Eastern and Central Europe (Eyewitness Travel Guides)

(Ben Green) #1
ST PETERSBURG 143

biting sat ires on the
archetypal Petersburg
bureaucrat. The composer,
Pyotr Tchaikovsky, died in
the apartment at No. 13
shortly after the completion of
his Pathétique sym phony in


  1. It is believed that he
    com mitted suicide, after an
    alleged homo sexual affair.
    Novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky
    lived in No. 23. He was
    arrested here for his parti-
    cipation in the socialist
    Petrashevsky circle. Today,
    the street continues to exude
    a 19th-century feel despite the
    many shops and businesses.


The Alexander Column and the General Staff Building, Palace Square

gathered troops fired on
thousands of unarmed demon-
s trators. Then, on 7 November
1917, Lenin’s Bolshevik sup-
porters secured the Revolution
by attacking the Winter Palace
(see pp150–51) from the
square. It still remains a
popular venue for political
meetings, rallies and events
such as rock concerts.
The resplendent square is
the work of the archi tect Carlo
Rossi, the city’s last great expo-
nents of Neo-Classicism. On
the southern side of the
square is Rossi’s magnificent
General Staff Building, the
head quarters of the Russian
Army. The two graceful, curv-
ing wings – the eastern one
now a branch of the
Hermitage – are connected by
a double arch leading to
Bolshaya Morskaya ulitsa. The
arch is crowned by the sculp-
ture, Victory in her Chariot
(1829). To the eastern side of
this ensemble is the Guards
Headquarters, designed by
Aleksandr Bryullov in the 19th
century. To the west lies The
Admiralty. The Alexander
Column in the centre of the
square is dedicated to Tsar
Alexander I for his role in the
triumph over Napoleon. On
the pedestal are inscribed the
words “To Alexander I, from
a grateful Russia”. The red
granite pillar is balanced by
its 600-tonne (661-tons)
weight, making it the largest
free-standing monument in
the world. The column,
designed by Montferrand, was
erected between 1830 and


  1. It is topped by a bronze
    angel, and together they stand
    47 m (154 ft) high.


Nicholas I (r. 1825–55),
although a few of its earlier
buildings date from the 18th
century. The monu ment to
Nicholas I at its centre was
designed by Montferrand.
Erected in 1859 and sculpted
by Pyotr Klodt, it depicts the
tsar in the uniform of one of
Russia’s most prestigious regi-
ments, the Kavalergardskiy
guards. The pedestal is
embellished with allegorical
sculp tures of his daughters
and wife, who represent faith,
wisdom, jus tice and might.
To the west lies the Myatlev
House, a Neo-Classical man-
sion dating from the 1760s.
French encyclopedist, Denis
Diderot, stayed here between
1773 and 1774. In the 1920s it
became the premises of the
State Institute of Artistic Culture
where some of Russia’s most
influential avant-garde artists
including Kazimir Malevich
and Vladimir Tatlin worked.
The former German embassy,
designed by Peter Behrens,
lies alongside. The southern
end of the square is dominat ed
by the Mariinskiy Palace which
now houses the city hall.


Malaya Morskaya


Ulitsa 7


Малая Морская улица
Malaya morskaya ulitsa


Map C4. @ 3, 10, 22, 27.
 5, 22.


Malaya Morskaya ulitsa was
recently renamed ulitsa
Gogolya after the great writer,
Nikolai Gogol, who lived at
No. 17 between 1833 and



  1. It was here that Gogol
    wrote The Diary of a
    Madman and The Nose, two


Palace Square 8
Дворцовая площадь
Dvortsovaya ploshchad

Map C3. @ 7, 10, K-47, K-169,
K-190, K-209, K-228.  1, 7, 10.

The Palace Square has played
a unique role in Russian his-
tory. It was the setting for
military parades before the
Revolution. In January 1905,
it was the scene of the massa-
cre of “Bloody Sunday”, when

St Isaac’s Cathedral and the statue of Nicholas I, St Isaac’s Square

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