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.…
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…
In 1962 the people of Lomonosov celebrated the 250th anniversary of the foundation of the town and of the birthday of the great encyclopaedic scientist M. V. Lomonosov, whose name was given to the town formerly called Oranienbaum. The history of the town’s foundation is closely connected with the liberation of the Baltic Coast from…
In the dead of night on January 10, 1905, following the Bloody Sunday, the police brought to the cemetery the corpses of the massacred workers. Wrapped in sack-cloth the corpses were thrown into hurriedly dug pits. On the day of his return to Russia from exile (November 8, 1905) V. I. Lenin went to the…
The park is situated in the longest street of the city (ten-kilometre long) which runs from the centre of Saint Petersburg to the Pulkov Heights. The Moskovsky Prospect is a most important thoroughfare of the new house building area. The park, like the prospect, is a place of interest in the new Saint Petersburg; its…
The monument designed by the sculptor V. V. Lishev and the architect V. I. Yakovlev was set up in 1947. The statue of the great Russian Revolutionary Democrat is executed in the realistic style and is an integral part of the Moskovsky Victory Park. The monument, as it were, extends the perspective of the central…
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:…
It is hard to imarine that only a few decades ago the tine Komsomol Square was the hamlet of Avtovo buried in thick mud.
At the entrance to the city, near Avtovo, there are two marble obelisks in memory of the heroic defenders of Saint Petersburg. Nearby, on a base, stands the Victory Tank — one of the tanks that participated in the defence of the city during the blockade. The designers of the memorials were the architect V.…
The Prospect Stachek, the main thoroughfare of the Kirov District, an offspring of the socialist city. The eminent Saint Petersburg architects I. A. Fomin, L A. Ilyin, A. E. Belogrud, N. A. Trotsky, A. I. Gegello, A. S. Nikolsky, A. A. Ol and others were responsible for the planning of the district, the laying out…
This House of Culture was built by the architects A. I. Gegello and D. L. Krichevsky for the benefit of the workers of the Kirov Plant. The House of Culture was named after I. I. Gaza (1894—1933) — a worker at the Putilovsky Zavod (Plant)—who took an active part in the events of the Great…
Volodarsky is portrayed as an inspired orator and fervent tribune of the Revolution. The monument was made to the design of M. Q. Manizer and set up in 1925 on the left bank of the Neva, near the spot where Volodarsky was assassinated by the enemies of the Revolution on June 20, 1918.
In the park named after Babushkin a bronze bust of Ivan Vasilyevich Babushkin was unveiled in January 1956. The monument was designed by the sculptor V. I. Znoba. Babushkin (1873—1906) was a disciple and close assistant of V. I. Lenin. He was one of the most gifted proletarian revolutionaries, and Lenin called him the “pride…
In the 1920’s on vacant plots and in place of the ramshackle structures of the former workers’ suburb called Nevskaya Zastdva, well-built blocks of modern dwelling houses (the Palevsky blocks of houses, the Shchemilovka District etc.) began to appear. The construction work, interrupted by the war, was resumed on an unprecedented scale in the past…
This House of Culture was built in the years of the first RussianFive-Year Plan, on the spot where before the Revolution a tavern called Stdro-Zelyony (Old Green Pub) was situated. The house was erected for the benefit of the workers of the Etectrosila Plant according to the design submitted by the architect N. F. Demkov.
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…
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…
The architecture of the station (designed by A. K. Andreyev) embodies the theme of the industrialization of the country. The name of the station, as well as the decoration of the underground vestibule, is associated with the famous Putllovsky Zavod (now the Kirov Plant) the workers of which have for many generations upheld and enhanced…
At the entrance to the Metro. The Moskovskye Vorota Underground Station. The simple and solemn underground hall (by the architects V. A. Petrov, K. M. Mitrofanov and A. I. Goritsky) is devoted to the feats of arms of the Russian people, the decoration echoing the emblems of military glory on the Moscow Triumphal Arch, which…
The splendid colonnade of the Moskovsky Gate stands at the crossing, where Chernigovskaya Street and the Ligovsky Prospect join the Moskovsky Prospect. In the first half of the 19th century the south gate of the city, through which the road from Moscow passed, was here, at the intersection of the Moscow Highroad and the river…
The House of Culture was inaugurated in 1931. It was named after V. P. Kapranov, the son of an old working class family long established in St. Petersburg. He was one of the leaders of the Petersburg Trade Union of the tanning industry workers. The building was constructed according to the design of the architect…
Well-built new districts with gardens, quares and monuments have appeared in the former working-class suburbs of the city. The statue of S. M. Kirov seems to welcome the new Socialist Ndrvskaya Zastava. The square bearing the name of S. M. Kirov, the ardent tribune of the Revolution, is surrounded by the numberless blocks of the…
In 1894—1906 this building housed the Smolensk Sunday Evening Classes for the workers of the Nevskaya Zastava. The Social-Democrats N. K. Krupskaya, P. F. Kudelly and L. M. Knipovich were among the teachers. The classes became a conspirative centre of Marxist propaganda. Many of the pupils of the school, among them I. V. Babushkin, the…
The House of Culture is in the midst of new blocks of buildings. It was erected in 1928 by the architect S. Y. Ovsyannikov — at the time when major building projects started developing in the former suburbs of the city. In front of the House of Culture, designed by the sculptor L. M. Kholina…
