General Information about the City

During the course of two and a half centuries, St.Petersburg became one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Its remarkable architectural ensembles and multiple architectural masterpieces have deserved the right to be famous because of their marvelous beauty: gardens, parks, art objects, bridges, granite embankments, outstanding engineering constructions (such as the Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan), monuments and sculptures, situated in St.Petersburg and its environs - Petrodvorets, Pushkin, Pavlovsk, Gatchina, Lomonosov. Unlike many other outstanding European cities, St. Petersburg presents a large and complete complex of architectural ensembles-squares, streets, embankments and parks-united into one system. From the time of its foundation, the city was developed to be the new capital and sea port of the largest country to come onto the world scene. This was one of the main reasons for its swift development and for the creation of its impressive architectural ensembles.

The building of the city was executed under severe natural conditions, in a marshy region, using piles and with extensive drainage works. The most important constructions of the future city center were laid out and built at the same time: the Fortress of Sts. Peter and Paul, the Admiralty and others. These constructions gave the city its characteristic appearence, preserved even today. Afterwards, a number of other splendid buildings were designed on the banks of the Neva river. Thus, stone by stone, the central ensemble was built, and has become famous as a world art treasure. The structure of the city, preserved until our times, is the result of the skillful use of natural conditions in planning and construction. Thus, in the first half of the eighteenth century, the radial system of avenues (Nevsky, Vosnessensky and Gorokhovaya, united by the developing city centre) was completed. The central group of city ensembles on the Neva river embankment is the most important in terms of city planning and architectural features. In this place the river is divided into two parts (the Great -Neva and the Small Neva), and we find the complex made up of the Fortress of Sts. Peter and Paul, the spit of Vassilievsky Island, the Winter Palace, the Admiralty and University embankments , the squares (Palace, Decembrists', St. Isaac's, Field of Mars) and Nevsky Prospect. Natural and climatic conditions influenced the planning of the city and its architecture. Today also, construction takes these conditions into account. St. Petersburg is situated on a low-lying plain. Following the guidelines of state-regulated construction in force until the middle of the 19th century, the city's buildings had similar numbers of storeys , with higher compositions in places. Some of these compositions-the Spire of the Peter and Paul Cathedral, the Admiralty spire, the cupola of St.Isaac's Cathedral-shine above the city and could be clearly seen from the sea, from Pulkovo, and from other places outside the city boundaries. The magnificent perspectives of the Neva river, large squares (Field of Mars, Palace Square) and straight, wide avenues (Nevsky, Moskovsky, Stachek [Strike])-are typical of St. Petersburg. And there are many smaller but still splendid squares, parks, streets and canal embankments: Art Square, Ostrovskii Square, Furshtadtskaya Street, Pushkinskaya Street and others. As a rule, the streets of the city are straight and wide. This is a distinctive feature of the city and it places it among many European cities, built in the Middle Ages and later, which also have this feature. The appearence of the city is defined by the Neva river, multiple smaller rivers, channels, canals, granite embankments and various bridges.

Cloudy and overcast weather predominates, and the regular abscence of harsh shadows influences the colours of St. Petersburg's buildings. The colours are used to emphasize the architectural forms and details. The various shades of the public buildings and private houses and the use of very bright colours (yellow, blue, turquoise, green, dark red) for the main constructions, with contrasting white for architectural detail, give the city a distinctive and typically Russian local colour and make it picturesque. St.Petersburg makes an indelible impression during the period of the "white nights," when

"Dawn hurries to give way to dusk,
Giving half an hour to retreating night..."

(A.S.Pushkin)

Nicknamed "The Northern Palmyra" long ago, St. Petersburg is very beautiful in winter also, when the snow lies on cornices and lintels, and silvery hoarfrost covers the granite of its monuments. The best architects understood the natural conditions of the site, beginning in the eighteenth century and continuing beyond the first half of the nineteenth. And they used them well.