RUSSIA, SAINT-PETERSBURG

The city is located on both banks of the river Neva. St.Petersburg  name “Northern Venice”. It is  the  city of islands (about  44 in all). There are 60 rivers and canals, about 400 bridges, 21 of which can be opened to allow  the passage of shipping.

St.Petersburg is especially fine during the period of the romantic “White Nights”, which lasts 50 days. Different festivals take place at this time. People all over the World  who once visited  the city liked  it and want to be here again.Granite quays, bridges raised over the Neva, magnificent palaces and cathedrals, architectural  ensembles  of streets and squares are  covered then with a mysterious mist.

St.Petersburg is famous for  its architecture. There are  a lot of  beautiful buildings and monuments. Such known  architects took part in architectural formation of the city as  Rastrelli,  Montferrand, Trezini, Rossi and many others

St.Petersburg has  9 orthodox Cathedrals and many Churches, 6 rom. Catolic Cathedrals  and Churches,  4 Lutheran Churches. In St.Petersburg   there are 50 museums and many educational institutions.

The main street of the city is Nevsky Prospect which runs 4.5 kilometers. Crossing the city center, it links  together the Palace Square  and the Square  of Alexander Nevsky. There are situated  the famous buildings, luxurious hotels and fashionable stores in the Nevsky street.

Palace Square is the central square of the city. The oldest buildings in this square is the Winter Palace, the former official winter residence of the Russian Tsars designed by Bartolomeo Rastrelli.
The Winter Palace now is the main building of the Hermitage museum.
The Hermitage is one of the largest art galleries in the World. Its collections  number over 3 million objects of art.

Saint Isaak’s Square  was named for St.Isaak’s Cathedral, the main construction in the square. The Saint Isaak’s Cathedral  was designed by A.Montferrand. It is the 4^th largest cupola cathedral of this type in the World. There are 112 granite columns. The cathedral remained  under construction for 40 years.

In the centre  of  Decembrists’Square stands the monument to Peter 1, the Founder of Saint Petersburg. This statue is also known as the  “Bronze Horseman”.

Fine Arts Square  contains 3 museums and 3 theatres.  In the Square is the State Russian Museum (former Mikhailovsky Palace). It is the largest Russian Art Gallery and covers the period from 10^th century to the present days.

Peter and Paul Cathedral is the highest architectural structure of the city. It is 122,5 meters high. The Cathedral was used  as  burial place of Russian Tsars and the members of the royal family.  The remains of the last Russian Tsar Nicolas II and his family were buried there in 1998.

The Cathedral of our lady Kazan was put up in the early of 19^th century. The colonnade is made up of 114 columns. Behind  the cathedral  take place two monuments  to the famous commanders M.Kutuzov and M.Barklai de Tolli (victors in the war of 1812).

The splendid Palaces and Parks’ ensembles of St.Petersburg suburbs:
Pushkin, Pavlovsk, Petrodvorets, Gatchina.

The palace- and- park ensemble of Tsarskoe Selo – former  country residence of Russian emperors – is a fascinating monument of the world’s architectural and gardening arts of  18-19 centuries.
The focus of the Tsarskoselskiy ensemble is the Catherine’s Palace. During the celebrations of the tercentenary to St.Petersburg , the “Amber Room” was opened after its restoration, one of the official halls in Catherine’s Palace.

The Palace-and-Park ensemble Peterhof  is a jewel of Russian  art, a town of parks, palaces and fountains. In the past , it used to be an exquisite summer residence of Russian tsars. Lower park  is the genuine masterpieces of landscape design, hold over 150 fountains and 4 monumental cascades, the Grand Palace, 17 museums.

St.Petersburg has set of comfortable hotels various category:
“Astoria”, “Europe”, “Nevsky Palace”, “Azimut”, Pulkovskaya  and etc.
Most hotels of St.Petersburg are European standart.
The price of the rooms depends on the  season and category of the hotel.

The session of the 10-th International Conference of Chitin and   Chitosan (EUCHIS’11) will be held  in” AZIMUT” Hotel (http://www.azimuthotels.ru). The accommodation of all participants will be  also in the same hotel.  The hotel is situated in the centre of the city and  in one of the most beautiful areas of St. Petersburg.