The development of the Palace Embankment began to form one of the first in St. Petersburg. Its character was determined by the construction of both the summer and winter residences of Peter I on this bank of the Neva. Due to the proximity to the Admiralty, the highest naval authorities settled here, first of all. A little further, upstream of the Neva, ship craftsmen settled. Among them are Peter Mikhailov (the "tsar-carpenter" Peter I himself), Fedosey Sklyaev, Philip Palchikov, Gavrila Menshikov.

The first buildings on the Palace Embankment, as in the whole city, were made of wood. In the summer of 1705, at a distance of 200 yards from the Admiralty, a wooden house for General Admiral Fyodor Matveyevich Apraksin was built according to the project of Domenico Trezzini. Such a distance from the Admiralty was required by the rules of the "fortification esplanade". In the same summer, the construction of a wooden choir for Vice Admiral Cornelius Cruis began. The house of Apraksin set the red line for the Palace Embankment, while the house of Cruis was located a little further from the low bank of the river in this place. The gap between these two buildings marked the beginning of Srednyaya Street, which ran parallel to the bank of the Neva.

The next building on the Palace Embankment in 1706 was the Postal Yard. At the same time (in 1706-1708), the wooden house of the Swedish Major Konou, which became the predecessor of the Summer Palace of Peter I, was moved closer to the banks of the Neva. On the site of house number 32 in 1708 was built the first Winter Palace Peter I. Srednaya Street was extended to its main facade from the Apraksin house. The latter did not last long, since Peter I did not want to have narrow "medieval" passages between houses in St. Petersburg.

At the beginning of the 18th century, the embankment was called the Postal Embankment, since the Post Yard was located in the place where the Marble Palace is now located. Next to it in 1711, the Red Canal was dug, which connected the Neva and Moika. Parallel to it, on the other side of Tsaritsyn's meadow (now the Field of Mars), the Swan Canal was dug.

After the victory at Poltava (1709) and the capture of Vyborg (1710), active stone construction began in St. Petersburg. Not everyone could afford the construction of an expensive stone house, but the residents of the Palace Embankment had enough funds for this. Apraksin's house was rebuilt in stone in 1712, but four years later the admiral wanted to have more spacious apartments. The new building was moved about 50 meters closer to the river, which defined the current red line of the embankment. At the same time, they began to build new luxurious buildings for Raguzinsky, Yaguzhinsky, Olsufiev, Kruis, Golovin. The construction of these palaces was completed by 1721, when the construction of the palace of Dmitry Kantemir (house No. 8) began at the opposite end of the embankment. This was the first project of the young FB Rastrelli in St. Petersburg.

In the same years, the new Winter Palace of Peter I was under construction, which was moved to the Neva itself. For this, the coast was reinforced with wooden walls, and the wharves were equipped. Thus, more than 80 meters were "recaptured" from the Neva. In 1718, between the Neva and the Moika, a canal was dug, called the Winter Canal. Through it, in the alignment of the embankment, engineer Hermann van Boles built a wooden drawbridge Zimnedvortsovy bridge.

The development of the bank of the Neva was regulated by administrative methods. On January 30, 1720, a decree of Peter I was issued:

"The Great Sovereign ... indicated to those who have chambers under the roof of the Neva River down from the Post Yard, so that, of course, in those chambers they would have built 2 or 3, or 1 chambers by this winter and went over to live in them, so that the street next from the Postal Yard to the Winter Tsar's Majesty's house must be partitioned off into those courtyards when it is ordered. And if someone will be ordered to build a wooden one, yielding from the chambers to the courtyards of twenty and not less than fifteen fathoms, and with those embankment chambers from the river, of course, all the places were properly placed and not occupied by anything ... "[ Quoted from: 2, p. 6, 7]

One of the decrees of 1721 lists all the owners of land plots on the embankment [Quoted from: 2, p. eight]:

