Cultural Attractions of St. Petersburg

Few cities can offer as many outstanding cultural attractions as St. Petersburg, which is often called an Open-Air Museum. St.Petersburg has more than 140 museums and around 100 theatres. Below we list six most famous ones.

The State Hermitage Museum
2, Dvortsovaya Ploshchad (Palace Square)
www.hermitagemuseum.org
Tu - Su, 10:30 - 18:00
With over three million pieces of artwork representing many times and peoples, the State Hermitage is the largest museum in Russia and one of the greatest museums of the world.

The State Russian Museum
1, Ploschad Iskusstv (Art Square)
www.rusmuseum.ru
We - Su, 10:00 - 18:00; Mo 10:00 - 17:00
The State Russian Museum has one of the best collections of Russian art beginning with XII century icons and until the Soviet and post-Soviet period.

Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkammer)
3, Universitetskaya Naberezhnaya (University Embankment)
www.kunstkamera.ru
Tu - Su, 11:00 - 18:00
In Peter the Great's times, the purpose of the Kunstkammer was to collect and examine natural and human curiosities and rarities. Now the collections of the museum contain over one million artifacts and reflect the diversity of traditional cultures in the Old and New World.

Mariinsky Theatre
1, Teatralnaya Ploschad (Theatre Square)
www.mariinsky.ru
The Mariinsky Theatre is one of the world's leading opera and ballet theatres. With Valery Gergiev as the artistic director and principal conductor, its repertoire became extraordinary diverse and innovative.

Maly Drama Theatre (Theatre of Europe)
18, Ulitsa Rubinshteyna (Rubinstein Street)
www.mdt-dodin.ru
The Maly Drama Theatre is now the most famous Russian drama theatre, both in Russia and abroad. Its fame is associated with its stage director Lev Dodin.

St.Petersburg Philharmonic
2, Mikhailovskaya Ulitsa (Mikhailovskaya Street) - Major Hall
30, Nevsky Prospect - Minor Hall
www.philharmonia.spb.ru
The St.Petersburg Philharmonic is well-known for its acclaimed symphony orchestra directed by Yuri Temirkanov and offers many outstanding performances.

The former royal residences in the suburbs of St.Petersburg are considered to be one of its main treasures and attract a lot of visitors. Petergof (www.peterhof.org), Tsarskoe Selo (www.tzar.ru) and Pavlovsk (www.pavlovskart.spb.ru) have the most spectacular palaces and parks.

Cultural activities organized during the Conference

St. Petersburg is one of the most beautiful cities of Europe, and the Conference takes place in the prime time - the famous White Nights. We will be happy if you can fully enjoy your time to St. Petersburg, so we have planned some cultural activities to make your visit more interesting and carefree.

On June 12, a bus city tour will be organized during the day (11:00-14:00) and there will be a boat tour along the Neva river (from 22:00) to enjoy the darkless night. If you would like to join, please, send us an e-mail (cogsci2006@yandex.ru, Natalia Slioussar). It will be possible to pay for the excursions when registering for the Conference. The price is about $10-30. The final price will depend on the number of participants. When we know the prices more precisely, we will post further on this website and will send e-mails to all the participants. Please, note that after you have notified us about your participation, your application can be cancelled only until June 1, because we will have to organize the tour in advance.

Visits to the museums and to the suburbs can be easily planned upon arrival. There are always plenty of excursion buses leaving there from the city center. However, especially because of the high season, it might be more difficult to buy theater tickets. This is why the organizing committee is glad to offer help for theater lovers. If you would like to attend a ballet, an opera or a concert during the Conference days, please, contact us by e-mail (cogsci2006@yandex.ru, Natalia Slioussar). The playbills of all major theatres and concert halls for June 2006 can be downloaded here (Ballet&Opera.doc and Philharmonic.doc - to be added later, when the playbill is announced). The price of the ticket depends on the seat and is about $25-60 (or up to $150, in case of the Mariinsky theatre). Please, keep in mind that less expensive tickets will be sold out very quickly. The tickets will be distributed and the money will be collected upon your arrival to the Conference. After we have reserved a ticket for you, a small fee will be charged in case you decide to cancel the reservation. The fee will increase greatly if the reservation is cancelled less than 10 days before the performance. Since the conditions might differ from theatre to theatre, we will discuss them individually for each particular reservation.