Palace square - the main square of St. Petersburg

Palace square in St. Petersburg – place, a favorite of guests and residents of the city, the heart of the Northern capital. This is one of the most beautiful architectural ensembles in the world. On its creation worked the best Russian architects. Her name, she got the name of the Winter Palace, built by the architect F. B. Rastrelli in the mid-18th century.

In 1819, by order of the Emperor architect K. I. Rossi designed the project of a unified architectural ensemble, celebrating the victory of Russian arms in the war of 1812. The architect's idea was to combine the existing original interiors and new buildings into a unified whole.

Along the southern border of the square was built a semicircular length of the facade of the General staff, a length of 580 m (the longest facade in the world). In the middle of the building is a Grand Arch with images of flying geniuses Fame, and decorated with a sculptural composition, the Chariot of Glory with the figures of warriors and the chariot of the winged goddess of Victory – Nike. (sculptors N. Pimenov and V. Demuth-Malinovsky). The height of the sculptural group is 10 meters, the height of the arch is 28 meters, width – 17 meters.

In 1834 by architect Auguste Montferrand to commemorate the victory of Russian troops over Napoleon's army opened the Alexander column. Named in honor of Emperor Alexander I. the Column, weighing 600 tonnes, with a height of 47.5 m surmounted by a figure of an angel with a cross, trampling on the cross of a snake – a symbol of victory of good over evil. The head of the angel bowed to the ground, so that the bottom can be seen on his face (designed by Boris Orlovsky). The bas-reliefs on the pedestal of a column glorifying the victory of Russian arms (sculptors I. Lipiec, P. Svintsov). Link all the buildings was completed in 1843, the building on the East side of the building of the guards corps Headquarters (architect A. P. Bryullov). The facade is decorated with a portico of twenty ionic columns. The most beautiful building of the Palace square - the Winter Palace.

This enormous building occupies 9 hectares of land, has about a thousand rooms. In those days it was the tallest building in St. Petersburg. And above it in the Central part of the city were not allowed to build houses.