Grand Hotel Europe

Saint Petersburg City Duma was established in 1785 in the course of Catherine the Great's municipal reform. Emperor Paul replaced it by the so-called Ratusha, but his son, Alexander I, had the Duma restored four years later. The next emperor, Nicholas I, expanded the institution from six to twelve members in 1846. Alexander II of Russia reorganized it once again during the Zemstvo reform of the 1870s. In September 1918 the Duma was abolished and its functions devolved on the Petrograd Soviet. The Neoclassical headquarters of the Duma were erected on the main city avenue, Nevsky Prospekt, between 1784 and 1787. The famous Italianate tower was added in 1799–1804 to a design by Giacomo Ferrari. In 1847–52, the edifice was rebuilt in the Neo-Renaissance style, favoured by Nicholas I. Two more floors were added to the building in 1913–14. A spacious central hall of the City Duma was frequently let to host high-profile social events. The structure is located at the corner of the avenue and Dumskaya Street, opposite the Merchant Court and Grand Hotel Europe. Its distinctive tower, formerly used for fire observation, can still be seen the whole length of Nevsky Prospekt after the crossing with Fontanka River. During the Soviet years, the Smolny Institute effectively functioned as the Saint Petersburg City Hall. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Legislative Assembly made the Mariinsky Palace its headquarters.

The Catholic Church of St Catherine (Russian: Католическая церковь Святой Екатерины) in St. Petersburg is the oldest Catholic church in the Russian Federation, and the only church with the title of basilica (status granted on 23 July 2013). It is located on the Nevsky Prospekt and is a part of the Archdiocese of Moscow headed by Msgr. Paolo Pezzi.

Saint Petersburg Philharmonia (Russian: Санкт-Петербургская филармония) is a music society located in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and is the name of the building where it is housed. Also there is another one building of Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Society: Malii Zal (Small Hall). The location of the Small Hall is in the city centre. The society now hosts two symphony orchestras: Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra and Saint Petersburg Academic Symphony Orchestra.

The Arts Square (Russian: площадь Искусств, Ploshchad Iskusstv) is an open public square in the center of Saint Petersburg, Russia.

Nevsky Prospekt (Russian: Не́вский проспе́кт) is a station on the Moskovsko-Petrogradskaya Line of the Saint Petersburg Metro. It serves the street of the same name, one of the largest in the city. The station was opened on July 1, 1963. While the station itself was designed by Mayofis and Maximov, the interior was designed by Getskin, Shuvalova and Andreyev. The station has two sets of exits on Mikhailovskya Street. The station is linked to Gostiny Dvor via a transfer corridor that descends to the middle of the platform and a set of escalators at the platform's northern end. Nevsky Prospekt is considered one of the most congested stations in the entire Saint Petersburg Metro.Nevsky Prospekt is one of the more exotic locations used in Mornington Crescent, a game played in the BBC Radio 4 show I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue.

The Mikhailovsky Theatre (Russian: Миха́йловский теа́тр) is one of Russia's oldest opera and ballet houses. It was founded in 1833 and is situated in a historical building on 1, Arts Square in Saint Petersburg. It is named after Grand Duke Michael Pavlovich of Russia. Since 1989, it has borne the Modest Mussorgsky name. Since 1991 it has officially been named The St Petersburg Mussorgsky State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre—Mikhailovsky Theatre.

Great Gostiny Dvor (Russian: Большой Гостиный Двор) is a vast department store on Nevsky Avenue in St Petersburg. This Gostiny Dvor is not only the city's oldest shopping centre, but also one of the first shopping arcades in the world. Sprawling at the intersection of Nevsky Prospekt and Sadovaya Street for over one kilometer and embracing the area of 53,000 m2 (570,000 sq ft), the indoor complex of more than 100 shops took twenty-eight years to construct. Building works commenced in 1757 to an elaborate design by Bartolomeo Rastrelli, but that subsequently was discarded in favour of a less expensive and more functional Neoclassical design submitted by Jean-Baptiste Vallin de la Mothe (1729–1800). Throughout the following century, Gostiny Dvor was continuously augmented, resulting in ten indoor streets and as many as 178 shops by the 20th century. By that time, the Gostiny Dvor had lost its popularity to the more fashionable Passage and New Passage, situated on the Nevsky Prospekt nearby. During the post-World War II reconstructions, its inner walls were demolished and a huge shopping mall came into being. This massive 18th-century structure received a face-lift and entered the 21st century as one of the most fashionable shopping centres in Eastern Europe. A nearby station of Saint Petersburg Metro takes its name from Gostiny Dvor.

St. Catherine's Armenian Church (Russian: Армянская церковь Святой Екатерины, Armyanskaya tserkov Svyatoy Yekaterini; Armenian: Սուրբ Կատարինե եկեղեցի, Surb Katarine yekeghetsi) is an Armenian Apostolic church on Nevsky Prospect, in central Saint Petersburg, Russia. Built in the 1770s, it is one of the earliest Armenian churches in Russia.

