Russia - Saint Petersburg - Palace Bridge

Saint Petersburg

Palace Bridge

Sent by myself during my travel to Saint Petersburg in July this year.

Palace Bridge (Russian: Дворцо́вый мост, Dvortsoviy Most), a road- and foot-traffic bascule bridge, spans the Neva River in Saint Petersburg between Palace Square and Vasilievsky Island. Like every other Neva bridge (except for Big Obukhovsky Bridge), it is drawn by night, making foot travel between various parts of the city virtually impossible. The bascule span was designed by an American firm, the Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridge Company, and built by the French firm Société de Construction des Batignolles between 1912 and 1916 (read further).

Russia - Saint Petersburg - The Peter and Paul Fortress

Saint Petersburg
The Peter and Paul Fortress

Sent by myself during my travel to Saint Petersburg in July this year.

The Peterhof Palace (Russian: Петерго́ф, romanized: Petergóf, IPA: [pʲɪtʲɪrˈɡof]; an emulation of German "Peterhof", meaning "Pieter's Court") is a series of palaces and gardens located in Petergof, Saint Petersburg, Russia, commissioned by Peter the Great as a direct response to the Palace of Versailles by Louis XIV of France (read further).

Russia - Saint Petersburg - With Love From Saint Petersburg

Views of Saint Petersburg

Sent by myself during my travel to Saint Petersburg in July this year.

Russia - Saint Petersburg - Singer Company House

Saint Petersburg
Singer Company House

Sent by myself during my travel to Saint Petersburg in July this year.

Singer House (Russian: Дом компании «Зингер»), also widely known as the House of the Book (Russian: Дом книги), is a historic building in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is located at the intersection of Nevsky Prospekt and the Griboyedov Canal, directly opposite the Kazan Cathedral. It is recognized as a historical landmark and has official status as an object of Russian cultural heritage (read further).

Russia - State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts

The State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts. 1898-1912.

Sent by Karina, a postcrosser from Russia.

This is from Wikipedia : The Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts (Russian: Музей изобразительных искусств им. А.С. Пушкина) is the largest museumof European art in Moscow, located in Volkhonka street, just opposite the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. The International musical festival Svyatoslav Richter's December nights has been held in the Pushkin museum since 1981.
The museum building was designed by Roman Klein and Vladimir Shukhov and financed primarily by Yury Nechaev-Maltsov. Construction work began in 1898 and continued till 1912. Ivan Rerberg headed structural engineering effort on the museum site for 12 years, till 1909.

Russia - Saint-Petersburg - The Catherine Park

The Catherine Park. The Cameron Gallery. 1782-86.

Sent by Tanya, a postcrosser from Saint-Petersburg, Russia.

This is from Wikipedia : The Catherine Park (Russian: Екатерининский парк) is a park, located in the town of Tsarskoye Selo (Pushkin), 25 km south-east of St. Petersburg, Russia. It is an integral part of the royal residence in Tsarskoye Selo.
Catherine Park, which received its name from the Catherine Palace, consists of two parts: a regular old garden and english garden.

Regular garden was laid in 1720 by Dutch masters of landscape gardening on three benches in front of Imperial Palace. At the same time reflecting pool was constructed on the third bench , and there were made two ponds on the river Vangazi flowing from the hill: Upper (Large) and Mill (later included in cascade of Lower ponds).
The main buildings in this garden are Upper bath, Lower bath, Hermitage, Cave, Hermitage Kitchen, Moreyskaya column, Gates, "To my dear colleagues".

The main installations in english park are: Dutch Admiralty, Hall on the Island, Chesme Column, Marble Bridge, Turkish bath, the Pyramid, Red Cascade, Gothic Gate, Ruin Tower, Orlovsky gate, Granite terrace, "Girl with a Jug" fountain, Concert Hall, Cuisine Ruin, Creaky arbor, Evening Hall, Kagul Obelisk, Private Garden.

Russia - St. Petersburg - Neva River

Neva River. View of the Spit of Vasiliyevsky Island from the Palace Embankment.

Sent by Dmitry, a postcrosser from St. Petersburg.

