Cultural programme

The Central Park of Culture and Recreation named after Sergei Kirov is the oldest park in St. Petersburg. Its architecture and layout are a masterpiece of the early 19th century landscape design, created by the famous architect Carlo Rossi. In its contemporary period, the Park combines beauty and sophistication of the previous centuries with possibilities of casual recreation for residents and guests of St. Petersburg. Every year the Park hosts the best open-air events of the summer. Tulip blossom season is a highlight of Yelagin Island. In 2018, the tulips are in blossom on 10–26 May.

The Park has two entrances: from the Stary Teatr Square through the 1st Yelagin Bridge and from Primorsky Prospect through the 3rd Yelagin Bridge.

On weekdays, the admission to the park is free.
26–27 May: Premium Package Participants can enter the park upon presenting the badge.
Tours and other additional services are covered by the participants.

The magnificent palace complex at Tsarskoye Selo would not be complete without its parks, the most important of which, Catherine and Alexander, are named after the palaces that grace their grounds.
Catherine Park is divided into two parts – the regular Old Garden and an English landscaped park. Symmetry lies at the heart of the design of the Old Garden, with the palace at its centre, and strictly mapped out avenues, squares, pavilions, and sculptures.
Alexander Park spans around 200 hectares and flanks the courtyard of Catherine Palace. It is also divided into a regular part (the New Garden) and a landscaped park.

Premium Package participants can present their badge to gain access.
Please note that participants must pay for guided tours and other additional services separately.

The Peterhof State Museum-Reserve is the capital of fountains. It attracts thousands of tourists every year. Forum guests will be able to enjoy the Lower Park, one of the most beautiful parks in Europe. It is graced by 150 completely different fountains: from colossal cascades, including the Grand Cascade that features the famous statue of Samson in the centre of the ensemble, to trick fountains, which delight children and adults alike.
The Grand Cascade is officially switched on at 11:00 every day.

Premium Package participants can present their badge to gain access.
Please note that participants must pay for guided tours and other additional services (including admission to the Grand Peterhof Palace) separately.

The Fabergé Museum, in the Shuvalov Palace, houses the world’s largest collection of works by the House of Fabergé. Here you can not only appreciate the exquisite jewellery masterpieces from the Imperial Easter Series commissioned by the two last Russian Emperors, but also cabinet gifts, lapidary art, silver, enamel, and jewelled Russian icons, all crafts in which Fabergé specialized.

Premium package holders can present their SPIEF 2018 badge to gain access to the museum.
Please note that participants must independently pay for excursions and other additional services.

Pavlovsk Palace and Park constitutes a monument to the architecture of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The prominent architects, decorators, and painters of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries who contributed to its creation include Charles Cameron, Vincenzo Brenna, Andrey Voronikhin, Giacomo Quarenghi, Carlo Rossi, Pietro Gonzaga, and others.
Pavlovsk Palace served as the residence of emperors and grand dukes. The names of Paul I and Maria Feodorovna, and the Grand Dukes Mikhail Pavlovich and Konstantin Konstantinovich are associated with this residence. Today, Pavlovsk Palace is a museum with a collection of more than 57,000 items. It includes collections of Russian and Western European arts and crafts, paintings, and drawings, as well as a collection of antique sculptures.
The halls of the palace house a number of expositions devoted to various topics: The Costume Museum, A Woman’s World and Her Hobbies, Church Vestments and Church Plate from the Collections of the Pavlovsk State Museum, and The Russian Residential Interior of the Nineteenth Century.

Premium Package participants can present their badge to gain access to the museum.
Please note that participants must pay for guided tours and other additional services separately.

An annual sand sculpture festival is held outside on the beach at the Peter and Paul Fortress, amazing visitors year after year with its grand scale and superb craftsmanship.

Premium Package participants can present their badge to gain access to the festival.
Please note that participants must pay for guided tours and other additional services separately.

This exhibition is devoted to one of the most interesting periods in the cultural history of St. Petersburg: the turn of the twentieth century, which is often called the Art Nouveau period.
A whole layer of St. Petersburg fin de siècle city culture was associated with the Art Nouveau style, and this large-scale exhibition in the Peter and Paul Fortress, which presents a very rich collection of works in the Art Nouveau style, offers a reminder of that era.
It features architectural drawings, decorative and architectural details of St. Petersburg buildings, furniture, lighting fixtures, porcelain and glassware, women’s clothing, shoes, and accessories.