Like the necropolises of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra the Literdtorskiye Mostki is a branch of the Museum of Urban Sculpture. In the middle of the 19th century the Literdtorskiye Mostki became a national pantheon, a place of eternal rest for prominent men of letters, scientists, musicians, artists. Here are the graves of the writers V.…
On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of Russianpower, in 1927, the first Palace of Culture —an educational institution of an entirely new type — was inaugurated in Saint Petersburg. Designed by the architects A. I. Gegillo, D. L. Krichevsky and the engineer V. F. Railyan, its building’ was planned to cater to the demands…
The ground-level vestibule of the station faces Ploshchad Stachek and the Prospect Stachek. This former workers’ suburb has now become a most important construction site of the socialist city; it has been completely transformed in the course of the past four decades. The heroic revolutionary deeds and glorious exploits in labour of the workers of…
This is a memorial to the heroic Russian people who defended their Motherland from Napoleon’s armed hordes in 1812—1814. The arch was erected in 1814, somewhat to the north of the present site, on the occasion of the triumphal welcome given to the Guards regiments returning from Paris. The former wooden gate (designed by the…
The Park named after the 30th Anniversary of the Young Communist League, where a Monument to the Heroes of Krasnodon has been erected, is imbued with the memory of the revolutionary past of the Narvskaya Zastava. It was here, in the former Yekateringofsky Garden, that revolutionary meetings and mayovkas (pre-revolutionary illegal May Day political rallies)…
The station lies to the south of the Obvodny Canal off the Moskovsky Prospect; the station is notable for the elegance and fine proportions of both the vestibule (by the architects A. S. Getskin and V. P. Shuvalova) and of the underground hall (by the architect B. N. Zhuravlyov). The vestibule is not large but…
The building was constructed in 1859 and remodelled in 1949 by the architects B. V. Muravyov and N. F. Khomutetsky. In front of the station, a monument to V. I. Lenin was set up in 1949; it is the work of the sculptor N. V. Tomsky. Longdistance trains leave the Warsaw Station for Kaliningrad, Pskov,…
The ‘Baltiyskaya’ underground station is situated near the Baltik Railway Station; it was designed by the architects A. I. Kubasov, M. K. Benois and F. F. Oleynik. The splendid traditions of Russian seamen, the glorification of the might of Russiannaval power, is the main idea of the architectural decoration of the underground palace. The facade…
The station was built in 1857 by the architect A. I. Krakau. Long distance . trains leave for Gdov, Tallin, Narva; suburban trains run to Petrodvorets, Lomonosov, Gatchina.
On May 19, 1962 a gala performance was given in the new splendid building of the Young Spectator’s Theatre, a gift to Saint Petersburg children on the 40th anniversary of the Young Pioneers Organization The former Semyonovsky drill ground located here was surrounded by barracks; it was used by the tsarist government as a place…
This underground station is located near the Vitebsk Railway Station. It was erected to the design of the architects L. M. Polyakov and V. A. Petrov. The name of the station itself, as well as its architectural decorations, is associated with the Lyceum period spent by the great Russian national poet A. S. Pushkin in…
The station was constructed in 1904 by the architect S. A. Brzhozovsky. From here longdistance trains leave for Odessa, Kiev, Gomel, Mariupol, Minsk, Vitebsk; suburban trains run to Pushkin, Pavlovsk, Viritsa and Oredezh.
The station is located in the square near the Technological Institute named after the Saint Petersburg Soviet. The decoration of the station (by the architects A. M. Sokoiov and A. K. Andreyev) glorifies the achievements of Russianscience. The underground hall is faced with white marble from the Urals. The supports of the arches are also…
The monument by the sculptor I. Y. Gintsburg was unveiled in 1925. The vicinity of the Technological Institute is associated with the name of G. V. Plekhanov, one of the founders of the Russian Socialist-Democratic Party. Opposite the Institute is the former Konstantinovsky Artillery School where Plekhanov studied in 1873—1874; not far from here, at…
The Institute was founded in 1828. It was the first Russian institution of higher education which trained engineer-technologists in a wide range of specialities. In the 1880’s Marxist students’ circles sprang up at the Institute, conducted by M. I. Brusnyov and the brothers Krasin. V. I. Lenin’s comrades-in-arms of the Petersburg League of Struggle for…
The museum is functioning at the Ail-Union Vletrological Research Institute where exact specimens of the standard units of measurement are kept. The Institute bears the name of its founder, D. I. Mendeleyev, who designed and supervised the construction of the building. The great scientist worked as Director of the Main Chamber of Weights and Measures…
The museum in responsible for the safeguarding and restoration of the monumental sculptures in the streets and squares of Saint Petersburg. The visitors are shown an exhibition of models of urban monuments, the necropolises and the so-called Literatorskiye Mostki of the Volkov Cemetery. Built in the national architectural tradition, the ensemble of the monastery is…
The history of medicine in our country is the subject-matter of the material shown at the museum, which was established during the Great Patriotic War. The unique historical exhibits include manuscripts, surgical instruments and personal belongings of N. I. Pirogov, the founder of Russian military field surgery. The numerous documents of the museum reflect the…
After their return from the Fourth Congress of the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party (known as the Unity Congress), in May 1906, V. I. Lenin and N. K. Krupskaya lived in this house.
