Museum of Political History of Russia, St. Petersburg

Housed in the stunning art nouveau mansion once lived in by ballerina Mathilda Kshesinkaya who was mistress to Nicholas II, the displays here reveal much of the secret history of the Soviet Union.

Housed in the stunning art nouveau mansion once lived in by ballerina Mathilda Kshesinkaya who was mistress to Nicholas II, the displays here reveal much of the secret history of the Soviet Union. The building was designed by Alexander van Gogen and completed in 1906, featuring an asymmetrical design with a winter garden and rotunda. If you don't have time to go in you should at least admire its immense and imposing exterior. In 1917, the building was taken over by the Bolsheviks and used as their headquarters and became a centre of revolutionary activity. You can visit the balcony where Lenin made his historic speech upon his arrival in  the city that year.

In 1957, the building became the Museum of the Revolution, whose collection can still be seen, as well as artefacts gathered by key revolutionary players such as personal documents and pamphlets. You will see items previously belonging to Nicholas II, Lenin, Gorbachev, Yuri Gargarin, and Sergei Witte to name just a few. It was renamed in the 1990s, and now pretends to tell the truth behind Russia's history, from the reign of Catherine the Great to the present day. Among nearly 500,000 exhibits, look out for a piece of the Berlin Wall and a signed decree from Napoleon Bonaparte.

Lion10/Wikimedia CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en
Lion10/Wikimedia CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en
 Florstein (WikiPhotoSpace)/Wikimedia CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en
Florstein (WikiPhotoSpace)/Wikimedia CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en

Opening Hours

Monday:
10:00 - 18:00
Tuesday:
10:00 - 18:00
Wednesday:
10:00 - 20:00
Thursday:
Closed
Friday:
10:00 - 20:00
Saturday:
10:00 - 18:00
Sunday:
10:00 - 18:00
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