Vasilyevsky Island Walking Tour (Self Guided), St. Petersburg

Situated just across the river from the Winter Palace, Vasilyevsky Island constitutes a large part of Saint Petersburg's historic center.

There are various versions of the origin of the island's name suggesting either Vasily-related etymology or perhaps just a corruption of the previous Swedish or Finnish name, e.g. Vasikkasaari (“Calf Island”). Legend has it, however, that some Vasily Korchmin indeed served under Peter the Great as one of his foremost gunner officers and military engineers, and had an artillery battery deployed at the spit of the island to ward off Swedish navy. A lively statue commemorating the man is now found in a pedestrian street on the Vasilyevsky.

The easternmost tip of the island, called Strelka (“spit”), features a number of attractions, such as primarily the Old Saint Petersburg Stock Exchange. Other noteworthy edifices lining the Universitetskaya Embankment along the Bolshaya Neva include the Kunstkamera (the museum of natural and human curiosities and rarities), the Twelve Collegia (headquarters of St. Petersburg University), the Menshikov Palace (hosting a branch of the Hermitage Museum), the Imperial Academy of Arts, and St. Andrew's Cathedral – all dating from the 18th century which have long attracted tourists in their numbers.

If you wish to explore these and other prominent sights of St Petersburg's Vasilievsky Island, take this self-guided walking tour.