Cultural program

The participants will be invited to the Welcome Reception on October 22 at the restaurant of the Azimut Hotel. The Banquet will be held on October 24 at the restaurant “Troika” (2700 Rub, including the price of variety show).


Excursions to the State Hermitage and St. Isaac’s Cathedral will be organized for the participants. 

The Hermitage Museum is the largest art gallery in Russia and is among the largest and most respected art museums in the world. During 240 years of its existence the Museum accumulated a collection of almost three million exhibits, including significant art collections of Ancient East, Ancient Greece and Rome, Islamic arts, Italian Renaissance, XIX-XX centuries paintings, etc.

 

St. Isaac's Cathedral is the forth largest domed cathedral in the world, after the Cathedral of St. Peter in Rome, the Cathedral of St. Paul in London and the Cathedral of St. Maria in Florence. More that 150 paintings, mosaic works and 300 sculptures made by well-known Russian painters and sculptors decorate the interior of the Cathedral.

The optional excursion:
Excursion "Tsarskoye Selo" (now city Pushkin)
October 24

9.00 - departure from AZIMUT hotel; on the way: excursion "The history and attractions of the old Tsarskoselskaya road"
In Pushkin:
- The compositional centre of the ensemble is the Great Tsarskoye Selo, or Catherine Palace – a splendid example of the Russian Baroque. Visitors are enraptured by the sumptuous décor of the Great Hall and the Golden Enfilade of state rooms that includes the world-famous Amber Room now returned to life.
-  The neoclassical Alexander Palace, built according to the project of the architect G. Quarenghi. The restored Quarenghi interiors and extant fragments of décor are exhibited. The historical period of Nicholas II is overviewed during the excursion.
- A short walk over the adjacent Catherine Park and Alexander Park. In the area of ca. 300 hectare there are more than 100 architectural attractions, built in Gothic, Turkish, Chinese style.
- Lunch
16.00 - Return to AZIMUT hotel
Cost of the "Tsarskoye Selo" tour is 3 700 rubles per person (for a group of 20 persons with an English-speaking guide). The cost includes transport, excursions, guide service and lunch.

 


 

PROGRAM of TOUR I “Oranienbaum – Peterhof”

October 26 (Friday)

07:00 – departure from the Azimuth Hotel to Oranienbaum by bus 


ORANIENBAUM, now the town of Lomonosov, has celebrated its
300th anniversary in 2011. Its palace and park complex is an outstanding architectural monument of the first half of XVIII century, which combines exquisite style rococo with traces of classicism. Oranienbaum avoided destruction during the Second World War.

  •  Excursion “Along the old Peterhof road”
  • A visit to the Grand Menshikov Palace, which was built in 1710-1727
    for Alexander Menshikov, a close companion of Peter the Great.
    A walk over the park
  • Lunch
PETERHOF is a jewel of the Russian art, a town of parks, palaces and fountains, an exquisite summer residence of the Russian tsars founded by Peter the Great in 1705 on the shore of the Gulf of Finland.
  •  Excursion to the Grand Emperor Palace. State apartments of the Palace – Throne room, Peter the Great’s Chamber, Chinese Cabinets, Picture Hall and White Dining Room – are decorated with emblazoned walls and plafonds and magnificent ornaments of the parquets.
  • A visit to the Special Storehousea museum of jewelry and imperial relics demonstrating gold, silver and jewel pieces as well as the outstanding Faberge artworks and tsar’s clothes.
  • A walk over the Lower Garden and Grand Cascade with 37 gold-plated sculptures and 64 fountains.

Arrival in St. Petersburg at 18:00 (metro station Moskovskaya)

Cost of the “Lomonosov – Peterhof” tour is 3 300 rubles per person (for a group of 20 persons with a Russian-speaking guide)
or 3 900 rubles per person (for a group of 20 persons with an English-speaking guide). The cost includes transport, excursions,
guide service and lunch

 


 

      PROGRAM of TOUR II “Veliky Novgorod””      

October 26 (Friday)

07:00 – departure from St. Petersburg to Veliky Novgorod by bus


09.00 – arrival in Veliky Novgorod

  • Excursion “Along the Moscow road” with a stop in Lyuban
  • A survey excursion over Veliky Novgorod and the Kremlin

 

Lunch

  • Saint Sophia Cathedral or Divine Wisdom (1045-1050)

  • is among the most ancient churches of Russia. A Russian national relic is stored here – the Icon of The Mother of God of the Sign dated back to the 12th century.

          Golden Storehouse – a treasure-house of artware and jewelry.

  •  Yaroslavovo Dvorishche – a complex of the most valuable
    monuments of architecture of the 12-17th centuries. 
  •  Museum of icons
  •  Vitoslavlitsy museum of wooden architecture

Arrival in St. Petersburg at 18:00 (metro station Moskovskaya)
Cost of the “Veliky Novgorod” tour
is 3 900 rubles per person (for a group of 20 persons with a Russian-speaking guide)
or 4 700 rubles per person (for a group of 20 persons with an English-speaking guide). The cost includes transport, excursions,
guide service and lunch.