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Walking routes in Saint Petersburg

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      St Isaac's, Senate Square and the Moika: the long loop

      ⏱ 7 h🚶 2.7 km🍽 2📍 10 stops
      🚶 Moderate — 3–7 km

      The grand center in detail: from the Bronze Horseman and the Senate through the colonnade of St Isaac's and Bolshaya Morskaya to the Yusupov Palace on the Moika. With coffee by the cathedral and lunch at Teplo.

      🏛 History and architecture
      🗺 Open in Yandex Maps
      1. 1
        🌳 Alexander Garden
        A garden along the Admiralty with paths, busts of cultural figures and a big fountain in the middle.
        A fountain and a view of the Admiralty spire
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        Alexander Garden
        © Florstein · CC BY-SA 4.0
        Alexander Garden
        © Bernd Fiedler · CC BY-SA 4.0
        • The garden opened in 1874 and was named after Alexander II; it covers 9 hectares.
        • At the opening Alexander II planted a young oak himself opposite the portal of St Isaac's Cathedral — the oak still stands inside the fence.
        • In Soviet times it was the Workers' Garden (named after Gorky from 1936); the historic name was restored in 1997.
        • A bronze camel lies by the 1892 bust of Przhevalsky; because the explorer looked like Stalin, tourists asked: “Why is Stalin with a camel?”
        • The height of the central fountain's jet changes with the music, which is why it is called ‘dancing’.
        • The busts of Gogol and Lermontov by the fountain were put up in 1896, and Glinka's in 1899.
      2. 🚶 on foot
      3. 2
        🏛 The Bronze Horseman
        Сенатская пл.
        Falconet's equestrian statue of Peter I on a rock pedestal, facing the Neva.
        The Thunder Stone, weighing 1,600 tonnes
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        The Bronze Horseman
        © Florstein · CC BY-SA 4.0
        The Bronze Horseman
        © Никонико962 · CC BY-SA 4.0
        • The monument was unveiled on 7 (18) August 1782, on the centenary of Peter I's accession to the throne.
        • The statue is cast in bronze; it was Pushkin's poem that made it ‘copper’.
        • Falconet couldn't get Peter's head right, and it was modelled by his pupil Marie-Anne Collot.
        • The snake under the hooves was added as a third point of support for stability; it was modelled by Fyodor Gordeyev.
        • The pedestal is the “Thunder Stone”, a boulder from near Konnaya Lakhta, delivered to the square in 1770.
        • The inscription “To Peter the First from Catherine the Second” was devised by the empress, who struck the word “erected” from Falconet's version.
        • According to legend, during the casting in 1775 the pipe with bronze burst, and the master Yemelyan Khailov saved the lower part of the statue.
      4. 🚶 on foot
      5. 3
        🏛 Senate and Synod Building
        Сенатская пл., 1–3
        Two buildings by Rossi joined by an arch over Galernaya, with colonnades and sculptures on the façade.
        Walk around the arch over Galernaya — two Rossi buildings joined by it into a single facade
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        Senate and Synod Building
        © Matthias Süßen · CC BY-SA 4.0
        Senate and Synod Building
        © Kora27 · CC BY-SA 4.0
        • The buildings were built in 1829–1834 under Alexander Staubert; this was Carlo Rossi's last major project.
        • The Senate was laid down on 24 August 1829 and the Synod in 1830; before that both bodies sat in the Twelve Colleges building.
        • The site first held Prince Menshikov's half-timbered house, later the house of Chancellor Bestuzhev-Ryumin.
        • From 1925 to 2006 the Russian State Historical Archive was kept here.
        • Since 2008 the Constitutional Court has worked in the former Senate, and since 2009 the Yeltsin Presidential Library has been in the Synod.
      6. 🚶 on foot
      7. 4
        🚶 Konnogvardeysky Boulevard
        A wide boulevard with lawns and trees from Senate Square to Truda Square, with columns topped by Victories at the start.
        Walk the boulevard to the Manege: the columns with Victories were cast in Berlin
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        Konnogvardeysky Boulevard
        © Florstein · CC BY-SA 4.0
        Konnogvardeysky Boulevard
        © A.Savin · FAL 1.3
        • From the 1710s until 1842 the Admiralty Canal flowed where the boulevard is now.
        • The name comes from the riding hall and barracks of the Horse Guards regiment and has been known since 1842.
        • The columns with "Victories" at the start of the boulevard were a gift from the Prussian king Frederick William IV to Nicholas I; Rauch's originals stand in Berlin.
        • In 1918 the boulevard was renamed Professional Unions Boulevard, after the Palace of Labour.
        • From 1907 to 1997 a tram ran along the odd-numbered side of the boulevard.
      8. 🚶 on foot
      9. 5
        🏛 St Isaac's Cathedral and its colonnade
        Исаакиевская пл., 4
        🎟 ticket · The cathedral and the climb to the colonnade need separate tickets
