10. The Faberge Museum

Another great St. Petersburg museum is the privately-run Faberge Museum. It's located in the Shuvalov Palace, just a few blocks north of my apartment on the opposite bank of the Fontanka River. The collections on display include nine Imperial Easter eggs; a variety of silver, enamel, and decorative items; and Russian icon paintings and artwork.

I generally have less appreciation for decorative and ornamental art than I do for painting and sculpture, but seeing everything in this setting was a great learning experience, with the items included as part of their more or less original context and in such a large assemblage. The Palace itself includes only a handful of spectacularly-designed and decorated rooms, and it's hard from the exterior to even tell how ostentatious it is inside. Don't judge a book by it's cover, I suppose.

The Shuvalov Palace also has a large ballroom which currently features a special exhibition from Spain of Salvador Dali's work. I've generally been less familiar with his oeuvre than with his formidable moustache, so this was quite interesting, too. Apparently St. Petersburg, Florida has an entire museum devoted to Dali, so that's a peculiar coincidence.

This institution was a 2.5-3 hour tour for me - probably less for most people who aren't museum geeks or who have stamina for such things.