This is from Wikipedia : The Neva (Russian: Нева́, IPA: [nʲɪˈva]) is a river in northwestern Russia flowing from Lake Ladoga through the western part of Leningrad Oblast (historical region of Ingria) to the Neva Bay of the Gulf of Finland. Despite its modest length (74 km), it is the third largest river in Europe in terms of average discharge (after the Volga and the Danube).

The Neva is the only river flowing from Lake Ladoga. It flows through the city Saint Petersburg, three smaller towns of Shlisselburg, Kirovsk and Otradnoye, and dozens of settlements. The river is navigable throughout and is part of the Volga–Baltic Waterway and White Sea – Baltic Canal. It is a site of numerous major historical events, including the Battle of the Neva in 1240 which gave Alexander Nevsky his name, the founding of Saint Petersburg in 1703, and the Siege of Leningrad by the German army during World War II.

Russia - The Narva Triumphal Gate

The Narva Triumphal Gate. 1814; 1827 - 34.

Sent by Yelena, a postcrosser from St. Petersburg, Russia.

This is from Wikipedia : The Narva Triumphal Gate (Russian: На́рвские триумфа́льные воро́та) was erected in the vast Narva Square (known as the Stachek Square in Soviet years), Saint Petersburg, in 1814 to commemorate the Russian victory over Napoleon. The wooden structure was constructed on the Narva highway with the purpose of greeting the soldiers who were returning from abroad after their victory over Napoleon. The architect of the original Narva Gate was Giacomo Quarenghi. The program was meant to respond to the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel in Paris, originally erected to celebrate Napoleon's victory over the Allies at Austerlitz, but the material used was a weather-resistant plaster that was never intended to be permanent.

Between 1827 and 1834 Vasily Stasov redesigned and rebuilt the gate in stone. A similar gate, also by Stasov, was erected on the road leading to Moscow. A sculptor Vasily Demut-Malinovsky was responsible for the gate's sculptural decor. As has been conventional since Imperial Roman times, sculptures of Fame offering laurel wreaths fill the spandrels of the central arch. The main entablature breaks boldly forward over paired Composite columns that flank the opening and support colossal sculptures. Nike, the Goddess of Victory surmounts the arch, in a triumphal car drawn by six horses, sculpted by Peter Clodt von Jürgensburg, instead of the traditional Quadriga.

Neither the gate nor the Russian admiralty were protected from artillery bombardments during the Siege of Leningrad. A small military museum was opened in the upper part of the arch in 1989. At the beginning of 21st century the gate was capitally restored and according to experts, is in a fine condition as of August 2009.

Russia - The Mikhailovsky (Engineers') Castle

The Summer Gardens. The Mikhailovsky (Engineers') Castle.

Sent by Svetlana, a postcrosser from Siberia, Russia.

"Mikhailovsky Garden is one of the rare monuments of the landscape architecture of the 18th — the 1st third of the 19th century. It is a unique combination of two different styles of the landscape art: of the regular or French and the landscape or English. It is also a bright example of architectural unity of a building (Mikhailovsky Palace) and a landscape (Mikhailovsky Garden), created after the design of the great architect Carlo Rossi.

Mikhailvosky Garden belongs to the three-dimensional complex of the St Petersburg centre, along with the Summer Garden and the Field of Mars. The Garden has many times changed its plan in accordance with the tastes of its owners and the fashion trends.

Originally the territory of the modern Summer, Mikhailovsky, and Engineers Garden was occupied by villages and an estate with hunting grounds of a Swedish captain of horse Konau — this can be seen at the 1698 plan. In 1716-1717, the architect J.-B. Leblond, commissioned by Peter the Great, made a general plan of the three Summer Gardens. The first and the second were situated on the territory of the modern Summer Garden. The third was the one that housed the palace of Catherine I. The territory of the modern Mikhailovsky Garden belonged earlier to that third Summer Garden and was called «the Swedish garden."(Source)

Russia - The Church of the Resurrection of Christ

St. Petersburg
The Church of the Resurrection of Christ
("Our Saviour-on-the-Spilt-Blood"). 1883 - 1907. A. Parland.

Sent by Marina, a postcrosser from Chişinău, Moldova.

