St. Petersburg, a cultural center of the global significance, has accumulated and enormous cultural potential over the period of three centuries. For all this time the city has been a true pearl of world culture. Artists and architects made a permanent mark in the cultural history of Russia with their world-renowned architectural ensembles of St. Petersburg. These are the Peter-and-Paul Fortress Complex, the Alexander Nevsky Lavra Monastery, the Smolny, the Spit of Vasilievsky Island with the buildings of Birzha and the Twelve Collegiums, the Dvortsovaya Square with the Winter Palace, the Arc of the General Headquarters and the Alexander Column, the Dekabristove Square and the Bronze Horseman, the St. Isaac Cathedral, and many more monuments and buildings.

Museums and galleries:

• Over 250 museums, including:
  • 45 museums of natural history and science
    • The Central Museum of Railroad Transport,
    • The Military Medical Museum,
    • The Zoological Museum, and others.
  • 18 literature museum
    • The All-Russia Museum of A. Pushkin
    • The Literature Memorial of F. Dostoevsky
    • The Akhmatova Museum in the Fountain House, and others.
  • 44 art museums
    • The State Hermitage
    • The State Russian Museum, and others.
  • 5 national museum-preserves
    • Peterhoff, Oranienbaum,
    • Tsarskoe Selo, Gatshina
    • Pavlovsk,
  • 39 history museums
    • The Central Naval Museum,
    • The National A. Suvorov Memorial, and others.
  • 24 local history and ethnographical museums
    • The Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography,
    • The Local History Museum of Pushkin, and others.

Among these:

• 16 museums and 19 branches of the municipal network,
• 8 museums and 12 branches of federal subjugation,
• 10 municipal museums,
• about 72 departmental museums,
• 82 museums in schools,
• 5 museums established as non federal cultural institutions.
• 45 galleries and exhibition halls (the Manege Central Exhibition Hall being the largest), in which up to 400 exhibits on contemporary art and over 130 exhibits of collections of museums are being held annually.

Theaters and Movie Theaters

• Over 80 theaters, including over 30 public theaters:
  • music theaters
    • the Mariinsky theater, the Musorgsky Theater of Opera and Ballet, the Musical Comedy Theater, and others.
  • drama theaters
    • The Tovstonogov Grand Drama Theater, The Akimov Comedy Theater, Baltijsky Dom, and others.
  • children's theaters
    • The Bryantsev Young People Theater, the Zazerkalye Children's Musical Theater, the Grand Puppet Theater, and others.
• Over 50 movie theaters, including 40 public movie theaters.

Libraries

• About 1,800, including
  • 76 university libraries,
  • 99 college libraries,
  • 750 school libraries.
  • 115 trade union libraries.
  • 190 national public libraries.

Among these, the following are the oldest libraries of the country:

• The Library of the Academy of Science,
• The Russian National Library,
• The St. Petersburg National Theater Library.
• Libraries of significance for the whole of Russia:
  • The Library of the Academy of Arts,
  • The Central Agricultural Library,
  • The Central Scientific and Technical Library,
  • The Naval Library,
  • The Pan-Russian Geological Library.

Concert Organizations

• 16 municipal concert organization, including:
  • Peterburg-kontsert,
  • The Glinka Academic Capella
• one organization of the Ministry of Culture of Russian Federation
• 98 private, departmental, and public concert organizations, among which there are 68 music clubs that organize live concerts
• 4 independent orchestras:
  • The Symphony Orchestra under the Direction of R. Martynov,
  • The Klassika Orchestra,
  • The Russian Concert Orchestra,
  • The V. Andreev Orchestra of Folk Instruments
• 2 ice ballet troupes (the Ballet on Ice, and The Children Ice Theater),
• 2 concert halls (the Oktybrsky Grand Concert Hall, and Smolny Sobor)

Culture and performing groups and recreation centers

• 78 recreation centers, including:
  • 34 public centers,
  • 44 other types of property
• 3,014 culture and performing groups and clubs
• 14 municipal methodological associations

The most significant cultural event of the city:

• The Ploshchad Iskusstv International Music Festival
• The International Music Festival "From Avant-Guard to the Present,"
• The S. Prokofiev International Music Competitions
• The Stars of the White Nights
• The Palaces of St. Petersburg
• The Musical Spring in St. Petersburg
• The Musical Olympus
• The Music of the Grand Hermitage
• The International Week of Conservatories
• The Early Music International Festival.