By Karl Henning with Maria Bablyak

For students at the St Petersburg State Academy of Fine and Applied Arts, the final exam isn't just a matter of sitting down to multiple-choice questions. From June 15-20, graduation candidates at the academy defended their portfolios in a combined examination and exhibition. Every year this examination is an open house to which the general public is welcome, and in which the city's professional artists and craftsmen always take an appraising interest.

PERFORMING ARTS

Put on those cha-cha heels and let's come dancing!
A ballroom dancing revival has hit St Petersburg, which has been invited to compete in a 33-country mammoth festival in Shanghai in November.

Diamond shines among stars
Prima Ballerina Galina Mezentseva joins the cream of St Petersburg's ballet stars to perform the classics at the prestigious Mariinsky and Hermitage Theaters throughout the summer.

Events for this week

EXIBITIONS

Striking Images
A collection of striking contemporary photographs by leading St Petersburg photographers is on display at 10 Pushkinskaya Ulitsa. Photoimage -- a permanent exhibition which opened late last month -- represents some of the most prominent photographers in St Petersburg today.

The gentle earthquake
A collection of graphics by the famous German artist Max Ernst is pulling in the crowds at the Hermitage. There are about 300 works on display in the museum's 12-Columned Hall including placards, collages and works extracted from books and magazines.

FOOD

RESTAURANT REVIEW: Not such a white elephant after all

MUSEUMS

Art heritage Saved for Humanity
During World War II the Soviet government ordered the monumental task of evacuating the contents of one of the world's finest musums to the safety of the Urals. Two trains set out for Sverdlovsk , where thousands of treasures were stored until Hitler's defeat in 1945. In Part I of a two-part series, Chris Graeme looks back at one of the greatest evacuations of art treasures in human history.

MUSIC

The big Zero
The work of a St Petersburg musician who lived a wild life, was thrown into prison and then a mental asylum before joining the Jehovah's Witnesses is now on general release.

Music Scene & Club Guide for this week