"Also know as "The Church of the Bleeding" or Khram "Spasa na krovi" (in Russian), this extraordinary church is built directly on the sight of Alexander II's assassination. Hence the "Church of Spilled Blood." Built on orders of Alexander III to commemorate his father's death, it was closed for several years during the world wars and was subsequently used by the Communists for storage. Just recently, the church has been re-opened, (August 1997), after having undergone intense renovations to restore it's architectural beauty. The church is visible from the Kazan Bridge on Nevskiy Prospekt."(Source)

Russia - The Hermitage Museum

St. Petersburg. The Hermitage.
Balthasar van der Ast (1593/94 - 1657)
STILL LIFE WITH FRUIT. 1620s.
Oil on panel. 75 x 104 cm.

Sent by Tatiana, a postcrosser from St. Petersburg, Russia.

This is from Wikipedia : The State Hermitage (Russian: Государственный Эрмитаж) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. One of the largest[2] and oldest museums of the world, it was founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great and open to the public since 1852. Its collections, of which only a small part is on permanent display, comprise nearly 3 million items, including the largest collection of paintings in the world. The collections occupy a large complex of six historic buildings along Palace Embankment, including the Winter Palace, a former residence of Russian emperors. Apart from them, the Menshikov Palace, Museum of Porcelain, Storage Facility at Staraya Derevnya and the eastern wing of the General Staff Building are also part of the museum. The museum has several exhibition centers abroad. The Hermitage is a federal state property. Since 1990, the director of the museum has been Mikhail Piotrovsky.

Out of six buildings of the main museum complex, four, namely the Winter Palace, Small Hermitage, Old Hermitage and New Hermitage, are partially open to the public. The other two are Hermitage Theatre and the Reserve House. The entrance ticket for foreign tourists costs several times as much as the fee paid by Russian citizens. However, the entrance is free of charge the first Thursday of every month for all visitors and daily for students and children. The museum is closed on Mondays. Entrance is in the Winter Palace from Palace Embankment or the Courtyard.

Russia - Peter and Paul Fortress

Peter and Paul Fortress.

Sent by Olga from St. Petersburg.

This is from Wikipedia : The Peter and Paul Fortress (Russian: Петропа́вловская кре́пость, Petropavlovskaya Krepost) is the original citadel of St. Petersburg, Russia, founded by Peter the Great in 1703 and built to Domenico Trezzini's designs from 1706-1740.

The fortress was established by Peter the Great on May 16 (by the Julian Calendar, hereafter indicated using "(J)"; May 27 by the Gregorian Calendar) 1703 on small Hare Island by the north bank of the Neva River, the last upstream island of the Neva delta. Built at the height of the Northern War in order to protect the projected capital from a feared Swedish counterattack, the fort never fulfilled its martial purpose. The citadel was completed with six bastions in earth and timber within a year, and it was rebuilt in stone from 1706-1740.

From around 1720, the fort served as a base for the city garrison and also as a prison for high ranking or political prisoners. The Trubetskoy bastion, rebuilt in the 1870s, became the main prison block. The first person to escape from the fortress prison (now an important destination for tourists) was the anarchist Prince Peter Kropotkin in 1876. Other people incarcerated in the "Russian Bastille" include Shneur Zalman of Liadi, Tsarevich Alexis, Artemy Volynsky, Tadeusz Kościuszko, Alexander Radishchev, the Decembrists, Grigory Danilevsky, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Mikhail Bakunin, Nikolai Chernyshevsky and Josip Broz Tito.

Russia - Palace Square - Alexander Column

Palace Square. Alexander Column. 1834, architect August Montferand, sculptor Boris Orlovsky.

Sent by Irina, a postcrosser from St. Petersburg, Russia.

This is from Wikipedia : The Alexander Column (Russian: Алекса́ндровская коло́нна, Aleksandrovskaya Kolonna) also known as Alexandrian Column (Russian: Александри́йская коло́нна, Aleksandriyskaya Kolonna), is the focal point of Palace Square in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The monument was erected after the Russian victory in the war with Napoleon's France. Named after Emperor Alexander I, who ruled Russia between 1801 and 1825, the column is an interesting piece of architecture and engineering.

The Alexander Column was designed by the French-born architect Auguste de Montferrand, built between 1830 and 1834, and unveiled on August 30, 1834. The monument — the tallest of its kind in the world — is 47.5 m (155 ft 8 in) tall and is topped with a statue of an angel holding a cross. The statue of the angel was designed by the Russian sculptor Boris Orlovsky. The face of the angel bears great similarity to the face of Emperor Alexander I.

