Nevsky Prospect
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Nevsky Prospect
(Невский проспект)
There is nothing better than Nevsky Prospect, at least not in Petersburg; for there it is everything.  What does this street — the beauty of our capital — not shine with!  I know that not one of its pale and clerical inhabitants would trade Nevsky Prospect for anything in the world.

— Nikolai Gogol, "Nevsky Prospect" (1835)

Click here for a map of the Central Region

For a stroll down Nevsky Prospect in 1894, click here.

Peter the Great began construction of a Grand Perspective road in 1711, connecting the center of the city to the Alexander Nevsky Monastery, about three miles to the southeast.  The portion between the Admiralty and the Novgorod Road — which ran more or less along modern-day Ligovsky Prospect — was finished within a few years, thanks to the labor of Swedish prisoners of war.
House of Faberge, on Bolshaya Morskaya street

The Grand Perspective was one of the first streets paved in St Petersburg, in 1715.

 Craig with a fellow Olmsted scholar, Scott, at the corner of Bolshaya Morskaya
In 1721, rows of birches were planted on each side. Keystone above a door at the start of Nevsky Prospect The broad street was also lined by ditches to provide drainage. 
By 1723, the Grand Perspective was one of the first streets in St. Petersburg lit by gas street lamps.  It was officially renamed Nevsky Perspective in 1738.  ("Perspective" became "Prospect" in 1783.)
View of the Dutch Church from the Stroganov Palace Many prominent citizens built homes along Nevsky Prospect, including the wealthy Count Sergei Strogonov. Dutch Church, on Nevsky Prospect next to the Moyka Canal
  Lutheran church dedicated to St.Peter, on Nevsky Prospect  

Bartolomeo Rastrelli built the Stroganov Palace on the Moyka in 1752-54.  Today the palace is a branch of the nearby State Russian Museum.

 Across the street is the Dutch Church building, by Paul Jacot (1831-37).  It is one of many foreign churches along Nevsky Prospect.
Permission to build the first house of worship dedicated to a foreign religious denomination was granted in 1727.  Initially built of wood, they were later replaced by stone edifices.
Art market outside the St. Catherine's Catholic Church   St. Catherine's Catholic church, on Nevsky Prospect   Fountain outside the Armenian Church
Besides the Dutch Church, these include St. Catherine's (Vallin de la Mothe, 1762-82) and the Armenian Church (Yury Velten, 1771-79).
St. Peter's Lutheran Church (Alexander Briullov,1833) was converted into a swimming pool during the Communist era. 
This unusual array of churches earned the city a reputation for religious tolerance. Statue of Field Marshal Kutuzov outside the cathedral In 1737, the first Russian Orthodox church was built on Nevsky Prospect.
View down Nevsky Prospect towards the Admiralty Hanging out in front of Kazan Cathedral
The cathedral was dedicated to a copy of a miraculous icon found in Kazan The church was dedicated to the famous "Blessed Mother of Kazan" icon. The cathedral's architect, Andrey Voronikhen, was formerly a serf
Field Marshal Kutuzov, who defeated Napoleon in 1813, is buried in Kazan Cathedral The curved colonnade facing Nevsky Prospect was inspired by St. Peter's in Rome
This icon was credited with saving Moscow from the Poles in 1612.
West facade of Kazan Cathedral Park next to Kazan Cathedral Building behind the Kazan Cathedral
Grand Duke Peter III married the future empress Catherine II here in 1745. Their son, Paul I, commissioned a grand cathedral to replace the church in 1801.
Icon above the entrance to the cathedral

  Andrei Voronikhen, a former serf of Count Strogonov, was hired to design the project.

 Under the cathedral dome
Kazan Cathedral altar He modeled Kazan Cathedral on St. Peter's in Rome, with a semicircular colonnade facing Nevsky Prospect..
The former Singer Building was home to Dom Knigi (House of Books) for years The cathedral was completed in 1811, just in time to house banners captured from Napoleon's retreating armies. Kazan Cathedral features a nave, like Western churches Dom Knigi, across from the cathedral on the corner of the Griboedov Canal
One of the heroes of that conflict, Field Marshal Mikhail Kutuzov, is buried in the cathedral.
Under the Soviets, Kazan Cathedral was converted into a museum of atheism, but it is now once again a working Orthodox church.
Craig, Laura & Bob outside Gostiny Dvor on Nevsky Prospect Gostiny Dvor, built between 1761-1785 Gostiny Dvor has been serving the city since the 18th century
In 1736, the trading stalls next to the Green (Police) Bridge burned down.  A new wooden "gostiny dvor" was soon built at the corner of Sadovaya Street.
Nevsky facade of the Russian Library, on the corner of Sadovaya Street In 1748, Elizabeth ordered the market redesigned, eventually hiring Bartolomeo Rastrelli for the project. The Passazh shopping arcade runs between Nevsky Prospect & Italianskaya Street
  Outside Gostiny Dvor, St. Petersburg's largest shopping center  
After Elizabeth's death, Catherine II turned the project over to Vallin de la Mothe. He completed it more or less according to Rastrelli's original plan in 1785.
A number of photo-worthy statues have popped up in recent years, such as this one on Malaya Sadovaya street For whatever reason, this corner has become a studio for graffiti artists This cat keeps an eye on Malaya Sadovaya Named for the hero of a famous satirical novel, the "Golden Ostap" is awarded to the nation's best humorists
Yeliseev's, at the corner of Malaya Sadovaya & Nevsky Prospect Yeliseev's has been selling gourmet delicacies since the early 19th century Lomonosov porcelain in a storefront window on Nevsky Prospect
A bit farther up the street, Alexander I commissioned the theater and square which once bore his name.  Carlo Rossi designed the square and its surrounding buildings in 1828, including an extension of the Russian Library.
All dressed up in Ostrovsky Square Ostrovsky Square was once known as Catherine Gardens View of the Aleksandrinsky Theater from Malaya Sadovaya Statue of Catherine II in Ostrovsky Square, unveiled in 1873
The Soviets renamed the square for 19th-century playwright Alexander Ostrovsky. 
Carlo Rossi also designed the buildings on the street behind the theater leading to the Neva River. Carlo Rossi designed the street which bears his name behind the Aleksandrinsky Theater Architect Rossi Street is 220 meters long, 22 meters wide, and flanked by identical 22-meter high buildings.
The former Mikhailovsky Manezh (stables) is now a winter ice stadium Dom Kino (House of Cinema), on Manezhnaya Square Statue of Ivan Turgenev just off Manezhnaya Square
Building at the corner of Malaya Sadovaya, called Catherine Street before the revolution     Dom Knigi recently opened a new store farther up Nevsky Prospect
Carlo Rossi built this pavilion in the Anichkov Gardens

It lies all the time, this Nevsky Prospect, but most of all at the time when night heaves its dense mass upon it and sets off the white and pale yellow walls of the houses, when the whole city turns into a rumbling and brilliance, myriads of carriages tumble from the bridges, postillions shout and bounce on their horses, and the devil himself lights the lamps only so as to show everything not as it really is.

— Nikolai Gogol

To continue this journey along Nevsky Prospect, click here.

This page was first published 25 January 2004, and last updated 19 December 2005.