Commandant’s House

A splendid two-story brick building, the Commandant’s House was built in the 1740’s. Home for the commander of the fortress (surprised?) it is apparently little changed except for the addition of several more wings. Touring the extensive collection within is included with your Full Admission ticket so let’s take a gander.

The museum’s intent is presenting the history of St. Petersburg, so a panorama of recent Russian from Peter the Great forward. On the plus side, a broad assortment of artifacts is well presented. On the negative side, there is no apparent organization and because the majority of placards only include English subtitles, it is very difficult to follow. Regardless, the visual impact is strong and it takes some time to grow weary from wandering about rather aimlessly.

That is a good thing, because there are a vast number of displays to take in and I suspect it might be a half day well spent if you can read Russian. Alas, the overwhelming number of exhibits eventually drains enthusiasm when you can do little more than blink your eyes without understanding the import. Bottom line: worth visiting with Full Admission or ability to understand the local lingo, a pass otherwise.