Tour to the State Museum of the History of Saint Petersburg 'History of the City. 1703–1918'

Tour of the State Museum of the History of St. Petersburg

The State Museum of the History of St. Petersburg is one of the largest historical museums in Russia, with over 1.3 million exhibits in its collections. The center of the museum is the Peter and Paul Fortress, and the main exhibition, dedicated to the history of the city from 1703 to 1918, is located in the Commandant's House. This tour is an opportunity to see St. Petersburg 'from the inside', through the everyday life of its inhabitants.

The tour program includes:

Exposition “The History of Saint Petersburg – Petrograd. 1703–1918” in the Commandant’s House - a large-scale exhibition occupying several halls. Each hall is dedicated to a separate theme: trade and banking, life in a tenement house, city transport, costumes of different social classes, multinational cuisine, the world of Art Nouveau objects, urban amenities and the advent of cinema.

What you will see:
- A huge cutaway model of a tenement house with accurately reproduced room interiors and household items.
- A real Benz Velo car - one of the first production cars in Russia.
- The interior of a bank director’s office from the early 20th century and a wall-sized deposit safe.
- Antique typewriters, arithmometers, bank safe-deposit boxes and items pawned at the pawnshop.
- Authentic shop signs, wine and beer bottles, packaging boxes and materials.
- Men’s and women’s costumes, shoes, hats, accessories of St. Petersburg fashionistas.
- Kitchen utensils, coffee grinders, cake molds and old recipes.
- Models of steam locomotives and ships, luggage items and travel accessories, with the sound background of station noise.
- Cameras and film equipment from the turn of the 19th–20th centuries, posters of the first films.
- Voiced figures of merchants briskly advertising their goods, and antique telephones from which you can hear historical anecdotes.

Exposition highlights: The exhibition is designed as a journey through the city - from the business center to residential quarters, from railway stations to fashionable shops. Many exhibits can not only be seen but also “brought to life” with interactive elements.

What you will learn:
- What St. Petersburg residents ate in the 19th century, how they spent money, what they wore and where they shopped.
- How the daily life of people of different social classes was arranged, and what city dwellers used every day.
- What a St. Petersburg tenement house looked like from the inside and who lived in it.
- What transport city residents used and how they moved around St. Petersburg.
- How trade, banking and advertising developed in the pre-revolutionary capital.
- What St. Petersburg fashionistas wore and how fashion changed throughout the 19th century.
- What technical innovations appeared in the city at the turn of the century.

Conclusion: This tour is not just a visit to a museum, but a real journey through time. You will see St. Petersburg not as a ceremonial city, but as a living, real one - a city where everyday life was in full swing, banks and factories operated, shops opened, the first cars drove and the first films were made.

Venue: Peter and Paul Fortress, Commandant's House.
Duration: 2–3 hours (depending on the depth of exploration).
Format: Museum tour with a professional guide.

What is included in the cost of the tour to the Museum of the History of Saint Petersburg:

• Services of a professional guide-lecturer, a specialist in the history of Petersburg, for 2-3 hours
• Sightseeing tour of the exhibition 'History of Saint Petersburg - Petrograd. 1703–1918' in the Commandant's House of the Peter and Paul Fortress
• Introduction to unique exhibits: a model of a tenement house, a Benz-Velo car, interiors of a bank and shops, historical costumes and household items
• A story about the everyday life of Petersburg in different eras - from trade to transport, from fashion to cuisine
• Entrance tickets to the exhibition (when choosing the appropriate tariff)