Book Presentation: “Behind the Facade”

On April 16 at 18:00, a presentation of the book “Behind the Facade” by our friends—local historians—will take place in Helsinki.

Local history is not about boring dates from textbooks, but about living stories of houses, streets, and people. It’s when you look at an old entrance hall and suddenly realize it is more than a hundred years old and has its own memory. In Saint Petersburg, local history has become part of the city’s culture. Almost every building holds its own story—from imperial times to the present day. This is exactly what the book “Behind the Facade” is about, written by local historians and journalists Elja Novopashennaya and Alexey Shishkin.

📖 The book includes dozens of stories about residents of Saint Petersburg houses:

Ayn Rand, Bulat Okudzhava, Ivan Bilibin, Petrov-Vodkin, Mike Naumenko, a Siamese prince, and many others—human stories intertwined with the history of the city.

📍 We are waiting for you at Byroo café (Laivurinrinne 1, Helsinki)

🎟 Free entry with предварительная registration: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/15BWmNPQF_m0msoNjS5hN1dT_dE39305CK96PUpbreAM/