Premium Package participants can present their badge to gain access to the exhibition.
Please note that participants must pay for guided tours and other additional services separately.

This is the first museum in modern Russia dedicated to the tragic World War I period (1914–1917). It is located in the Sovereign’s Martial Chamber, conceived by Emperor Nicholas II as a pantheon of military glory.
The exhibition mainly consists of genuine military and household items belonging to those who took part in the First World War, as well as documentary and photographic materials from the Tsarskoye Selo Museum Reserve collection.

Premium Package participants can present their badge to gain access to the museum.
Please note that participants must pay for guided tours and other additional services separately.

St. Isaac’s Cathedral is an outstanding monument to late Russian classicism from the mid-nineteenth century.
The remarkable interior of the cathedral features all kinds of monumental and decorative art, including painting, sculpture, mosaics, and coloured facing stones. The cathedral’s main iconostasis is decorated with malachite and lapis lazuli columns. The main altar features a stained-glass window of the ‘Risen Christ’, which is an unconventional decoration for an Orthodox church.

Premium Package participants can present their badge to gain access to the museum.
Please note that participants must pay for guided tours and other additional services (including admission to the Colonnades) separately.

A unique monument to Alexander II The Liberator, the Church of the Saviour on Blood (Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ) is a stand-out architectural landmark in the centre of St. Petersburg.
The cathedral features Russia’s largest collection of mosaics, slabs of varicoloured Italian marble, ornamental stones from the Urals and the Altai, and a collection of Russian heraldic mosaics.

Premium Package participants can present their badge to gain access to the church.
Please note that participants must pay for guided tours and other additional services separately.

The exhibition, which sprawls across 14 halls of the museum, boasts about 2,000 items. In the entrance hall, which opens the exhibition, visitors can enjoy temporary installations consisting of items from the museum’s collections. The small Italian galleries display unique examples of furniture from various historical periods. The Teremok Hall features examples of Russian applied art, including costumes, a collection of Russian folk dolls, printed textiles, forged metal items, and furniture. The collection of Western European ceramics and porcelain consists of a wide and diverse range of pieces: German stoneware from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, Italian maiolica from the sixteenth century, unique porcelains from Berlin, Meissen, and Sèvres dating from the eighteenth century, and much more.

Please present your SPIEF 2018 badge to gain access to the museum.
Visits as part of a sightseeing tour must be reserved in advance. Detailed information is available in your personal web office.

The museum presents the traditional cultures of peoples from around the world (Native Americans, Eskimos, Japanese, Indians, Mongols, etc.) as well as some of the first natural science collections, which date back to the time of Peter the Great. The Mikhail Lomonosov and the Eighteenth-Century Academy of Sciences exhibit offers visitors an opportunity to learn about the history of Russian science. There is also an option to enjoy guided tours of the First Astronomical Observatory of the Academy of Sciences and the Gottorp (Greater Academic) Globe exhibits. The museum is currently presenting the following temporary exhibit: Dervishes: Images and Words.

Premium Package participants can present their badge to gain access to the museum.
Please note that participants must pay for guided tours and other additional services separately.

This tour will take you on an amazing journey through the pages of the history of the Russian icebreaker fleet and Arctic exploration. The Krasin was built in 1917 in England by order of the Government of the Russian Empire. It went on to participate in Arctic rescue expeditions and came to the aid of civilian vessels. It circumnavigated the world twice, spent the entirety of World War II guiding polar convoys, heroically worked on the Northern Sea Route, and explored oil and gas fields on the Russian Arctic shelf. In 1928, the crew of the icebreaker was awarded the highest honour of the Soviet Union for rescuing the crew of Italian aeronauts led by the famous polar explorer, inventor, and general Umberto Nobile, who had become stranded when their airship, the Italia, crashed off the coast of Spitsbergen.
Guided tours start on the hour as groups are formed. The last tour leaves at 21:00.

Premium Package participants can present their badge to gain access. Participants in other categories can purchase admission at a reduced price on presentation of their badge.

