Museums in central St. Petersburg

Grand Maket Russia

On the layout area of 800 square meters you will see the generalized images of cities and regions of Russia. Hundreds of moving trains and cars, sound and light effects add dynamics to the exposition and thousands of tiny figures make the genre scenes.

Peter the Great Aquatory

Large scale model of St. Petersburg of 18th century.

Gavrila Derzhavin Villa Museum

Housed in a beautiful 18th century mansion, this museum charts the life, works, and social circle of Russia's greatest classical poet, seen as the immediate predecessor to Alexander Pushkin.

Museum of Defense and Siege of Leningrad

This small but very moving museum is a collection of artefacts, visual and written documents chronicling both the military and civilian experience of this uniquely tragic period in St. Petersburg's history.

Alexander Pushkin Apartment Museum

In the apartment where Russia's greatest and most dearly loved poet died, this carefully preserved museum contains his personal effects and hosts temporary exhibitions connected to his life and works.

Polovtsov Mansion (House of Architects)

Home to a prominent 19th century senator, this attractive central mansion is famous for its beautifully preserved interiors, which are among the finest in St. Petersburg.

Manege Central Exhibition Hall

Housed in the former Horse Guards riding school, St. Petersburg's largest exhibition space hosts a wide range of commercial and cultural exhibitions, and also has its own collection of modern art.

Rumyantsev Mansion (branch of the Museum of the History of St. Petersburg)

The first privately owned museum in Russia, the beautiful Rumyantsev Mansion now hosts permanent exhibits focusing on different periods of St. Petersburg history.

Museum of the History of Religion

Home to one of Imperial Russia's highest noble families, this large neoclassical palace has impressive state rooms, but is most famous as the site of Rasputin's assassination.

Commoners' St. Petersburg Museum

Designed to show the life and history of St. Petersburg's common folk, this tiny museum includes displays about the Siege of Leningrad and is attached to a Lenin apartment-museum.

Museum of Russian Vodka

This very commercial museum - attached to a restaurant - shows how vodka has been made and consumed over the ages, and then gives you the chance to try some for yourself.

Alexander Blok Apartment Museum

Occupying the apartments of the great symbolist poet Alexander Blok and his mother, this simple museum charts the life and literary circle of one of St. Petersburg's most revered writers.

Vladimir Nabokov Museum

Located in the house where the author of Lolita was born and raised, this enthusiastic independent museum has done its best to collect artefacts connected to Nabokov's life, work and family.

Military Medical Museum

Part of the military medical school, this museum prides itself in being one of the largest medical museums in the world, and is devoted largely to the historic development of general medicine.

Republic of Cats

Part of a museum in the suburbs of St. Petersburg that is home to an astonishing amount of cat-related tat, this cafe has eight feline residents for visitors to play with.

Russian Railway Museum

A museum that charts the history of the development of railways in the St. Petersburg, part of its exhibition includes several historic steam trains by the Baltiyskiy Rail Station.

Museum of Railroad Transport

A museum for serious railway enthusiasts, the collection is centered on a huge number of highly detailed models of trains and rail technology.

A.S. Popov Communications Museum

This excellent museum is devoted to all types of communications technology, and includes numerous interactive displays that are very popular with children.

ROSFOTO Exhibition Center

St. Petersburg's premier exhibition space for photography, ROSFOTO mounts temporary exhibitions from its own rich archives, as well as a varied program of Russian and international photographers.

Menshikov Palace (branch of the State Hermitage Museum)

One of St. Petersburg's most beautiful buildings, this palace on Vasilevsky Island was built for Peter the Great's closest adviser, and contains numerous relics from the Petrine era.

Museum of Dolls

A huge collection of dolls and puppets, ranging from valuable antiques to unusual modern toys and "designer" dolls by local artists, this museum also offers workshops for children and adults.

Museum of the Academy of Fine Arts

Located in a magnificent building on Vasilevsky Island, this historic museum in Russia's first art college is worth visiting as much for the architecture and history as the actually quite modest collection.

New Museum of Modern Art

Based on the private collections of a prominent Russian art-lover, this new museum is an admirable effort to provide a proper overview of Russian art from the 1950s onwards.

