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Walking routes in Saint Petersburg

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      Griboedov Canal at night

      ⏱ 3 h🚶 4 km🍽 1📍 7 stops
      🚶 Moderate — 3–7 km

      The evening canal from the lit Savior on Spilled Blood past Kazan Cathedral and the griffins to Sennaya, with a late dinner and a finale at the bell tower of St Nicholas Cathedral.

      🌙 Evening🏛 History and architecture
      🗺 Open in Yandex Maps
      1. 1
        🏛 Church of the Savior on Blood
        наб. канала Грибоедова, 2Б
        🎟 ticket
        A colorful church in the Old Russian style with enamel and gilded domes on the spot where Alexander II was wounded.
        Start around 18:00, when it gets dark: the cathedral is lit in full, and the mosaics on the facades are visible in the evening too.
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        Church of the Savior on Blood
        © Wolfgang Moroder · CC BY-SA 3.0
        Church of the Savior on Blood
        © Florstein · CC BY-SA 4.0
        • The church, 81 meters tall, took 24 years to build — from 1883 to 1907.
        • Alexander III rejected the designs of two competitions and approved the design by Alfred Parland and Archimandrite Ignaty (Malyshev).
        • The mosaics were made by Vladimir Frolov's workshop from sketches by more than 30 artists, among them Viktor Vasnetsov and Mikhail Nesterov.
        • During the siege the church was used as a morgue, and after the war as a scenery warehouse of the Maly Opera Theater.
        • In 1961 steeplejacks found a German high-explosive shell in the central dome, which had lain there for 18 years.
        • The museum opened on 19 August 1997 — exactly 90 years after the church was consecrated.
      2. 🚶 on foot
      3. 2
        🌅 Italian Bridge (Italyansky Most)
        A pedestrian footbridge over the Griboyedov Canal with a postcard view of the Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood.
        That very shot: the Savior on Spilled Blood framed by the canal, in the evening with lights reflected in the water.
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        Italian Bridge (Italyansky Most)
        © Skif-Kerch · CC BY-SA 4.0
        Italian Bridge (Italyansky Most)
        © Florstein (Telegram:WikiPhoto.Space) · CC BY-SA 4.0
        • The first bridge here was built in 1896, and it was pedestrian from the start.
        • It is named after Italyanskaya Street, which ends at the canal here.
        • This is where the classic shot is taken: the canal and the Saviour on Spilled Blood in one line.
      4. 🚶 on foot
      5. 3
        🏛 Kazan Cathedral
        Казанская пл., 2
        Voronikhin's huge cathedral of grey Pudost stone, with a semicircle of 96 columns on Nevsky Prospekt.
        The colonnade is lit; opposite is the Singer House with the globe on its dome, also in lights.
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        Kazan Cathedral
        © Flamel123 · CC BY-SA 4.0
        • The architect Andrey Voronikhin was a former serf of Count Stroganov, who freed him and sent him to study in Paris and Geneva.
        • In 1813 Field Marshal Mikhail Kutuzov was buried in the cathedral's left side chapel.
        • After 1812 trophies were brought to the cathedral: French banners, keys of captured cities and Marshal Davout's baton.
        • In 1834–1836 the iconostasis was clad in silver that Platov's Cossacks had taken from the French; it was melted down in 1922.
        • The monuments to Kutuzov and Barclay de Tolly by Boris Orlovsky were unveiled in 1837, on the 25th anniversary of the victory over Napoleon.
        • From 1932 it housed the Museum of the History of Religion and Atheism, and the first service after the break was held on 4 November 1990.
        • In 1893 the funeral service for Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was held in the cathedral.
      6. 🚶 on foot
      7. 4
        🏛 Bank Bridge (the griffins)
        A pedestrian bridge over the Griboyedov Canal whose chains are held in the mouths of four cast-iron griffins with golden wings.
        The griffins with golden wings look better under lamps than by day; there are almost no tourists in the evening.
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        Bank Bridge (the griffins)
        © Златогорский Владимир · CC BY-SA 3.0
        Bank Bridge (the griffins)
        © Boris Sakic · CC BY-SA 4.0
        • The bridge was built in 1825–1826 to a design by engineer Tretter and opened on 24 July 1826.
        • It is one of three surviving chain bridges from the 1820s, along with the Lion Bridge and the Pochtamtsky Bridge.
        • The “griffins” are actually winged lions: the 2.85-metre figures were cast in iron from models by Pavel Sokolov.
        • The lions' wings are hammered from sheet copper and covered in gold leaf.
        • The bridge got its name in 1836 from the Assignation Bank, whose building now houses the university of economics.
        • According to a local belief, stroking the griffins brings luck in studies and work.
        • The winged lion of the Bank Bridge is part of the logo of the Krupskaya confectionery factory.
        • In 2017 the first full restoration of the bridge's sculptures in 190 years began.
      8. 🚶 on foot
      9. 5
        🍽 Khochu Kharcho
        Садовая ул., 39/41
        ▮▮▮▮▯
        Dinner near Sennaya: the restaurant is open around the clock, so there's no need to hurry.
        🍴 A two-storey Georgian restaurant by Ginza Project with Megrelian cuisine on Sennaya Square, open around the clock. What to order: kharcho with walnuts, khachapuri with smoked suluguni, khinkali (Georgian dumplings), ojakhuri.
      10. 🚶 on foot
      11. 6
        🏛 Lion Bridge
        A narrow pedestrian bridge over the Griboyedov Canal whose chains are held by four cast-iron lions.
        From Sennaya back to the canal: four cast-iron lions hold chains in their teeth, and lamps burn on the little bridge.
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        Lion Bridge
        © Sergpavl · CC BY-SA 4.0
        Lion Bridge
        © Екатерина Борисова · CC BY-SA 4.0
        Lion Bridge
        © Ermell · CC BY-SA 4.0
        • The bridge opened on 1 July 1826; it was designed at the same time as the Bank Bridge.
        • It is one of three surviving chain pedestrian bridges in Petersburg, along with the Bank and Pochtamtsky bridges.
        • The lions were modelled by the academician Pavel Sokolov, and the cast-iron figures were first painted matte white “like marble”.
        • Until 1912 the bridge was also called the Mariinsky and the Theatre Pedestrian Bridge.
        • In 1882 the embankment was raised by a row of granite blocks, and the lions were lifted together with their pedestals.
      12. 🚶 on foot
      13. 7
        🌅 Semimostye (Seven Bridges)
        пересечение Крюкова канала и канала Грибоедова
        A spot from which seven bridges are visible at once
        The finale on Pikalov Bridge: the lit bell tower of St Nicholas Cathedral over the water and seven bridges around.
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        Semimostye (Seven Bridges)
        © Florstein · CC BY-SA 4.0
        Semimostye (Seven Bridges)
        © Kora27 · CC BY-SA 4.0
        • The Pikalov, Krasnogvardeysky and Staro-Nikolsky bridges at the confluence of the canals form a single architectural ensemble.
        • The Pikalov Bridge is named after a contractor, and in the 18th century it was also called Pereshivkin, after a neighbouring tavern.
        • Of the three identical bridges of the 1780s, only the Pikalov Bridge kept an appearance close to the original.
        • The Staro-Nikolsky Bridge is named after St Nicholas Cathedral, and became ‘old’ in 1849, when the neighbouring bridge was named the Novo-Nikolsky.

      ↩️ Getting back: from the Seven Bridges to Sadovaya / Sennaya Ploshchad metro ≈15 min on foot along Sadovaya, or by tram no. 3 or 16 from Nikolskaya Square

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