Twenty four essays invite readers to depart from the well-trodden tourist trail and take an excursion into St. Petersburg's historical past: visit the scenes of former German and Jewish life; the Moskovsky Prospekt, a magnificent boulevard built under Stalin; Lake Ladoga, which froze over in 1942 thereby providing the only link to the besieged city; the locations of Bolshevist mass rallies; the infamous police department, but also the gardens, cinemas and apartments. The result is a lively mosaic of locations that reveals the history of the city and its citizens.