St. Petersburg: Architecture of the Tsars

Before becoming a city, St. Petersburg was a utopian vision in the mind of its founder, Peter the Great. Conceived by him as Russia's "window to the West," it evolved into a remarkably harmonious assemblage of baroque, rococo, neoclassical, and art nouveau buildings that reflect his taste and that of his successors, including Anna I, Elizabeth I, Catherine the Great, and Paul I.

Crisscrossed by rivers and canals, this "Venice of the North," as Goethe dubbed it, is of unique beauty. Neve…