Visitors on cruiser Aurora.

Cruiser Aurora

St Petersburg

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Moored on the Bolshaya Nevka, the Aurora had a walk-on part in the communist revolution. On the night of 25 October 1917, its crew fired a blank round from the forward gun as a signal for the start of the assault on the Winter Palace. Restored and painted in pretty colours, it’s a living museum that swarms with kids on weekends.

Launched in 1901, the Aurora saw action in the Russo-Japanese War and was sunk by German bombs in WWII. Inside you can view the crew's quarters as well as communist propaganda and a collection of friendship banners from around the world.

Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

  • Jordan Staircase Of Hermitage Museum

    State Hermitage Museum

    1.23 MILES

    The Hermitage fully lives up to its sterling reputation. You can be absorbed by its treasures for days and still come out wanting more. The enormous…

  • Grand Palace

    Grand Palace

    15.74 MILES

    The Grand Palace is an imposing building, although with just 30-something rooms, it is not nearly as large as your typical tsarist palace. From the start…

  • General Staff Building

    General Staff Building

    1.34 MILES

    The east wing of this magnificent building, wrapping around the south of Dvortsovaya pl and designed by Carlo Rossi in the 1820s, marries restored…

  • Lower Park

    Lower Park

    15.9 MILES

    One of the greatest attractions outside of St Petersburg is the jaw-dropping collection of gilded fountains, statue-lined lanes and picturesque canals…

  • Yusupov palace on the Moyka river.

    Yusupov Palace

    2.31 MILES

    This spectacular palace on the Moyka River has some of the best 19th-century interiors in the city, in addition to a fascinating and gruesome history. The…

  • Katherine's Palace hall in Tsarskoe Selo (Pushkin).

    Catherine Palace

    16.67 MILES

    The centrepiece of Tsarskoe Selo, created under Empresses Elizabeth and Catherine the Great between 1744 and 1796, is the vast baroque Catherine Palace,…

  • Mariinsky theater in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

    Mariinsky Theatre

    2.53 MILES

    The Mariinsky Theatre has played a pivotal role in Russian ballet ever since it was built in 1859 and remains one of Russia's most loved and respected…

  • The Marble Bridge of the Catherine Park, Tsarskoe Selo, Pushkin.

    Catherine Park

    16.77 MILES

    Around the Catherine Palace extends the lovely Catherine Park. The main entrance is on Sadovaya ul, next to the Palace Chapel. The park extends around the…

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Nearby St Petersburg attractions

1. Peter’s Cabin

0.28 MILES

This charming log cottage, protected within a stone building, is St Petersburg’s oldest surviving structure. The wooden cabin itself was supposedly built…

2. Museum of Political History

0.45 MILES

The elegant Style Moderne Kshesinskaya Palace (1904) is a highly appropriate location for this excellent museum – one of the city's best – covering…

3. Mosque

0.46 MILES

This beautiful working mosque (built 1910–14) was modelled on Samarkand’s Gur-e Amir Mausoleum. Its fluted azure dome and minarets are stunning and…

4. Summer Palace

0.57 MILES

St Petersburg’s first palace is the modest, two-storey Summer Palace in the summer garden’s northeast corner. Built for Peter from 1710 to 1714, it is…

5. Bolshoy Dom

0.62 MILES

Noi Trotsky’s monolithic design for the local KGB headquarters (and currently the St Petersburg headquarters of the Federal Security Service, or FSB, its…

6. Finland Station

0.64 MILES

Rebuilt in the 1970s in rectilinear Soviet style, the Finland Station (Finlyandsky vokzal) endures as a place of historical significance, where Lenin…

7. Alexandrovsky Park

0.69 MILES

This leafy park, laid out in 1845, wraps in an arc around the Kronwerk moat and Artillery Museum. It's too close to traffic to ensure a peaceful escape…

8. Neva Panorama

0.69 MILES

Inside the Peter & Paul Fortress, a separate ticket gives you access to both a walkway that goes along the walls and leads to the Naryshkin Bastion. The…