🏛 City Duma Tower

Невский пр., 33

A tiered 19th-century tower with a clock and spire — one of the vertical accents of Nevsky Prospekt.

The tower, about 47.5 m tall, was built in 1799–1804 on the orders of Paul I; construction was led by Giacomo Ferrari.
In 1839 the tower became a link in the optical telegraph line from Petersburg to Warsaw — 1,200 km long, the longest in the world.
A signal passed through 149 stations to Warsaw in about 15 minutes; in 1854 it was replaced by an electric telegraph.
From the 1850s to the 1920s the tower served as a fire watchtower, with ten firefighters permanently on duty inside.
On the night of 26 October 1917 the "Committee for the Salvation of the Motherland and the Revolution" met in the Duma's Alexander Hall.

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