Russia’s famous tall ship, the Kruzenshtern, will visit St. Petersburg for the first time since 2006 on Thursday, the Federal Fishery Agency said.
The ship is expected to arrive in St. Petersburg at 7.30 am local time and remain there for thee days, during which she will welcome participants in the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on her board.
The ship will also be open for general public on the last day of the visit, Saturday.
The visit is also dedicated to the 2014 Winter Olympic Games to be hosted by Russia in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.
The Kruzenshtern is widely regarded as one of the jewels of the Russian sailing fleet. It was built in Germany in 1926 as a windjammer class ship (then called The Padova).
After World War II, the ship was transferred to the Soviet Union as a reparation payment and renamed after a legendary Russian navigator, Johann Kruzenshtern (1770-1846), who performed Russia’s first round-the-world trip.
Since the 1970s, the ship has served as a training vessel for naval cadets.
The Kruzenshtern was moored for three weeks in Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada) during the 2010 Winter Olympics and became one of the most important symbols of support for the Russian teams in its ultimately unsuccessful sports campaign.