Top 10 landmarks on Nevsky avenue

NEVSKY PROSPECT (NEVSKY AVENUE)

 

Nevsky Prospect is the city’s main and busiest street. The word “prospect” derives from the old Russian word “prospectiva”or “pershpectiva,” meaning broad and straight road. The street was built in 1710 and was cut through the forest to connect Admiralty shipyard to an important trade route and the Alexander Nevsky monastery. The main street in Saint Petersburg is not straight, but rather consists of two parts due to a mistake made by the workers during construction. The total length is 4.5 km.

By the middle of the 18th century, Nevsky Prospect had become the centre of all cultural and business activity in the city. Here, one could find palaces, churches, public buildings, and shopping arcades, and in the early 19th century it continued to develop with the addition of banks, hotels, and apartment houses. Today Nevsky Prospect is the city’s cultural, entertainment and shopping centre due to the many theatres, cinemas, shops and museums located on it.

The architecture of Nevsky Prospect is a mixture of different styles: baroque palaces of the 18th century, classic-style mansions of the 19th century, art-nouveau architecture, and luxury stores of the 20th century.

The Admiralty

 

Nevsky Prospect begins at the Admiralty, an imposing white-and-yellow building topped with a spire and the city`s compositional centre. It was founded in 1704 as a shipyard and the first ship built here was launched in 1712. The shape of the building is unusual and is designed like a broad letter U, opening towards the Neva – this was done as an imitation of the old shipyard which formerly occupied the site. The height of the building with its spire is 72 meters. It is topped by a sailing ship-shaped weather vane.

The Admiralty’s boat is the symbol of Saint Petersburg. The Admiralty used to house the Naval Academy, but since 2012, it is now the headquarters of the Russian Naval General Staff.

Wawelberg House

 

This dark grey building was put up in 1912 in order to house Wawelberg Bank, the largest financial company of Warsaw and Saint Petersburg. The arcades, narrow windows, and decorated facade remind us of Italian Palazzi. On the facade you can see the coat-of-arms of the Medici, the famous Italian family. By selecting this image, the first owner decided to show that both dynasties originated from the families of doctors. On the upper floor was the Wawelberg family apartment, while the lower floors housed the offices and his bank. Today this building houses the newest in the city 5* luxury hotel.

Stroganoff Palace

 

The pink and white building on the corner of Moyka and Nevsky prospect is the former Palace of the Count Stroganoff family, one of the wealthiest Russian noble families. They owned salt mines and huge plots of land, and one member became the President of the Academy of Fine Arts. On the façade of the building, one can see the coat-of-arms: a bear head, fur mantle and crown held by two sables. These sables, as well as the bear’s head, mean that the ancestors of Counts Stroganovs contributed to the acquisition of Siberia and provided important assistance in preserving the cities of the Northern Urals area.

The palace is one of the finest baroque buildings in the city, and was constructed by the architect Rastrelli, who designed the Winter Palace and other Royal residences. The palace now is the branch of the State Russian museum.

 

The Kazan Cathedral

 

The Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan strongly resembles the cathedral of St. Peter’s in Rome. It has a classical dome and a colonnade made up of 94 columns. This is the main Orthodox cathedral in Saint Petersburg. A copy of the miracle-making icon of Our Lady of Kazan is kept inside and many people come here to pray.

The cathedral was built by the order of Paul I. According to the rules of the Orthodox church, the altar should face east with the central entrance opposite on the west. These meant that the side facade of the building would have been facing Nevsky prospect, the main street of the city. In order to make it look proper, A. Voronikhin proposed the architectural project with 2 symmetrical colonnades: one would face the Nevsky Prospect creating an illusion of the main façade, and the other would on the other side of the structure. However, the backside colonnade was never constructed.