        In summer the colonnade is also open at night
        262 steps to the colonnade
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        St Isaac's Cathedral and its colonnade
        © A.Savin · CC BY-SA 3.0
        • The cathedral is consecrated in the name of St Isaac of Dalmatia because Peter I was born on his feast day, 30 May.
        • According to legend, Montferrand was told he would die right after finishing the cathedral, so the construction dragged on for 40 years, from 1818 to 1858.
        • Each 17-metre, 114-tonne column was raised into place in 40–45 minutes.
        • During the fire-gilding of the dome in 1838–1841, 60 craftsmen died of mercury vapour poisoning.
        • From 1931 to 1986 a Foucault pendulum on a 98-metre cable swung in the cathedral, showing the rotation of the Earth.
        • The cathedral's dome was the third in the world built on a metal frame.
        • The white marble iconostasis is decorated with malachite and Badakhshan lapis lazuli.
      10. 🚶 on foot
      11. 6
        ☕️ Garçon on Isaakievskaya
        Исаакиевская пл., 1, цокольный этаж
        ▮▮▯▯▯
        After the colonnade — coffee with a croissant, entrance from St Isaac's Square into the basement level
        🍴 A French bakery-patisserie by St Isaac's Cathedral — coffee with pastries and light salads. What to order: fresh pastries, cakes, the Garçon salad with salmon.
      12. 🚶 on foot
      13. 7
        🖼 Nabokov Museum
        Б. Морская ул., 47
        🎟 ticket
        A pink granite mansion with a mosaic frieze; inside are the family's drawing room and library and a butterfly collection.
        Nabokov's childhood home
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        Nabokov Museum
        © GAlexandrova · CC BY-SA 4.0
        • Vladimir Nabokov was born in this house in 1899 and lived here until November 1917.
        • The house came to the family in 1897 as the dowry of the writer's mother, Yelena Rukavishnikova.
        • Nabokov called it “the only house in the world” and never bought real estate afterwards, living in hotels all his life.
        • On 8 November 1904 the drawing room hosted a meeting of the zemstvo congress that adopted constitutional demands; later the Cadet party's Central Committee met here.
        • The museum opened in April 1998 for the writer's centenary and belongs to the Philology Faculty of St Petersburg State University.
        • Among Nabokov's personal things in the museum are index cards, pencils, glasses and a Scrabble game.
      14. 🚶 on foot
      15. 8
        🍽 Teplo restaurant · 🧸 play area
        Б. Морская ул., 45
        ▮▮▮▯▯
        Lunch in a cozy maze of rooms
        🍴 A living-room restaurant in the House of Composers: several cosy rooms with a homey feel, home cooking and their own baking. What to order: chicken liver salad, draniki with salmon, a curd cheese bake, the “Aunt Tanya” sponge cake.
      16. 🚶 on foot
      17. 9
        🖼 Yusupov Palace
        наб. Мойки, 94
        🎟 ticket
        A palace on the Moyka with an enfilade of state rooms and a small rococo home theatre.
        Take a ticket with the tour of the basement where Rasputin was killed — places are limited
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        Yusupov Palace
        © Ludvig14 · CC BY-SA 4.0
        Yusupov Palace
        © Anastasia Galyamicheva · CC BY-SA 4.0
        • On the night of 17 (30) December 1916 Grigory Rasputin was murdered in this palace; Felix Yusupov was exiled to his estate in Rakitnoye for taking part.
        • The Yusupovs bought the palace in 1830 for 250,000 paper rubles — it was just one of their 57 palaces in Russia.
        • Construction began in the 1770s to a design by Jean-Baptiste Vallin de la Mothe for Count Andrey Shuvalov.
        • On the Dekabristov Street side, a gate arch and a seven-metre fence with a colonnade survive from the 18th century.
        • In 1830–1838 the architect Andrey Mikhailov completed the White Column Hall, the picture galleries and the home theatre.
        • Today the palace houses the Palace of Culture of Education Workers, with tours, exhibitions and concerts.
      18. 🚶 on foot
      19. 10
        🏛 Potseluev Bridge (Kiss Bridge)
        A small granite bridge over the Moyka with obelisk lamps, leading to New Holland.
        The finale on the bridge: a view along the Moika to St Isaac's
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        Potseluev Bridge (Kiss Bridge)
        © Ola22ku · CC BY-SA 4.0
        Potseluev Bridge (Kiss Bridge)
        © Vladimir V. Medeyko · CC BY 2.5
        • The bridge is named after the “Kiss” (Potselui) tavern of the merchant Nikifor Potseluev, which stood nearby from 1739.
        • Construction of the cast-iron bridge began in 1808, but because of the war with Napoleon it was finished only in 1816.
        • Griboyedov wrote that the flood of 1824 had shifted the Potseluev Bridge from its place.
        • In 1907–1908 the bridge was rebuilt to a design by Andrey Pshenitsky, keeping the granite obelisks.
        • The bridge is mentioned in the 1950s song “Leningrad Bridges”, performed by Leonid Utyosov.

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