Master CardVisaSTB
JCBDiners Club
РусскийEnglishDeutsch
SuomalainenFrançais

About Saint-Petersburg > The City of St. Petersburg today

Time
St. Petersburg belongs to the Moscow standard time zone (MST), which differs from the Greenwich Mean Time (GMT):
Summer MST = GMT + 4 hours.
Winter MST = GMT + 3 hours.

Population
Saint Petersburg is the second largest city in Russia. The 2002 census recorded a population of the federal subject of 4,661,219, or 3.21% of the total population of Russia.

Climate
Saint Petersburg experiences a humid continental climate of the cool summer subtype, due to the distinct moderating influence of the Baltic Sea cyclones. With cool, humid and short summers and long, cold winters, the city is just short of having a subarctic climate.

The average daily temperature in July is 22 °C, winter minimum is about −35 °C.

The Centre
The historic centre of the city is the Palace Square, which incorporates the Winter Palace, the General Staff Headquarters and Ministries Buildings. The Winter Palace used to be the Imperial residence. Several rooms in the palace were used to house unique works of art, and these rooms came to be known as the Hermitage. Later more buildings were constructed for the growing collections: the Small Hermitage, the Great Hermitage, the Hermitage Theatre and the New Hermitage. All these buildings now make up the State Hermitage - an enormous museum of art, history and culture. The collection includes paintings by Rubens, Rembrandt, Leonardo da Vinci, Titian and many other artists, as well as historical and cultural objects from many countries.

The Venice of The North
St. Petersburg is built on 42 islands at the Neva delta where the river flows into the Gulf of Finland. It is one of the world's leading cities in terms of its number of rivers, islands and bridges. St. Petersburg is sometimes called a museum of bridges for it has over 300 of them.

69 rivers and other waterways flow through the city and its immediate environs; within the city limits there are 40 rivers, tributaries, canals and other waterways with a total length of 217.5 km. The principal ones are the Great and Lesser Neva, the Great, Medium and Lesser Nevka, the Fontanka, the Karpovka, the Okhta, the Zhdanovka, the Moika, Chernaya Rechka and the Obvodnyy Canal.

Nevsky Prospekt
Nevsky Prospekt is St. Petersburg's Main Street. It began with the clearing of a straight cut through the forest and the building of a road on it.

The straight, wide thoroughfare starts from the Admiralty, passes through Ploshchad Vosstaniya and ends at the Alexander Nevsky Monastery. It was named after Alexander Nevsky (or possibly after the monastery, which was also called Nevsky). The city's main highway holds St. Petersburg's major shops, theatres and museums.

Islands
In the early 20th century there were more than 100 islands in the city, but as a result of engineering work to develop the marine facade their number was reduced to 42. There are over 580 bridges, including 20 that can be raised (7 of these cross the Neva); the total area occupied by the river within the city's boundaries is 32 km (its total length from Lake Ladoga to the Gulf of Finland is 74 km). The length of the marine embankment within the limits of the modern city is about 35 km.

St. Petersburg - a naval city
A great deal in St. Petersburg's artistic decoration is reminiscent of the city's naval glory, which is inextricably linked with the expanses of the Baltic Sea. Peter I did all he could to ensure that the sails of Russian ships were seen along the Baltic coast. Russia became a formidable naval power, confirming its superiority with glorious victories and round-the-world voyages.

Theatres
St. Petersburg's first theatre was opened by Peter the Great’s sister Natalya in 1709. The city is famous for its theatres; not only for the companies, but for the beauty of the theatres themselves. From the earliest years of St. Petersburg, theatres were built into the Imperial palaces, while the imposing monumental buildings of the public theatres were erected on the city's squares. St. Petersburg is rightly known as the cultural capital of Russia.

The city boasts one of the oldest circuses in the country, opened in 1877. A great contribution to the musical heritage of the city and the country is made by the Shostakovich Philharmonia and the Glinka State Academic Capella.

Architectural Monuments
Among St. Petersburg's unique attractions are its numerous palaces, constructed in the 18th and 19th centuries, when the city was the capital of the Russian state; they formed the ceremonial face of the city. Several of the palaces and other buildings are outstanding examples of world architecture. They include the vast Winter Palace, the principal feature of Palace Embankment and Palace Square. Also worthy of attention are the Mikhailovsky Palace, the architecture along Nevsky Prospekt and the Engineers' Castle, which overlooks the expanse of the Field of Mars.

Cathedrals And Churches
St. Petersburg has 10 cathedrals, 39 Orthodox churches, Lutheran and Roman Catholic churches, an Armenian-Gregorian church, a Buddhist temple, a Muslim mosque and two synagogues. The world-famous cathedrals are: the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, one of the leading examples of 18th century Russian ecclesiastical architecture; the Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan, a monument of Russian military glory featuring trophies from the Patriotic War of 1812; and an example of classicist architecture: the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ ("the Saviour on the Spilled Blood").

Peter And Paul Fortress
Peter and Paul Cathedral is the oldest church in St. Petersburg; its construction started within a month of the city's foundation on 29 June 1703. It was completed on 1 April 1704 and dedicated to the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul. Peter and Paul Fortress is the Imperial burial-vault: it contains the remains of almost all the Russian Emperors and Empresses. Marble sarcophagi are installed over the graves of the Tsars and members of their families.

