The Hermitage!

I took many pictures of the art works in this fabulous collection, but only a few of them turned out well. They are, in order, portraits of Gregory Potemkin, Alexander II and the Duke of Wellington, who together defeated Napoleon, then canvases by da Vinci, El Greco, and Rembrandt.

Living

One has only to compare the efficiency of this modern apartment complex in St. Petersburg with the wasteful, inefficient, primitive dwellings of the 18th century to appreciate the progress made in recent years.

One last look back...

...at the inside of the ornate Ss. Peter and Paul Cathedral:

More Romanovs

Here are the tombs of Alexander II and his wife Maria. His tomb is made of jasper and weighs 7 tons. He is much beloved for having abolished serfdom (effectively, slavery) in 1861.

This is the tomb of Maria, wife of Alexander III and mother of Nicolas II. She was interred here next to her husband in 2006, having died in Denmark in 1928. Hers is presumably the final interment in the cathedral.

Finally, this is the last resting place of Nicolas II and his family, together with a few of their servants, who were executed by the communists in 1917. Their commingled remains were placed in this small chapel in 1998. A very solemn place.

The Romanovs

Here are the tombs of the Romanov tsars:

Peter the Great--

Elizabeth I--

Catherine the Great and Peter III--

Peter and Paul Cathedral

From the outside--

On the inside, this beautiful, baroque Orthodox church houses the tombs of the Romanoffs.

Around town

The Winter Palace, site of the Hermitage Museum--

The Cathedral of St. Isaac--

Nevsky Prospekt on the day after Victory Day--