In which city does War and Peace open at Anna Pavlovna Scherer's soirée?

War and Peace opens in Saint Petersburg at Anna Pavlovna Scherer’s soirée.

The opening scene takes place in July 1805, as Russia and its allies prepare for conflict with Napoleonic France. Anna Pavlovna hosts a fashionable salon attended by members of the aristocracy, including Prince Vasily Kuragin, Pierre Bezukhov, and Prince Andrei Bolkonsky. The conversation begins in French, reflecting the elite society’s strong cultural ties to Western Europe.

The soirée establishes the novel’s social and political world before the narrative moves toward military campaigns. Pierre is newly returned from abroad and feels awkward in Petersburg society, while Andrei is already disenchanted with fashionable life and plans to join the war effort. Their friendship becomes one of the novel’s central relationships.

Readers sometimes confuse Saint Petersburg with Moscow because both cities are major settings. Tolstoy uses them differently: Saint Petersburg represents imperial court society and polished cosmopolitan life, while Moscow is portrayed as more domestic, traditional, and emotionally rooted.