This exhibition presents manuscript masterpieces from the Near and Far East. The Institute’s manuscript collection is one of the largest in the world, and the biggest in Russia. It includes more than 115,000 items in 65 dead and living languages. The unique collection is housed in the luxurious interiors of the New Michael Palace, a striking example of nineteenth-century palace architecture.

Please present your SPIEF 2018 badge to gain access to the exhibition.

The Gavrila Derzhavin Estate Museum is a unique cultural heritage site that was restored between 2003 and 2011. The complex consists of a mansion in which the poet lived from 1791 to 1816, the House Theatre, and the Greenhouse and Garden.
The poet’s house (central building) contains the Museum of Gavrila Derzhavin and the Russian Literature of His Time. The literary heritage exhibits occupy 16 interior rooms, including the room where members of the Colloquy of Lovers of the Russian Word met, as well as the poet’s office, kitchen, and ice cellar. The exhibits include books and manuscripts, as well as works of fine, decorative, and applied art.
In the eastern building is the literary exhibit The Players of the Russian Lyre. From Gavrila Derzhavin to Alexander Pushkin, featuring paintings, engravings, arts and crafts, coins and medallions, and portrait galleries of figures from the literature, history, and culture of the second half of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
The western building houses the exhibits In the White Lustre of Porcelain and National Pushkin Museum: Through the Pages of History, which recount the museum’s history of over 100 years. There are also two more exhibits: Pushkin on the Playbill: The Poet on the Twentieth- and Twenty-First-Century Stage and Pushkin’s Fairy Tales.

Premium Package participants can present their badge to gain access to the museum.
Please note that participants must pay for guided tours and other additional services separately.

Diverse in materials and themes but with a single cultural and historical focus, this exhibition tells the story of significant events in Russian history using over 400 exhibits from the visual and applied arts. It features paintings and graphic works, sculpture, porcelain, glassware, works of applied art, costumes, and archival documents.

Premium Package participants can present their badge to gain access to the exhibition.
Please note that participants must pay for guided tours and other additional services separately.

Drawn from the collections of the Russian State Museum, the State Hermitage, and private owners, the approximately 350 examples of domestic ceramics dating from the 1920s to the beginning of the 1990s in this exhibition trace the new artistic approaches and motifs applied by artists over various periods of national history, and explore how the portrayal of sports and a healthy lifestyle in the visual arts has changed.

Premium Package participants can present their badge to gain access to the exhibition.
Please note that participants must pay for guided tours and other additional services separately.

Over 110 artisans, including painters, drawing artists, sculptors, and video artist participate in this exhibition project. All of them belong to different generations representing different traditions: traditional classical art, underground art, primitivism and hyperrealism, as well as many other trends gaining ground in contemporary visual art. Among the participants, one can find both famous names and young authors: Nikolay Ionin (1890-1948), Nikolay Andronov (1929-98), Oleg Tselkov (born 1934), Ilya Kabakov (born 1933), Oskar Rabin (born 1928), Solomon Rossin (born 1937), Maxim Kantor (born 1957), Vladimir Dubosarsky (born 1964), Leonid Tskhe (born 1983) and many others. Every artist has their own journey, their own childhood and their own memories of it.

Premium and Standard Package Participants can enter the exhibition upon presenting the badge.
Tours and other additional services are covered by the participant.

The Presidential Library is one of the most important information, cultural, and educational centres in Russia. The tour will introduce visitors to the historical interiors of the Synod building and the modern halls of the Presidential Library, which were designed to host public and state events. The latter spaces include a conference hall and a multimedia, multipurpose hall, which are equipped with the latest technology, including 3D projection equipment. Part of the tour will feature a presentation of the library’s electronic collections in the Electronic Reading Room and on the Internet portal. These collections consist of materials on the history of Russia; the theory and practice of Russian statehood; and Russian language, literature, geography, and law. Visitors will have a chance to visit both temporary and permanent exhibits in the Constitution Hall, which houses the only inaugural copy of the Constitution of the Russian Federation.
Guided tours will be conducted twice a day:
– at 16:00 and 19:00 on 24 and 26 May
– at 16:00 and 17:30 on 25 May
Groups should assemble and participants should meet their guides in the main foyer of the Presidential Library.

