Histours was founded in 2009 by me, Alexander Shmidke, the author of this website. Back then I realised that the history of the Siege of Leningrad still remained little known to foreign audiences and barely mentioned in the itineraries offered by St. Petersburg tour companies. I became determined to bring this highly important but roundly ignored part of St. Petersburg history to foreign tourist audiences. I designed my first tour, the Original Siege of Leningrad Battlefield Tour, and started running it on a regular basis.