The column is a single piece of red granite, 25.45 m (83 ft 6 in) long and about 3.5 m (11 ft 5 in) in diameter. The granite monolith was obtained from Virolahti, Finland and in 1832 transported by sea to Saint Petersburg, on a barge specially designed for this purpose, where it underwent further working. Without the aid of modern cranes and engineering machines, the column, weighing 600 tonnes (661 tons), was erected by 3,000 men under the guidance of William Handyside in less than 2 hours. It is set so neatly that no attachment to the base is needed.

Russia - The Apollo Colonnade and the Cascade in Pavlovsk

Pavlovsk - The Apollo Colonnade and the Cascade.

Sent by Oksana, a postcrosser from Saint-Petersburg, Russia.

Russia - Naval Cathedral of St. Nicholas

The St. Nicholas Cathedral.

Sent by Sasha, a postcrosser from St. Petersburg in Russia.

"The golden Baroque spires and domes of St. Nicholas' Cathedral (known locally as the Sailors' Cathedral) rises among the trees at the bottom of Ulitsa Glinki and shines above the bland residential and commercial buildings in the area. It is home to a number of revered 18th-century icons and a fine carved wooden iconostasis. Its beautiful bell tower overlooks Kryukov Canal.

The first church was built here in 1743, on the banks of Kryukov Canal, which links the Moika and Fontanka rivers just south of Teatralnaya Ploschad. The cathedral and green space in front of it are located in a bend of Kanal Griboedova in an especially picturesque part of the city.

The area was originally settled by sailors in the time of Peter the Great, and the first, wooden chapel was built for them and bore the name of St. Nicholas the Miracle-Worker. As the area grew along with the new capital, Empress Elizabeth issued a decree to build a stone church for the regiments living here. Admiralty architect Savva Chevinskiy was commissioned to design and build it. However, before construction could begin, the ground where the church's foundation was to be built had to be raised by two meters to protect it from floods.

Construction of the new stone church began in 1753, and the main altar in the current cathedral was consecrated in 1760 in the presence of Empress Elizabeth. The cathedral actually consists of two churches, an upper church and a lower church. The church officially became a naval cathedral in July 1762 by order of Catherine II. Today, it is one of the best - and last remaining - examples of Baroque architecture.

The walls of the cathedral are decorated with scenes from the history of the Russian Navy. In 1907, two marble plaques were hung on the south wall of the upper church in honor of sailors who died in the Russo-Japanese War in 1904-5. At the same time, in the square next to the cathedral a memorial was erected to all the sailors of the battleship Alexander III who lost their lives in 1905.

The cathedral houses 10 spectacular icons in gold frame that were a gift from Catherine the Great. The icons portray saints who are celebrated at Russian Navy celebrations. One of the most revered places in the cathedral is the image of Nicholas the Miracle-Worker, given to the church by Greek sailors, which was taken from Russia by the French in 1812, and returned to Nicholas I by the Prussians in 1835.

St. Nicholas Cathedral is one of a very few cathedrals in the city that was not closed in Soviet times. In 1941, it became the official residence of Metropolitan of Leningrad and Novgorod Alexey (Simanskiy), who served in the cathedral from 1941 to 1944 during the 900-day siege of the city.

In 1989, a memorial plaque was installed in the cathedral to honor the 42 sailors who lost their lives off the coast of Norway. The inscription reads "In eternal memory of the sailors of the Russian Float who were taken by the sea on April 7, 1989." (Source)

Russia - The Resurrection Church

The Resurrection Church (the Church on the Spilled Blood) in St. Petersburg.

Sent by Johan, a postcrosser from St. Petersburg in Russia.

This is from Wikipedia : The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood (Russian: Храм Спаса на Крови) Khram Spasa na Krovi is one of the main sights of St. Petersburg, Russia. It is also variously called the Church on Spilt Blood and the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ (Russian: Собор Воскресения Христова), its official name. The name refers to the blood of Tsar Alexander II of Russia, who was assassinated on that site in 1881.

Russia - St. Isaac's Cathedral

St. Isaac's Cathedral. 1818-58. A. de Montferrand.

