Not far from Savior on the Spilt Blood there is a large yellow-colored classical building decorated with snow-white columns. It is the Michael's Palace which is now the home of the second most important museum in St. Petersburg - the Russian Museum. It contains the biggest collection of the Russian Art in the world. Even in Moscow you will not be able to find such a thorough representation of the Russian painting and sculpture.

You will learn about the development of the Russian painting from the 18th century to our days. Most of the artists' names will probably be unknown to you but when you see their very special paintings you are sure to be interested in more knowledge on them. Nobody can be left indifferent to seascapes by Ivan Aivazovsky, poetic Russian landscapes by Isaac Levitan and Ivan Shishkin, historical canvases by Vasiliy Surikov and Mikhail Nesterov, portraits by Fyodor Rokotov, Ilya Repin and Valentin Serov, and many other artists and genres…

Among the most precious exhibits in the Russian Museum are ancient 12-17th century icons.

Icons are holy images created on wood with tempera. They were not painted or drawn, they were mysteriously CREATED. We do not know most of the names of the icon painters because they were not considered painters. They were thought to have gained a special divine blessing to see the images of God and saints and render them afterwards. The history of icon painting is so interesting and mysterious that I could go on with my story for hours. We better visit the Russian Museum together and I tell you all about icons, and you see them with your own eyes.

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