The Komissarzhevskaya Theatre (Russian: Академический драматический театр имени В. Ф. Комиссаржевской) is a theatre in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is named after Vera Komissarzhevskaya.

The Mikhailovsky Palace (Russian: Михайловский дворец) is a grand ducal palace in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is located on Arts Square and is an example of Empire style neoclassicism. The palace currently houses the main building of the Russian Museum and displays its collections of early, folk, eighteenth, and nineteenth century art. It was originally planned as the residence of Grand Duke Michael Pavlovich, the youngest son of Emperor Paul I. Work had not yet begun on the Mikhailovsky Palace, when Paul was overthrown and killed in a palace coup that brought Michael's elder brother to the throne as Alexander I. The new emperor resurrected the idea for a new palace by the time Michael was 22, and plans were drawn up by Carlo Rossi to develop a new site in Saint Petersburg. The palace, built in the neoclassic style, became the centrepiece of an ensemble that took in new streets and squares. It was lavishly decorated, with the interiors costing more than the main construction work. It was gifted to Grand Duke Michael and his new wife, Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna, by the Emperor in 1825. The grand ducal family had comfortable apartments furnished to their individual tastes. Grand Duke Michael carried out some of his military duties there, while his wife hosted salons that brought together many of the leading members of Saint Petersburg society and culture. The Grand Duchess continued this lifestyle after her husband's death in 1849, until her own death in 1873. The palace was passed on to the couple's daughter, Grand Duchess Catherine Mikhailovna. Over the years of their residency, the family renovated and refurbished the palace's rooms in keeping with contemporary tastes. By the time of Grand Duchess Catherine's death in 1894, the staterooms were no longer in regular use—the family resided for the most part in the palace's wings. With the death of the Grand Duchess, the palace was inherited by her children, who were members of the family of the Dukes of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Concerned about the palace passing out of the Romanov family, Emperor Alexander III decided to buy it back for the state. He died before this could be arranged, but the negotiations were carried out on behalf of his son Emperor Nicholas II, by Minister of Finance Sergei Witte. Nicholas gave it to the newly established Russian Museum, in honour of his father, with the remit that it collect and display domestic art. The palace was extensively renovated to fit its new role, with some of the interiors retained. One wing was demolished and rebuilt, later becoming the Russian Museum of Ethnography, while a new extension, the Benois wing, was added in the 1910s.

Sadovaya Street or Garden Street is a major thoroughfare in Saint Petersburg, Russia, passing through the historic city center. From east to west, it begins near the Field of Mars, crosses the Moika River at the First Sadovy Bridge, then passes over Spassky Island, the Kryukov Canal (at the Staro-Nikolsky Bridge), and Pokrovsky Island, before finally ending at the junction of the Griboyedov Canal and the Fontanka River. The section from the Moika to Gorokhovaya Street belongs to the Central District of the city, and the rest, to the Admiralteysky District. The street is 4376 m in length and about 8 m in width, and the distance between the buildings can be up to 18 m. The street has great cultural and historical significance, passing by many historical and architectural monuments from the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, including the Mikhailovsky, Vorontsov, and Moika (Yusupov) palaces. The street serves many important transportation functions, linking the central areas of the city, and is home to many markets, including Gostiny Dvor, Apraksin Dvor, and the Hay Market. Among the figures in Russian history who lived on Sadovaya are Dmitry Milyutin, Aleksey Kuropatkin, Mikhail Lermontov, Demyan Bedny, Ivan Krylov, Mikhail Petrashevsky, Yuri Lisyansky, Apollon Maykov, Yevgeny Tarle, and Sergei Prokofiev. The street was laid out ca. 1710. It runs from Nevsky Prospekt to the Gorokhovaya Street. The street was filled with wealthy estates, with large gardens, from where the street got its name. Later on, ca. 1730, the street was being built on to the southwestern direction, and two squares were built; Sennaya Square and Turgenev Square. Later on, ca. 1820, the street was being built northwards on to the Field of Mars. Garden Street was the trading center of Saint Petersburg in the 18th to the 19th century. The Garden Street is a major transport hub. There's trolleys, tramways, buses and marshrutkas. The street is served by three stations of the Saint Petersburg Metro: Sennaya Ploshchad, Sadovaya, and Gostiny Dvor.

The State Russian Museum (Russian: Государственный Русский музей), formerly the Russian Museum of His Imperial Majesty Alexander III (Russian: Русский Музей Императора Александра III), on Arts Square in Saint Petersburg, is the world's largest depository of Russian fine art. It is also one of the largest art museums in the world with total area over 30 hectares. In 2021 it attracted 2,260,231 visitors, ranking second on list of most-visited art museums in the world.