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…

Kirovsky Zavod Underground Station

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…

Moskovskiye Vorota Underground Station

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 Moscow Triumphal Arch

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…

Prospect Obukhovskoi Oborony, 107.

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…

Ndrvskaya Underground Station

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…

Frimzenskaya Underground Station

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…

Baltiyskaya Underground Station.

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…

Pushkinskaya Underground station

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…