Page 44 - (DK Eyewitness) Top 10 Travel Guide - St. Petersburg

42 ❯❯ The Top 10 of Everything

Museums

Russian Museum
3
Containing a wide range of
works and styles, from the ground-
breaking avant-garde art of Kazimir
Malevich to the mas sive can vases of
Karl Bryullov, this mu seum boasts
one of the world’s best collec tions of
Russian art (see pp22–3).
Central Naval Museum
4
Founded in 1805 and moved to
its current location in 2013, this is one
of Russia’s oldest museums. With
over 700,000 maritime exhibits, it
covers hundreds of years of naval
history. Highlights of the collection
include its intricate, 18th-century
model ships, and the miniaturized
warship Peter the Great learned to
sail as a child (see p80).
Throne room at the Hermitage
The Hermitage
1
A treasure trove, an
architectural wonder, a symbol of the
city’s stubborn resistance during
World War II – the Hermitage is all
this and more. The vast collection
fea tures works by Michelangelo,
Picasso and Rubens (see pp14–17).
Kunstkammer
2 Painting at the Central Naval Museum
The Kunstkammer was the
city’s first museum, built between
Artillery Museum
1718 and 1734 to house Peter the 5
Great’s collection of anato mical Military enthu siasts will find
curiosities. The first exhibition a visit to this museum, hou sed in
included live dwarves, giants and the outer fortifications of the Peter
two-headed animals. Peter and Paul Fortress (see pp24–5),
instructed the museum to offer free particularly rewarding. Used at one
salo (pig fat) and vodka to boost time as an arsenal, the museum
attend ance. Some of the original
exhi bits are still on display (see p89). Exterior of the Artillery Museum

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