• 1. Postal Yard
• 2.Mr. Prince Volosky
• 3. Jagana Feltin, cochmeister
• 4. Prokofey the Short
• 5. Danilo Chevkina
• 6. Booty Cue ball
• 7. Major Ushakov
• 8. Major Volkova
• 9. Life Guards clerk Andrey Ivanov
• 10. Major Korchmina
• 11. Doctor Areskin
• 12. Petra Moshkova
• 13. Lieutenant Prokofy Murzin
• 14. Prince Vasily Dolgorukov
• 15. Count Musin-Pushkin
• 16. Gavrila Menshikova
• 17. Feodosia Sklyaeva
• 18. His Royal Majesty's Winter House

The surname of Peter Moshkov, who lived on the site of the modern house number 20, remained on the maps of St. Petersburg in the form of the name of Moshkov Lane. The legendary Vasily Korchmin lived nearby, after whom, according to legend, Vasilyevsky Island was named. Most of the buildings existing at that time were built according to standard designs and resembled each other. The houses of Peter I and Admiral Apraksin stood out especially.

Until 1724, the Winter Palace of Peter I expanded along the embankment. The emperor died there in 1725. At the same time, the newlyweds were temporarily settled in the Apraksin mansion: the Duke of Holstein and the daughter of Peter I, Anna.

Petersburg in 1726 is captured in the memoirs of the Frenchman Aubry de la Motre. He wrote about the future Palace Embankment as follows:

"You find yourself on an embankment 800 steps long and 30 wide, dominated by a number of palaces. Russian nobles built these palaces, as well as many other large houses and public buildings that adorned St. Petersburg" [Cit. by: 2, p. 12, 13].

The house of Apraksin in 1728 was passed on to Peter II by will. The young emperor never settled here, he moved with the government to Moscow, where he died of cholera. The house of Apraksin was empty all this time, since 1731 it began to be rebuilt under the residence of Anna Ioannovna. Domenico Trezzini began these works, continued at the request of the Empress FB Rastrelli. To accommodate new premises, a neighboring land plot belonging to the Maritime Academy was purchased. By 1735, the new Winter House of Anna Ioannovna was built here, with the main facade facing the Admiralty.

In 1729, the artist H. Marcelius created two drawings that conveyed in sufficient detail the nature of the development of the entire Palace Embankment. They became the first such historical document.

Initially, since 1737, the embankment was called Nalichnaya line. It ended at the border of the city, which was Fontanka in the 18th century. The numbering of houses then went against the flow of the river. On April 20, 1738, the highway was named Upper Embankment Street (Lower was the modern English Embankment). Along with this name, there were others: Upper Embankment Line, Embankment Upper Kamennaya Line, Upper Embankment of the River Line, Embankment of the Neva River Line, Embankment Line, Embankment Street, Nevskaya Embankment or Upper Embankment. In the 1740s and 1790s, the embankment was also called Millionnaya. There were also other names: Millionnaya Embankment Line, Millionnaya Embankment Street, Bolshaya Millionnaya Embankment. The last two options were used together with the "Palace Embankment" until the 1790s.

In 1746, Moshkov Lane appeared, facing the Neva River between houses No. 20 and 22 along the Palace Embankment.

The most notable building on the Palace Embankment is the Winter Palace, built in 1754-1762 by the architect FB Rastrelli. After the start of its construction, it turned out that the construction site was separated from the Neva by a very narrow, inconvenient for travel strip of the coast. In this regard, the architect provided the Office of the buildings with a plan and profile of an expanded and additionally fortified wooden embankment.

The plan began to be realized by the carpenter master I. Erich called from Moscow, who in 1758 presented two projects for strengthening the coast, providing for its facing with stone. Work began in December 1762, until the following May piles were driven into the ground, and on June 7, a team of masons began to lay the foundation for the stone wall. At the same time, the supply of hewn stone for cladding began.

The first stone was laid on the embankment in mid-June 1763. The construction work was carried out under the supervision of the stone craftsmen B. Manigotti, G. Liceni and P. Corti. The construction of the stone embankment opposite the Winter Palace was completed, most likely in 1764. But due to miscalculations in the design, very soon it began to collapse. In September 1765, in some places, the coast sagged noticeably due to the fact that the foundation was not given sufficient time to settle. Having discovered these shortcomings, Lieutenant-General N.E. Muravyov and Engineer-Major General I.M. Golenitsev-Kutuzov reported to Catherine II that it was impossible to repair the embankment;

Most local historians believe that the Palace Embankment was built according to the project of Yuri Matveyevich Felten. This assumption was made at the beginning of the 20th century by I.E. Grabar, without supporting it with documents. Therefore, the authorship of Felten was easily refuted by the historian V.I.Kochedamov. He proved that Felten was mentioned in documents related to the stone Palace Embankment only six years after the start of its creation, when the embankment wall from Liteiny Dvor to the Admiralty had already been built.

