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Bread museum of St.Petersburg

A Russian proverb says: "Bread is the chief ruler". And so it is. The Russians are probably the first and only nation to have a museum of bread. Located in St.-Petersburg, it resembles a big bakery with a wide array of products. The first thing that catches the eye is a huge mill constructed of barankas (baked rolls). The exposition showcases dinner bread, shortbread, spice-cakes of all shapes, flat cakes, the famous round-shaped Moscow kalatches, pies and lots of other baked goods - some plaster cast, the others real baked. A special section features bread for cosmonauts - the so-called "one-bite bread". Each small bit is separately packed and is really meant for one bite.

Among the exhibits is a huge pie 80 cm long and 40 cm high. Similar-sized pies graced the dinner table of Czar Boris Godunov in the late 16th, early 17th century.

The exhibits are arranged in a historical order. Dried pieces of brown bread - part of a soldier's food ratio during World War I - are followed by all sorts of buns, biscuits and cakes that flooded the markets under NEP - "the new economic policy" when private business was partially legalized. Next come the somewhat poorer assortment of the 1930s, a peace of bread weighing 125 grams - a daily ratio per one person during the horrible years of the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945)- and, finally, post-war and modern bakery products.

Opening time:
10:00 - 16:00; Closed - Saturday, Sunday.