THEME TOURS
Nations are to be judged on their achievements and glories. The contribution of Russia to the world’s literature, music, arts and science is undisputable. Russian novels, music and art of the 19th - 20th centuries stir hearts all over the world. If you want to find out more about the ‘mysterious Russian soul’, we can recommend you the following theme tours:
- Literary Russia
- Musical Russia
- Fine and Applied Arts of Russia
- Russian Ballet
- Parks and Gardens
- Russian Science
- Political History of Russia (20th century)
- Siege of Leningrad (WW II)
Literary Russia
This tour is designed for those who are interested in Russian literature. It includes visits to apartment museums of famous Russian writers and poets and gives you an opportunity to follow the steps of world-known literary characters:
Fyodor Dostoevsky Apartment-Museum in St.Petersburg, the last apartment of the writer, where he wrote "Brothers Karamazovs";
"Crime and Punishment" walking tour, following the steps of the main characters of this world famous novel by Dostoevsky;
Alexander Pushkin Apartment-Museum in St.Petersburg, where the poet died after the fatal duel;
Lyceum, the school where Pushkin studied, and Pushkin Museum-Dacha, where the poet spent his honeymoon and wrote his most famous love lyrics, both located in the surroundings of St.Petersburg;
Anna Akhmatova Apartment-Museum in St.Petersburg, where one of the greatest poets of the Russian Silver Age spent about 20 years of her life;
Vladimir Nabokov Apartment-Museum in St.Petersburg, the birth-place and childhoodhome of the great writer, best known for his novel ’Lolita’;
 Leo Tolstoy House-Museum in Moscow, where the outstanding Russian novelist spent his winters between 1882 and 1901;
Anton Chekhov House-Museum in Moscow, which he called the ’cupboard house’ and where he created his first play "Ivanov" in 1887;
Maxim Gorky House-Museum in Moscow, where the "Father of Soviet Literature" lived for five years before his death in 1936;
Novodevichiy Convent Cemetery, where many famous Russian men of letters are buried, including Anton Chekhov, Nikolai Gogol and Vladimir Mayakovsky.
This tour is designed for those who are interested in Russian music. It includes visits to apartment museums of world-famous Russian composers and musicians:
Museum of Musical Instruments, located in the former palace of Counts Sheremetievs in St.Petersburg, boasting a unique collection of musical instruments ranging from rare medieval instruments up to grand pianos and violins which belonged to the prominent Russian composers and musicians of the 19th century;
Rimsky-Korsakov Apartment-Museum in St.Petersburg, containing over 250 personal items of the composer; 
Fyodor Shalyapin Memorial Apartment in St.Petersburg, filled with operatic mementoes of the legendary Russian basso, an occasional venue for chamber music concerts;
Alexander Nevsky Lavra Necropolis, where you can visit the Alley of composers with the tombstones of Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Mussorgsky, Glinka, Rubinstein, etc.
The Glinka Museum of Musical Culture in Moscow offers a diverse collection of written music, manuscripts, memorial articles, musical instruments, and works of fine arts;
Novodevichiy Convent Cemetery, where the prominent Russian composers Prokofiev, Skryabin and Shostakovich are buried, as well as the opera singer Fyodor Shalyapin.
This tour is designed for those who are interested in the past and present of Russian arts. It combines an opportunity to see the world largest collections of Russian arts with visits to Russian art schools and studios of contemporary artists:
 State Russian Museum in St.Petersburg, the collection of which numbers over 400,000 works, including unique Russian icons, paintings, graphic art and sculpture, decorative and applied art, folk art and numismatics, as well as the world’s finest collection of Russian avant-garde;
State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, the second largest collection of Russian art after the State Russian Museum;
Museum of St.Petersburg Applied Arts Academy. It presents a unique collection of Russian and European applied arts dating from Antiquity till nowadays and offers an opportunity to meet professors and students of the Academy; 
Museum of Porcelain at Lomonosov Porcelain Factory of St.Petersburg, the third oldest porcelain factory of Europe founded in 1744. Apart from visiting the museum, you can also see the factory workshops and meet with the artists;
Ilya Repin Museum Dacha in Penaty, in the vicinity of St.Petersburg, where the outstanding Russian artist of the turn of the 20th century spent the last years of his life and was buried.
