Application for reservation |
|
|
|
|
NEVSKY PROSPEKT
"There is no better avenue than Nevsky Prospekt, at least in St. Petersburg," - wrote N. V. Gogol. Nevsky Prospekt is beauty and proud of St. Petersburg just as the deep-flowing and marvelous river which gave it this name. It is difficult to imagine that once in the place of wide and crowded Nevsky Prospekt hammered workers’ axes cutting through a glade. They did it with the aim of easing transportation of materials to the dockyard of the Admiralty. And in the year of 1713 by the order of Tsar Peter the First the construction of the Alexander Nevsky’s Cathedral was started. In this way the perspective road stretched out from the Admiralty to the cloister. Later it became the beautiful avenue - Nevsky Prospekt.
There is the building of the Plyushar’s printing-house frequented by A. S. Pushkin long ago. In front of it, on the other bank of the Moika, there is the palace of Elizabeth’s grandee Count Stroganov: the effectively placed before the front entrance columns, bright colours and the abundance of sculptural decorations - all this was made by Rastrelli.
There are a lot of various shops on Nevsky Prospekt. It became a trade center a long time ago. In the XVIIIth century Gostiny Dvor appeared there (by the architect Vallin de la Mothe), and also Serebryanye rjady, or the Silver Rows (the architect Quarenghi) built specially for trading in silver. There was also Perinnaya liniya (the Feather Bed Line) where they sold fluff for feather beds in some of the shops.
To the middle of the XVIIIth century a lot of stone buildings appeared in the avenue, and construction of the first luxurious palaces was started: the Anichkov Palace, the Stroganovs Palace, and others. In such a way Nevsky Prospekt gradually became the noblest street of the Northern capital.
To the second half of the XVIIIth century there appeared bigger buildings of public function in the avenue: those of the Municipal Duma, the Public library, etc.
At present Nevsky Prospekt remains the main commercial street of St. Petersburg, there are tens of shops there. As before, a lot of people who like arts and music, books and theatre come to the avenue, because there are museums, theatres, the Shostakovich Philharmonics, cinemas, several libraries, book shops, editorial offices, and publishing houses.
There is a great deal of architectural and historical monuments between the Admiralty and Fontanka River:
The building of the Glavny Shtab (the General Headquarters) by the architect Karl Rossi, 1819-1829;
House No 7-9 which was built for St. Petersburg commercial bank. Its facades have the form of Italian palaces of the Renaissance epoch, they are reveted with grey granite;
House No 15 (1768-1771) is one of the best examples of the early classicism. It was erected by the general-grab of St. Petersburg. Later a club of the nobility named Blagorodnoye Sobranie (The Noble Assembly) settled there. F. List, P. Viardot, Giovanni Rubini gave there concerts in its halls, and M. G. Savina, I. S. Turgenev, F. M. Dostoevsky performed at literature evenings there;
The Stroganovs Palace (by the architect Rastrelli, 1752-1754) at the corner of Nevsky Prospekt and the Moika is distinguished by richly decorated baroque facades. The garden in the yard of the Stroganovs Palace is adorned with sculpture of the XVIIIth century by Russian craftsmen;
House No 28 (by the architect P. Y. Sjuzor, 1902-1904) belonged to the company Singer. This building made of metal, glass and concrete, faced with granite is one of the best monuments of the modern-style architecture;
The Anichkov Palace (by the architects M. G. Zakharov, G. D. Dmitriev, F. B. Rastrelli, 1741-1754) is the oldest palace of Nevsky Prospekt. It is situated on the bank of the Fontanka. The building faces the river which is characteristic for palaces of estate type of the XVIIIth century.
In the evening the decorative illumination of architectural erections and ensembles makes Nevsky Prospekt solemn and trim.
|
|
