Discover 11 hidden attractions, cool sights, and unusual things to do in Vyborg (Russia). Don't miss out on these must-see attractions: Vyborg Castle, Hermitage-Vyborg Center, and St. Hyacinth's Church. Also, be sure to include Tower of St. Olav in your itinerary.
Below, you can find the list of the most amazing places you should visit in Vyborg (Leningrad).
Table of Contents
Vyborg Castle
Also known as: Выборгский замок
Waterfront 13th-century Swedish fortress. Vyborg Castle is a Swedish-built medieval fortress around which the town of Vyborg evolved. The castle became the stronghold of the Swedish realm in the Karelian region. Throughout the centuries, it was the first defence of the kingdom against Russians. Its military and strategic status in the late Middle Ages was second only to the fortified capital Stockholm. Currently it serves as the site of Vyborg Regional Museum.[1]
Address: Замковый остров, 188800 Выборг
Hermitage-Vyborg Center
Also known as: Эрмитаж-Выборг
Museum. The Hermitage-Vyborg Center is an external branch of the Saint Petersburg based Hermitage Museum in the Karelian town of Vyborg. The museum was opened in 2010. Hermitage-Vyborg Center is located in the 1930 completed Vyborg Art Museum and Drawing School building, which was designed by the Finnish architect Uno Ullberg.[2]
Address: Ladanova St., 1, 188800 Vyborg
St. Hyacinth's Church
Also known as: Костёл Гиацинта
Building in Vyborg, Russia. St. Hyacinth's Church is a Gothic building, formerly a church, in Vyborg, Leningrad Oblast, Russia.
It was built in the sixteenth century as a private church for members of the nobility, and it became a Roman Catholic church, dedicated to Saint Hyacinth, in 1802.
In 1970, the neglected and disused building was restored for use as a children's art school. It is now an art gallery.
The wrought iron railings here once belonged to Vyborg Cathedral.[3]
Address: 4 улица Водной Заставы, Vyborg
Tower of St. Olav
The Tower of St. Olav is the one remaining tower of Vyborg Castle. It is a symbol and an architectural landmark of the city of Vyborg.[4]
Address: Выборгский замок, Vyborg
Annenkrone
Also known as: Анненские укрепления
Historical landmark in Russia. Annenkrone is an early 18th century fortification in Vyborg, Russia. It is located outside the town in the island of Tverdysh.[5]
Vyborg Library
Also known as: Библиотека Алвара Аалто
Library in Vyborg, Russia. Vyborg Library is a library in Vyborg, Russia, built during the time of Finnish sovereignty, before the Finnish city of Viipuri was annexed by the former USSR and its Finnish name was changed to Vyborg by the Soviet authorities.
The building, built from 1927 to 1935, is an internationally acclaimed design by the Finnish architect Alvar Aalto and one of the major examples of 1920s functionalist architectural design. The library is considered one of the first manifestations of "regional modernism". It is particularly famous for its wave-shaped ceiling in the auditorium, the shape of which, Aalto argued, was based on acoustic studies. On completion the library was known as Viipuri Library, but after the Second World War and Soviet annexation, the library was renamed the Nadezhda Krupskaya Municipal Library. Nowadays, integrated in the Russian Federation city of Vyborg, the library is officially known as the Central City Alvar Aalto Library.
The library restoration project lasted almost two decades from 1994 until late 2013. The restoration work was awarded with the World Monuments Fund / Knoll Modernism Prize in 2014 and the Europa Nostra Award in 2015.[6]
Address: просп. Суворова, 4, 188800 Выборг
Mon Repos
Also known as: Монрепо
Historical place museum in Russia. Mon Repos or Monrepos is an extensive English landscape park in the northern part of the rocky island of Linnasaari outside Vyborg, Russia. The park lies along the shoreline of the Zashchitnaya inlet of the Vyborg Bay and occupies about 180 hectares of land.
