Handpicked experience · St. Petersburg
St. Petersburg, Russia
The Aurora's famous shot was a blank fired as a signal, and the storming everyone can picture comes mostly from a film staged ten years afterwards.
A warship still moored where it gave its signal
A calendar change that reshuffled a national anniversary
One building that changed hands in the most literal way possible
The gap between the events and their most famous images
A route and emphasis set by you rather than a fixed script
A four-hour private tour of St Petersburg following the events of the Russian Revolution, with a specialist guide, hotel pickup and a route shaped around what you want to spend time on.
The Aurora fired one round at twenty to ten on the evening of 25 October 1917, and it is remembered as the shot that began the revolution.
It was a blank. The gun was fired as a signal to the units waiting to move on the Winter Palace, not as an attack on it. Nothing was hit, and nothing was meant to be.
That single detail is a good introduction to the whole subject, because a great deal of what everyone knows about these events was arranged afterwards to be memorable rather than accurate.
Russia was still using the Julian calendar in 1917, thirteen days behind the rest of Europe. The events of 25 October fell on 7 November by the calendar the country adopted a year later.
So the anniversary was marked in November for the following seventy years while keeping October in its name. If you have ever wondered why the dates never line up in books, that is the reason.
The Museum of Political History occupies the mansion of Matilda Kshesinskaya, a prima ballerina of the imperial theatres who had been close to the young Nicholas II before he became emperor.
It is a fine art nouveau house built for a dancer at the top of her profession. In 1917 it was taken over by the Bolsheviks and became their headquarters, and Lenin addressed crowds from its balcony. She left the country and never got it back.
Few buildings anywhere carry a change of ownership that neatly.
The mass storming of the Winter Palace that everyone can see in their head comes largely from Eisenstein's October, made in 1927 for the tenth anniversary.
It was staged, with crowds of extras, on the actual site. The footage has been used as documentary illustration ever since, in books, broadcasts and museums, which is why a dramatised scene is now the default image of the night. The real takeover was a smaller and more confused affair.
Your guide can take you through what the evidence supports. This is contested history and honest accounts of it disagree, which is part of why it is worth a private guide rather than a recording.
Museum admission is arranged and paid at each site rather than included here, so tell your guide in advance if you want to go inside the Aurora or the museum — it changes the shape of the four hours considerably.
The route involves a good deal of walking between stops, and the city is cold and windy for much of the year.
Open it to pick a date and work out the price.
What the fare covers, and what to budget for separately.
The practical detail, and the answers people actually ask for.
No. It fired a single blank as a signal to the units waiting to move. Nothing was hit and nothing was meant to be.
Russia used the Julian calendar in 1917. The events of 25 October fell on 7 November by the calendar adopted a year later.
It was built for Matilda Kshesinskaya, a prima ballerina of the imperial theatres. The Bolsheviks took it over in 1917 and she never got it back.
Yes, he addressed crowds from it while the mansion served as Bolshevik headquarters.
Largely not. It comes from Eisenstein's October, staged with extras in 1927, and has been reused as documentary illustration ever since.
Three times. Petersburg became Petrograd in 1914, Leningrad in 1924, and returned to St Petersburg after a referendum in 1991.
No, they are arranged and settled at each site. Tell your guide beforehand if you want to go inside.
A good deal between stops, with short transfers where the distances are longer.