Each building in St. Petersburg has gone down in history - large, national or small, the history of life and everyday life of ordinary citizens. In one house there was a local printing house, in another - a spiritualist salon, and in the third there was a tavern where Nekrasov once expected his beloved.“Behind the facade: 25 letters about St. Petersburg and its inhabitants” - more than a book about architecture. This is a collection of stories about what life was like in the city in different eras. The authors of the publication, Aleksey Shishkin and Elya Novopashennaya, prove that modern local history is not boring at all. After all, the most amazing stories are hidden behind the front facades.Leo Tolstoy and Joseph Stalin, general luxury and communal apartments, a criminal past and an atmospheric present coexist on the pages of this book. The authors of "Behind the Façade" offer to walk in the footsteps of famous and almost forgotten heroes and learn a lot about the city and its citizens. At the end of each story, the reader is waiting for "Interesting Facts", and somewhere - a selection of ideas for a walk "What to do here".