Sent by Ekaterina, a postcrosser from St. Petersburg in Russia.

This is from Wikipedia : Saint Isaac's Cathedral or Isaakievskiy Sobor (Russian: Исаа́киевский Собо́р) in Saint Petersburg, Russia is the largest Russian Orthodox cathedral (sobor) in the city and was the tallest Eastern Orthodox church upon its completion (subsequently surpassed only by the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour). It is dedicated to Saint Isaac of Dalmatia, a patron saint of Peter the Great who had been born on the feast day of that saint.

Russia - Vasilyevsky Island

Panoramic view of Vasilyevsky Island. Sent by Ann from Novomoskovsk in Russia.

This is from Wikipedia : Vasilievsky Island is an island in Saint Petersburg, bordered by the rivers Bolshaya Neva and Malaya Neva (in the delta of Neva) from South and Northeast, and by the Gulf of Finland from the West. Vasilievsky Island is separated from Dekabristov Island by the Smolenka River. Together they form the territory of Vasileostrovsky District, an administrative subdivision of Saint Petersburg. The population was 202 650 in year 2002.

Situated just across the river from the Winter Palace, it constitutes a large portion of the city's historic center. Two of the most famous St Petersburg bridges, Palace Bridge and Blagoveshchensky Bridge, connect it with the mainland to the south. The Exchange Bridge and Tuchkov Bridge across Malaya Neva connect it with Petrogradsky Island. Vasilievsky Island is served by the Vasileostrovskaya station of Saint Petersburg Metro.

Geographically, the island consists of two main parts. The south and east of the island are old, with buildings mostly from the 19th century. The southern embankment has some of the oldest buildings in the city dated from 18th century. That part of the island is notable for its rectangular grid of streets (originally intended to be canals, like in Venice), with three prospects - Bolshoi (Big), Sredniy (Middle) and Maly (Small) - going roughly from east to west, and with 30 Liniya (Line) streets going perpendicularly from south to north.

The easternmost tip of the island, called Strelka (Spit, literally Arrow), features a number of museums, including the Old Saint Petersburg Stock Exchange (Bourse) as well as two Rostral columns, and is a popular tourist attraction. The edifices lining the Universitetskaya Embankment along the Bolshaya Neva include the Kunstkamera, Twelve Collegia, Menshikov Palace, Imperial Academy of Sciences, and St. Andrew's Cathedral - all dating from the 18th century. Another notable attraction is an animated musical fountain located just off the Spit.

The western part of the island was developed much later, in the late Soviet times, and has mostly typical Soviet apartment blocks. In contrast with the beautiful Neva embankments in the historical center, the sea coast in that part of Vasilievsky island is still an uncultured wasteland that is not easy to walk on, even despite the fact that the fully populated multi-story apartment blocks are about 100 meters from the shore. A monument to Vasiliy, a legendary peasant after whom the island had been named, was opened in 2003.

The principal buildings of Saint Petersburg State University are located on the island and include the Twelve Collegia by Domenico Tresini (1722-44) and the former palace of Peter II of Russia.

Russia - The Mikhailovsky Castle

The Mikhailovsky Castle (1797 - 1800)

Sent by Svetiks from Saint Petersburg in Russia.

This is from Wikipedia : St. Michael's Castle (Russian: Михайловский замок, Mikhailovsky zamok), also called the Mikhailovsky Castle or the Engineers Castle (Russian: Инженерный замок, Inzhenerny zamok), is a former royal residence in the historic centre of Saint Petersburg, Russia. St. Michael's Castle was built as a residence for Emperor Paul I by architects Vincenzo Brenna and Vasili Bazhenov in 1797-1801. The castle looks different from each side, as the architects used the motifs of various architectural styles such as French Classicism, Italian Renaissance and Gothic.

St. Michael's Castle was built to the south of the Summer Garden and replaced a small wooden palace of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. Afraid of intrigues and assassination plots, Emperor Paul I didn't like the Winter Palace where he never felt safe. Due to his personal interest in Medieval knights and his constant fear of assassination, the new royal residence was built like a castle with rounded corners in which a small octagonal courtyard is located. The castle was surrounded by the waters of the Moika River, the Fontanka River and two specially dug canals (the Church Canal and the Sunday Canal), transforming the castle area into an artificial island which could only be reached by drawbridges.

