Palace Square

Interesting facts

In 1924 the Soviet government decreed that the angel on the Alexander Column be replaced with a statue of Lenin; after a year of debate the idea was dropped.

In autumn 1941 planners considered turning the square into an airfield for a fighter regiment, which would have meant moving the Alexander Column.

Before the First World War every building on the square was painted brick red, so the events of 1917 played out against red facades.

In July 1924 the square hosted a game of living chess, with Red Army soldiers as the white pieces and sailors as the black.

In 1920 a mass re-enactment of the storming of the Winter Palace was staged here before about 100,000 spectators.

The ground began as a meadow left open in front of the Admiralty shipyard of 1704, kept clear so the fortress guns had a field of fire.

In 1766 Catherine the Great held a lavish carousel here, with riders in Roman, Slavic, Turkish and Indian costumed teams.

Moisei Uritsky, after whom the square was renamed, was shot inside the General Staff Building that lines its southern side.

Excavations in 2001 uncovered the foundations of a three-storey palace wing that Rastrelli had built on the site in 1746.

The square covers about 5.4 hectares, and in 1932 its cobbles were even replaced with asphalt before stone paving returned in 1977.

Why it is worth it

Palace Square is where St Petersburg performed its role as imperial capital, and later where that empire came apart. The square takes its name from the Winter Palace, the Baroque residence of the tsars rebuilt between 1754 and 1762 in white and turquoise, which fills its northern side. Opposite, the vast curved facade of the General Staff Building (1819–1829), designed by Carlo Rossi, closes the square in an Empire-style arc; Alexander I intended the ensemble as a monument to the victory over Napoleon, and the building's double triumphal arch, crowned by a Roman-style quadriga, frames the approach from Nevsky Prospekt. Alexander Bryullov's Guards Corps Headquarters (1837–1843) completes the eastern side, while the west opens towards Admiralty Square, so that Palace Square becomes part of a continuous chain of open spaces along the Neva.

In the middle rises the Alexander Column, designed by Auguste de Montferrand and raised between 1830 and 1834: a single shaft of red granite 47.5 metres tall and weighing some 500 tons, standing on its base by its own weight without any fixings. Despite the century that separates palace and arch, the Neoclassical buildings match the Baroque palace in height and rhythm, and the result is one of the most coherent grand squares in Europe.

History pressed in here more than once: the square was the scene of the Bloody Sunday massacre and of part of the events of the October Revolution of 1917. From 1918 to 1944 it officially bore the name of Moisei Uritsky, the assassinated head of the city's Cheka, before reverting to its old name. As the meeting point of Nevsky Prospekt and the bridge to Vasilievsky Island, it remains the natural centre of any walk through the historic city, and the palace on its northern side houses the Hermitage.

Getting there

Palace Square is at the heart of St Petersburg, at the Neva end of Nevsky Prospekt and beside Palace Bridge to Vasilievsky Island. Pulkovo Airport (LED) is about 16 km to the south.

From the encyclopaedia

Palace Square, connecting Nevsky Prospekt with Palace Bridge leading to Vasilievsky Island, is the central city square of St Petersburg and of the former Russian Empire. Many significant events took place there, including the Bloody Sunday massacre and parts of the October Revolution of 1917. Between 1918 and 1944, it was known as Uritsky Square, in memory of the assassinated leader of the city's Cheka branch, Moisei Uritsky.

Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Palace Square

Interesting facts

Why it is worth it

Getting there

Plan your visit

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From the encyclopaedia