St Petersburg

DVD. Vista Point. 26 Minutes. In 1703, Tsar Peter the Great founded St. Petersburg in the swampy delta mouth of the Newa. It became Russia's capital city and remained so until 1918 when Lenin and his revolutionary Bolshevik government moved to Moscow. Today it is a living monument to the lives and times of Russia's Imperial Tsars The Winter Palace contains Russia's largest museum, the Ermitage, which houses more than two and a half million exhibits. Since Peter the Great, Russian rulers purchased many major works of art, but it was Catherine The Great who acquired complete collections from the auction houses of Europe. The Admiralty, with its needle-shaped, gold-plated tower, is one of the city's most famous landmarks, its grand architecture depicting the emergence of Russia as a naval power and the marvellous Isaaks Cathedral has the third largest dome in the world. Twenty four thousand tree stumps were used for its foundations and it can accommodate a congregation of 14,000. The Peter And Paul Cathedral was the burial place of the Tsars and it contains the marble coffin of Peter the Great. The most colourful church in Russia is the Resurrection Of Christ Cathedral which was built on the orders of Tsar Alexander the Third on land where, in 1881, his father, Alexander the Second, had been killed by a bomb planted by a revolutionary group. Russian Baroque and Russian Classicism were established in St. Petersburg - city of monumental events, outstanding architecture and an Imperial metropolis on the grand scale.

DVD. Cities of the World. 60 Minutes. After the maritime victory over the Swedish army, Peter I the Great decided to build a city on the small islands and lagoons on the mouth of the river Neva. The Russian, Italian and French masters dreamed up wonderful Baroque and Classicist palaces on the banks of the canals. The Church of the Savior of Blood, the Saint Isaac's Cathedral, the Peter and Paul Fortress, the blue, white and gold Smolny and the Winter Palace all make the city of white nights unforgettable. The Hermitage has one of the largest art collections of the world, but for those who find this less than enough, there is the Russian Museum, and the suburbs of Peterhof, Pushkin and Pavlovsk.

DVD. Global Treasures. 10 Minutes. In 1703, Tsar Peter The Great founded St. Petersburg in the swampy delta mouth of the River Newa and today it is a living monument to the lives and times of Russia's Imperial Tsars. The Winter Palace contains Russia's largest museum, the Eremitage, which houses more than two and a half million exhibits. Since Peter the Great, Russian rulers purchased many major works of art, but it was Catherine The Great who acquired complete collections from the auction houses of Europe. The Admiralty, with its needle-shaped, gold-plated tower, is one of the city's most famous landmarks, its grand architecture depicting the emergence of Russia as a naval power and the marvellous Isaaks Cathedral has the third largest dome in the world. Twenty four thousand tree stumps were used for its foundations and it can accommodate a congregation of 14,000. At the widest part of the Newa is the regal and dominant, Peter And Paul Fortress that Peter The First had built to protect his capital city from Sweden and to guard Russia's passage to the East Sea. The focal point of the fortress is the Peter And Paul Cathedral that served as the burial place of the Tsars and contains the marble coffin of Peter the Great. Russian Baroque and Russian Classicism were established in St. Petersburg - city of monumental events, outstanding architecture and an Imperial metropolis on the grand scale.

DVD. Global Treasures. 10 Minutes. In 1782, Tsar Catherine The Great had the magnificent Pawlowsk Palace built for her son. It is difficult to believe that it was almost completely destroyed during the Second World War, after which it was fully restored. The palace's furniture and art were spared from enemy bombardment thus preserving their full splendour to the present day. The interior architecture of the building was formed by two main influences: the military preferences of Tsar Paul I and the opposing taste of his wife, Maria. During the lifetime of the Tsars, the palace became more than merely a functional building as it combines richly designed architecture with an amazing array of art from the 18th and 19th centuries, making it a combination of both palace and art museum. Many European flowers and trees have found a new home in the marvellous setting of the 600 hectare Pawlowsk Park, a scene of harmony and romantic tranquility which contains various small temples, pavilions and monuments, including 200 sculptures.

