The beautiful Repin Square in St. Petersburg near the Staro-Kalinkin Bridge is located near the Fontanka River, at the intersection of Rimsky-Korsakov Avenue, Sadovaya and Pilot streets. A small history of this piece of land will be described in detail in this article.
Beginning of beginnings: Kalinkina village
When St. Petersburg was built up, there were old villages within the current center. So it happened with Repin Square. In the place where the Staro-Kalinkin bridge with its beautiful towers now crosses the Fontanka River and there is a modern square named after the Russian artist Ilya Efimovich Repin, there was a village called Kalinkina.
Even before St. Petersburg, in these places, in the lower reaches of the Fontanka, there was the Finnish village of Kalliola, or Kallina, which was renamed Kalinkina in the Russian manner. It existed until the 18th century, until the borders of St. Petersburg increased and "swallowed" it, making it part of the city.
Construction of the Staro-Kalinkin Bridge
Staro-Kalinkin bridge acted as a border facility. This is one of those places where St. Petersburg began and ended in the 18th century. Initially, it was wooden, its construction began in 1730. Later, with1783 to 1786 the bridge was redesigned. What he looked like in those days, we can see today.
There were only seven such border bridges crossing the Fontanka. Only Staro-Kalinkin and Chernyshevsky Bridge have survived to this day, which is located next to the Sadovaya metro station. They have four through towers. The middle span was raised and skipped ships. The mechanisms that lift the bridge were located just in these towers. Now, as unnecessary, the middle span was made fixed, the mechanisms were removed, but the towers have remained to this day as an architectural monument of past centuries.
Immediately, as soon as you pass the bridge, you find yourself on Repin Square.
Kalinka Square
The square, named after the village of the same name, was supposed to "open" St. Petersburg for those entering. The state decree of 1766 of Catherine II read:
Designated… at No. 3rd Square, anyone approaching the city from the Livland side will be the first to introduce themselves. With such a facade, which was composed by the Commission and will be awarded the Highest (Imperial) approbation.
…not for one auction, but following the example of other European cities and to decorate the city.
Thus, Kalinkina and similar squares along the Fontanka were the "front gates" to the city. And most of the projects of such areas were made in the form of a semicircle in a uniform parade-architectural appearance. However, the modern Repin Square in St. Petersburg ended up with a triangular shape, since forthe creation of a semicircular shape would have had to rebuild the historical Kolomna, and the Griboedov Canal, the former Krivusha River, also interfered.
Here, in the square on the square, one of the milestones was installed. Peter I ordered to install them with wooden ones, and his daughter, Catherine II, issued a decree to replace these pillars with stone ones on October 22, 1772. So, this milestone still stands today and indicates the distance of 26 miles to the royal residence in Peterhof.
The life of I. E. Repin in the house on the square
As soon as life in Moscow began to tire the famous 38-year-old artist, he again moved to St. Petersburg. Here he settled in house 3/5 on Kalinkina Square in the autumn of 1882. Living in this house until 1895, he painted his famous canvases. These are "Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan", "The Cossacks write a letter to the Turkish Sultan" and the painting "They didn't wait".
His apartment No. 1, which he first rented, consisted of seven rooms. The corner room was the largest and served as the artist's workshop, where he spent a lot of time. Friends of Ilya Efimovich came here, the famous artist V. A. Serov was a frequent visitor.
In 1887, at the numerous requests of I. E. Repin, the owner of the building added an attic floor. Then the artist moved to apartment No. 5 and made the attic rooms for his workshop. It was during this period that he painted many of his famous paintings.
Monument to Repin on Bolotnaya Square in Moscow
This monument was erected in honor offamous Russian artist Ilya Efimovich Repin on September 29, 1958. It is located near the Repin embankment and the Luzhkov bridge. The nearest station to the monument is Tretyakovskaya. The place was chosen for a reason, as the Tretyakov Gallery is located nearby, in which, in turn, numerous paintings by the artist were exhibited. Many paintings are kept here to this day. Previously, Bolotnaya Square was called Repin Square between 1962 and 1992.
The monument depicts Ilya Repin in full growth in a working environment with a palette in his left and brushes in his right hand. Made of bronze, it stands on a high stone pedestal with a cartouche on which is written: "To the great Russian artist Ilya Repin from the government of the Soviet Union".
Neighbourhood of Repin Square in St. Petersburg
At the intersection of three streets, the Kolomna fire station is located. Previously, a beautiful portico of six columns somewhat brightened up the atmosphere in the square. However, the building was rebuilt in the middle of the 19th century. Made of brick, it has survived to our time and looks rather boring. Now only the fire tower rises there.
On the other side of Repin Square on Lotsmanskaya Street stands the building of St. Petersburg State Marine Technical University. Before the restructuring, half of the university's premises were occupied by food warehouses. And Lotsmanskaya Street was named after the pilots who lived here earlier, who are specialists inpilotage of ships in the difficult fairways of the Gulf of Finland. This street stretches from the square and rests on the Pryazhka river.
Here, between the Fontanka and the square, there is an island, which is occupied by the Admir alty Association. This is the oldest enterprise in the city, founded almost from the founding of St. Petersburg by Peter I.
On the square itself there is a small square, equipped with a local merchant Landrin, who owned all the houses on the northeast side of the square. The square is also called Bald.