So who actually became the author of the Palace Embankment project? Various local historians proposed such candidates as J. B. Wallen-Delamot, architect S. A. Volkov. The author of the book "St. Petersburg of the 18th century" K.V. Malinovsky proves that he is the Chancellery's advisor from the buildings of Ignatio Rossi. He refers to documents in which Rossi is directly named the author of the Palace Embankment project and the corresponding estimate. For example, the minutes of the Office of the Buildings on September 7, 1762: " ... Mr. Collegiate Counselor Ignati Rossi who, according to his ability to project the banks and bridges to the structure and the estimate, was"[Quoted from: 4, p. 379]. On September 10, he was appointed head of the" Office of the construction along the Neva River on the Kamenny Bank ".

Rossi's initial project involved the creation of a stone embankment wall and a metal balustrade. The descents to the water were straight stairs with the same metal fences. It was proposed to make the pier in the form of slopes widened by two times. The bridge across the Fontanka was designed as a stone, lifting on chains. Therefore, its central part had to be made of wood.

It should be noted that not only the Palace Embankment was being built at that time. The project provided for the facing with stone of the entire bank of the Neva from the Liteiny Dvor to the Galernaya Shipyard. On February 14, 1763, the first piles were driven into the bank. Already in the process of these works, their volume increased significantly, since it was decided to hammer not one row of piles, but 13. At the same time, round pine logs with a length of eight to ten meters and a thickness of 20 to 30 centimeters were used.

During the construction process, adjustments were made to the project. Since 1764, the descents to the water were created not straight, but oval. Fences "for strength" began to be made entirely of stone. The author of these changes is unknown. It is possible that they were offered to Catherine II by J.-B. Vallin-Delamot, who was then engaged in the reconstruction of premises in the Winter Palace. The museum of the city of Angoulême in France contains a drawing of Delamot with an image of an oval descent to the Neva.

In 1763-1766, instead of the wooden one, the stone Hermitage Bridge was built across the Winter Canal. To improve transport links with the Moscow side, the embankment was extended beyond the Fontanka. At the same time, in 1766-1769, the Laundry Bridge was built across the Fontanka, and in 1767-1768, the Verkhne-Lebyazhy Bridge over the Lebyazhya Canal. The profile of these crossings is organically introduced into the silhouette of the granite embankment. The bridges form a single architectural ensemble with it.

Already in January 1765, Catherine II checked the finished section of the embankment opposite the old Winter Palace. On February 8, it was decided to increase the minimum permissible height of buildings erected here. On April 27, 1766, the Commission from the stone structure of St. Petersburg and Moscow determined this height to be equal to ten fathoms.

The construction of the Palace Embankment was fully completed in November 1767. In the following January, the "architecture assistant" Neelov erected stone pillars connected with iron chains at the slopes in the Neva.

After the completion of the main part of the stone cladding of the left bank of the Neva, Ignatio Rossi resigned. He was replaced by the architect Yuri Matveyevich Felten, who had to deal with the creation of the famous fence of the Summer Garden. The bank opposite to it was taken out into the river bed for 20 meters.

Dvortsovaya became the first of the embankments faced with granite in St. Petersburg. It has seven slopes to the water. The granite parapet is interrupted only at the Hermitage Bridge, where the cobblestone shore is surrounded only by pedestals with chains hanging from them.