The cathedral was consecrated in 1811 and became a memorial of the Russian-French war of 1812. Many trophies of Napoleonic campaign are kept in the cathedral and Field-marshal Kutuzov, the commander-in-chief of the Russian army in the war against Napoleon, is buried there. In 1932, the cathedral was turned into a museum on the history of religion and atheism, and services were restarted in 1991.

 

The House of Books

 

An Art Nouveau building crowned with a glass tower and topped by a glass globe with sculptures was designed by architect Suzor for the Russian branch of the Singer Sewing Machine Company in 1904. The management of the Singer Company initially intended to construct a skyscraper, similar to the Singer Building in New York, but the Saint Petersburg building code did not allow structures taller than the Winter Palace, the home of the Emperors. Besides being the head office and main store of Singer company, the building also housed the Russo – English bank and the US Embassy. Today the building houses the city’s central bookstore and is known as the House of Book.

 

The Catholic Church of St. Catherine

 

Saint Petersburg has always been a multi-ethnic and multi-confessional city, which is why churches of different confessions are all located along the main street. A classical yellow building topped with a dome is the Catholic Church of St. Catherine of Alexandria, patron saint of Catherine II. It dates from the 1760s although the first Catholic church appeared here in the early 1710s. This is the oldest Catholic church and the only Minor Basilica in Russia. It was badly damaged in the 20th century but was restored recently. In 2003, the central gates and the altar were completely restored. Masses are held here daily and the church also hosts musical performances as the Basilica has an organ.

 

The Alexandrinsky Theatre

 

This theatre is one of oldest drama theatres in Russia and replaced an old wooden theatre by the order of Nicholas I, and named after his wife, Alexandra Feodorovna. Austere and elegant, it was designed by Carlo Rossi, who applied different engineering innovations approved personally by the Tsar. The theatre became a part of the architectural complex which was completed as a single project. The facade of the building is decorated with a chariot of Apollo, the god of arts. (Sculptor S. Pimenov). Just behind the theatre is Rossi street, which is quite often called “a perfect street” due to its proportions: length of 220m, width and height equal to 22m. The architect applied a principle of golden ratio. Today one of the buildings houses the St. Petersburg Ballet Academy, a very famous classical dance school.

 

The Eliseev Emporium

 

This is the most luxurious food store in the city. This building was constructed in 1902 in the early art-nouveau style and stands out against the classic architecture of Nevsky Prospect. The architect decorated the building with stained-glass windows and frontispiece sculptures. The ground floor was divided into three retail halls, all featuring sumptuous glass and bronze decoration, while the first floor housed a restaurant and a theatre. All the structures have been preserved, as well as the name of the first owners, the richest merchants in Saint Petersburg, the brothers Eliseev.

 

The Anichkov Bridge

 

Nevsky prospect continues with a famous bridge across the Fontanka River, the Anichkov Bridge. The first bridge here was built upon the order of Peter I and it was a wooden one. The construction was completed by soldiers under the direction of colonel Anichkov, hence the bridge`s name. It was redesigned several times because the traffic has always been quite heavy in this area. At one point, the bridge even had a rising span to allow navigation on the river. In 1851 it was decorated with statues of Horse Tamers. This sculpture group is the third made by sculptor P. Klodt for the bridge. His work was so skillful that the first statues were sent to the Prussian King and the second ones to the King of Sicily.

 

The Palace of Beloselsky-Belozersky

 

The plot of land at the intersection of Nevsky Prospect and the Fontanka River belonged to the noble family of Beloselsky-Belozersky since 1797. The first palace built here was of classical style, but was later rebuilt in Neo-Baroque style as an attempt to recover the baroque style of Empress Elisabeth. At the end of the 19th century the palace was purchased by Grand Duke Sergey Alexandrovich, the future governor of Moscow, and until the revolution the palace belonged to the Romanov family.

Today it houses some state offices and a concert hall. Some interiors retained the original furnishings.

The construction of Nevsky Prospect beyond the Fontanka was gradually developed, and by the first third of the 19 century, it was almost completely built up with stone houses of two or four floors.