Russia's Romantic Soul: Moscow & St Petersburg
9 - 24 June 2013
About the Tour
Join Dr John Wreglesworth on this 16-day journey to explore the great cities of Moscow and St Petersburg, and the ancient city of Novgorod. Through the arts, architecture, history and music of these very different places we will endeavour to understand Russia's unique culture and identity. From the closed borders of the past century, Russia has emerged from the strictures of the Soviet era and the economic devastation of the 1990s, to take a new and dynamic role in the international arena. The vast palaces of St Petersburg have been painstakingly restored; we will visit the glorious Winter, Catherine, Pavlovsk and Yusopov Palaces. The many beautiful cathedrals and churches (like the cathedrals of Moscow's Kremlin and St Isaac's, St Petersburg) have been re-consecrated and are once more filled with music and prayers. We visit the Tretyakov and Pushkin art galleries in Moscow and the Hermitage and Museum of Russian Art in St Petersburg home to some of the best art in the world, from the great masters of the West to the icons and history paintings of Russia's own masters. We explore Russia's more recent history, with visits to the KGB Museum, Lenin's Mausoleum, and the extraordinary Cold War network of tunnels. The tour also includes a performance in both Moscow and St Petersburg at one of the cities' historic theatres. In 1939 Winston Churchill described Russia as 'a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma'. Today, visitors still puzzle over the complexities and contradictions of this extraordinary country and we invite you to join us on this journey of discovery
16 DAYS Moscow (8 nights) • Overnight Train (1 night) • Novgorod (1 night) • St Petersburg (6 nights).
SITES VISITED Moscow Red Square • St Basil's Cathedral • Moscow Kremlin • Novodevichy Convent & Cemetery • Tretyakov Gallery • Cathedral of Christ the Saviour • Pushkin Museum • Tolstoy's House • KGB Museum and WW2 bunker at Tagansky • Sergiev Posad Novgorod Wooden Architecture Museum • Yuriev Monastery • Kremlin • Cathedral St Petersburg Peterhof Palace Gardens and Monplaisir Palace • St Isaac's Cathedral • Peter and Paul Fortress • Hermitage • Catherine Palace at Tsarskoye Selo • Paul's Palace at Pavlovsk • Tikhvin Cemetery • Yusupov Palace • Church on Spilled Blood • Museum of Russian Art
