426-955-717Unusual museums
- Museum of bread
- Botanical garden
- Museum of St. Petersburg’ s water
- Museum of dreams of Zigmund Freid
- Museum of chocolate
- Museum of musical instruments
- Museum of dolls
- Museum of toys
- Lomonosov Porcelain Manufacture
- City sculpture museum
- Court life museum
- Masters’ guild micro miniatures museum
- Russian Vodka Museum
- Cottage village “ The Consular Village”
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Museum of bread
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The museum of bread baking history started to work in 1988 as a departmental museum of the joint company "Lenhlebprom". Its founder and the first director was M. I. Glazamitskiy (1939-1995). In 1996 he was appointed posthumously as a prize-winner of Saint-Petersburg Government Prize of literature, art and architecture for foundation of the first Russian Bread Museum and the exhibition "Christmas as the holiday for kids". There are a lot of different exhibitions in the museum. The cycle named "Not only the bread" was created to promote other's museum collections that don't have their own exhibition room. In 2000 the competition for the best literature work about bread is going to be arranged. In the near future the museum is going to create the International Association of Bread and Food Museum.
Location: Ligovsky prospect, 73
Open: 10-00 – 18-00
Closed: Sunday, Monday
Excursion reservation: incoming@favorit.spb.ru
Botanical garden
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St. Petersburg's Botanical Garden is located on the Petrograd side, and is one of the oldest Botanical Gardens in the country. The Garden was founded in 1714 by order of Peter the Great as the Apothecary's Garden, and soon became a center for horticultural research that was the equal of any other in Europe in terms of the importance and size of its collection. Today, most of the Botanical Garden is designed in English landscape style. Plants from Russia's temperate zone grow uncovered, while the greenhouses house a large collection of tropical and sub-tropical plants; the Garden's 'Alpine hills' are also home to flora from the Caucasus, the Mediterranean, and Asia. In addition to all this, the Botanical Garden also has a collection of various types of fern, Chinese and Japanese plants, palms, bamboo, conifers, orchids, and much more. Giant water-lilies flower every summer and fall in the pool of one of the greenhouses - their leaves can reach 2 meters in diameter, and can support weights of up to 60 kg.
Location: Ulitsa Professorа Popova, 2
Open: 11-00 – 16-00
Closed: Friday
Excursion reservation: incoming@favorit.spb.ru
Museum of St. Petersburg’ s water
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St. Petersburg's Museum of Water is located in a former water-tower, and was presented to the city by local water monopoly Vodokanal as part of the 300th Anniversary celebrations. The water-tower, built in 1860 by Ivan Merts and Ernest Shuberskiy, was the first in St. Petersburg and marked the start of a proper water supply to the city, and now it houses a unique museum that uses the latest in exhibition technology.
The exhibition is modern, hi-tech and hands-on. Visitors can, among other things, try their hand at assembling a plumbing system, operate pumps and learn about the workings of the dam and steam engine which pumps the water in the tower. Here you can see everything to do with the provision and processing of water in the city, from its founding to the present day, including antique toilets and state-of-the-art purification systems.
The Museum of Water and was opened 28 May 2003, and the exhibition itself was designed by the Russian Museum and architect Evgeny Podgornov, who equipped the tower with a glass elevator and smart exterior lighting which has made the tower a distinctive feature on the Neva Embankment. The tower also has an observation platform with excellent views over the river, and a pretty garden, both of which have already become extremely popular with the city's inhabitants and visitors.
Location: Shpalernaya Ulitsa, 56
Open: 10:00 - 18:00
Closed: Monday, Tuesday
Excursion reservation: incoming@favorit.spb.ru
Museum of dreams of Zigmund Freid
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An odd conceptual exhibition - based on abstractions and ideas, not artifacts - this unusual museum is an outgrowth of the Psychoanalytic Institute that houses it. The two-room exhibition aims to stimulate your subconscious as you struggle to read the display symbolising what Freud himself would have dreamt. Illustrations to Freud's patients' dreams and other quotations line the dimly lit, incense-scented hall.
Location: Bolshoy pr, Petrogradskaya storona, 18A
Open: Tuesday, Sunday 12.00 - 17.00
Excursion reservation: incoming@favorit.spb.ru
Museum of chocolate
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‘Museum’ is perhaps stretching it a bit, but there's certainly some fine works of art to be seen at this gourmet chocolate shop. Hand-made sculptures of animals, cars, dolls, Disney characters and - inevitably - Lenin, are so well-crafted they could give Rodin a run for his money. If you can bring yourself to eat perfectly formed purchase you will enjoy by some of the smoothest tasting chocolate you ever had!
