The past of the 300 year old city can be savoured in Cross's fine book in all its exotic splendour. Appropriately it is particularly well illustrated and, while much more scholarly than the term generally indicates, will make a splendid vade mecum for future visitors. - Literary Review
A glorious compendium of our love-hate affair with this romantically strange of all European cities. - New Statesman
Traveller or not, Hermitage admirer or not, everyone should find space for this book in their personal library. - Oxford Times
The publication of Cambridge University Professor Anthony Cross's latest book is the first of its kind in over a generation. It provides the latest insight, with a wealth of material gathered from diaries, archives and other sources on the presence and role of British people in the capital over the 300 years since its foundation... British life and influence are laid bare by Professor Cross who makes clear how important the British role was in making St Petersburg one of the world's most magnificent cities. - St Petersburg Times
Some of the accounts produced by these mostly amateur writers are evocative… And there is constant pleasure pleasure not just in reading about vanished delights but in the glimpses of what has remained unchanged. - Times Literary Supplement
A wonderfully entertaining anthology of British experience of the city from its foundation by Peter the Great in 1703 up to the present day. - Scotland-Russia Forum Review
This book has much to recommend it both to an academic and a more general audience. Its material is presented in an engaging and informative manner, with a useful guide to its principle sources for further investigation and two extensive indexes (for places and names) at the rear. The range and scope of its material provide a great deal of information that is not readily accessible for most readers, particulary the lesser-known and unpublished works. There is plenty here to inform and indeed entertain either a specialist on the city or an experienced resident on one hand, and the casual tourist or curious reader on the other, - Journal of European Studies
Many aspects of British life and influence are laid bare by Professor Cross who makes clear how important the British role was in making St. Petersburg one of the world's most magnificent cities. - St Petersburg Times
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