If you want to spend National Unity Day somewhere that is actually about unity, St Petersburg has the obvious address: the Russian Museum of Ethnography on Inzhenernaya Street. Under one roof it gathers the costumes, homes, jewellery and festivals of dozens of peoples of Russia and its neighbours — and 2026 has been declared the Year of Unity of the Peoples of Russia. It is also one of the most beautiful buildings in the centre: plenty of people have seen photos of its pink marble hall under a crystal ceiling without knowing where it is.
4 November 2026 is a Wednesday, and the museum is open. Below: what to see, tickets and free days, all checked on the museum's website on 19 October 2026.
🏛 The Marble Hall: columns, crystal and 183 figures
The Hall in Memory of Emperor Alexander III, now known as the Marble Hall, is described by the museum itself as unique in St Petersburg architecture. It covers about 1,000 square metres and rises 15.7 metres, ringed by 28 columns weighing 24 tonnes each. The pink marble came from the Tivdia quarries in Karelia — the architect, Vasily Svinyin, travelled to the quarry to pick the blocks himself.
The colonnade and gallery of the Marble Hall — Photo: Aleksandrovy AG, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
The ceiling is made of crystal tiles produced by the Moscow jewellers Khlebnikov. They were shattered in the war and replaced with ordinary glass in the 1950s; only the restoration of 2009–2011 brought the crystal back. The column capitals carry the Romanov coat of arms and Alexander III's monogram.
The real highlight, though, is the sculpted frieze. Ninety-six metres long and 1.87 metres high, it runs along three walls at eye level, with 183 figures showing scenes from the life of the peoples of the Russian Empire. It is the work of the sculptors M. Ya. Kharlamov and V. S. Bogatyryov. Walk along it slowly: women carrying sheaves, musicians, children, carts — every scene tells its own story.
Detail of the Marble Hall frieze — Photo: Aleksandrovy AG, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
For the full story there is an audio tour of the hall, "Bronze, Marble and Crystal" (45 minutes, 300 roubles on top of admission). One caveat from the website: the Marble Hall may be closed on event days, so check by phone on +7 (812) 570-54-21.
🧱 Svinyin's building: a portico crowned by Athena
The museum began life as the Ethnographic Department of the Russian Museum of Emperor Alexander III, and this building was designed for it: the foundation stone was laid on 16 June 1905 and the interiors were finished in early 1916. Only half of Svinyin's plan was ever built — after the Russo-Japanese War, money ran out once the main wing and part of the courtyard wings were up.
The museum's facade on Inzhenernaya Street — Photo: Dezidor, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Look up before you go in. The frieze is packed with wreaths, pharaoh masks, books, scrolls and the arms of the Empire, Moscow and St Petersburg, while reliefs of ancient philosophers and scholars flank the entrance. The group "Athena, Patron of the Arts and Crafts" was placed on the portico in 1910.
🏠 "Russians": a peasant house, a stove and festivals
From the Marble Hall, head into the permanent displays. The most detailed is "Russians. Late 19th – Early 20th Century": how peasants farmed, built houses and stoves, made their clothes, and how the working week gave way to feast days.
A peasant house in the museum's display — Photo: Aleksandrovy AG, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
These rooms have a free augmented-reality guide on the Artefact platform, and there is a free audio guide to all the displays on tmatic.travel.
👘 The halls of peoples: from the Arctic to Central Asia
Next come the displays on Russia's neighbours and regions. The website currently lists nine: "Belarusians", "Ukrainians", "Moldovans", "Peoples of the Volga and the Urals", "Peoples of North-West Russia and the Baltics", "Peoples of the South Caucasus", "Peoples of Central Asia and Kazakhstan", "The Arctic — Inhabited Land" and "Bone, Horn, Amber". Each room has costumes, household objects and dwellings, along with answers to questions such as why the yurt suits nomads so well, and how Nowruz and Sabantuy were celebrated.
Folk costumes in the permanent exhibition — Photo: Aleksandrovy AG, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Some displays sit in two-storey halls under glass roofs, with cases and installations on the floor and a gallery running round the top. Climb up at least once — from there you see the whole room at a glance.
A two-storey hall under a glass roof — Photo: Artyom Svetlov, CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
