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Sightseeing in Saint Petersburg
The Admiralty shipyards were founded by Peter the Great on the left bank of the Neva River in 1704. The project was worked out by Emperor himself and included dockyard, different workshops, ship armament and equipment storehouses. The first Admiralty building consisted of one-story clay-walled structures arranged in the form of the Russian letter "Ď".
One of the oldest architectural ensembles of Saint Petersburg, the Alexander Nevsky Lavra was founded in 1710 on that very place where according to the legend Alexander Nevsky defeated Swedish troops. The construction works lasted for almost a century and were finished only by 1790. The compositional center of Lavra is the Holy Trinity Cathedral.
To the tercentenary of Saint Petersburg's foundation the city was endowed with many monuments to its founder, Peter the Great. Nevertheless, it is the so-called Bronze Horseman created by French sculptor Falconet that still remains the most famous and the earliest monument of the city on the Neva River. The monument depicts Peter I riding the horse.
According to the legend on this very place Empress Catherine the Great got the long-awaited news that on the 26th of July, 1777 the Russian squadron gloriously defeated the Turkish navy in the Bay of Cesme. To honor the memorable event the Empress ordered to build a palace on that very place where she met a messenger. Years later close to the palace the church was erected.
The solemn laying of the foundation of the Kazan Cathedral took place on the 27th of August, 1801. The new cathedral replaced the wooden church that had been constructed in 1733-1737 by architect Zemtsev and treasured the miracle-working icon of Our Lady of Kazan. This icon was a family relic of the Romanovs and was thought to be the patroness of all Russia.
The Mikhailovsky Castle was constructed in 179 -1801 by the order of Paul I. Afraid of intrigues and assassinations he didn't like the Winter Palace where he could never feel himself safe. His mother Catherine the Great overthrew her husband Peter III to gain access to the Russian Imperial throne, and Paul I was afraid that he would suffer the same fate.
Against the background of Saint Petersburg's austere architecture the oriental building crowned with a turquoise-blue cupola and accented by two elegant minarets stands out. It is the Mosque that is nowadays the only functioning Muslim temple in the city. The project of the Mosque was inspired by the most famous monuments of Central Asian Muslim architecture.
The great example of the late Russian baroque, the gilt-domed Nikolsky Cathedral, is situated on the bank of the Kryukov Canal. The cathedral was built under the solicitation of Prince Golitzin who offered Empress Elizabeth to erect in Saint Petersburg a temple to Saint Nicolas, the celestial protector of all sailors, and thus to honor the glory of the Russian navy.
The first construction of the new Russian capital, the Peter and Paul Fortress, occupies the central position in the architectural ensemble of the city center, and the Peter and Paul Cathedral with its high bell tower is one of the main landmarks of Saint Petersburg. The silhouette of the Peter and Paul fortress became a remarkable landmark of the city on the Neva River.
Cathedral of Our Savior on the Spilled Blood
One of the most beautiful cathedrals of Saint Petersburg, the Savior-on-the-Blood was erected on the place where Russian Emperor Alexander II was murdered on the 1st of March, 1881. The cathedral was constructed in the style of the 16th-17th century Russian architecture and has a lot in common with the Church of St. Basil the Blessed in Moscow.
One of the best Baroque architectural ensembles of Saint Petersburg the Smolny Cathedral is situated on the bank of the River Neva on that very place where under Peter the Great there was built a tar yard ("Smolny" is Russian for tar) that supplied the Admiralty with resin for the shipbuilding. After few years the tar yard was abolished but the name remained.
The history of St. Isaac Cathedral dates back to the construction of the small wooden church commissioned by Peter the Great. The church was built in 1710 close to the Admiralty on the place where nowadays the Bronze Horseman stands. The Cathedral was consecrated in the memory of Saint Isaac Dalmatian, the saint patron of Peter the Great.
Under Peter the Great the Summer Garden was a gala royal residence. In the summer time royal receptions and celebrations were held right in the Summer Garden's alleys, as the Summer Palace, that was designed by architect Tresini for Peter I, was too small for grand-scale entertainments the Emperor was fond of.
Trinity Izmailovsky Cathedral was solemnly founded in 1828 on the holiday of Holy Trinity. It replaced the ramshackle wooden regimental church for Izmailovsky Regiment. Glorious Izmailovsky Regiment was one of the oldest guard regiments in Russia - it was founded in 1730 in the village of Izmailovo it was named after.
The picturesque town of Gatchina, situated 46 km to the south-west from Saint Petersburg, is well-known far beyond the bounds of Russia. The unique palace and park ensemble was created by the generations of talented artists who turned this place into a magnificent work of art without disturbing its natural beauty.
At the beginning of the 18th century Peter the Great presented the vast territory on the shore of the Gulf of Finland to Prince Alexander Menshikov. There the Great Palace that surpassed in its sumptuousness even the palace of Peter the Great in Peterhof was constructed and one of the first regular parks in Russia was laid out.
The history of Pavlovsk as a splendid palace and park ensemble dates back to the 12th of December 1777 when Catherine the Great gifted a small land 6 km from the Tsarskoye Selo to her son Paul and his wife Maria Fyodorovna on the occasion of the birth of their first son, the future Emperor Alexander I.
The world-famous palace and park ensemble of Peterhof, often called "Capital of Fountains", is situated 30 km from the center of Saint Petersburg. Without any overestimation Peterhof can be called the main gem of Saint Petersburg's "pearl necklace" the unique suburbs of the Northern capital are often compared with.
For two centuries Pushkin, a small town and one of the most picturesque suburbs of Saint Petersburg, stayed the main summer residence of Russian emperors. Its construction was of state significance and the palace and park ensemble was regularly enriched with new edifices created by the best architects of that time.
Inspired by the picturesque surroundings of Strelna, Peter the Great conceived the creation of an estate that was to surpass in its splendor the best residences of European monarchs. The tsar planned Strelna to be the main naval residence and wanted to erect a magnificent palace, arrange beautiful cascades and grottos, and lay out a wonderful park.