The construction of new buildings on the Palace Embankment began simultaneously with its facing with stone. In 1762-1769, the building of the Small Hermitage (house no. 36) was added to the Winter Palace, and then the Great Hermitage (house no. 34). In 1762-1785, on the site of the old Postal Yard, was built Marble palace... At the same time, the Red Channel was filled up. An office building (house no. 6) was erected next to the Marble Palace. In 1784-1788, the Saltykovs' house (No. 4) was built. The neighboring house of Betskoy (No. 2) was also built in the 1780s. In 1783-1787, on the site of the old Winter Palace of Peter I, the architect Quarenghi erected the Hermitage Theater, which was connected to the Great Hermitage by an arch.

On October 6, 1778, the highway was officially called the Palace Embankment. At the beginning of the 19th century, it was also called Bolshoi and Bolshaya Dvortsovaya. The name "Palace Embankment Street" existed until 1822.

In 1799, two buildings on the site of the currently existing house No. were merged into one according to the project of Quarenghi. This was a gift from Emperor Paul I to his favorite Anna Petrovna Lopukhina for her wedding with Prince Gagarin.

At the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, the Palace Embankment was sketched by the Swedish artist Benjamin Patersen. He created a number of watercolors showing the left bank of the Neva from the Zayachiy and Vasilievsky Islands.

In 1803, the Palace Embankment was connected to the Petersburg side by the floating Troitsky bridge. Initially, it went to the left bank of the Neva in the area of ​​the Summer Garden.

The area between the Saltykovs' house and the service building of the Marble Palace was originally intended for development. But by the end of the 1810s, nothing had been erected here. In 1818, at the suggestion of the architect K. Rossi, the site became a new square, which connected the Field of Mars with the Palace Embankment. A monument to A.V.Suvorov was erected in its center, the square was named Suvorov.

In the early 1820s, the section of the embankment near the Winter Palace was a construction site. There were barns, sheds, piles of stone, heaps of sand and stacks of boards prepared for the construction of the General Staff building. Nicholas I made a decision on the improvement of this territory, the work was entrusted to the architect Karl Rossi. According to his project, a wide descent to the Neva was arranged here. Rossi planned to decorate it with sculptures of Dioscuri (youths holding back horses) and cast-iron lions, copies of those at the Mikhailovsky Palace. The emperor forbade placing the dioscuri here, the architect replaced them with porphyry vases.

In 1827, in connection with the construction of the first floating Trinity Bridge on the embankment, the fence and lanterns were renewed. In 1857-1862, the Novo-Mikhailovsky Palace (house No. 18) was built, in 1867-1872, the palace of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich (No. 26).

By the 1860s, the development of the Palace Embankment had grown far beyond the Fontanka. At this time, the "overflowing" part of the highway was allocated to a separate Gagarinskaya embankment, which now bears the name of the great Russian commander Mikhail I. Kutuzov. At the same time, the numbering of houses that still exists today was introduced.

After the construction of the first permanent bridge across the Neva, the floating Isaac Bridge was moved closer to the Winter Palace. It was given a different name - Palace.

In 1903, a permanent metal Trinity Bridge was built between the Palace Embankment and Troitskaya Square. In 1915, in connection with the commissioning of the permanent Palace Bridge, the pier with lions was moved to the Admiralty Embankment. The route of the new ferry went right through the old pier.

Of the nineteen houses here, half belonged to the royal family. Thanks to this, until 1917, the Palace Embankment lived according to its own "schedule". In summer, the palaces located here were empty. Their owners left for country estates, with them the numerous retinue left St. Petersburg. At this time, the facades of the houses were put in order, repainted. The pavement was being repaired. In winter, the palaces came to life. The embankment was filled with luxurious carriages, a strolling public.

On October 6, 1923, the Palace Embankment was renamed into the "Embankment of the Ninth January (1905)". The year was indicated in parentheses, so it was often omitted. This name of the highway was given due to the fact that the order to shoot the peaceful demonstration on January 9, 1905 was given by the Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich who lived here.

On September 9, 1941, during an air raid, one of the bombs fell in front of house No. 14, destroying its facade and the facades of neighboring houses No. 12 and 16. After the war, the facades of these buildings were united.

In 1944, the embankment was returned to its former name - Dvortsovaya.

