2 Best Sights in St. Petersburg, Russia

This is where you'll find Petersburgers engaged in one of their favorite pursuits: buying books. The city's largest bookstore, which offers more than 150,000 titles, occupies one of the most exquisite buildings on Nevsky Prospekt. Until 1917 it belonged to the Singer sewing-machine company, for which Russia was the biggest market after the United States. In the first decade of the 20th century the company wanted to erect a skyscraper similar to the one it was building at the time in New York City, but in old St. Petersburg no structure other than a cathedral could be taller than the Winter Palace. To solve the dilemma, Singer's architect erected an elegant tower above the six-story building and topped it with a glass globe nearly 10 feet in diameter.

Taking up an entire city block, this is St. Petersburg's answer to the GUM department store in Moscow. Initially constructed by Rastrelli in 1757, it was not completed until 1785, by Vallin de la Mothe, who was responsible for the facade with its two tiers of arches. At the time the structure was erected, traveling merchants were routinely put up in guesthouses (called gostiny dvor), which, like this one, doubled as places for doing business. This arcade was completely rebuilt in the 19th century, by which time it housed some 200 general-purpose shops that were far less elegant than those in other parts of the Nevsky. It remained a functional bazaar until alterations in the 1950s and 1960s connected most of its separate shops into St. Petersburg's largest department store. Today Gostiny Dvor houses fashionable boutiques, and you can also find currency-exchange kiosks and ATMs here. On its ground floor there is a sovenier shop where you can buy all kinds of Russian traditional soveniers such as matryoshka dolls, khokhloma painted bowls, spoons and cutting boards, as well as magnets with St. Petersburg sights and many other things to bring home as gifts. Virtually across the street, at 48 Nevsky prospekt, is the city's other major "department store," also an arcade, called Passazh, built in 1848.