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Gatchina Park in autumn 🍂A place of quiet beauty, romantic landscapes and hidden stories.Unlike the grand imperial resid...
29/09/2026

Gatchina Park in autumn 🍂
A place of quiet beauty, romantic landscapes and hidden stories.

Unlike the grand imperial residences of Peterhof and Tsarskoye Selo, Gatchina has a more mysterious, almost medieval character.

Construction of the Imperial Palace began in 1766 and was completed in 1781.
The palace was built for Count Grigory Orlov, a favourite of Catherine II. Later it belonged to Paul I - son of Catherine the Great.

The park was designed as a romantic landscape with ponds, canals, islands and bridges - making the scenery feel almost like a painting.

Even the greenery can become part of the design - like this perfectly trimmed crown.

Look closer at the architecture.
Towers, decorative details and the Russian double-headed eagle give the park a distinctly imperial character.

And this striking clock tower is another beautiful detail you’ll notice throughout the park.

The park is filled with sculptures that blend naturally into the landscape, turning a simple walk into an open-air gallery.

The Oak Solitary Tree 🌳
This centuries-old oak is one of Gatchina’s famous landmarks.
And beneath the area around the tree are underground passages connecting different parts of the palace complex.

This is Gatchina in autumn.
Quiet paths, old trees, water, architecture - and so many details that deserve a slower walk.

One library. More than 37 million items. And some stories you would never expect to find here.The National Library of Ru...
28/09/2026

One library. More than 37 million items. And some stories you would never expect to find here.

The National Library of Russia was founded by Catherine the Great in 1795 and opened its doors to readers in 1814.

The idea was ambitious for its time: to create a public library that would make knowledge accessible to people regardless of their social background. And it has grown into one of the largest libraries in the world, with more than 37 million items in its collections.

But numbers tell only part of the story.

When you enter the library, you can enter a completely different world. Here you can find valuable books dating back to the 16th and 17th centuries.

One of my favourite places is the Faust Study, a Gothic room created in 1857 to resemble a medieval European library.

At its centre stands a statue of Johannes Gutenberg, the German pioneer of printing.

And here you can see something that seems almost unbelievable today: books attached to a table with chains.

These are early printed books - incunabula, publications produced before 1501. They were so rare and valuable that in medieval libraries books were sometimes chained to prevent them from being stolen.

And then there is one of the library’s most extraordinary treasures: Voltaire’s personal library.

After Voltaire’s death in 1778, Catherine the Great - who had corresponded with him for many years - purchased his library and papers.

She wanted to preserve not simply his books, but the intellectual world of one of the great thinkers of the Enlightenment. The collection arrived in St Petersburg in 1779.

Today, the collection contains 6,814 volumes, and more than a third of them bear Voltaire’s handwritten notes in the margins.

So when you look at one of these pages, you are not simply looking at an old book.

You are looking at Voltaire reading it.

His notes are still there.

And so is his monogram, ADV - Arouet de Voltaire.

The books were eventually transferred from the Hermitage to the Imperial Public Library in the 19th century, and Voltaire’s collection remains here today.

But the library is not only about rare books and famous names.

It is still a working library.

There are 32 readin

27/09/2026

Why is Voltaire’s library in St.Petersburg? 📚

Catherine the Great corresponded with Voltaire for years and admired his ideas. After his death, she bought his entire library and brought it to Russia.

Today, 6,814 volumes are preserved in the Russian National Library - and more than a third still carry Voltaire’s handwritten notes.

Imagine seeing in the book the exact words, questions and thoughts he left in the margins centuries ago.

This is one of those places in Saint-Petersburg where history feels surprisingly personal.

Did you know Chanel N°5 has a Russian story?By the early 1920s, Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel had already built a successful f...
23/09/2026

Did you know Chanel N°5 has a Russian story?

By the early 1920s, Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel had already built a successful fashion house in Paris.

But she was about to create something that would become just as iconic as her clothes: her first perfume.

After the Russian Revolution of 1917, members of the Russian aristocracy arrived in France.

Among them was Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich Romanov, a cousin of Nicholas II.

And in the early 1920s, Chanel and Dmitri became lovers.

Their relationship was brief, but it connected Chanel to the world of Russian aristocratic émigrés.

Through this circle, Chanel came to know Ernest Beaux - a Russian-born French perfumer who had previously worked for the prestigious Rallet perfume house in Moscow.

He would become the creator of her first fragrance.

In 1921, Beaux presented Chanel with several perfume samples.

She chose number five - and CHANEL N°5 was born.

Its revolutionary use of aldehydes helped create a completely new kind of fragrance: abstract, modern and unlike a single flower.

And the bottle?

There is a story that the iconic square bottle was inspired by a Russian vodka decanter.

Chanel deliberately chose a radically simple bottle than the ornate perfume bottles of the time.

