Palace Square

Why go

Palace Square rewards attention to scale, orientation, and setting. Palace Square (Дворцовая площадь), connecting Nevsky Prospekt with Palace Bridge leading to Vasilievsky Island, is the central city square of St Petersburg and of the former Russian Empire. Before leaving, compare one close detail of Palace Square with its broadest public view.

What to look for

• Palace Square: Start at the edge and work toward the visual center.
• Palace Square: Notice how ornament directs attention across the facade or grounds.
• Palace Square: Compare the near view with the broader city setting.

The full story

Palace Square (Дворцовая площадь), connecting Nevsky Prospekt with Palace Bridge leading to Vasilievsky Island, is the central city square of St Petersburg and of the former Russian Empire. It was the setting of many events of worldwide significance, including the Bloody Sunday (1905) and the October Revolution of 1917. The earliest and most celebrated building on the square is the baroque white-and-azure Winter Palace of Russian tsars (1754-62), which gave the square its name. Although the adjacent buildings are designed in the Neoclassical style, they perfectly match the palace in their scale, rhythm, and monumentality. The opposite, southern side of the square was designed in the shape of an arc. These plans were executed half a century later, when Alexander I of Russia envisaged the square as a vast monument to the Russian victory over Napoleon and commissioned Carlo Rossi to design the bow-shaped Empire-style Building of the General Staff (1819-29), which centers on a double triumphal arch crowned with a Roman quadriga.

Useful to know

• Walk Palace Square in daylight, then compare its outline with the Winter Palace.

Your next visit

Estimated · Declared scenario and planning estimates; no live opening, weather, queue or booking service.