Please present your SPIEF 2018 participant badge to join the tour.

Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin’s stature as a genius of the twentieth century is more clearly evident today than ever. His impact on the culture of his era places him in the company of such artistic figures as Kazimir Malevich, Pavel Filonov, and Wassily Kandinsky. This exhibition in the halls of the Benois Wing displays the artist’s works in stages, celebrating all periods of his creative life through both known and forgotten pieces drawn from the collections of numerous museums and private collections. Among the works featured are such masterpieces as Bathing of the Red Horse, The Mother of God, Softener of Evil Hearts, Petrograd Madonna, Death of a Commissar, Alarm, and others.

Premium Package participants can present their badge to gain access to the exhibition.
Please note that participants must pay for guided tours and other additional services separately.

The famous Japanese group AUN J Classic Orchestra will perform in St. Petersburg for the first time. The audience will have a rare opportunity to hear the sounds of authentic Japanese string, wind, and percussion instruments. The eight musicians will present a programme of popular classics, film music, and traditional Japanese works.

Premium and Standard package holders can attend the event by invitation. You can find detailed information in your personal web office.

Love, passion, intrigue, comic situations, and practical jokes. The players of the On Mokhovaya Academic Theatre offer a modern reading of Beaumarchais’ brilliant vaudeville The Marriage of Figaro. Students from the Institute of Performing Arts bring their youthful enthusiasm, creative excitement, and improvisation skills to bear in their portrayals of the characters in this timeless work of eighteenth-century literature. Director: Alexander Stavisky.

A ticket is required to attend this event; tickets can be purchased via your personal web office.
The price of these tickets is not included in the package.

Guests at the reception will enjoy a taste of Indian culture, art, and cuisine.

Premium Package participants may attend the event by invitation. Detailed information is available in your personal web office.

Challenge 92 spectators will see 12 exciting, iron-willed duels fought in accordance with the MMA rules. The most talented, decorated, and entertaining MMA fighters from around the world will step into the hexagonal ring to take each other on, seeking to claim the title of strongest fighter on the planet. International MMA legend Sergei Kharitonov will enter the ring for the main fight of the evening.

Premium Package participants may attend the event by invitation. Detailed information is available in your personal web office.

The sweeping multi-act ballet Raymonda is one of the treasures of the Mariinsky Theatre repertoire. Choreographed by Marius Petipa in 1898, it successfully combines large classical ensembles, colourful character dances, spectacular genre scenes, and the use of pantomime. This late masterpiece by Petipa is a test of the professionalism and acting skills of any ballet company.

A ticket is required to attend this event; tickets can be purchased via your personal web office.
The price of these tickets is not included in the package.

A play by Andrey Moguchy based on a short story by Leonid Andreyev.
The protagonist of the play, a town governor, re-examines his order to open fire on a crowd of striking workers. The governor conducts a painful conversation with his conscience, anticipating his inevitable death.

A ticket is required to attend this event; tickets can be purchased via your personal web office.
The price of these tickets is not included in the package.

The concert programme of the Jazz Philharmonic Orchestra features music from the repertoire of famous American big bands, original arrangements of jazz standards, and works by Russian composers. A special place in the programme is dedicated to compositions by St. Petersburg jazz musicians, including Gennadi Goldstein and Ruslan Khain. The talented arrangements by Serge Bogdanov, the orchestra’s brilliant soloists, all famous Petersburg-based musicians, the maestro David Goloshchekin himself, and the young jazz artists produce a unique take on the ‘mainstream’ jazz sound.

A ticket is required to attend this event; tickets can be purchased via your personal web office.
The price of these tickets is not included in the package.

On 24–27 May, Russia’s first permanent circus will host the First International Festival of Circus Art Na Fontanke. The famous arena of the oldest circus in the country will feature best circus performers from over 17 different countries. Edgar Zapashny will be the festival presenter. Contemporary and classic performances, competence and artistic skill of the participants will offer the residents and guests of St. Petersburg an unforgettable encounter with the magic art of circus.

