Jewish St Petersburg

St Petersburg lay outside the Pale of Settlement, so Jews could live in the capital only with special permission, granted for education, merchant status, a trade or state service. The community that grew here was small but remarkably influential: bankers and industrialists alongside craftsmen and retired soldiers. This walk tells its story in the streets where it lived.

The route

Theatre Square. You meet at the Rimsky-Korsakov monument, in Kolomna, one of the quietest and best-preserved parts of old St Petersburg, near the Mariinsky Theatre and the Conservatoire.

The Grand Choral Synagogue. Built between 1883 and 1893, it is the second largest synagogue in Europe. Its Moorish style was chosen to recall the golden age of Jewish culture in Spain, and the building was paid for by the community, chiefly by Baron Horace Günzburg and Samuel Polyakov. In the entrance hall the acoustics are so good that a whisper carries more than ten metres.

The Small Synagogue. The everyday prayer hall, where weddings are also held.

Community addresses. The mansions of the Günzburgs and other families who funded hospitals, schools and scholarships, and the buildings that once housed Jewish schools and printing works.

Quiet canals. Kolomna’s waterways, almost free of tourists, link the stops.

Your guide explains how residence rights were won, how the restrictions shaped what people did, and why this one community produced leading bankers, famous artists and musicians, and well-known revolutionaries at the same time. The story continues through revolution, emigration, the purges and the Siege to the present day, when the synagogue is active again, with schools, kosher facilities and cultural programmes.

Good to know

• The walk lasts about 2.5 hours, entirely on foot.
• Inside the synagogue, men need a head covering, which is provided at the entrance. Women should cover their shoulders and knees.
• The synagogue interior cannot be visited on Saturdays or Jewish holidays, so plan for another day.
• The tour is private, for your party only. Meals are not included.

Who it suits

Travellers interested in Jewish heritage, history lovers who want to see a less familiar side of the imperial capital, and anyone who enjoys a calm walk away from the crowds.