St. Petersburg is kicking off the fall art and culture season with something for everyone, from Chinese lanterns to a retrospective of one of Russia's greatest artists.
Art Weekend: Oct. 5 and 6
Explore the best of St. Petersburg’s galleries and exhibitions in a weekend entirely devoted to contemporary art. Art Weekend will involve more than twenty different locations in the city from galleries, museums to creative spaces and exhibition halls that will host a rich program of events. There will be lectures by curators and artists, exhibitions and performances. This is the perfect chance to see cutting-edge art and get some help understanding it. For more information about venues, events and schedule, see the event website.
Festival of Chinese lanterns
For the first time in St. Petersburg, the Primorsky Park Pobedy is hosting a Festival of Giant Chinese Lanterns. One of the oldest Chinese traditions, the Lantern Festival in China has more than 2,000 years of history during which the techniques to create these beautiful objects have been continuously refined. The festival in St. Petersburg lets residents and visitors to the northern Russian capital admire them and learn how to make them. Workshops are held from Wednesday to Sunday, and a Chinese food court is open every day. The festival runs until Oct. 13.
23A Krestovsky Prospekt. Metro Krestovsky Ostrov. For more information, see the website.
St. Petersburg Fashion Week
St. Petersburg may not be one of the great fashion capitals of the world… yet. In October St. Petersburg Fashion Week will present the new trends for spring and summer 2020, with creations by designers from all over the world. In addition to runway shows, Fashion Week will also launch the SPbFW POP-UP STORE, an event that will allow the public to directly talk with designers, discuss the trends of the new season and perhaps receive some personalized fashion advice. Oct. 10-13.
Alexandrinsky Theater New Stage. 49A Naberezhnaya Reki Fontanki. Metro Sennaya Ploshchad, Spasskaya. For more information, see the event website.
Pushkin Is a Funny Name
Today, more than 220 years from Alexander Pushkin’s birth, his name is immediately associated with great poetry and literature. The multimedia play “Pushkin Is a Funny Name,” which will premiere on Oct. 12, brings the audience back to a time when the name of Pushkin was nothing more than a funny name. The play, produced by the actor and director Veniamin Smekhov, will look at Pushkin through the eyes of his contemporaries, both friends and enemies, in order to portray the life of the founder of modern Russian literature.
Oct. 12 at 7 p.m. St. Petersburg Philharmonic. 2 Ulitsa Mikhailovskaya. Metro Gostiny Dvor. For more information and ticket sales, see the event website.
Oct. 12 Is Big Craft Day
Once an exotic beverage, craft beers are now becoming one of the characteristics of St. Petersburg’s nightlife. With new breweries popping up all over the city, it is not surprising that many festivals have been entirely dedicated to this golden drink. The latest, simply called Big Craft Day, will be held on Oct. 12 by the shores of the Gulf of Finland, at the Sevkabel Port, where visitors can try over 200 kinds of craft beers from 50 different breweries. The ticket to the event will cover unlimited tasting and is available online starting on Sept. 12.
Sovkabel Port. 40 Kozhevennaya Liniya Bldg.B. Metro Vasileostrovskaya. For more information and ticket sales, see the event website.
Ilya Repin
In honor of the 175th anniversary of one of Russia’s most renowned realist painters, Ilya Repin, the Russian Museum is hosting an enormous retrospective with more than 250 paintings. Among the works on display are some of the artist’s most famous: “Barge Haulers on the Volga,” “The Procession of the Cross in the Kursk Province,” and “Sadko.” In addition to the canvases, collected from museums all over the world, the show displays a collection of personal items and curiosities. Until March 9, 2020
Russian Museum, Benois Wing. 2 Naberezhnaya Kanala Griboyedova. Metro Gostiny Dvor, Nevsky Prospekt. For more information, see the museum website.
Hermitage Tapestries
The Art Nouveau Halls of the General Staff Building are hosting a magnificent exhibition of 19th and 20th century tapestries from the Hermitage collection. Most of the 20 tapestries on display have not been shown publicly in years. Predominately French, the tapestries in various styles, from Art Nouveau to Modernism, were owned by wealthy families and once graced the halls of the imperial palaces or private mansions. In recent decades, some tapestries of interest to the museum have also been acquired, including the first tapestry by Jean Lurçat in the Hermitage’s stacks – Blaze of Fire. The show runs until Jan. 12.
General Staff Building. 6/8 Dvortsovaya Ploshchad. Metro Admiralteiskaya. For more information, see the Hermitage website.
Memory Speaks: The Path Through War
If you are interested in the Great Patriotic War —World War II after Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union — be sure to visit the new exhibit at Sevkabel Port. The exhibition consists of dozens of dioramas showing the path the country trod during those terrible years. Dioramas are one of the world’s lost art forms that Russian artisans have not abandoned. The vignettes bring the war, with its suffering, heroism and ultimate victory, to life. The show runs until May 2020.
Sovkabel Port. 40 Kozhevennaya Liniya Bldg.B. Metro Vasileostrovskaya. For more information, see the event website.
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