Erarta Museum of Contemporary Art

One of a number of reasonable quality galleries and art centres to have sprung up in recent years, Erarta boasts of being the largest private museum of contemporary art in Russia.

Arkhip Kuindzhi Apartment Museum

In the former apartments of the artist often considered the "Russian Turner" for his extraordinary sky- and seascapes, this small collection includes paintings and personal effects.

Ivan P. Pavlov Apartment Museum

The home of the Nobel prize-winning physiologist most famous for his experiments on dogs, this apartment was kept unaltered for thirty years by Pavlov's wife before becoming a museum.

Roerich Family Museum Institute

Museum devoted to the study and appreciation of the lives and works of the exceptionally talented Roerich family, the most famous member of which was the painter, poet, and mystic Nicholas Roerich.

Vasily Dokuchaev Museum of Soil Science

Located in a beautiful building on Vasilevsky Island, this museum, dedicated to the father of soil science, is about as interesting as a museum of soil could be.

Mining Research Museum of VSEGEI Institute

One of many worthy scientific museums on Vasilevsky Island, this collection is among the more interesting, with exhibits including dinosaur bones and an impressive jewel-encrusted map of the USSR.

Mineralogical Museum of SPBGU

Zoological Museum

Heaven for taxidermy fans, this old-fashioned museum draws on an extraordinary collection of stuffed animals, skeletons and insects, with over 500,000 species represented.

Museum of Soviet Arcade Machines

Museum of Mining Institute (Gorny Institute)

Another science museum on Vasilevsky Island. This one has an enormous collection of gemstones and minerals, as well as some paleontological exhibits.

Permanent Firefighting Exhibition

Historic museum that charts the development of firefighting in St. Petersburg from the founding of the city. Located in an old district fire station.

Naval Museum

This enormous museum dedicated to the Russian Navy is currently moving to its new quarters. Its collection traces the history of the navy from the reign of Peter the Great to the present day.

Narodovolets D-2 Submarine

A monument to the heroism of the Baltic Fleet in World War 2, this diesel-electric submarine gives visitors the chance to explore the cramped experience of wartime submariners.

Submarine C-189

St. Petersburg's second submarine museum is, surprisingly, privately owned, having been dredged from the seabed by a local businessman.

Icebreaker Krasin

Built in 1916, this famous ship was only recently retired from service, having led convoys during World War 2 and taken part in decades of Arctic exploration.

Museum of Urban Electrical Transport

A collection of historic trams and trolleybuses, this museum is housed in a former transport park and has over 50 exhibits.

Museum of Metrology

A collection of antique devices for measuring weather indicators, some of which were used by the famous chemist Mendeleev.

Yelagin Palace & Museum of Artistic Glass

This beautiful Imperial palace on an island in the north of St. Petersburg is home to a museum of historic interiors, while the Museum of Artistic Glass is a beautiful collection of 20th century craft.

Cabin of Peter the Great

This was the very first wooden house to be built in St. Petersburg and was home to Peter the Great himself between 1703 and 1708. Perfectly preserved for almost 300 years, the Cabin now serves as a museum for visitors to St. Petersburg to enjoy.

Museum of Toys

Founded by an enthusiast, this growing collection includes traditional toys from all over the world, as well as mass-produced toys of the Soviet Union and the modern world.

Museum of St. Petersburg Avant-garde Art

Housed in an elegant wooden building that was once home to composer and painter Mikhail Matyushin, this museum commemorates the many luminaries who gathered here, including Vladimir Mayakovsky and Kazimir Malevich, and the extraordinary artistic revolution they implemented.

Museum-Theater of Fairy Tales

A chance for children to explore the world of Russian fairytales, with cheap but brightly colored decorations and long-suffering actors.

Museum of the History of Photography

A museum focused firmly on the technical aspects of photography, its collections include a huge amount of historic equipment, as well as photos tracing the developments of the photographic art.

Museum of Gramophones and Phonographs

Belonging to a former circus clown, this is a charmingly amateur museum where visitors are treated as guests. The collection of historic record players is nonetheless impressive.

Elizarov Family Apartment Museum

One of several now low-key museums dedicated to Vladimir Lenin. This apartment belonged to Bolshevik sympathizer Mark Elizarov, who sheltered Lenin in the early months of 1917.

