St. Petersburg is considered to be the second capital of Russia and can be undoubtedly called the Russia's cultural capital due to the great quantity of cultural places - museums, theaters, libraries, cathedrals, and many, many more. Though there are plenty of places somehow connected with culture, museums are among fine examples of what a person who is fond of culture should visit while staying in St. Petersburg.
There are two main types of museums in St. Petersburg: specialized museums devoted to one or another branch of culture, such as Russian Museum where different pieces of Russian fine art are exhibited, and ones which are considered to be invaluable objects of the culture and history of St. Petersburg, such as former houses or flats of famous painters, writers or composers, palaces, and so on.
The first group of St. Petersburg museums is scattered all around the city. The reason of it lies in the fact that there are museums devoted to new or special branches of culture or science, such as Museum of Hygiene, or Museum of Chocolate. In this case museums are founded in places which are either suitable and/or available. Usually these museums are not very popular because of their location in St. Petersburg.
The other type of museums of St. Petersburg named above - like palaces or other cultural objects which are considered to be monuments of culture - seem to experience a different situation. As the city spread with time, new districts appeared, while the central part stayed quite the same. That is why the most of such museums are still located in the central part of St. Petersburg, and that is why they attract more tourists to them - because it is easier to visit them all at once.
No matter what type of museums you would like to choose, you will definitely like both types of them while staying in St. Petersburg. Visit palaces and houses of noble people if you like to know more about the past of St. Petersburg and Russia as well. Take a tour to the brand new museums to know what Russia, its culture and science is like nowadays. Explore the culture of Russia and enjoy magnificent places of St. Petersburg, the cultural capital of Russia.
Museums of Petersburg:
The Hermitage The Menshikov Palace The Russian Museum The Konstantinovskii Palace The Yusupov Palace The Peter and Paul Fortress Peterhof The Catherine Palace The Pavlovsk Ensemble The State Museum-Reserve Oranienbaum Gatchina The Elagin Island Kronshtadt The Artillery Museum The Central Military and Naval Museum The Aleksander Suvorov Memorial Museum The Blockade Museum The Armoured Cruiser "Aurora" The Ice-Breaker Krasin The Museum of Arctic and Antarctic The Kunstkamera The Railway Transport Museum The Anna Ahmatova Museum The Dostoevsky Museum
