The Museums of Leningrad [antikvár]

INTRODUCTIONThe museums of Leningrád are known throughout the world for their fabulously rich collections of art treasures. Leningrád is a young city - not yet 300 years old - but so much history has been packed into that short space of time, history moreover that has changed the destiny of mankind, that it might well be the envy of cities whose past reaches back much further. Three revolutions have taken piacé here cuiminating ín the Great October Sociaiist Revolution of 1917 and the city has won heroic status both for its valiant defence in war and its remarkable economic achievements in peacetime. Leningrád today is a major industrlal centre with almost all industries being represented here. It is the second largest city in the USSR, one of the most important scientific centres in the country and the largest port on the Baltic. Leningrád is rightly considered one of the most beautiful cities in the world. ((Venice of the North", "Pearl of the Baltic" are only two of the exotic names bestowed on the city not by its inhabitants but by visitors who have stood in admiration at the city on the Neva. But It Is not only famed for the beauty of its architecture and unique monu-