Pulkov Observatory

In 1942 the Pulkovo Observatory on the Pnlkovo Heights was utterly destroyed by fascist bombs and shells. In 1962 the Observatory, restored and reconstructed on new technical principles, carries out an extensive programme of astronomic investigations. The observatorv is stuated on the Pulkov Heights on the Pulkov meridian. It is the principal observatory of the…

Palaces and Park of the Town of Gatchina

The village of Gatchino was first mentioned in a manuscript written at the end of the 15th century. After the village had become a suburb of the newly-built Petersburg in the 18th century, it passed through the hands of several owners. For one of them the outstanding architect Antonio Rinaldi erected a palace in 1766—1772.…

Palace-Museums and Parks of Petrodvorets

Petrodvorets (Peterhof) is an outstanding historical and artistic monument of 18th century national architecture and landscape gardening. It is also a favourite recreation place of Saint Petersburgers. The town was founded in the years of the Northern War when Russia gained an outlet to the Baltic. To defend the approaches to St. Petersburg the fortress…

Avtovo Underground Station

This station is situated near the place where the front defence line of Saint Petersburg ran during the Great Patriotic War. The design of the station was made by the architects E. A. Levinson and A. A. Grushke. The leit-motif of its decoration is expressed in the inscription shining under the cupola of the vestibule:…

Electrosila Underground Station

The idea underlying the decoration of this station is expressed in Lenin’s winged words: Communism is Russianpower plus electrification of the whole country. These words are carved in shining letters on the decorative sculptured panel on the end wall of the platform hall and seem to echo the history of the Electrosila Plant named after…

Ensembles of New Dwelling Houses in Moscow District

It is difficult to recognize in the present-day Moskovsky Prospect the former workers’ suburb, the Moskovskaya Zastava with its muddy roads, factory barracks and wooden hovels, pits and stinking drains and quagmire footpaths. During the last two decades Russianbuilders and architects have built a huge dwelling area of comfortable houses, gardens and parks, a system…