Location: Zhukovskogo str., 18
Open: 11.00 – 21.00
Excursion reservation: incoming@favorit.spb.ru
Museum of musical instruments
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The Museum of Music is a unique museum among the museums of St. Petersburg. It is located in the famous Sheremetev's Palace. In 1989, Sheremetev's Palace was given to the St. Petersburg Museum of Theater and Music to house the State collection of musical instruments and to found the Museum of Music. In 1995, the permanent exhibition "Sheremetevs and St. Petersburg's Music in the 18th -20th Centuries" was opened in Sheremetev's Palace. Petersburg's collection of musical instruments includes 3 thousand exhibits. In the museum, you may see and hear Russian bells, copies of Ancient musical instruments made in the 19th century from the originals found during the excavations of Etruscan cities. The exquisite Baroque shapes of European musical instruments of the 17th -18th centuries – old harps, violas and harpsichords – wonderfully match the architectural style of the palace, the light ornaments of the cast iron fence, the carved stucco of recently restored interiors.
Location: Naberezhnaya Fontanki, 34
Open: 12.00- 18.00
Closed: Monday, Tuesday and last Friday of each month.
Excursion reservation: incoming@favorit.spb.ru
Museum of dolls
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The exhibition at the Doll Museum isn't just for girls - as well as dolls "from all ages and nations", the museum displays a rich collection of lead soldiers, representing warriors of various eras. The Doll Museum has displays a huge variety of exhibits, from traditional folk toys to the latest designer dolls. Looking at the dolls, you will also learn plenty about the traditional ceremonies, festivals and costumes of the Eastern Slavs. The museum also contains characters from literature and fairytales, and doll "actors" from the puppet theatre.
Alongside the permanent exhibition, the museum hosts temporary exhibitions of dolls by Petersburg's top designers. Under the instruction of local artisans, you can take part in master classes where you will get the chance to make your own dolls from cloth, straw, paper and other materials. Traditional peasant dolls are surprisingly quick and easy to make, and there are a variety of other master classes on offer.
Location: Kamskaya str., 8
Open: 10.00 – 18.00
Excursion reservation: incoming@favorit.spb.ru
Museum of toys
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This enchanting little museum contains several rooms of various antique and modern toys. There are dolls and teddy bears from the 1800s, miniature tea sets, figurines, Russian dolls and dolls’ houses. A more modern room takes a innovative approach to the mundane, containing metallic crafts: decorated cheese-graters, samovars and kitchen utensils. The Museum also hosts temporary exhibitions.
Location: reki Karpovky emb., 32
Open: 11:00 - 18:00
Closed: Monday and the last Tuesday of each month
Excursion reservation: incoming@favorit.spb.ru
Lomonosov Porcelain Manufacture
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The Imperial Russian Lomonosov Porcelain Manufactory was founded by Empress Elizabeth, Peter the Great's daughter, in 1744. Here the gifted Russian scientist Dmitry Vinogradov independently discovered the secret of making porcelain and developed the technology for its manufacture and the later creation of Lomonosov Russia.
The Factory Museum was established in 1844 by order of Nicolas I, to store, collect, study and reproduce unique porcelain products. The museum accumulated a sizeable collection of masterpieces that reflect an almost 260 year history of the first porcelain factory of Russia. More then 30,000 pieces are on display including porcelain and glass of various Imperial factories, articles of the Soviet era, merchandise of famous European factories as well as samples of Japanese and Chinese porcelain.
The museum is also a library. Established in the second half of nineteenth century the library contains rare and unusual books on porcelain and porcelain art as well as sketches and drawings of world-renowned artists.
Location: prospekt Obukhovskoy Oboroni, 151
Open: 10.00 – 19.00
Excursion reservation: incoming@favorit.spb.ru
City sculpture museum
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The State City Sculpture Museum in St. Petersburg was founded in 1939 as the first museum concerned with the study, preservation and restoration of artistic monuments in an open city environment. The museum’s collection includes more than 200 monuments and 1500 memorial plaques. The collection includes the Rostral Columns on the Spit of Vasilyevsky Island, the Alexander Column on Palace Square, the Narvskie and Moskovskie triumphal gates, the Sphinxes on the embankment outside the Academy of Arts, the horse sculpture on Anichkov Bridge, the monuments to Peter I, Catherine II, Nicolas I, Pushkin, Lomonosov and Suvorov – monuments that have become symbols of St. Petersburg – and many others. The museum’s main exhibition is the graves and necropolises of the Alexander Nevsky monastery, as well as St. Petersburg’s oldest necropolises – the 18th century Lazarevskoe cemetery and the Artists’ Necropolis (Tikhvinskoe cemetery). These are the resting places of the most important figures in Russian history – of generals, travelers, scholars, artists, writers and actors.