This tour is designed for those who love and admire Russian ballet. It gives an opportunity not only to attend performances of the Bolshoi and Mariinsky (Kirov) Ballet, but also to visit a ballet school and have a backstage tour of the Mariinsky Theatre, followed by a dinner in the Backstage Restaurant .
This tour focuses on the world famous parks and gardens of the former Imperial capital of Russia, and includes visits to:
the Summer Gardens, the first park of St.Petersburg;
the Botanical Gardens, founded by Peter the Great as a source of medicinal herbs;
the Catherine Park in the town of Pushkin, characterised by three styles of landscape gardening: French, English and Italian;
the two parks of Peterhof: the formal Upper Garden, framed by borders and hedges, and the wooded Lower Park, world famous for its four cascades and over 150 fountains;
the elegant park of Pavlovsk, the largest landscaped park in Europe.
Russian Science
This tour is designed for those who are interested in the history of technical and natural science in Russia. It includes visits to specialised museums as well as to apartment museums of Russian scientists.
Polytechnical Museum in Moscow, originally known under the name of “Museum of Applied Knowledge”, one of the first Russian purpose-built museums, the exhibits of which trace the development of science and technology in Russia;
Museum of the Arctic and the Antarctic in St.Petersburg, the only museum in the world dedicated to the nature and exploration of the North and South Poles;
 Dmitry Mendeleyev Museum in St.Petersburg University, where the world famous Russian chemist discovered the periodic table of elements;
Ivan Pavlov Apartment Museum in St.Petersburg, home of the renowned physiologist, the first Russian to be awarded with Nobel Prize.
Political History of Russia (20th century)
Museum of Political History of Russia, the exhibitions of which cover the pre-revolutionary, Soviet and post-Soviet periods in the history of the country;
 Lenin’s office and apartment in Smolny, where he lived and worked in 1917-1918 and where the victory of the 1917 October revolution was proclaimed;
Kresty Prison, a functioning prison which witnessed Lenin, Trotsky and other revolutionary leaders and later on anti-Stalinists as its prisoners;
Cruiser Aurora, a battleship of the Russian Navy turned into a museum, which illustrates her revolutionary activities in the beginning of the 20th century and her participation in World War II;
Yusupov Palace, one of the finest private palaces of Europe, which witnessed a dramatic event in December 1916, the murder of Grigory Rasputin, one of the most controversial figures in Russian history;
Kirov Museum: everybody knows the Kirov Ballet, and visiting this apartment-museum you will be able to find out more about Sergei Kirov, the Head of the Communist Party Committee for Leningrad in the 1930’s, after whom the ballet company is named;
Museum of the Secret Police of Russia, covering its history from the times of Alexandre III up to the KGB period.
This tour is devoted to the 900 days and nights of the Siege of Leningrad during World War II, 1941-1944, when the city was completely cut off from the rest of the country by the Nazi troops. Not only did the city survive, but victoriously crushed the enemy.
Monument to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad, devoted to unprecedented heroic defence of Leningrad, besieged by the Nazi. Its Memorial Hall decorated with 900 candles, one per each day of the siege, and unique documentary films, made during the siege, produce an unforgettable impression;
 Memorial Museum of Leningrad Defence and Siege, which contains a rich collection of original documents and possessions of townspeople and soldiers, which gives you a deep insight into the most tragic period in the history of St.Petersburg;
Piskarev Memorial Cemetery, the largest in the world cemetery of the victims of World War II, where more than 500,000 people are buried in mass graves.
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