Palace Embankment was originally called the Upper Embankment. It was built in the depths of the plots, because at the beginning of the 18th century the swampy banks of the Neva had not yet been fortified. It passed in the middle of the block between Millionnaya Street and the Neva embankment. Due to the expansion of land plots, already in 1716 it was displaced to the north. In the shallow water of the river, piles were broken and an embankment that has survived to this day was built.
In April 1707, a decree was issued, according to which a strict regulation of the allocation of land plots for construction began. In this case, the priority was the official and property status of the applicants. The same decree established the size of land allotments. The narrow side of each allotment overlooked the side of the bank of the Neva. The plots were assigned only to persons related to the Admiralty Department.
Development of modern Palace Embankment. What is on the left bank of the Neva began from the first years of the existence of St. Petersburg. In 1705, the first house that belonged to General-Admiral F.M. Apraksin, in 1707 the Kikin chambers were rebuilt. By the mid-1710s, work was underway to strengthen the Neva's coastline on the site of the palace embankment. The banks were reinforced with wooden walls, and docks appeared along the embankment. Thus, it was possible to move the river bed at least eighty meters. In the thirties of the 18th century, instead of the Apraksin house, the Winter House was built for Empress Anna Ioannovna. Since the second half of the 18th century, the embankment has been called Millionnaya.
By the sixties, the one-millionth embankment was dressed in granite, and semicircular slopes to the Neva appeared here. But since the construction work of the architect Ignazio Rossi was carried out poorly, later the embankment had to be rebuilt according to the project of Yu.M. Felten. As a result, the bank of the Neva "moved back" by another twenty meters.
On the embankment there was a Postal Yard (on the site of the modern Marble Palace), which is why it was often called the Postal. In the sixties of the 18th century, the Hermitage Bridge and the Verkhne-Lebyazhy Bridge appeared, which connected the Palace Embankment with the Kutuzov Embankment.
By the end of the 18th century, a lot of interesting buildings had already appeared on the territory of the Palace Embankment in St. Petersburg. These are the buildings of the Hermitage, the Hermitage Theater, the Marble Palace, the Saltykovs' house, and many others. In the 19th century, the palaces of Novo-Mikhailovsky and the Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, the service building of the Marble Palace were built here.
After 1917, the embankment became the embankment on January 9th.
Dvortsovaya embankment is connected with Vasilievsky Island by a drawbridge Dvortsovy Bridge, which appeared here at the beginning of the 20th century. The embankment is connected with the Petrogradskaya side by the Troitsky bridge, erected here at the turn of the XIX - XX centuries.

Publications of the section Architecture

Where the Romanovs lived

Little Imperial, Mramorny, Nikolaevsky, Anichkov - we go for a walk along the central streets of St. Petersburg and remember the palaces in which representatives of the royal family lived.

Palace Embankment, 26

Let's start our walk from the Palace Embankment. Several hundred meters east of the Winter Palace is the palace of the Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, the son of Alexander II. Previously, the building built in 1870 was called the "small imperial court". All interiors have been preserved here almost in their original form, reminiscent of one of the main centers of the social life of St. Petersburg at the end of the 19th century. Once upon a time, the walls of the palace were decorated with many famous paintings: for example, on the wall of the former billiard room hung "Barge Haulers on the Volga" by Ilya Repin. Monograms with the letter "V" - "Vladimir" have been preserved on the doors and panels.

In 1920, the palace became the House of Scientists, and today the building houses one of the main scientific centers of the city. The palace is open to tourists.

Palace Embankment, 18

A little further on the Palace Embankment, you can see the majestic gray Novo-Mikhailovsky Palace. It was erected in 1862 by the famous architect Andrei Shtakenshneider for the wedding of the son of Nicholas I - Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolaevich. The new palace, for the rebuilding of which the neighboring houses were bought, has absorbed the Baroque and Rococo styles, elements of the Renaissance and architecture of the times of Louis XIV. Before the October Revolution, there was a church on the top floor of the main facade.

Today, the palace houses the institutions of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Millionnaya Street, 5/1

Further on the embankment is the Marble Palace, the ancestral home of the Konstantinovichs - the son of Nicholas I, Constantine, and his descendants. It was built in 1785 by the Italian architect Antonio Rinaldi. The palace became the first building in St. Petersburg to be faced with natural stone. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich lived here with his family, known for his poetic works, in the pre-revolutionary years - his eldest son John. The second son - Gabriel - in emigration wrote his memoirs "In the Marble Palace".

