St. Isaac's Cathedral was originally the city's main church and the largest cathedral in Russia. It was built between 1818 and 1858, by the French-born architect Auguste Montferrand, to be one of the most impressive landmarks of the Russian Imperial capital. One hundred and eighty years later the gilded dome of St. Isaac's still dominates the skyline of St. Petersburg. Although the cathedral is considerably smaller than the newly rebuilt Church of Christ the Savior in Moscow, it boasts much more impressive fades and interiors.

The cathedral's facades are decorated with sculptures and massive granite columns (made of single pieces of red granite), while the interior is adorned with incredibly detailed mosaic icons, paintings and columns made of malachite and lapis lazuli. A large, brightly colored stained glass window of the "Resurrected Christ" takes pride of place inside the main altar. The church, designed to accommodate 14,000 standing worshipers, was closed in the early 1930s and reopened as a museum. Today, church services are held here only on major ecclesiastical occasions.

Officially the tip of Vasilievsky Island is known as Stock Exchange Square. St Petersburg's docks were located here at this fork of the Neva from around 1730 to 1880. The architectural design was also dominated by commerce and navigation.

The Strelka area affords a dazzling view of both the Winter Palace and the Peter and Paul Fortress.

Standing on this head of land, the historic centre spreads itself around it in a wide circle.

The Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan is an outstanding example of the early 19th-century Russian architecture. It was erected on the site of a small stone church to hold the ancient icon of Our Lady of Kazan, and was named after it.

The Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan is one of the top achievements of high classical architecture and a brilliant example of the arts synthesis.

The cathedral was inspired by the Basilica of St. Peter’s in Rome and was intended to be the country’s main Orthodox Church.

The Peter and Paul Fortress is architectural and historical center of Saint-Petersburg. The fortress was designed to protect the Neva lands that were won from the Swedes during the Northern War (1700 - 21). Its powerful stone walls rising almost out of the water, and the cathedral spire soaring into the skies, make up a unique view opening from afar as a part of the wide Neva panorama. 

The Peter and Paul Fortress was put up for fortification purposes; however, it had never been used as such. Beginning from 1718 it was turned into a prison for political convicts. Since 1924 Peter and Paul Fortress has been a museum. 

For a long time the cathedral had performed the functions of the museum of Russian military glory, where enemy banners, keys of the cities and fortresses captured by Russian troops were kept. In the early 20th century all the trophies were transferred to museums. The cathedral now holds replicas of captured Swedish and Turkish banners. The building, topped with a dome and a bulbous cupola is perceived as an integral part of the cathedral. In front of the entrance a fence was put up, designed on the model of the Summer Gardens railing.

On top of the cathedrals’ gilded spire stands a magnificent golden angel holding a cross. This weathervane is one of the most prominent symbols of St Petersburg, and at 404 feet tall, the cathedral is the highest building in the city.

Other buildings in the fortress include the City History Museum and the Mint, one of only two places in Russia where coins and medals are minted.

Five generations of elite aristocratic dynastyYusupov were the owners of the palace on the Moika from in St Petersburg from 1830 to 1917.
The palace went down in the domestic history and how the murder scene of Grigory Rasputin - Siberian peasant who became a
beginning of XX century spiritual mentor and family friend  of Emperor Nicholas II . The tragedy took place the night of 17 December 1916 on the residential half of the young Prince Felix Yusupov.

The Yusupov Palace also functions as a cultural centre, hosting classical concerts and theatre performances in the beautiful rococo Palace Theatre and the equally impressive White-Columns Hall.

One of two surviving St. Petersburg residences of the monumentally wealthy Yusupov family, the Yusupov Palace on the Moika River is perhaps most famous as the scene of the assassination of Grigory Rasputin, and is one of the few aristocratic homes in the city to have retained many of its original interiors.