace.


THE IMPRESSIVE ST ISAAC’S CATHEDRAL St Isaac’s Cathedral


St Isaac’s Cathedral is the largest and probably the most magnificent church in all of St Petersburg. An earlier church dedicated to St Isaac of Dalmatia had been built here in 1707, but Tsar Alexander I decided to rebuild it after his victory over Napoleon. Designed by Neoclas- sical architect Auguste Ricard de Montferrand, the edifice took


some 40 years to complete, from 1818 to 1858. Majestically crafted out of red granite and grey marble, the cathedral features an imposing, gilded main dome and four mighty columned porticos, whose gables depict scenes from St Isaac’s life.


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