In 1992, the building was transferred to the Russian Museum.

Admiralteyskaya embankment, 8

Palace of Mikhail Mikhailovich. Architect Maximilian Mesmacher. 1885-1891. Photo: Valentina Kachalova / Lori Photo Bank

Not far from the Winter Palace on the Admiralteyskaya embankment, you can see a building in the neo-Renaissance style. Once it belonged to the Grand Duke Mikhail Mikhailovich, the grandson of Nicholas I. It began to be built when the Grand Duke decided to marry - the granddaughter of Alexander Pushkin, Sophia Merenberg, became his chosen one. Emperor Alexander III did not give his consent to marry, and the marriage was recognized as morganatic: Mikhail Mikhailovich's wife did not become a member of the imperial family. The Grand Duke was forced to leave the country without ever living in the new palace.

Today the palace is leased to financial companies.

Labor Square, 4

If you walk from the Mikhail Mikhailovich Palace to the Blagoveshchensky Bridge and turn left, on Labor Square we will see another brainchild of the architect Stackenschneider - the Nikolaevsky Palace. Until 1894, the son of Nicholas I, Nikolai Nikolaevich the Elder, lived there. During the years of his life, the building also housed a house church; everyone was allowed to attend services here. In 1895, after the death of the owner, a women's institute named after Grand Duchess Xenia, sister of Nicholas II, was opened in the palace. The girls were taught the professions of an accountant, housekeeper, and seamstress.

Today, excursions, lectures and folklore concerts are held in the building known in the USSR as the Palace of Labor.

English Embankment, 68

Let's return to the embankment and head west. Halfway to the Novo-Admiralty Canal is the palace of Grand Duke Pavel Alexandrovich, son of Alexander II. In 1887, he bought it from the daughter of the late Baron Stieglitz, a famous banker and philanthropist, whose name the Academy of Arts founded by him bears. The Grand Duke lived in the palace until his death - he was shot in 1918.

The palace of Pavel Alexandrovich was empty for a long time. In 2011, the building was transferred to St. Petersburg University.

Moika River Embankment, 106

On the right side of the Moika River, opposite New Holland Island, is the palace of the Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna. She was married to the founder of the Russian air force, Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, grandson of Nicholas I. The palace was presented to them for a wedding - in 1894. During the First World War, the Grand Duchess opened a hospital here.

Today the palace houses the Lesgaft Academy of Physical Culture.

Nevsky prospect, 39

We leave on Nevsky Prospekt and move in the direction of the Fontanka River. Here, at the embankment, the Anichkov Palace is located. It was named so after the Anichkov Bridge in honor of the ancient family of columnar nobles Anichkov. The palace, erected during the reign of Elizaveta Petrovna, is the oldest building on Nevsky Prospekt. Architects Mikhail Zemtsov and Bartolomeo Rastrelli took part in its construction. Later, Empress Catherine II donated the building to Grigory Potemkin. On behalf of the new owner, the architect Giacomo Quarenghi gave Anichkov a more austere, close to modern look.

Since Nicholas I, the heirs to the throne have lived in the palace. When Alexander II ascended the throne, the widow of Nicholas I Alexandra Feodorovna lived here. After the death of Emperor Alexander III, the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna settled in the Anichkov Palace. Nicholas II also grew up here. He did not like Winter Palace and spent most of his time, already being emperor, in the Anichkov Palace.

Today it houses the Palace of Youth Creativity. The building is also open to tourists.

Nevsky prospect, 41

On the other side of the Fontanka is the Beloselsky-Belozersky Palace - the last private house built on the Nevsky in the 19th century and another brainchild of Stakenschneider. At the end of the 19th century, it was bought by Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, and in 1911 the palace passed to his nephew, Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich. He sold the palace in 1917, being in exile for participating in the murder of Grigory Rasputin. And later he emigrated and took out the money from the sale of the palace abroad, thanks to which he lived comfortably for a long time.

Since 2003, the building belongs to the Administrative Department of the President of the Russian Federation, concerts and recitals are held in it. On some days there are guided tours of the halls of the palace.

