An introductory walk.
Site navigator: Guide to St. Petersburg , Contents , Snapshots , Index
External links open in a new window (or windows).
Although you can begin your stroll through Central Squares from many locations, the easiest and perhaps the most logical way to explore the “ensemble” is from Nevski Prospekt. At the corner of Nevski Prospekt (facing north) and Bolshaia Morskaia (Bolshaja Morskaja, Bolshaya Morskaya), turn right and keep walking. The street makes a slight curve, suddenly you find yourself underneath triumphal arch of the General Staff Building. The Palace Square, the Alexandrian Column (Alexander Column) and the Winter Palace lie in front of you. This is one of the most magnificent views in St. Petersburg. Turn right again and explore the square and its buildings.
After you’ve crossed the Palace Square and walked along the southern facade of the Winter Palace, cross Dvortsovy Proezd (Dvortsovyj Proezd, Äâîðöîâûé ïðîåçä, Palace Passage or Palatial Passage) to your left. Use pedestrian crossings and watch out for traffic if you want to get to the other side alive. Pedestrians are a fair game in St. Petersburg. To your right is the eastern corner of the vast Admiralty complex, in front of you lies leafy and cool 130 plus year old Alexandrian Garden (Alexandrovski Sad, Àëåêñàíäðîâñêèé ñàä, officially opened as a public park in 1872). Walk through the park and discover its old alleys and beautiful classical sculptures. You will come to the main neoclassical entrance portal of the Admiralty with a square in front of it. The square is surrounded with monuments to writers and poets, - Gogol, Zhukovski, Lermontov , Glinka, the composer, and Duke or Prince Gorchakov, a known diplomat and the foreign minister under Alexander II. The strangest monument there is the one to Przewalski or Przhevalski, a Russian explorer of Central Asia and Mongolia. A wild horse is named after him. Children love to play at the monument and normally are all over it (may be they like Przewalski’s bronze camel). Protected by a cast iron fence stands a massive oak that Alexander II planted here 130 years ago. A gorgeous 130 year old fountain is in the middle of the square. The fountain must be one of the most beautiful in St. Petersburg. Designed by Nikolai Benois and Alexander Geschwend, the main jet’s height is modest 30 meters (about 100 feet), but this is reportedly one of only four world’s musical fountains: its jets height and power changes or “plays” in tact with music. This feature is enabled on weekends only, when the fountain is illuminated with a system of elaborate color lights and everyone can enjoy a free synchronized performance of light, water and classical music.
Keep going through the park or the garden. Soon, you’ll walk out into open space again, with Senate Square (or Decembrist Square) to your left and St. Isaac’s Cathedral to your right. Turn left and explore the Senate Square. The Square is dominated by the Bronze Horseman, Falconet’s monument to Peter I. A majestic panorama of the embankment and Neva’s right bank opens from the square around the monument. To your right is the yellow mass of the Admiralty, to your left are the buildings of the Senate and the Holy Synod connected by Rossi’s neoclassical arch. Cross the street and walk to the arch of Senate and Synod over Galernaia Street and then proceed toward St. Isaac’s Cathedral. You will pass by the Konnogvardeiski Bulvard (the Chevalier Guards Boulevard or the Horse Guard Boulevard), the beautiful Manege (le manege couvert) with statues of Dioscuri (kids have incredible amounts of fun with their private parts), discover several t beautiful buildings, and arrive at St. Isaac’s Square. Walk around St. Isaac’s cathedral but save the exploration of the Cathedral’s interior for a different day. To the right of St. Isaac’s Square towers the somber building of the former German Embassy. To your left are Angleterre and Astoria hotels. Mariinski (Marinsky, Mariinskij) Palace occupies the entire city block on the opposite side of St. Isaac’s square. In front of the Palace is the world’s widest bridge, the Blue Bridge over Moika River, but because the bridge is so wide it does not look like a bridge at all. Most people do not realize they are walking over bridge, believing it is just the southern part of St. Isaac’s square. Equestrian monument to Nicholas I by Peter Klodt is in the middle of the square, and to the sides of it are two identical Italianate buildings of the Imperial Ministry of State Property, one of them to the left is the home of Vavilov Institute. Walk to the left side of the square and proceed to Astoria hotel. You must be pretty tired by now. Treat yourself to a gold beer or a cup of espresso at the Astoria’s cozy bar facing the square. Then walk back to the Palace Square, the place where you started your stroll, along Admiralteiski (Admiralteijskij) or Admiralty Prospekt, and enjoy beautiful facades of buildings on the southern side of the avenue.
Depending on how fast you
walk and how many buildings or objects you want to explore, this introductory
walk around Central Squares would take from 2 to 4 hours of your time.
On to the Palace Square
Site navigator: Guide to St. Petersburg , Contents , Snapshots , Index