The manor of Monrepos was established by Baron Ludwig Heinrich von Nicolay who bought this parcel of land in 1788. The estate was considered a jewel of Old Finland and belonged to his descendants until the Soviet takeover in 1944. The core of the baronial estate consists of the Neoclassical main house (designed by Giuseppe Antonio Martinelli) and the library house.
The seaside park is strewn with glacially deposited boulders, scenic cliffs and wooden pavilions. It is considered a landmark in the evolution of the Romantic taste for landscape gardening. The mausoleum of Baron Nicolay was designed by Pietro Gonzago and frescoed by Johann Jacob Mettenleiter.
Ludwig Heinrich's only son and successor, Baron Paul von Nicolay, was the Russian ambassador in Copenhagen from 1816 to 1847. His wife Alexandrine Simplicie de Broglie (the 2nd duke's granddaughter) commissioned from Charles Heathcote Tatham an obelisk commemorating her brothers slain in the Napoleonic wars. Auguste de Montferrand, Andreas Shtakenshneider and Gotthelf Borup also designed pavilions and statuary for Monrepos.
The park is noted for its rocks, mostly from the old Wiborgite granite (which is named after Vyborg), and for some glacial formations of up to 20 metres (66 ft) high. Some 50 species of plants can be found, some of them being rare. Its fauna is diverse as well.[7]
Casovaa basna
The Clock Tower is a tower in Vyborg, the former bell tower of the Old Cathedral, then the Clock Tower and at the same time the watchtower of the city fire department. Architectural dominant of the Old Town,
Address: Крепостная ул., 5, Vyborg
Park Esplanada
Lenin Park is the central park of Vyborg. It stretches from Market Square in the west to Moskovsky Prospekt in the east and from Lenin Prospekt in the north to Krepostnaya Street in the south. Leningradsky Prospect and Suvorov Avenue divide the park into three parts.
Park Monrepos
Also known as: Монрепо
Long-standing manor with a huge park. Mon Repos or Monrepos is an extensive English landscape park in the northern part of the rocky island of Linnasaari outside Vyborg, Russia. The park lies along the shoreline of the Zashchitnaya inlet of the Vyborg Bay and occupies about 180 hectares of land.
The manor of Monrepos was established by Baron Ludwig Heinrich von Nicolay who bought this parcel of land in 1788. The estate was considered a jewel of Old Finland and belonged to his descendants until the Soviet takeover in 1944. The core of the baronial estate consists of the Neoclassical main house (designed by Giuseppe Antonio Martinelli) and the library house.
The seaside park is strewn with glacially deposited boulders, scenic cliffs and wooden pavilions. It is considered a landmark in the evolution of the Romantic taste for landscape gardening. The mausoleum of Baron Nicolay was designed by Pietro Gonzago and frescoed by Johann Jacob Mettenleiter.
Ludwig Heinrich's only son and successor, Baron Paul von Nicolay, was the Russian ambassador in Copenhagen from 1816 to 1847. His wife Alexandrine Simplicie de Broglie (the 2nd duke's granddaughter) commissioned from Charles Heathcote Tatham an obelisk commemorating her brothers slain in the Napoleonic wars. Auguste de Montferrand, Andreas Shtakenshneider and Gotthelf Borup also designed pavilions and statuary for Monrepos.
The park is noted for its rocks, mostly from the old Wiborgite granite (which is named after Vyborg), and for some glacial formations of up to 20 metres (66 ft) high. Some 50 species of plants can be found, some of them being rare. Its fauna is diverse as well.[8]
Address: Open-Air Museum "Park Monrepo", 188800 Vyborg
Dom kupeceskoj gildii Svatogo Duha
The House of the Merchant's Guild of the Holy Ghost is an old building in the center of Vyborg on the corner of Vyborg Street and Novaya Zastava Street, a medieval architectural monument.
Address: 8 Выборгская улица, Vyborg