 A.PUSKIN AND F. DOSTOEVSKY MEMORIAL PLACESA.PUSKIN AND F. DOSTOEVSKY MEMORIAL PLACES
Saint Petersburg – Pskov – Pushkin Hills – Staraya Russa
7 days / 6 nights
DAY 1. Arrival in St.Petersburg. Meeting and transfer to the hotel. Accommodation.
 DAY 2. Breakfast. Sightseeing tour, during which you will get acquainted with architecture, history and present day life of the former capital of Imperial Russia. Your guide will show you the city and the sights related to life, work and death of famous Russian writers and poets. You will visit the Dostoevsky Memorial Museum. It occupies the basement and two floors of the house in which the writer spent his last years (1878-1881). Whenever Dostoevsky rented an apartment in St. Petersburg, it was located so that at least one window overlooked a church.
After lunch you will have an opportunity to visit the State Russian Museum. It is called a treasure house of Russian art. This is the first state – owned collection of works of Russian art and culture which amounts to over four thousand items. It situated at one of the most beautiful squares of St.Petersburg – at the Square of Arts in the Michael’s Palace. It was constructed in the beginning of the 19th century for the Grand Duke Michael, the son of Russian Emperor Paul I. Hence the name of the Palace. Museum contains unique collections from icon-paintings to Avant-Garde and social realism, and includes works of outstanding painters, sculptors, writers and poets of 18th – 20th centuries and pieces of decorative, applied and folk arts.
DAY 3. Breakfast. The famous Russian poet Alexander Pushkin - an excursion you enjoy this day. You will visit the Pushkin Apartment Museum. The poet’s last flat, from which he set off for his fateful duel. The exhibition includes personal belongings, manuscripts and documents related to his life. The interior is a complete reconstruction of life in the first half of the 19th century. Exhibitions, concerts and poetry evenings are held at the museum. ]
Lunch in downtown.
Alexander Nevsky Lavra. The monastery founded by Peter I in 1720 to commemorate Novgorodian Prince Alexander Nevsky who defeated the Swedes in 1240 on the Neva river side and was later canonized by Russian Orthodox church. In 1797 the Monastery was given the title of Lavra, the highest rank of Orthodox monasticism. The Monastery complex comprises outstanding figures of Russian culture as Dostoevsky and Tchaikovsky are buried there.
DAY 4. Breakfast. Check-out. Excursion to Pushkin (Tsarskoye Selo/Tsar’s Village). It is a fascinating monument of the world’s architecture and gardening. Peter the Great ordered to construct a small palace for his wife, future Empress Catherine I. In the middle of the 18th century the palace was rebuilt and became the purl of architecture of that period. The Amber Room, which was presented to Peter I by the Prussian King in 1716, known as the Eighth Wonder of the World, used to be in Catherine Palace. The amber ornamentation of this room, missing since 1945, has been reconstructed by Russian gem carvers. The park of Tsarskoye Selo was a favourite recreation place of the Russian Tsars. The paths around the Catherine Palace invite you for a walk to see park pavilions erected by famous architects and sculptors of Russia. Also in Pushkin the Lyceum is situated where Pushkin studied from 1811 to 1817. The old school houses permanent Pushkin Museum. In the Lyceum Garden stands a famous seated Statue of Alexander Pushkin made by design of sculptor Robert Bach in 1900. Pushkin is shown as a youth, wearing the uniform of a Lyceum student. The future poet daydreamed sitting on the iron bench. Lunch.
Transfer to Pskov. Accommodation. Dinner.
DAY 5. Breakfast. Transfer to the State Pushkin Memorial Reserve.
Excursion to Mikhailovskoye estate. The small village of Mikhailovskoye, Pushkin’s patrimonial estate, was granted in 1742, together with lands of Mikhailovskaya Guba, by Empress Elizabeth to Abram Gannibal, godson of Peter the Great and great-grandfather of Alexander Pushkin. The poet first visited the family estate just after graduating from Tsarskoye Selo lyceum and was enchanted by the natural beauty of the place, the poetry of peasant life and aura of the past. From 1824 to the end of his life Pushkin made frequent visits to Mikhailovskoye, where he also spent two years in exile. Mikhailovskoye became for him a place of intensive poetic creation. He wrote no less than 100 poems there and worked on chapters of “Eugene Onegin”, “Boris Godunov’, “The Gypsies” and “Count Nulin”. After excursion to Mikhailovskoye you will visit the Svyatogorsky (Saint Hill) Monastery of the Holy Assumption. Svyatogorsky Monastery stands on one of the hills called “holy” to commemorate a vision of the icon of Virgin Hodegetria to a shepherd called Timofei. Founded at the behest of Ivan the Terrible in 1569, the monastery attracted Pushkin because of its history, library of old manuscripts and colourful popular fairs. When he came to Pskov region, Pushkin used to visit the monastery, where his grandparents, father and mother were buried in the family cemetery. Svyatogorsky Monastery was also the last resting place of the poet himself.
Today Pushkin’s grave is a place of pilgrimage for poetry-lovers. In 1992 monastic life resumed in the monastery. Lunch at the local restaurant. Sightseeing tour in Pskov – one of Russia’s oldest and most beautiful cities, it boasts one of the greatest numbers of extant historical monuments – over 300. The earliest of them are dated back to the 12th century, the latest to the early 20th. There is a natural combination of ancient monuments (fortified walls with towers, churches and monasteries, and merchant’s chambers) and modern buildings.
The old city is located on quite a high hill. Here the Pskov Kremlin was built, named Krom. The gilded “onion” cupola of the Trinity Cathedral can be seen on a sunny day from a distance of 30 - 40 kilometers. The life of many prominent people of Russia, known all over the world, is connected with Pskov and Pskov region. Famous Russian poet Alexander Pushkin wrote a cycle of poems in the Pskov province.
Dinner.
 DAY 6. Breakfast. Check-out. Departure from Pskov. Transfer to Staraya Russa. The history of the town dates from the 11th century. It was first mentioned in the chronicles of the year 1167. At the time, Russa was part of the Novgorod land. In 1478, together with Novgorod, it joined the Moscow state. In the mid-16th century, it was the fourth biggest town in the Russian state by its population and number of households after Moscow, Pskov and Novgorod. In 1781 Catherine the Great granted Staraya Russa a coat of arms. Occupying an economically and strategically important position, the town grew rich by carrying on trade and producing salt. From olden times until the mid-19th century, Staraya Russa supplied the cities of Moscow Grand Duchy and, subsequently, of the Russian state with salt. The Dostoevsky House-Museum where the famous author lived for ten years is located here. Today Staray Russa is been included in the list of six small towns, which are to be reconstructed in conformity with Old Russian traditions.
Return to St.Petersburg. Accommodation. Farewell dinner.
DAY 7. Breakfast. Check-out. Transfer to the airport. |
