Photos

This the main square of St. Petersburg.

(Click the photo for larger version)

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Palace Square

Palace Square is St. Petersburg's main square and is a good example of how different styles can be combined in the most elaborate way. On the northern side of the square stands the picturesque Baroque Winter Palace (built in 1754-62). Across the square, on the southern side, there is the classical yellow-and-white General Staff building (built in 1819-29 by Carlo Rossi). This building encircles the Southern side of the square and through its central arch, designed as a Triumphal Arch of the Classical World, you can reach Nevsky Prospect. On the eastern side a building of the former Royal Guards' General Staff tastefully closes the panorama of Palace Square, while on the West the square borders with the Admiralty and the Admiralty Garden.

The Alexander Column

The Alexander Column is a monument to the victory over Napoleon in the Napoleonic Wars of the early 19th century. Named after Emperor Alexander I, who ruled Russia at the time of the Napoleonic Wars, the column is an excellent piece of architecture and engineering. It stands 155 feet 8 inches high, and is topped with a statue of an angel holding a cross. (The observant will notice that the cross is Protestant, not Orthodox, in style.) Ironically, given why it was erected, the Alexander Column was designed by a French-born architect, Auguste de Montferrand, who also designed St. Isaac's Cathedral.