During the global coronavirus pandemic, living in a lockdown, it becomes key to find interesting things to do. For those who love travelling and plan to visit Russia, it’s a great opportunity to prepare for the trip. I offer you to discover St Petersburg cultural life without leaving your home.
What to watch? In answer to this question St Petersburg news site Fontanka.ru has started an on-line marathon called “No Intermissions”. The first performance of the marathon was “Midsummer Night’s Dream” staged and broadcasted by Drama Theatre on Vasilievsky Island today, on March 21. Theatre performances, concerts, historic and cultural lectures, virtual tours will keep going on broadcasted from all over Russia. The live broadcasts are free of charge and absolutely amazing!
Unfortunately, the marathon mostly features events in Russian. However you can join in for music concerts (Monday, March 23 at 3 p.m. Moscow time there will be a broadcast from St. Petersburg State Philharmonic Hall).
Here’s a list of St Petersburg museums that offer virtual tours:
Hermitage Museum
One of the world’s biggest art museums, the famous Hermitage features European and Russian art and history artefacts alongside with Fine Arts masterpieces. The main museum complex consists of the Winter Palace, Small, Old and New Hermitage. Opposite the main complex across the Palace Square there’s General Staff building that houses famous Impressionists and Postimpressionists’ collections alongside with temporary exhibitions and even interactive projects and educational lectures.
A series of wonderful short videos about the Winter Palace interiors and masterpieces of the Hermitage collections with English commentaries are available here.
Discover St Petersburg and Russian Museum
Russian Museum’s collection spans over 7 centuries of Russian history and art from ancient icons to Russian Impressionists and Avant-Garde paintings. This iconic museum is located in 4 historic palaces in the heart of St Petersburg.
The Russian Museum 3D tour allows to see the main exposition at Mikhailovsky Palace. You can “walk” from one room to the other, focus on masterpieces. Benois Wing houses the fabulous collection of Russian paintings dating back to the end of the 19th – beginning of the 20th centuries. Art lovers interested in Soviet art will also be interested to browse this part. St. Michael’s Castle position, on the contrary, takes us back to the beginning of the 19th century, when the Russian Hamlet was building his own medieval knight’s castle to live there only 40 nights and be assassinated in his own bedroom. But St. Michael’s Castle is not the only one to take us back to the atmosphere of old Imperial Russia. 3D tours to Stroganoff Palace and Marble Palace also recreate the age of elegant ladies, gallant gentlemen and palace coups.
Peterhof fountain parks
Take a 3D tour around famous Russian Versailles – Peterhof. You can explore amazing Peterhof parks with 150 fountains and 4 larger cascades. Dazzling Grand Cascade, delightfully charming pavilions, the Gulf of Finland and maritime topic dominating the fountain gardens will appeal so much that the viewer will inevitably come to Peterhof to see it all in real life.
Church on Spilled Blood
Colourful mosaics and elaborate stone carving are the main features of the church’s exterior, which emulates old Russian traditional church-building style. Yet it’s more impressive inside. Take a 3D tour of Church on the Blood and enjoy the riot of colour, the overall effect created by the ingenious juxtaposition of mosaics and more than 20 types of minerals.
Faberge Museum
Wonder through this fabulous museum on your 3D tour and discover amazing Imperial Faberge Eggs, elaborate enamels, outstanding pieces of jewelry created by talented masters of the House of Faberge.
Russian Railway Museum
Originally a train station and a locomotive depot transformed into a museum complex dedicated to the history of railroads in Russia.
To conclude the post for today: the situation in St Petersburg remains stable, that keeps us optimistic. In Russia the numbers for March 21 are as follows: total 306 cases, 12 people recovered, deaths: 1. In St. Petersburg as of March 21 we have 11 confirmed cases, 2 persons recovered, deaths: 0. So, we stay home, spend time with kids, read, master new skills and discover the world museums on virtual tours, while you discover St Petersburg and Russia. When our lives are back to normal, we’ll travel again.