Construction began on 26 February (N.S. 9 March), 1797 and the castle was solemnly consecrated on 8 November 1800, i.e. on St. Michael's Day according to the Eastern Orthodoxy, though works on its internal furnishing proceeded until March 1801. In 1800, the bronze equestrian Monument to Peter the Great was erected in front of the castle. The equestrian statue had been designed during Peter the Great's lifetime and later, with the casting completed in 1747 by architect Bartolomeo Rastrelli. By order of Paul I, the inscription "From Great Grandson to Great Grandfather" was made on the pedestal that is decorated with bas-reliefs depicting scenes of two Russian victories over Sweden during the Great Northern War.

Ironically, Paul I was assassinated only 40 nights after he moved into his newly built castle. He was murdered on 12 March 1801, in his own bedroom, by a group of dismissed officers headed by General Bennigsen. The conspirators forced him to a table, and tried to compel him to sign his abdication. Paul offered some resistance, and one of the assassins struck him with a sword, and he was then strangled and trampled to death. He was succeeded by his son, the Emperor Alexander I, who was actually in the palace, and to whom general Nicholas Zubov, one of the assassins, announced his accession.

After Paul's death, the imperial family returned to the Winter Palace; St. Michael's Castle was abandoned and in 1819 was given to the army's Main Engineering School (later to become the Nikolayevskaya Engineering Academy). Since then the building has been called the Engineer Castle. Between 1838 and 1843, the Russian writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky studied as a cadet at the Main Engineering School.

In the early 1990s, St. Michael's Castle became a branch of the Russian Museum and now houses its Portrait Gallery, featuring official portraits of the Russian Emperors and Empresses and various dignitaries and celebrities from the late 17th to the early 20th century.

Russia - The Summer Garden

Sent by Ksenia, a postcrosser from St. Petersburg in Russia. This postcard shows the Summer Gardens.

This is from Wikipedia : The Summer Garden (Russian: Ле́тний сад, Letniy Sad) occupies an island between the Fontanka, Moika, and the Swan Canal in Saint Petersburg and shares its name with the adjacent Summer Palace of Peter the Great.

The park, first conceived by Peter in 1704, was laid out by foreign garden planners between 1712 and 1725 in a Dutch Baroque style. Three years later, the walks were lined with a hundred allegorical marble sculptures, executed by Francesco Penso, Pietro Baratta, Marino Gropelli, Alvise Tagliapietra, and other Venetian sculptors. In the late 20th century, 90 surviving statues were moved indoors, while modern replicas took their place in the park.

The sequence of patterned parterres, originally more formal than the current landscape, were the site of Imperial assemblies, or lavish parties which often included balls, feasts, and fireworks. Apart from the statuary, a major park attraction were the fountains, the oldest in Russia, representing scenes from Aesop's fables. Some of these fell out of use and were demolished after the 1777 inundation which destroyed the fountain machinery acquired by Peter the Great in Britain.

A delicate iron-cast railing, separating the park from the public walk of the Palace Embankment, was installed between 1771 and 1784 to a design by Georg von Veldten. The grille is suspended between 36 granite columns crowned with urns and vases. The poet Anna Akhmatova, among others, considered the grille to be a pinnacle of art-casting and one of the symbols of St Petersburg.

In the 1820s, a grotto pavilion, attributed to Andreas Schlüter and Georg Johann Mattarnovy, was rebuilt into a coffee house. On the bank of the Carp Pond, a magnificent porphyry vase, a gift of Charles XIV of Sweden to the tsar, was installed in 1839. Fifteen years later, a famous monument to the children's writer Ivan Krylov was opened in the park. A sign of the progress of Romanticism in Russian official culture, it was the first monument to a poet erected in Eastern Europe.

On 4 April 1866 Dmitry Karakozov made the first attempt to assassinate the tsar when he walked out of the Summer Garden. As the attempt proved abortive, a ponderous memorial chapel in a Russian Revival style was built over the gate. This rather incongruous attachment was demolished by the Bolsheviks after the October Revolution.

The park, once chosen by Alexander Pushkin as a setting for childhood walks of the fictional character Eugene Onegin, remains one of the most romantic and evocative places in St Petersburg.