St Petersburg: the Venice of the North
St Petersburg: the Venice of the North
Lecturer: Jane Angelini
St Petersburg is an epic city, founded in defiance of nature in a region of swampy marshland as Peter the Great’s “window to the West”. The city that evolved is a remarkably harmonious collection of baroque, rococo, neoclassical and art nouveau buildings that reflect his taste and that of his successors. The large sweeping vistas, the ordered architecture, the majestic palaces reflected in the waters of the canals make St Petersburg hauntingly beautiful.
The museum collections are outstanding and unlike any other.
Jane Angelini is a freelance lecturer for The Arts Society and other arts organisations. She speaks several foreign languages and has translated a number of works of 19th century Russian literature for Penguin Books and Oxford University Press. She has a BA in Russian Studies and an MA in Byzantine Studies.
Jane created St James’s Art Tours in 1998 and ran it successfully for almost twenty five years before closing the travel company in 2022. She has travelled extensively and now offers online armchair travel talks over the winter months. She and her husband run an art gallery in St James’s, Piccadilly, which specialises in 20th century art.