Eastern and Central Europe (Eyewitness Travel Guides)

142 NORTH EASTERN EUROPE

For hotels and restaurants in this region see pp160–61 and pp162–3

Ochre-painted southern façade of Prince Menshikov’s 18th-century palace

The Admiralty 4

Адмиралтейство

Admiralteystvo

Admiralteyskaya naberezhnaya 2.

Map C3. @ 7, 10, K-228, K-187,

K-209.  1, 5, 7, 10, 17, 22.

Built as a shipyard between

1704 and 1711 by Peter the

Great, the Admiralty’s pur-

pose was to gain access to

the sea and dominance over

The Bronze Horseman,

Tribute to Peter the Great

St Isaac’s Square 6

Исаакиевская площадь

Isaakievskaya ploshchad

Map C4. @ 3, 10, 22, 27.  5, 22.

Dominated by St Isaac’s

Cathedral, this square was

created during the reign of

Tower and spire of the Admiralty,

built between 1806 and 1823

The Bronze

Horseman 3

Медный Всадник
Mednyy Vsadnik

Ploshchad Dekabristov. Map B3.
@ 3, 10, 22, 27.  5, 22.

The statue of Peter the Great,
known as The Bronze
Horseman after Pushkin’s
famous poem, was unveiled

St Isaac’s

Cathedral 5

Исаакиевский собор

Isaakievskiy sobor

Isaakievskaya ploshchad 1. Map C4.

Tel (812) 315 9732. @ 3, 10, 22,

27, K-169, K-190, K-289.  5, 22.

# 10am–11pm Tue–Thu; Oct–Apr:

11am–7pm.

One of the world’s

largest cathe drals,

St Isaac’s, was design ed

in 1818 by archi-

tect Auguste de

Montferrand. The

engineering opera-

tion needed to erect

the cathedral was, at

the time, of an

almost unprece-

dented scale.

Opened in 1858,

it was desig nated a museum

of atheism during the Soviet

era. Officially still a museum

today, the church is filled with

hundreds of impressive

19th cen tury works of art.

The gilded dome, adorned

with angels, offers views

accross the city. Inside, ringed

by gilded stucco moul dings

and white marble, the ceiling

is decor ated with a painting

of the Virgin in Majesty

(1847) by Karl Bryullov. The

iconostasis has three rows of

icons that surround the royal

doors. Pyotr Klodt’s sculp ture,

Christ in Majesty (1859),

rests above the doors while

splendid mala chite and lapis

lazuli col umns frame the

pretty iconostasis.

Menshikov

Palace 2

Меншиковский дворец
Menshikovskiy dvorets

Universitetskaya naberezhnaya 15.
Map B3. Tel (812) 323 1112. @ 7,
47, K-47, K-128, K-209, K-147,
K-187. v 1, 10.  1, 11. #
10:30am– 6pm Tue–Sat, 10:30am–
5pm Sun. & 8 compul sory
(English, French, German available).

Completed in 1720, this
Baroque pal ace, was one of
the earliest stone buildings in
St Petersburg. It was designed
by Giovanni Fontana and
Gottfried Schädel for Prince
Menshikov, friend and advi sor
to Peter the Great. Menshikov
entertained here, often on
behalf of Peter the Great,
who adopted the palace as a
pied-à-terre. Now a branch of
the Hermitage (see pp144–51),
it houses exhibi tions on early
18th-century Russian cul ture,
revealing the extent to which
the court was influen ced by
Western tastes. Peter and
Menshikov often received
guests in the Walnut Study.
The Great Hall deco rated in
gold is where balls and ban-
quets were held. Upstairs,
rooms are deco rated with 17th-
century Dutch engrav ings of
Leyden, Utrecht and Cracow.

in Decembrists’ Square

(Ploshchad Dekabristov) in

1782, as a tribute from

Catherine the Great. The

French sculp tor, Etienne

Falconet, spent over 12 years

over seeing the project. The

pedestal weighs 1,625 ton-

nes (1,791 tons) and was

hewn from a block of

gra nite, which was

hauled from the Gulf

of Finland. It bears

the inscription “To

Peter I from Catherine II”

in Latin and Russian.

A serpent, beneath

the horse’s

hooves, sym-

bolizes treason.

Sweden. Rebuilt in 1806 by

architect Andrey Zakharov,

The façade, adorned with

sculptures, documents the

glory of the Russian fleet.

Zakharov retained some of

the original features, including

the spire, which he recast in

the Neo-Classical style.