DVD. Global Treasures. 10 Minutes. Hermitage The Russian flag still waves proudly above the roof of the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, the former Winter Palace of the tsars. However, despite the meaning of its French name it is no longer a place of seclusion. Designed by Rastrelli and built between 1754 and 1762, today the Hermitage is the centre of an art museum that consists of several buildings. The impressive Peter Hall is dedicated to the legendary founder of the Russian Empire, Peter The Great. Indeed, it is a remarkable work of art in its own right and both the Parade Stairs and Jordan Stairs are fine examples of the Winter Palace's dramatic architecture. The purchase of more than two hundred paintings from Berlin formed the basis of the Russian aristocracy's passion for art and served as the catalyst for the subsequent museum. Works by the most famous Italian artists, including Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raffael, have their own splendid exhibition rooms within the Eremitage. In addition to its remarkable works of art, the museum also contains a large number of archaeological discoveries and artistic treasures from entire cultural epochs. The Hermitage is an art museum of the superlative. It contains a total of 2.7 million exhibits many of which are the finest examples of their kind. The Hermitage, the former Winter Palace of the Russian tsars and today the greatest museum in Russia, is a veritable palace of outstanding art and history.

DVD. Global Treasures. 10 Minutes. St. Petersburg, Russia South of St. Petersburg, in today's Puschkin, is the splendid Catherine's Palace, built by the Russian tsars for the tsarinas, Elizabeth and Catherine. Magnificent frescos and decorative inlays offer but a small hint of the seemingly boundless wealth of the Russian tsars, a fuller indication of their extravagance unfolding with the appearance of generously-gilded interiors, extravagant art collections and the boldness of Baroque architecture manifesting itself in wide staircases and intriguing courtyards.

DVD. Global Treasures. 10 Minutes. The Peter And Paul Fortress is the historic centre of the tsar's city of St. Petersburg and is located on Rabbits Island within the mouth of the Newa River. Its slender, gilded bell tower is 122 high and is one of the city's most dominant landmarks. The cathedral was built between 1712 and 1733 and contains both Dutch and Early Baroque building styles. Since Peter The Great the building was used mainly as a place of burial for the tsars and the Tsarina Catharine The Great lies within a sarcophagus of white Carrara marble. Numerous wall paintings and captured flags from the wars against the Swedes and the Osmanic Empire still decorate the splendid interior of the cathedral. In front of the main guard house there is a controversial bronze sculpture by the Russian, Michail Schemjakin, that depicts Peter The Great with a strikingly small head. The Peter And Paul Fortress never saw battle and was later converted into a state prison. The participants of the December Revolt which took place in 1825 were also imprisoned within its walls and until the October Revolution in 1917 the fortress also served as a notorious prison for the enemies and critics of the tsars. During the Revolution, the canons of the fortress fired 40 shots at the Winter Palace that is located on the opposite bank of the Newa. Today, the thunder of canon is a daily event and punctually at noon a shot is fired from the Naryschkin Bastion. With this simple ceremony due homage is paid to an age old tradition of Peter The Great as it was in this way that he announced lunchtime for all the inhabitants of the city!

DVD. Naxos Scenic Musical Journeys. 60 Minutes. The Places St. Petersburg, the former Russian capital, established in 1712 by Peter the Great, represented an era of modernisation. Built around the River Neva, which flows into the seas of the Gulf of Finland, its palaces, streets and parks, reflect the age of its construction and wider European influences to which the Tsar sought to direct his country. The Music The composers whose music is here included - Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Cui, Liadov and Ippolitov-Ivanov - were themselves closely associated with Russian music of the later nineteenth century and, inevitably, with St. Petersburg and its Conservatory.

DVD. Venice of the north.The beautiful canals. The tsars. Peter the great.Palaces & theriver neva.The hermitage art museum.Pushkin, dostoyevsky.Tchaikovsky & ballet. The second world war &900 day siege of the city.Lenin & communism,and much more. 54 minutes "Your video captures the beauty of the city and of its people as nothing else on film or tape that I have seen." - Don Keach, former President of the St. Petersburg/Los Angeles Sister City Organization. "As former Executive Director of the Los Angeles-St. Petersburg Sister City Committee, I want to let you know how popular your film series on Los Angeles and St. Petersburg are in Russia. I have been informed that your films have been seen by over 80 million people in the Russian Republic since the initial showing." - Mary Alice DeBeer.