Sergei Kirov Apartment Museum

In the apartment of the popular Leningrad Party boss whose mysterious death was used to justify Stalin's Great Purge, this museum has several engaging exhibits about Kirov and Leningrad in his era.

Alexander Popov Apartment Museum

Part of the State Electro-Technical University, this museum dedicated to the Russian radio pioneer includes his original equipment and displays demonstrating the techniques he discovered.

Feodor Chaliapin Apartment Museum

In the luxurious recreated apartments where the great bass spent his last years in Russia, this museum displays personal effects and a wealth of photographs, costumes, playbills and set designs.

Leningrad Zoo

As its name indicates, this historic zoo has failed to move with the times. Although conditions for the animals are not truly awful, it's mostly cramped, smelly and thoroughly depressing.

Botanical Gardens

Dating back to the 18th century, this pretty garden on the Petrograd Side has a huge collection of tropical plants in its greenhouses.

Planetarium

Very popular with school children, St. Petersburg's Planetarium is nothing special by international standards, although its Laboratory of Intriguing Experiments is fun.

Sigmund Freud Museum of Dreams

Part of Russia's first Institute of Psychoanalysis, this museum is an idiosyncratic effort to recreate some of the most famous dreams catalogued by Freud through audio and visual exhibits.

Anichkov Palace Museum

Located in halls that previously held Alexander III's personal museum, this collection tells the history of the palace, although the emphasis is on its 20th century role as a children's centre.

Beloselsky-Belozersky Palace

This mid-19th century palace is one of the landmarks of Nevsky Prospekt, and it is occasionally possible to join tours to see its interiors.

Summer Palace of Peter the Great

Located in the Summer Garden, this attractive baroque mansion is further evidence of Peter's excellent taste, with beautifully decorated interiors that were carefully restored after World War 2.

Museum of the Smolny Institute

This building was once the Institute for Well-born Maidens, before being used as the first headquarters of the Revolutionary government in 1917. This small museum charts its history.

Stroganov Palace

One of St. Petersburg's most beautiful palaces, this rococo masterpiece now contains a collection of antique porcelain and other displays of the Russian Museum, as well as restored state rooms.

Museum of Wax Figures

Many of the exhibits from this museum can be seen from Nevsky Prospekt on the second floor of Gostiny Dvor, and there is no reason to investigate more closely.

Museum of Decorative and Applied Arts

Located in the magnificent building of the Baron Stieglitz College of Technical Drawing, this sometimes chaotic museum is a treasure trove of ornaments, interior design and craftwork.

Museum of Music - Sheremetev Palace

In a fabulous historic palace on the banks of the Fontanka River, this museum has a large collection of antique musical instruments.

Museum of Theatrical and Musical Arts

Next to St. Petersburg's main classical drama theatre, this museum has a huge archive of costumer, set designs, playbills and photographs.

Tarabum Animation Theater-Museum

A children's entertainment centre where the selling point is that it recreates the world of the most popular Russian cartoons in the flesh.

Russian Master

This entertaining museum on Nevsky Prospekt is devoted to the painstaking craft of miniature modeling, and has a number of superb examples that can be viewed through microscopes.

Museum of Russian Drama Theater

A small museum that can be visited around performance time, the collection includes a wealth of material connected to Russia's oldest national theatre.

Mokhovaya 18 Gallery

A modern art gallery that focuses squarely on more traditional schools of fine art, including realist painting, porcelain design, and glass sculpture.

Carl Bulla Museum and Photo Salon

Attached to a historic photographer's on Nevsky Prospekt, this gallery has regular exhibitions of photography connected with St. Petersburg and its history.

Exhibition Hall of Smolny Cathedral

One of St. Petersburg's most beautiful buildings, this stunning late baroque cathedral hosts regular concerts and exhibitions.

Pushkinskaya 10 Museum of Non-Conformist Art

A monument to rebellion in the late Soviet era, this rambling collection of galleries, studios, and bars has a great atmosphere and plenty of interesting exhibitions.

Flowers Exhibition Hall

Part of the Tauride Garden, this is an attractive historical greenhouse full of exotic plants from all over the world.

Museum of Bread

A museum that tells you all about making bread, with displays including antique baking tools, a reconstruction of a historic bakery, and lots of different types of Russian bread.

