The Eliseevsky Emporium: a Free Art Nouveau Museum Where You Can Also Just Buy Cheese

At the corner of Nevsky Prospekt and Malaya Sadovaya Street stands a building where you don't need a ticket to see one of the city's most lavish interiors — just walk in to buy something for lunch. The Eliseevsky Emporium has operated as a working grocery store for more than a century, and it's quite possibly the most beautiful food shop you'll ever set foot in.

🍇 From serf gardener to retail empire

The store's history starts with a legend: the founder of the dynasty, Pyotr Eliseev, was a gardener for Count Sheremetev and won his freedom after managing to grow strawberries for the count's Christmas table. His heirs founded the "Eliseev Brothers" trading house, and at the turn of the 20th century Grigory Eliseev commissioned architect Gavriil Baranovsky to build the Nevsky Prospekt building in the Art Nouveau style — not just a shop, but an entire complex with a theater and restaurants inside.

✨ A multi-story stained-glass window and a family monogram on the ceiling

The facade is defined by curved lines, a mix of glass, granite and wrought iron, and sculptural groups — plus an enormous stained-glass window, several stories tall, visible from the street. Inside the ground-floor trading halls, the original massive chandeliers, mirrors, stucco molding, wrought-iron grilles and the Eliseev family monogram on the ceiling all survive — and all of it still functions as a real shop, not a museum display behind glass.

🏷️ The "Grocery No. 1" that never stuck

After the revolution, the store was nationalized and renamed "Grocery No. 1," but St. Petersburg residents kept calling it by its old name — Eliseevsky. The name outlasted Soviet rule and decades of renaming: today it's the official name once again.

📌 In short

✅ The Eliseevsky Emporium is a working grocery store at the corner of Nevsky Prospekt and Malaya Sadovaya Street — free to walk into.

✅ The building was built in the Art Nouveau style, designed by architect Gavriil Baranovsky, at the turn of the 20th century.

✅ Inside, a multi-story stained-glass window, stucco molding, wrought-iron grilles and the Eliseev family monogram on the ceiling all survive.

✅ During the Soviet era the store was renamed "Grocery No. 1," but locals kept calling it Eliseevsky.

✅ Besides free entry to the trading halls, paid guided tours of the building are also available — check schedules and prices with the organizers before your visit.

If you're walking down Nevsky and want to see one of the city's most beautiful interiors for free, just step inside like you would any ordinary shop. Look up at the ceiling before you get in line at the register.