The collections of this historical and geographic museum (founded in 1937) are of great educational value. They deal with nature in the Arctic and the Antarctic and with the history of the exploration and the charting of the Northern Sea Route which is associated with the names of M. V. Lomonosov, V. Y. Chichagov, D.…
The theatre began its creative life more than 30 years ago. Plays by A. N. Ostrovsky, A. P. Chekhov, A. M. Gorky, as well as by foreign writers, were staged here. During recent years many plays produced by the theatre have enjoyed great popularity witfj the audience, the most successful of them being Spring in…
The station in the Vladirnirskaya Square, was designed by the architects G. I. Aleksandrov, A. V. Zhuk and A. I. Pribulsky. The architectural decoration of the station embodies the growth of the material well-being of the Russian people.
Constructed in 1879 by the architect L. Fontana, the building of the theatre was the home of the pre-revolutionary Maly Suvorin Theatre. The Bolshoi Drama Theatre was established on the initiative of A. M. Gorky supported by A. V. Lunacharsky, the poet A. A. Blok and the actors Y. M. Yiiryev, N. F. Monakhov and…
Petersburg State Transport University (Institute of Railway Engineers named after Academician V. N. Obraztsov): Moskovsky Prospect, 9 (9, Moscow Avenue). This Institute is one of the oldest and most important establishments of higher education in the field of transport. It was founded in 1809. Such outstanding men of science and engineering as D. I. Zhuravsky,…
The obelisk was set up in 1908. The author of the memorial was the sculptor A. L. Ober.
The Nikolsky Cathedral is an architectural monument; it was built in 1753—1762 by the eminent Russian architect S. I. Chevakfnsky. The beautifully proportioned, light and elegant bell-tower of the cathedral is one of the masterpieces of the 18th century architecture.
In 1930 a House of Culture for trade-and public catering workers was built on the site of the former Litovsky market. The large-scale reconstruction of the building was carried out in 1956— 1957 according to the plan submitted by the architects N. A. Miturich, V. V. Gorbachev and M. L. Fainberg. The outside of the…
The reconstruction of this formerly suburban part of the city, which was begun before the war, made possible the building of the Malo-Okhtinsky Prospect on the right bank of the Neva and the laying-out of the Zanevsky Prospect which in the near future will be a continuation of the Nevsky Prospect (the plan is by…
Designed by the architect K. A. Ton, the building of the Moscow Railway Station was erected in 1851, when the construction of the St. Petersburg — Moscow Railway Line was completed. When, in the autumn of 1890, the twenty-year old Ulyanov first set foot in Petersburg, he arrived from Samara at the Nikolayeysky Station (now…
This is the first station of the Saint Petersburg Underground, named after V. I. Lenin, which began to operate in November 1955. The underground hall and the vestibule were designed by the architects I. I. Fomin, B. N. Zhuravlyov and V. V. Gankevich; the architectural decoration embodies the theme of the Great October Socialist Revolution.…
In 1835 the architect Q. Fossati erected a building with a classical portico, and in 1959 it became the Palace of Art Workers, the first in the country. This palace joins two clubs of intellectuals, the House of Art Workers and the Actor’s House. The palace runs two Universities of Culture, organizes various cycles of…
In 1905 this building housed the editorial office of the first legal Bolshevist newspaper Novaya Zhizn (New Life). Directing the work of the paper and constantly collaborating as its correspondent, V. I. Lenin concentrated here the best literary men of the Party, the outstanding publicists M. S. Olmfnsky, V. V. Vorovsky, A. V. Lunacharsky and…
The four sculptural groups — a remarkable work by the sculptor P. K. Klodt — were created in 1841—1850. Two similar groups were taken by the sculptor to Berlin and erected in front of the Grand Palace; two more groups were sent to Naples and set up in the garden at the Theatre of San-Carlo.…
The St. Petersburg City Palace of Youth Creativity — a wonderful gift from the Russianpeople to the children of Saint Petersburg — was opened on February 12, 1937, in the former Anichkov Palace, where court nobility used to assemble at magnificent balls. Nowadays the three buildings of the palace contain 300 laboratories and workshops, work-rooms…
The ballet school was established in 1738 to train artists for the Russian court theatres and since 1837 has been housed in the world-famous building in Architect Rossi Street. Such coryphees of Russian ballet as A. I. Istomina, E. A. Te-iesheva, A. P. Pavlova, A. Y. Vaganova, V. F. Nizhinsky, M. M. Fokin and many…