The City of Superlatives: Oldest Sights in St. Petersburg

Tree

Several trees in the city are considered natural monuments, most of them estimated to have witnessed the founder of the city, Peter the Great. According to some sources, the oldest tree in the city is the 300-hundred-year-old oak in Mikhailovsky Garden – look out for a special plaque near it on your next walk there. It’s incredible what these green centenarians have been through and how rarely we stop to admire them for it.

Cemetery

Yet another Peter the Great association, the Lazarevskoye Cemetery of Alexander Nevsky Lavra, founded by the emperor himself, is the oldest in St. Petersburg. Now a historic landmark, it used to be reserved only for people personally approved by the emperor and thus became the final resting place of many members of aristocratic families. If you want to learn more about this and other historic cemeteries in the city, check out one of our previous stories.

School 

St. Peter's School, or Petrischule (Петришуле), is one of the oldest educational institutions in Russia and the oldest existing school in St. Petersburg. Originally part of a German Lutheran church established by Peter the Great in 1709, the school moved to its current location on Nevsky Pr. 22-24 in the 1760s. Having survived several restorations and many changes to its curriculum, it now offers in-depth training in German and maintains academic connections to schools in Germany and the Netherlands.

Pyshechnaya

Founded in 1958, the pyshka (doughnut) shop on Bolshaya Konyushennaya St. is now a popular tourist attraction. For some, it’s a time capsule of their Soviet-era childhood, for others – a curiosity not unlike those on show at the city’s many museums. If you persevere in the typically long line of excited customers, you’ll get to try allegedly the best pyshki in the city at a rather democratic price. Ready to catch the true St. Pete vibe?

Bookshop

If there’s something we can’t seem to stop talking about here, it’s Podpisnie Izdaniya, the beloved independent bookstore that traces its roots back to 1926. Whereas in the Soviet times, it used to be all about subscription books (hence the name Подписные издания), now it offers a wide selection of prose and poetry, fiction and nonfiction in various languages, not to mention housing three coffee shops and now a used-books section in the new wing. For many, Podpisnie (as they are often called here) are a safe haven, a popular location that somehow still continues to feel like a little secret to be shared only with a true friend.

Hotel 

The Oktyabrskaya Hotel, opened in 1851, is considered to be the oldest in the city. It’s one of the first sites you see if you arrive in the city by train at the Moscow Railway Station and it shouldn’t be overlooked – over its one and a half centuries of history, it has changed many hands, seen dozens of renovations, and even served as a dormitory for a bit. Explore is rich history on your own with these tools. Nowadays, it has been restored to resemble the original design, surprising visitors with unique and exquisite interiors of its many rooms.

Theater

History has it that public theater in Russia started with the order of Empress Elizabeth in 1756 – and the foundation of Alexandrinsky Theater. For the first nearly 70 years of its existence, the theater wasn’t housed in the grandiose building we know it by today, operating instead from what is now the Russian Academy of Arts. Many classic Russian plays, including Chekhov’s The Seagull, premiered on the theater’s stage. Now called “the national drama theater of Russia,” Alexandrinsky continues its thespian tradition, with both reimagined classic plays and modern ones performed at its main and new stages.

Film studio 

Lenfilm, the oldest film studio not only in St. Pete, but in the whole country, was founded in 1914 and since then has produced nearly 1,500 feature films, discovering and raising countless talents. You can learn more about its history, as well as add a few of its creations to your watchlist in our special article.