Museum of Coffee

More like and exhibition centre than a museum, this place will tell you all about the different sorts of coffee and different ways of brewing it, and give you the chance to taste them.

Museum of Printing

Located in a beautiful building historically connected with several newspapers, this museum has a collection of printing presses and a lot of historic editions of newspapers.

Museum of the History of Political Police

Now part of the excellent Museum of Political History, this collection relies heavily on access to KGB and NKVD archives, so the focus is on operational procedure and historic cases.

Nyenschantz Museum

This little-known but interesting museum charts the history of the Petersburg region before the city was founded, starting from the early middle ages.

Museum of the Leningrad Military District (LenVO)

Located in St. Petersburg's Officers Club, this is a traditional museum that's probably only of interest to serious military enthusiasts, with displays about the Winter War and the Siege of Leningrad.

Alliluev Family Apartment Museum

Located in the former apartment of Stalin's in-laws, this out-of-the-way museum shows how the upper working class lived before the Revolution, and was another of Lenin's 1917 hideaways.

Anna Akhmatova Apartment Museum

A popular museum devoted to the poet who went from being the most glamorous figure of Russia's Silver Age to chronicling with quiet dignity the horrors of the Siege of Leningrad and Stalin's rule.

Lev N. Gumilev Apartment Museum

The son of Anna Akhmatova, Gumilev was a controversial and extremely popular historian and ethnologist. This museum occupies the apartment he lived in before he died.

Isaac Brodsky Apartment Museum

A painter with the dubious honour of being one of the founders of Socialist Realism, Brodsky lived in this large and rather beautiful apartment for 15 years, and it displays some of his more private works.

Mikhail Zoshchenko Literary Memorial Museum

A simple apartment museum that is probably only of interest to fans of Zoshchenko, whose comic and satirical tales were loved by several generations of Soviet readers.

Dostoevsky Memorial Museum

Popular with Russian and foreign tourists, this small museum has some imaginative literary displays, alongside a traditional recreation of the Dostoevsky family apartment.

Pyotr Kozlov Apartment Museum

Kozlov was an early 20th century Russian explorer famous for his travels in Central Asia and Tibet. His apartment has been turned into a museum with a wealth of artefacts from his expeditions.

Nikolay Nekrasov Apartment Museum

Nekrasov was one of the most important poets of the mid 19th century, loved by the Soviets for his sympathy to the peasantry. This museum shows his personal effects.

Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov Apartment Museum

A regular venue for classical concerts, this elegant apartment was home to one of Russia's most popular composers, and regularly frequented by many of the leading figures of the golden era of Russian music.

Samoilov Family Apartment Museum

Thirteen members of this family took to the stage in the early 19th century, and this museum celebrates their triumphs, particularly those of Vasiliy Vasilievich, one of the Imperial Theatre's greatest stars.

Alexander Suvorov Memorial Museum

This beautiful Russian Revival building holds a collection of military paraphernalia, uniforms and arms connected with the commander famous for his success against Napoleon in the Crimea.

Museum of Arctic and Antarctic

Housed in a former church, this museum charts Russian and Soviet exploration in the polar areas, and includes ethnographic material on the peoples of the Russian north.

Museum of Hygiene

Designed to educate the public, this historic museum in a former palace has some grim displays devoted to infectious diseases, and the stuffed corpse of one of Pavlov's dogs.

Museum of Water

An interactive museum housed in a historic water tower, the Museum of Water has a number of interesting exhibits about plumbing and sanitation.

Oceanarium

Part of a shopping centre, this aquarium boasts a huge number of species, including sharks and seals, but is somewhat underwhelming.

Kamchatka Club Museum

Housed in a boilerhouse where several key figures of Soviet rock worked, including the legendary Viktor Tsoy, this is really a live music club with some interesting decorations.

Street Art Museum

Street Art Museum is situated on the acting Laminated Plastics factory in the East of Saint Petersburg. Unification of industrial post-soviet ethics, the nerve of real life and young street art is the main thesis of the project.

The Museum of 20th and 21st Century St. Petersburg Art

The Museum of St. Petersburg Art (20th-21st centuries) is a depository of a unique collection representing productions of the artists of Russia's Cultural Capital.

St. Petersburg Art Museum