SHOPPING

Shopping is an essential part of every trip abroad. During your St.Petersburg tours, your personal guide will take you to one of the best local gift shops, where you’ll find a great choice of nesting dolls, samovars, amber and other souvenirs and gifts. Upon your choice, we can take you to shop for furs and leather, or even smoking pipes. For famous Russian vodka or chocolate we can take you to an average supermarket, or you can visit a regular farmers’ market to shop for famous traditional Russian pickles. It goes without saying, that if would like to skip this part of the program and use the time, allocated for shopping, for other purposes – let us know and we’ll replace it with walking on Nevsky or some other museum visit.

NESTING DOLLS or MATRYOSHKAS

Who doesn’t know the matryoshka? But 100 years ago, the wooden nesting doll was hardly known in Russia. It was brought from Japan, and only in 1899 the first Russian matryoshka was created by a master toy maker in Sergiev Posad, 50 km north of Moscow. Although the concept of nested objects was familiar in Russia at that time, having been applied to carved wooden apples and Easter eggs. The Russian word for these wooden dolls is "matryoshka", but they are also called matrioshka, matryoshkas, babushka dolls, babushka's doll, matroshka, matryushka, and stacking dolls. In provincial Russia before the revolution the name Matryona or Matriyosha was a very popular female name. It was derived from the Latin root 'mater' which means 'mother'. This name was associated with the image of a mother of a big family who was very healthy and had a portly figure. Subsequently, it became a symbolic name and was used specially to describe brightly painted wooden dolls made in such a way that they could be taken apart to reveal smaller dolls fitting inside one another. Matryoshkas exist in many colorful and exotic variants, you can even buy Winnie the Pooh or David Beckham.

KHOKHLOMA
Khokhloma or Khokhloma painting is the name of a Russian wood painting handicraft, known for its vivid flower patterns, red and gold colors over the black background, and the distinctive effect on the cheap and light wooden tableware or furniture, making it look heavier, metal-like and glamourous. The craft comes from Nizhni Novgorod . The Khokhloma style generally exhibits a combination of the red, gold, and black typical of the decorative painting of that region in late 17th century and first half of the 18th century. The three colors had a profound symbolism for decorating the sacred church vessels and the dishes and cups used in the monasteries and nunneries, as well as in icon ornaments. The red color represented the beauty, the gold color symbolized the spiritual heavenly light, while the black color signified the gracious grief cleansing the human soul.

SAMOVAR
Samovar is a typical metal container used to boil water for tea. Many samovars have an attachment on the tops of their lids to hold and heat a teapot filled with tea concentrate. Though traditionally heated with coal or charcoal, many newer samovars use electricity and heat water in a similar manner as an electric water boiler. Being now not so much of a kitchen utility, but more of a traditional Russian souvenir, samovar exists in many varieties of multi-coloured decorative painting, although the most traditional Russian samovars are considered to be those that come from Tula region.

ST. PETERSBURG PORCELAIN
Russian porcelain has an interesting history that dates back to the time of Peter the Great which was fascinated with the beautiful Chinese porcelain. He wanted to establish a viable porcelain manufactory in Russia however the Chinese protected the secrets of porcelain manufacture so closely that magical qualities were ascribed to the material. Due to its rarity, porcelain was often called "white gold" and commanded a high price. It was used to decorate the rooms of palaces and exchanged as presentation gifts among the rulers of Europe. Noble ladies wore shards of porcelain as items of fine jewelry. In Russia, Peter attempted to acquire the secrets to porcelain manufacture from various sources without success. After Peter's death his daughter, Empress Elizabeth, continued to pursue her father's dream. After several deplorable attempts and replacement masters, Dmitri Vinogradov analyzed the raw materials and had found the necessary ratio. Vinogradov brought the quality of Russian porcelain to a level of equal to that of any porcelain produced in Europe at that time. Tea and coffee service, snuffboxes, buttons, Easter eggs, pipes, and other small items were produced to meet demand, but the original kilns were not suitable for anything larger. It was not until 1756, after a larger kiln was constructed, that the first Imperial table service was produced for Empress Elizabeth. While only a few items from the Vinogradov have survived, his extensive notes on the technology of porcelain production provide the basis of manufacture at what is now the Lomonosov Porcelain Factory or Imperial Porcelain Factory in St. Petersburg.

AMBER JEWELRY
Amber gem stone is not strictly speaking a stone at all... but is a fossilized resin. Beautiful jewelry made from it resembles gemstones... so it is sold as a gem stone. Amber is popular as it has marvelous metaphysical properties for psychic protection It gives the person who wears it a lovely sense of health and healing. It balances the emotions, clears the mind, releases negative energy, eases stress by clearing phobias and fears... and it is a lovely warm stone to wear.
Baltic Amber is highly prized for its high quality. Russian craftsmen have long been reputed for making beautifully crafted pieces from it.
After the famous Amber room in the Catherine Palace in Tsarskoye Selo was completely reconstructed by Russian amber craftsmen in 2003, Russian amber jewelry has been enjoying a wave of popularity. You can bring home a piece that was created by the same craftsmen who worked on the Amber room restoration. Also, if You are interested in amber craft, we invite you to visit the Amber Workshop in Pushkin (Tsarskoye Selo), the facility, where the restoration works on the Amber room were conducted.

Gift shops that we recommend checking out:

1. AMBER PALACE
   35, Moika river emb, St.Petersburg
   Metro stations: Gostini dvor, the Nevskiy prospect
2. BABUSHKA ART STORE
   Babushka Art Store invites guests to the wonderful world of Russian art. Decorated in the style of a 17th-century nobleman's house, Babushka's rooms contain a complete collection of Russian souvenirs and presents to suit all tastes and budgets.
   33, Lieutenant Schmidt emb, St.Petersburg
   Metro station: Vasileostrovskaya
3. BAZAR
   Bazar has two big stores in St. Petereburg with more merchandise than most souvenir markets near the tourist sites like St. Isaac's Cathedral and the Church on the Spilled Blood.
   4, Petrovskaya emb.
4. MUSEUM
   7/5, Mytninsky emb.
5. DOSTOEVSKY
   2, Antonenko lane
6. ONEGIN
   Onegin is a real find for anyone who wants to treasure their memories of a trip to Russia and St. Petersburg. Onegin's eight spacious rooms spread over two floors house a complete collection of Russian souvenirs and presents to suit all tastes and budgets.
   11, Italianskaya st.