The Suburbs
Over the course of two centuries from St. Petersburg's foundation in 1703, magnificent palace and park complexes were constructed close to the Russian capital: Peterhof (Petrodvorets), Strelna, Oranienbaum (Lomonosov), Tsarskoye Selo (Pushkin), Pavlovsk, Gatchina and a number of other country residences for Emperors, Grand Princes and Nobles. They reflect all the stages in the development of Russian architecture and landscaping from the 18th to 20th centuries.

Practical info

Hot Line
Fire 01, 24 hours a day
Police 02, 24 hours a day
Ambulance 03, 24 hours a day
Special police service (for foreigners) (+7-812) 164-9787, 24 hours a day
Speaking clock 060, 24 hours a day
Telephone Information service (private numbers excluded) 09, 7.00-22.00
Information Line (English & Russian) 326-9696, 24 hours a day

Lost and Found Office
19 Zakharevskaya ul. (+7-812) 278-3690, 11.00-17.30 closed on SAT and SUN.

Customs
For foreigners, the export of non-Russian currency is limited to the imported amount. Therefore, foreigners are recommended to fill in the customs declaration mentioning the imported sums of foreign currencies, and use the Red Channel wherever it's available. When the amount to be imported exceeds the equivalent to USD 10,000, filling in the customs declaration is mandatory and using the Green Channel is not permitted.

The entry customs declaration has also to contain the list of antiques, works of art, and musical instruments imported. The declaration is to be kept until leaving Russia.

On exporting from Russia foreign currency amounts exceeding the equivalent to USD 3,000, filling in the customs declaration is mandatory and using the Green Channel is not allowed.

It is not allowed to export from Russia any items of cultural value, including pieces of art produced more than 100 years ago, and items of special cultural importance irrelevant to the date of manufacturing. To export an item of cultural value, including contemporary artworks, the authorized certificate is necessary, issued by the Local Management Body at Russian Federation Ministry of Culture on Preserving Items of Cultural Value in St. Petersburg.

Souvenirs, as well as cultural items of mass production, don’t need permission to be taken out of Russia.

North-Western Customs Administration of Russia
20 Kutuzova nab. 329-1298, 430-8086
Confidence (complaints) 275-0338

Representation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
of the Russian Federation in St. Petersburg 272-0076

Consular points:
airport Pulkovo-II 104-3415
Torfianovka, Vyborg area, Leningrad region (278) 52-352

Consulates:

Money
The national Russian currency is Rouble (RUR). One Rouble is equal to 100 kopecks. The exchange rate as of today is 43 RUR to the euro.

Telephone
How to make a long-distance phone call on credit to any city within the territory of Russia and the CIS: dial "8"; upon receiving the dial tone, dial the code of the city and the number required.

Telephone codes of some Russian cities:
St. Petersburg 812
Kaliningrad 0112
Moscow 095
Arkhangelsk 818
Murmansk 8152
Pskov 8112
Novgorod 816
Vyborg 278
Petrozavodsk 814
Information 070, 777

International Telephone Connections
How to make an international telephone call: If dialing from Hotel, first dial "9"; you will hear a dial tone, dial "8"; upon receiving the dial tone, dial "10", the country code, the telephone area (city) code and the number required.

Telephone Codes of some Foreign Countries:
United Kingdom 44
USA 1
Finland 358
Germany 49
Sweden 46
France 33
Italy 39
Japan 81
Information 070, 777

Express Mail Services
DHL 326-6400
UPS 327-8540

Medical Treatment
If you urgently need medical assistance, dial 03 (24 hours a day). Any medical institution must help you or call for an ambulance with a professional medical team. When delivered to a hospital, you must show your medical insurance policy.

To obtain further information about urgent medical service, you can phone the Public Health Committee at St. Petersburg Administration: tel. 117-0906.
Along with the state medical institutions, here are some private clinics:
American Medical Clinic (78 Moyki Reki nab., tel. 140-2090)
Euromed Clinic (60 Suvorovskiy pr., tel. 327-0301)
International Clinic & Hospital MEDEM (6 Marata ul., tel. 336-3333 - 24 hours)
British-American Family Practice (7 Grafsky per., tel. 327-6030)

Tourist Services
City administration maintains a policy of creating an image of St. Petersburg as a worldwide centre of tourism and culture, and favours tourist activity. Projects such as "White Days in St. Petersburg", intended to attract tourists off season, and "St. Petersburg Guest's Card", have been developed.

The following companies are recognized as Official Travel Agents of St. Petersburg Government: Arktur Travel, CITI, Comintour, Cosmos Ltd, DIUIM Travel Company, Hotel Saint Petersburg, Intouravtoservice, Intourist St. Petersburg, ITUS-Tour, Neva Travel Company, Nika, St. Petersburg Council for Tourism and Excursions, World Travel Company.

Also, 2 foreign companies - General Tours (USA) and Olympia Reisen(Germany) - partners of Russian companies, have been accredited as the Official Travel Agents of St. Petersburg Government. St. Petersburg, which has numerous rivers and canals, supports the tourist-trip activity of light-weight vessels. At each new tourist season, new water routes along the rivers and canals are introduced, including daily-scheduled passenger boats.

City Tourist Information Centre is opened for city visitors and inhabitants, and its database contains all the necessary tourist information. The Centre renders a wide range of tourist services.

Links | Saint-Petersburg

“Stony Island Hotel”

2009 © "Stony Island Hotels" St. Petersburg, Russia
Creation — "Opimax" Company