Aurora

This protected cruiser, moored on the Neva as a museum ship, is one of the most potent symbols of the Russian Revolution, credited with firing a blank shot that signalled the assault on the Winter Palace in 1917. Launched at the turn of the twentieth century, it saw action in the Russo-Japanese War before its revolutionary fame. Visitors tour its decks, engine rooms and gun turrets while exhibits recount its long history, and it remains an active vessel of the Russian navy.