St Petersburg is really famous for its porcelain produced by Imperial Porcelain factory. Founded in 1744, the plant is still operating in our days. In my personal opinion, a porcelain piece is the best present you can ever bring from St Petersburg: it’s locally made and the quality is so high that you can see its services in Russian royal palaces. The best pieces are collected in the museum of Imperial porcelain factory.
The Imperial porcelain factory was founded during the reign of Elizabeth, the daughter of Peter the Great. Porcelain was extremely popular and expensive in Europe and many states were struggling to create their own porcelain and those who were successful kept it in secret. The recipe of Russian porcelain was invented by Dmitry Vinogradov and the first items made were presented to the empress.
Imperial porcelain factory museum
At the end of 19th century emperor Alexander III ordered to create all orders by royal family in duplicate so that one copy would be held in the porcelain factory museum. Today the Museum is a branch of the State Hermitage.
The Imperial porcelain factory museum is small but very interesting: you can see items from the most beautiful Russian services, but for me the most mind-blowing part was “soviet propaganda” porcelain. Unfortunately it’s prohibited to take pictures in the museum.
How to visit Imperial porcelain factory museum?
Address: the museum museum is located out of the city center close to the production plant, its address is Obukhovskoy oborony prospekt, 151. (Not far from Lomonosovskaya metro station)
Working hours: Tuesday to Saturday 10:30-18:00. Sunday 10:30-17:00.