And that simplicity became iconic.

22/09/2026

A metro station with a football story ⚽️
Zenit station takes you straight to Gazprom Arena, home of FC Zenit.

Whenever you visit the Hermitage, check the temporary exhibitions too.One of the current exhibitions is dedicated to Bar...
20/09/2026

Whenever you visit the Hermitage, check the temporary exhibitions too.

One of the current exhibitions is dedicated to Baron Alexander von Stieglitz and the school of technical drawing he founded in St Petersburg. It is on view until October 4, 2026.

The exhibition marks the 150th anniversary of the Central School of Technical Drawing founded by Baron Alexander von Stieglitz.

Stieglitz believed that education in art and design could change people’s lives. His school trained artists and craftsmen and became an important centre of applied arts education.

The exhibition brings together works from different periods, showing how design, craftsmanship and education have always been connected. It also brings together objects from the collections of the Hermitage and the Stieglitz Academy - including works that were once used as models for students.

But perhaps the most interesting part is the contrast between museum masterpieces and student works and architectural projects - reminding us that behind every beautiful object there is someone who had to learn how to make it.

So many things caught my eye - here are a few of them.

18/09/2026

The famous Peacock clock made in London in 1777 can be found in the Hermitage museum in the Pavilion Hall.
It was a love surprise gift to Empress Catherine II. The clock has a complicated mechanism that is hidden under the tree. In order to save this precious 18th century mechanism they wind the clock just once a week.

When the clock works the figures in the clock come to life: the peacock raises its train, opens it to the full, turns round and closes it; the squirrel cracks nuts, the rooster opens its beak, the owl turns its head. The clock is unique and it is one of oldest in the museum.

17/09/2026

The Alexander Column - one of the most impressive monuments on Palace Square.

Carved from a single block of granite, it rises nearly 26 metres (85 ft) and weighs around 600 tons.

It was erected in 1834 to commemorate the victory over Napoleon’s army in 1812.

And here’s the incredible part: no crane, no bolts, no foundation. The column simply stands by its own weight.

At the top, a bronze angel holds a cross. Around the monument, reliefs and double-headed eagles tell the story of victory and the power of the empire.

And somehow, this enormous 600-ton column still feels incredibly elegant.

Alexander Park in Tsarskoye Selo was created in the 18th century, during the reign of Catherine the Great.At the time, C...
17/09/2026

Alexander Park in Tsarskoye Selo was created in the 18th century, during the reign of Catherine the Great.

At the time, Chinoiserie was all the rage in European courts - a fashionable fascination with Chinese art and aesthetics.

And Alexander Park reflects that trend beautifully: Chinese-style bridges, pavilions, gates and other decorative details are scattered throughout the landscape.

It was imperial fashion - translated into an entire park.

The Great Chinese Bridge 🐲

Built in the late 18th century, the bridge stands just beside the Golden Gates of Catherine Palace.

And it is wonderfully over the top - in the best possible way.

The bridge is faced with pink granite, while its railings are decorated with vase-shaped elements connected by iron branches of coral.

At each of the four corners, you’ll find Chinese figures holding lanterns on long poles, standing on granite pedestals.
A perfect example of the Chinoiserie craze.

The Chinese Gazebo or the “Squeaky Gazebo” 🎐

Its architecture deliberately imitates Chinese pagodas - a perfect expression of the exotic taste of Catherine the Great’s era.

But why “Squeaky”?

Look up at the roof: the weather vane is shaped like a Chinese banner. When the wind turns it, it makes a distinctive squeaking sound.

Hence the name 😉

The White Tower 🤍

A Gothic tower built for imperial boys - sons of Emperor Nicholas I.

But it wasn’t just for show.

The boys came here for lessons, games and physical training - essentially, an imperial playground disguised as a medieval tower.

CHAPELLE - a gothic ruin 🧱

It looks ancient. It isn’t.

Chapelle was deliberately designed to resemble a romantic Gothic ruin.

Inside, the illusion continued: stained glass, painted decoration and angel sculptures once filled the pavilion.

And at its heart stood a statue of Christ by the German sculptor Johann Heinrich von Dannecker.

Today you’ll find the original weather vane that crowned the roof. During World War II, it was badly damaged by bullets, and its tail was completely lost.

Today, the original weather vane is preserved inside the pavilion, with the traces of war still visible on the metal.

In 2018, a replica was placed back o

16/09/2026

The Chinese side of Tsarskoye Selo ✨

If you’re visiting Catherine Palace, don’t leave just yet. Alexander Park is right next to it - and it’s a completely different experience.

Think winding paths, ponds, lush greenery, Chinese-inspired bridges and buildings, and plenty of quiet corners to explore.

Save this for your trip to St. Petersburg - and give yourself a little extra time after the palace.

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