Best known as the outer casing for the remarkable State Hermitage Museum, this pistachio-coloured gem on the banks of the Neva River in St Petersburg was designed by Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli as the winter residence of the Russian tsars. Filling an entire block, it bears all the whimsy and ornamentation of the baroque period, and statues line its roof edges like divers about to plunge into the Neva. Little wonder it should be the showpiece of a city built specifically to highlight that Russia could match the architectural beauty of Europe.
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Text reproduced with permission from Bluelist 2007, copyright 2006 Lonely Planet Publications. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced except with permission in writing from the publisher.
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