Ruskeala Russia

Travel to Beautiful Cities in Russia

Here you will find study trips and round trips through the metropolises of Russia

Moscow

Take a city trip to Moscow, the capital of Russia. Get to know the political, economic and cultural center of the country with universities, numerous churches, theaters, museums, galleries and other sights. Visit the Bolshoi Theater, the Vakhtangov Theater, the Taganka Theater, the State History Museum, the Kremlin, Red Square, St. Basil’s Cathedral, the Church of the Resurrection, the Patriarch’s Palace, the Seven Sisters of Stalin, the Tolstoy House, the White House (Belyi Dom), the tsar cannon and tsar bell, and much more. Enjoy the multifaceted life in Moscow, the city that was also known as the Third Rome.

St. Petersburg

Take a round trip to St. Petersburg, Russia’s second largest city, and get to know its sights. On a study tour, you will be offered a city in which literature, music and theater are world-class. Look forward to the Catherine Palace, the Mariinsky Theater, the Russian State Library, the Lenin statue, the monument to Peter the Great, the Pushkin monument or Dostoyevsky’s tomb, the world-famous Hermitage Museum, the Resurrection Church, Isaac’s Cathedral and many others Highlights. Enjoy a city trip through the wonderful metropolis on the Baltic Sea – Saint Petersburg!

Pavlovsk

Pavlovsk Castle – a wonder of nature

In front of the gates of St. Petersburg stretches out a magical natural idyll: the impressive former tsar’s residence, Pavlovsk Palace, embedded in 600 hectares of beautiful green spaces. Pavlovsk was a popular summer destination for the wealthy capital city dwellers and inspired the writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky to write his novel “The Idiot”.

The gigantic landscape park goes back to an initiative of Catherine the Great, who in 1777 gave the order to build a palace park for her son Paul I, the heir to the throne. The task fell to the Scottish architect Charles Cameron, who has already carried out a number of projects for Katharina, including the Tsar’s village Tsarskoje Selo with the famous Amber Room. It was therefore obvious that Pavlovsk Castle was built under his leadership. Cameron had a decisive influence on the breathtaking landscape with its gentle hills, the artificial lakes, the winding circular paths, the bridges, pavilions, the cascades and sculptures. The classical palace became the architectural focal point of the complex.

English garden tradition in Russia

The Crown Prince’s wife, Maria Fjodorovna, also had a large share of the park. Today more than ever, this makes the palace park a magnet for anyone traveling to Russia and wanting to visit St. Petersburg and the region. The perfection of the outside continues seamlessly inside the palace. The interplay of shape and color casts a spell over every visitor. Not to mention the valuable exhibits that testify to the gigantic wealth of the former Tsar dynasties. Its designation as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1990 was a logical and important step to put a stop to destruction.

The charm of the wilderness

The scenic charm of this landscape is visible at any time of the year, especially in places where there is a slight overgrowth. This green gem is still spared from mass tourism. So if you go to this area, you should definitely take advantage of the hour.

Ruskeala

Abandoned marble quarry in Russia developed as a travel destination

One of the most distinctive and surprising places of the northern Ladoga area and Russia is the Ruskeala Mountain Park, a unique and multi-dimensional natural monument and a place with a long mining history. The heart of the park is in Marble Canyon. It is an old abandoned quarry that provided stone for almost three centuries, was completely neglected and forgotten for many years and now attracts tourists.
The unique marble mine, discovered in 1766, yielded four types of marble: ash gray, gray and green, white with gray stripes and white, gray and blue. The quarries as well as some other marble deposits in Karelia, the Urals and Italy supplied various projects in St. Petersburg, including St. Isaac’s Cathedral, the Marble Palace, St. Michael’s Castle, the interiors of the Winter Palace, the New Hermitage and the Kazan Cathedral as well as the decoration of the Metro St. Petersburg (especially the metro stations Primorskaya and Ladozhskaya).

What does Ruskeala offer?

The safety of the marble massif was destroyed in the 20th century by the use of dynamite after marble had been mined here since the 18th century. Because of this, some quarries were abandoned and flooded. Today, these picturesque deep quarries and clear water tunnels are a popular tourist attraction. In Ruskeala, visitors can see exotic mosses, lichens, orchid plants and shrubs that have long been threatened with extinction. Rare species of reptiles, amphibians and bats can also be seen here.

Activities

Visitors can take a boat on the 500 meter long and 100 meter wide lake and admire the play of colors between water and light stone from different perspectives. Walks through the woods to observe nature and cave exploration offer further discovery and relaxation. The best time to travel is between May and August, as it gets very cold in the region in winter. For the future, it is planned that former tunnels will also be made accessible to visitors.

Ruskeala Russia

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