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Walking routes in Saint Petersburg

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      Pulkovo: stars and heights

      ⏱ 4 h 30 min🚶 3.5 km + 🚕🍽 1📍 4 stops
      🚶 Moderate — 3–7 km

      An observatory on a hill, a memorial and a view of the city from the south.

      👶 With kids🏛 History and architecture🌳 Parks and nature
      👶 7–12, 13+ years · ✗ hard with a stroller

      The monument’s memorial hall is a descent below the level of the square; the observatory pavilions have stairs, and the grounds are dirt and lawns. Use taxis between stops.

      🗺 Open in Yandex Maps (with transit)
      1. 1
        🖼 Monument to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad
        пл. Победы
        🎟 partly ticketed · The monument is free; the underground hall is ticketed
        An underground memorial hall
        Start at the monument
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        Monument to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad
        © SadPetzl · CC BY-SA 4.0
        Monument to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad
        © Reshinna · CC BY-SA 4.0
        • The authors are the architects Valentin Kamensky and Sergey Speransky and the sculptor Mikhail Anikushin, all participants in the defence of Leningrad.
        • The monument was built for the 30th anniversary of Victory partly with public donations — about 2 million rubles were collected.
        • The underground memorial hall opened on 23 February 1978 and is now part of the Museum of the History of the City.
        • The hall is surrounded by a broken ring 40 m across, faced with granite, with the inscription “900 days — 900 nights” on either side of the break.
        • The granite obelisk rises 48 metres.
        • 26 bronze figures of defenders face the Pulkovo Heights, the former front line.
        • Lines by Olga Berggolts were removed from the design for ideological reasons; Yury Voronov's words “O stones! Be steadfast like people!” were cast instead.
      2. 🚕 taxi ≈15 min along Pulkovskoye Shosse, or bus 90 from Moskovskaya metro to the Pulkovskaya Observatoriya stop, then ≈10 min on foot uphill
      3. 2
        🖼 Pulkovo Observatory
        Пулковское ш., 65
        🚪 entrance from Pulkovskoye Highway
        🎟 ticket · only on a tour, by appointment
        Tours with telescopes — by appointment
        A tour with telescopes
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        Pulkovo Observatory
        © Spb.Terminator · CC BY-SA 4.0
        Pulkovo Observatory
        © SadPetzl · CC BY-SA 4.0
        Pulkovo Observatory
        © Spb.Terminator · CC BY-SA 4.0
        • The site for the observatory on Pulkovo Hill was chosen by Nicholas I; it was laid down in 1835 and opened on 7 (19) August 1839.
        • The buildings were designed by the architect Alexander Bryullov; the instruments were ordered from Munich and Hamburg.
        • The first director was Vasily Struve (1839–1862), succeeded by his son Otto Struve.
        • At its opening it held the world's largest refractor, by Merz and Mahler, with a 38 cm objective.
        • From 1844 the Pulkovo meridian through the centre of the Main Building served as Russia's zero point for longitude.
        • In the war all the buildings were destroyed, but the lens of the 30-inch refractor was saved; the observatory reopened in May 1954.
        • The asteroid (762) Pulcova, discovered in 1913 at its Simeiz branch, is named after the observatory.
      4. 🚶 on foot
      5. 3
        🌅 Pulkovo Heights
        A view of the whole city from the south
        The city at a glance
        📖 More about the placeCollapse
        Pulkovo Heights
        © deepskyobject · CC BY-SA 2.0
        • The heights are the northern edge of the Izhora Upland; about 7,500–5,000 years ago the shore of the Littorina Sea was here.
        • The observatory stands on the highest point, Pulkovo Hill, about 75 m above sea level.
        • On 31 October (13 November) 1917 General Krasnov's troops advancing on Petrograd were defeated here.
        • On 13–23 September 1941 the Germans stormed the heights without success; until January 1944 the front line ran at their foot.
        • The "Pulkovo Frontier" memorial was erected in 1967 at the 20th kilometre of the Kiev Highway.
      6. 🚕 taxi ≈15–20 min to Moskovsky Prospekt, or bus 90 to Moskovskaya metro
      7. 4
        🍽 Marcellis restaurant on Moskovsky · 🧸 play area
        Московский пр., 205
        ▮▮▮▯▯
        Marcellis, 2 minutes from Moskovskaya and 300 m from the former pastry shop: a play room with a nanny, and children’s cooking workshops at weekends (better to sign up in advance).
        🍴 An Italian family restaurant by Moskovskaya metro: a play room with toys for all ages and nannies, and children's cooking workshops at weekends. What to order: pizza and pasta; for kids, chicken "bunny" cutlets and the "Bambini Box" with a gift.

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