Location: Nevsky prospect, 179/2
Open: MO –WE, FR-SU 9.30 am – 4.30 pm
Closed: TH
Excursion reservation: incoming@favorit.spb.ru
Court life museum
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Situated in the very heart of St. Petersburg, the façade of this building incorporates different St. Petersburg styles from Petrine Baroque to High Empire. It was here that at the beginning of the 18th century, on the orders of Peter the Grate, the court stables were built, complete with housing for servants. The SPAS charitable foundation has created a museum that recreates the atmosphere of the salons of high society and the traditions of capital’s drawings room from 19th century. The museum is made unique by the dancing flames in open fireplaces and the opportunity to sit and relax on the couches and armchairs that make up the museum’s exhibits. In order to create the collection, the fund looked to the period of Russian classicism, a time of unrivaled blossoming of Russian architecture and decorative and applied arts. The balcony of the museum offers a wonderful view of nine bridges stretching over the rivers and canals of St. Petersburg.
Location: Konyushennaya Square, 1
Excursion reservation: incoming@favorit.spb.ru
Masters’ guild micro miniatures museum
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In a building on Ulitsa Marata belonging to the museum of the Professional Education, the International Masters’ Guild has opened the first museum of its kind in Russia – the Museum of Micro Miniatures. The collection is unique in that of the exhibits measures less than one millimeter. The original exhibits can only be examined with the help of magnifying equipment built into exhibition space. The collection consists of nothing less than gold, silver and platinum dust, and even ordinary grey dust, which is actually rainbow-coloured when examined under powerful magnification. Items on display include classics of this genre, such as miniature shoes made for a flea (the shoe is 0.05 mm in width – six million times smaller than a horseshoe), a caravan of camels housed in the eye of needle (the height of the camels is 0.07-0.08 mm), two pages of text printed on a grain of rice, and a rose painted on horse hair.
Location: Marata str, 64
Open: Daily 11 am – 6 pm
Excursion reservation: incoming@favorit.spb.ru
Russian Vodka Museum
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Russian Vodka Museum celebrates the rich history of the world-famous Russian drink. It provides the unique opportunity to discover the secrets of vodka making, tells about centuries-old drinking traditions and uncover the important role which vodka plays in Russian social life. The museum is located in the very heart of St. Petersburg near St. Isaac’s Square in the historical building of Headquarters and Stables of the Horse Guard Regiment. The museum exhibition tells the detailed story of Russian national drink. Wax figures composition helps to feel the unique atmosphere of the XV century Chudov monastery in Moscow Kremlin where the monks produced the first “bread wine”. On the walls you’ll find old engravings, posters, portraits of Great Dukes, Tsars, Emperors and other notable historical personalities.. Among the exhibits are antique vessels, containers, kitchenware, and a matter of special pride to museum staff - a great collection of vodka bottles that were used by the famous 19th century vodka manufactures. Russian glass and porcelain makers left numerous samples of their unfading art to their descendants, proving once again that “zastolie” (festive dining) is not just drinking but a beautiful ceremony deeply rooted into Russian history. Our guides will take you on exciting journey through Russian vodka history which helps you to understand, the importance of vodka for Russian culture. After the exhibition you’ll be invited to vodka tasting. It will take place in a room decorated as a drinking house of the beginning of the XX century. There, at a traditional high table one you’ll sample several kinds of vodka with traditional Russian snacks - “zakuski”.
Address: Konnogvardeysky Boulevard, 4
Open: daily 10 am – 10 pm
Excursion reservation: incoming@favorit.spb.ru
Cottage village “ The Consular Village”
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Cottage village “The Consular Village” was built on the bank of the Gulf of Finland and consists of 20 VIP cottages. The complex was designed for residence of heads of state that arrive to Palace of Congresses during negotiations on the highest state level.
Favorit DMC offers you a unique opportunity to visit one of the cottages in “The Consular Village”. During excursions you can see VIP interiors and get acquainted with the mastership of Russian artists and designers. And as a result you can feel the diversity and greatness of Russia as multinational country.
Description
The idea of the complex is very interesting; it presents “Russia in small”. Each cottage is called after great Russian city – Moscow, St. Petersburg, Vladimir, Veliky Novgorod, Kostroma, Pskov, Yaroslavl, Tula, Smolensk, Archangelsk, Vologda, Astrakhan, Murmansk, Samara, Rostov, Irkutsk, Krasnoyarsk, Kazan, Yekaterinburg, Vladivostok – and their location resembles the map of Russia. All cottages were built according to a typical project but each of them is unique. All rooms are decorated with works of art from the city which name the cottage is bearing.
In the cottages of the Consular Village you can see Vologda lace and Kaslin casting, masterful painting and Zlatoust graving, Lappish and Tatar decorations.
During summit “Russia – European Unit” in 2003 and G-8 summit in the cottages were staying the first persons of member states: George Bush, Angela Merkel, Jacques Chirac, Tony Blair, Romano Prodi, Junichiro Koizumi. At different times the residents of the Consular Village were Boris Eltsin and Paul McCartney.
Open: 10 am – 6 pm
Close: Saturday, Sunday and activity days.
N.B. Excursion is available only for adult
Excursion reservation: incoming@favorit.spb.ru
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