St. Petersburg walk: Lomonosov Square

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:47

One of the most harmonious and beautiful places in St. Petersburg is located in the Central District. It is worth a little step aside from Nevsky Prospekt to the Fontanka - and Lomonosov Square will open. It forms a single perspective with Ekaterininsky Square, the Alexandrinsky Theater and is the so-called bridgehead of the bridge named after M. V. Lomonosov.

Location

Lomonosov Square is a stone's throw from Nevsky Prospekt. There are exits of all five subway lines nearby.

The semi-circular square, which is framed by ancient buildings, is the focus of several streets converging towards it radially.

History

In the northern capital beloved by tourists, every house is a story, every street is a great name. Lomonosov Square was no exception. Let's talk about it in more detail.

During the development of the Neva banks, the area of the future Lomonosov Square in St. Petersburg was a semi-abandoned outskirts. At the beginning of the 18th century, the batman of Peter the Great, Grigory Chernyshev, received the land. Smart batman quicklymade a career, becoming a senator and general-general. His son, Ivan Grigoryevich, is an ambassador and diplomat at many European courts. Meat and fish markets, taverns, trading establishments were located on the Chernyshev site, but the name - Chernyshev lane - was assigned to the territory only at the end of the 18th century.

The lane is adjacent to the vast territory occupied by the Anichkov Palace (a whole block between Nevsky Prospekt, the banks of the Fontanka and Sadovaya Street). By the end of the 18th century, St. Petersburg had grown, its central part, full of wastelands, vegetable gardens and dilapidated buildings, required reorganization and putting things in order.

The work was entrusted to the famous architect Carl Rossi, who has already done a lot for the improvement of the capital.

Rossi proposes a surprisingly elegant project that combines the future building of the Alexandrinsky Theatre, a passage to the bridge over the Fontanka and provides for the appropriate design of the bridgehead.

Since 1816, Rossi worked on this project, which the City Duma approved only in 1828. Already in 1834, the townspeople attended the grand opening of the Alexandrinsky Theater and admired the symmetrical perspective of Rossi Street and Chernyshev Square, now Lomonosov Square.

Architectural features of the square

The center of the semi-circular Lomonosov Square in plan is a regular circle, from which two perspectives depart at an angle of 45 ° - Zodchego Rossi Street and Torgovy Lane. The main visual axis goes from the bridge under the three arches of the building opposite, with two archesare doors to the premises and only one - through - is provided for passage to Lomonosov Street.

This is a typical creative technique of K. Rossi. The same arches adorn the buildings of the General Staff, the Synod and the Senate.

Soon public buildings appear on the square - the buildings where the Directorate of Imperial Theaters and two ministries, foreign affairs and public education are located.

The square created by Rossi played an important role in the development of this area - the buildings located along the Fontanka embankment were included in the general system of city communications.

Walking in circles

A fan of elegance, C. Rossi wanted to design Chernyshev Square in a classical style to continue the theme set by the facades of the Alexandrinsky Theatre. Two buildings - the Directorate of the Imperial Theaters and the Ministry of Education - are located along the street of the Architect of Russia and mirror each other. They are made in the style of late classicism and are perfectly preserved. This street is an example of ideal proportions in architecture.

I. Sherloman also adhered to the traditions of classicism, who built a building for the Ministry of Internal Affairs on the left edge of the square (Fontanka, 57).

The bridge that also bears the name of Lomonosov completes the circular walk along Lomonosov Square (Petersburg). It was built at the end of the 18th century, the central part was bred, and the mechanisms were located in towers made of granite. The bridge became fixed only in 1911, but four towers have been preserved, giving it a solemnromantic look.

Green spaces appeared in the center of the square in the 1870s.

Lomonosov

In the center of Lomonosov Square (St. Petersburg) there is a bust of Mikhail Vasilievich himself.

In 1878 the City Duma of St. Petersburg remembered the great scientist who lived and worked in the city on the Neva. It was decided to perpetuate his name by placing a small monument next to the building of the Ministry of Education and giving his name to the public square.

Emperor Alexander III approved the new name already in 1881, but the appearance of the bust had to wait. Its opening took place only in 1892.

Architects A. Lytkin and N. Benois worked on the bust, the model was developed by sculptor P. Zabello.

The monument is made of bronze, the pedestal is gray, and the base is red granite. The bas-relief on the pedestal reminds of a little boy who loved to study so much. The inscription succinctly says "Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov". If you go around the pedestal, then on the back side you can read Pushkin's lines from the poem "Youth", dedicated to the genius of Russian science.

Petersburg-style Lomonosov Square

In 1948, a wave of renaming swept through the hero city of Leningrad, changing the usual names of streets, parks, squares. The name of Chernyshev was removed from the map of the city, the square began to bear the name of Lomonosov, and the nearby bridge and lane received similar names.

The intelligentsia reacted humorously to such a change of names, calling Lomonosov Square Oranienbaum, because this ancient suburb is alsolost its name, given by Peter I, and began to be called in honor of the great scientist.

However, the locals are used to affectionately calling the cozy square a cheesecake, bagel, bagel or piglet. What else would you call a small round area, bordered by trees, with a bust in the middle?

Legends

The center of St. Petersburg is filled with legends, myths, legends and horror stories. Lomonosov Square got only a small sign. It concerns the actors of the most famous theater - the Bolshoi Drama Theater named after Tovstonogov. You will never meet BDT actors on the square, for some reason it is not loved among them, it is believed that a walk on it before the performance leads to stage failure.

However, this does not concern other people and, above all, tourists, they can calmly admire the old houses surrounding the square, the beautiful bridge and the view of the Fontanka.