The programme features:
- National equestrian games of Galkynysh Group directed by Pygy Bayramdurdyev (Turkmenistan).
- Aerial gymnasts on straps The Desire of Flight, Valery Sychev and Ekaterina Abakarova (Russia)
- Gamo Brothers, Icarian Games (Ethiopia)
- Balance on trapeze (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea)
- Indian Elephants show directed by the Gärtners family (Germany)
- The Empire of Lionesses show directed by Vitaly Smolyanets (Russia)
- Strahlemann & Sohne, jugglers (Germany)
- Les Freres Taquins, visual comedy (Belgium)
- Dan and Konstantin, Balance, hand to hand (Romania)
- Trampoline acrobats directed by Anatoly Ruban (Russia)
- Housch-ma-housch, comedian (Germany)

Tickets for the event can be ordered through the Personal web office.
The ticket cost is covered by the participant.

Roskulttsentr and Future Team, with support from the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs (Rosmolodezh), presents the first Maximum Culture international evening of art. Event participants, among whom will be representatives from art clusters right across Russia, will learn more about the organization’s key projects, including the popular Tavrida National Youth Educational Forum, which brings together thousands of young creatives every year. Participants will also have an opportunity to network in an informal setting and listen to presentations by speakers from the worlds of culture and art.

Premium and Standard Package participants can attend the event by invitation. Detailed information is available in your personal web office.

Music by Alexander Krein.
Choreography by Vakhtang Chabukiani, revised by Mikhail Messerer.
Featuring Ivan Vasiliev.
Laurencia features a special type of Russian choreography, the so-called ‘Stalinist classicism’. It is a magnificent, spectacular, ‘theatrical’ performance in the most exalted sense of the word. The emotional intensity and the swiftness of the action, which is reminiscent of a tempered steel spring, are transmitted through the striking language of dance, where classical movements are fused with fiery Spanish rhythms. The ballet features virtuoso solos and duets, harmonious ensembles, and spectacular crowd scenes. A dramatic story unfolds through raucous dance, where the joy of reciprocated love is rudely destroyed by violence, in turn setting off an explosion of popular anger. The plot is based on the play Fuenteovejuna by the Spanish playwright Lope de Vega.

A ticket is required to attend this event; tickets can be purchased via your personal web office.
The price of these tickets is not included in the package.

Alexander Drouz will host the intellectual game show What? Where? When? with guest Nikolai Miklouho-Maclay, a descendant of the famous explorer. They will discuss the topic: Papua New Guinea: Land of the Future. Players and audience members will have the opportunity to broaden their horizons and enjoy puzzling over the questions during the course of this smart game show, and will surely come away with a lot of memories to last a lifetime. It’s cool to be smart!

Premium Package participants may attend the event by invitation and must register in advance. Detailed information is available in your personal web office.

The grand opening of the Space. Human Stories exhibition, which is dedicated to the figures who made an invaluable contribution to Russian space exploration and those who worked ‘behind the scenes’ of the USSR’s march to space. Visitors will learn about several stories from the creators of the Soviet space programme and will be able to view unique documents and artefacts related to the programme. Works by contemporary artists on the theme of space will be presented in a new dedicated space.
Legendary cosmonauts are expected to attend the opening of the exhibition.

Premium Package participants may attend the event by invitation. Detailed information is available in your personal web office.

The international cultural project Russian Seasons invites guests to an evening reception featuring a performance by the outstanding contemporary pianist Boris Berezovsky.
Boris Berezovsky is an Honoured Artist of Russia and one of the world’s most popular pianists. He holds the highly respectable title of Steinway Artist. As a player, he is noted for his virtuosity, perfect execution, subtle and rich dynamics, and the variety of his repertoire. Boris Berezovsky has participated in the largest international music festivals in Russia, Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovakia, Japan, and the US. His engagements for the 2018 and 2019 seasons include performances at world-class concert venues, and solo tours in Europe, Asia, and Latin America.
The event will be held in the inner courtyard of the Mikhailovsky Theatre.

Premium Package participants may attend the event by invitation.
Detailed information is available in your personal web office.

This symphony concert “with a French accent” will feature classical French pieces by Claude Debussy, with solo cello performances by long-time favourite of St. Petersburg audiences Gautier Capuçon. Conducting the Mariinsky Theatre Symphony Orchestra will be Valery Gergiev.

A ticket is required to attend this event; tickets can be purchased via your personal web office.
The price of these tickets is not included in the package.