Petrovskaya embankment, 2

And walking near the house of Peter on Petrovskaya embankment, you should not miss the white majestic building in the neoclassical style. This is the palace of the grandson of Nicholas I, Nikolai Nikolaevich the Younger, the supreme commander-in-chief of all land and naval forces of the Russian Empire in the early years of the First World War. Today, the palace, which became the last grand-ducal building until 1917, houses the Representation of the President of the Russian Federation in the Northwestern Federal District.

Palace Embankment

And, leaning on the colonnades, Granite masses rise as an unshakable row of Palaces Above the darkened Neva! .. N. Agnivtsev.

Location: left bank of the Neva, from Troitsky to Palace Bridge

Palace Embankment, one of the most picturesque in St. Petersburg, is located on the left bank of the Neva, between Kutuzovskaya and Admiralteiskaya embankments. It crosses Suvorovskaya Square and is connected by the Palace Bridge with Vasilievsky Island, and the Troitsky Bridge with the Petrogradskaya Side. The ensemble of the Palace Embankment includes architectural structures of outstanding artistic value: the Winter Palace, the Small and Old Hermitages, the Hermitage Theater, the Marble Palace, the House of Scientists and other buildings.

Soon after the founding of St. Petersburg, in 1715, the general scheme of the Palace Embankment was outlined. In those days, it was called Upper, and retained this name until the end of the 18th century. In 1754-1762, according to the project of the architect Rastrelli, the Winter Palace was erected, which became the royal residence. It was he who gave the name to those located next to him Palace Square, Dvortsovaya embankment, Dvortsovy passage and Dvortsovy bridge. During the heyday of Soviet power, when it became a good tradition to rename streets and avenues, naming them in honor of prominent figures and memorable dates of the revolution, the Palace Embankment turned into the Ninth January Embankment. However, already in 1944, the original name was returned, and has remained unchanged since then.

In the middle of the 18th century, the Palace Embankment was faced with granite; it was complemented by picturesque descents to the water, made by the master G. Nasonov according to the project of the architect I. Rossi. In the 19th century, at the place where the entrance to the Palace Bridge is today, there was a pier, decorated with bronze sculptures of lions (sculptor - I. Prokofiev) and porphyry vases. In 1873 they were moved to the Admiralty Embankment.

On the Palace Embankment there is the former palace of the Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, made by the architect A. Rezanov in the style of a Florentine palazzo. Today it houses the House of Scientists (Dvortsovaya Embankment, 26). House No. 20 belonged to I. Moshkov, chief-quartermaster of Peter I. Old walls of the building are preserved under late plaster. House No. 18 was built in the middle of the 19th century by the architect Stakenschneider for the Grand Duke Mikhail. There is no stylistic unity in the buildings on the Palace Embankment, but its appearance gives the impression of harmony, balance and architectural integrity.

Historical reference

1715 - creation of the embankment. 1754-1762 - erection of the building of the Winter Palace, which gave the name to the embankment. 1763-1767 - the embankment is faced with granite, slopes to the water are built. 1763-1766 - construction of the Hermitage Bridge over the Winter Canal. 1767-1768 - construction of the Verkhne-Lebyazhiy Bridge over the Lebyazhy Canal. Legends and myths

There are several palaces on the Palace Embankment, including the official royal residence, so it is not surprising that many legends about the palaces themselves and their owners are associated with this place in St. Petersburg. For example, among the employees of the Hermitage there is a legend about the last owner of the Winter Palace - Emperor Nicholas II. It is said that in the evenings the ghost of the martyr tsar appears in the galleries of the Hermitage, who sadly looks around his former possessions.

The embankment houses the buildings of the State Hermitage, the Russian Museum, etc.

Connection with the urban road network

Main highways

Streets

Water communications

Transport

Ground public transport only crosses the embankment, without passing along it.

On the embankment there are marinas serving aquatic species transport:

Public transport crossing the embankment:

• Stop "Palace Embankment" at the Palace Bridge:

• Stop "Suvorovskaya Square" at the Troitsky bridge:

Construction history

Coastline formation

At the beginning of the 18th century, the swampy bank of the Neva had not yet been fortified, the development was carried out in the depths of the plots, thus the embankment passed approximately in the middle of the block between the present Millionnaya Street and the modern embankment of the Neva and was called Upper embankment... However, already in 1716, due to the expansion of land plots, it shifted to the north: broke the piles along the shallow water of the river and built a new embankment that still exists today.

In April 1707, a decree was issued that strictly regulated the allotment of plots for construction, depending on the official and property status of the applicants. The same decree established the size of land allotments. All of them with a narrow side (from 5 to 12 fathoms) went to the banks of the Neva and were intended only for persons related to the Admiralty Department.

Architectural ensemble

Stone parapets

In 1761, Catherine II conceived grandiose ambitious plans for the renovation of the capital. Urban planning tasks began to come to the fore, and the Commission on the Stone Construction of St. Petersburg and Moscow was established, the chief architect of which was Yuri Felten. Among the first measures to transform St. Petersburg was the replacement of the wooden embankment of the Neva with a stone parapet with landing staircases. In July 1762, a decree followed:

Felten played a decisive role in the implementation of this plan. Time-consuming work on the construction of the granite embankment continued until 1780. The shaky soil hardened with a pile brisk, in some places the earth was added. The mooring stairs were supposed to be straight ledges, but in the final version they acquired an oval shape. " Along the entire coast and piers, although the balustrade was appointed with iron gratings, but ... for strength, the panels were made of cut sea stone". From the same stone they laid out " a pedestrian». « From this to the pedestrian to the houses from under the old road, the weak earth was taken out, and instead of that, the foundation was strengthened into the real depth and fixed with special solid paving". Lanterns on metal poles were installed along the entire embankment. At the same time, near the old Winter Palace, a stone " bridge with arch and balustrade". The bridge across the Fontanka was conceived of stone only at the coast, and in the middle it was wooden, with a lifting device, but for the sake of strength it was built " all stone vaulted", The one that has survived to this day.

sights

Notable residents

• Representatives of the ruling Romanov dynasty - Summer Palace of Peter I, Winter Palace of Peter I, Winter Palace, grand ducal palaces.
• I. I. Betskoy - building 2
• I.A.Krylov (1791-1796) - house 2
• Prince Peter of Oldenburg - house 2
• C. Yu. Witte - building 30
• Tarle, Evgeny Viktorovich (01.1933 - 1955) - building 30, apt. 4
• Giacomo Quarenghi - house 32
• Joseph Orbeli - house 32
• K. E. Makovsky - building 30 (house of G. F. Mengden)

For the main part of the Alexander Column (a granite monolith weighing 600 tons), mined in 1830-1832 in the Pyuterlak quarry, a special pier on the Palace Embankment was used. The ship's engineer, Colonel Glasin, was in charge of the transportation, who designed and built a special boat called "St. Nicholas" with a carrying capacity of up to 1,100 tons. A special pier was built to carry out unloading operations. Unloading was carried out onto a wooden platform at the end of the breakwater, which coincided in height with the side of the vessel. The work on mining and delivery was headed by the contractor, the merchant's son V.A.Yakovlev, who was responsible for the entire part of the operation from the beginning to the moment the monolith was unloaded ashore.

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Literature

• Gorbachevich K.S., Khablo E.P. Why are they named so? About the origin of the names of streets, squares, islands, rivers and bridges in Leningrad. - 3rd ed., Rev. and add. - L.: Lenizdat, 1985 .-- S. 106-107. - 511 p.
• Gorbachevich K.S., Khablo E.P. Why are they named so? About the origin of the names of streets, squares, islands, rivers and bridges of St. Petersburg. - 4th ed., Rev. - SPb. : Norint, 1996 .-- S. 71-72. - 359 p. - ISBN 5-7711-0002-1.
• City names today and yesterday: Petersburg toponymy / comp. S. V. Alekseeva, A. G. Vladimirovich, A. D. Erofeev et al. - 2nd ed., Revised. and add. - SPb. : Lik, 1997 .-- S. 40 .-- 288 p. - (Three centuries of Northern Palmyra). - ISBN 5-86038-023-2.

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