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Central Saint Petersburg is the central and the leading part of Saint Petersburg, Russia. It looks nothing like the downtown district of a typical major city, and has no skyscrapers. The Central Business District's main borders are Neva River to the north and west, and the Fontanka River to the south and east, but the downtown includes areas outside.
The Central Saint Petersburg is the oldest part of the city after the Peter and Paul Fortress. When people were starting to populate Saint Petersburg they built their houses around the almost only building outside the fortress; the Admiralty building. The largest industry was ship building. The first residence of Peter the Great was a little hut (the hut hasn't been destroyed and is a museum), but he soon started to build the Summer Palace, which was located just opposite the hut, on the other side of the Neva River, and later he built a Winter Palace for himself. The central part of the city was supposed to be between the Peter and Paul Fortress and his first house.
The CBS is an area with many old buildings and has beautiful parks like the Summer Garden, Field of Mars and Mikhailovsky Garden. It is also the wealthiest area in Saint Petersburg, home to luxury hotels like Hotel Astoria and Grand Hotel Europe. It has always been a wealthy district since the rich noble Russians built their mansions here.
Administratively, the Saint Petersburg central business district falls under the authority of Tsentralny and the Admiralteysky Districts.
The CBS is also a main traffic hub, with tramways, trolleybuses, buses, marshrutkas, and the Moscow Rail Terminal.
Significant streets are Nevsky Prospekt, the heart of the city, and is one of the largest shopping streets in Europe, with department stores like Gostiny Dvor and The Passage. It's also home to the Kazan Cathedral and Anichkov Palace.
Sadovaya Street is a main street in downtown with high traffic, home to Yusupov Palace, Apraksin Dvor department store, and crossing the Sennaya Square; a main square, [1] with entertainment, commercial and many shops.
St Isaac's Square is home to the St Isaac's Cathedral and Mariinsky Palace, and has a monument dedicated to tsar Nicholas I of Russia. On the other side of the cathedral is the Decembrists Square, next to the Admiralty building, and the location of the Bronze Horseman .
Palace Square is home to the Winter Palace and the Hermitage.
Arts Square is home to the Russian Museum, the Mikhaylovsky Theatre, the Large Concert Hall (Bolshoi Zal) of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, the Pushkin monument and is not far from the Church of the Savior on Blood.
The Theatre Square is home to the world famous Mariinsky Theatre.
The Peter and Paul Fortress is the original citadel of St. Petersburg, Russia, founded by Peter the Great in 1703 and built to Domenico Trezzini's designs from 1706 to 1740 as a star fortress. Between the first half of the 1700s and early 1920s it served as a prison for political criminals. It has been a museum since 1924.
Nevsky Prospect is the main street in the federal city of St. Petersburg in Russia. It takes its name from the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, the monastery which stands at the eastern end of the street, and which in turn commemorates the Russian hero Prince Saint Alexander Nevsky (1221–1263). Following his founding of Saint Petersburg in 1703, Tsar Peter I planned the course of the street as the beginning of the road to Novgorod and Moscow. The avenue runs from the Admiralty in the west to the Moscow Railway Station and, after veering slightly southwards at Vosstaniya Square, to the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.
Vasilyevsky Island is an island in St. Petersburg, Russia, bordered by the Bolshaya Neva and Malaya Neva Rivers in the south and northeast, and by Neva Bay of the Gulf of Finland in the west. Vasilyevsky Island is separated from Dekabristov Island by the Smolenka River. Together they form the territory of Vasileostrovsky District, an administrative division of Saint Petersburg.
Russian architecture follows a tradition whose roots lie in early Russian wooden architecture and in the architecture of Kievan Rus' with its centers in Veliky Novgorod and Kiev. From the Rus' era, the Byzantine Empire and Islamic architecture influenced the architecture and culture of Russia. In other phases of Russian history the architecture developed independently and was characterized by national and local features. After the Mongol invasion of Rus, Russian architectural history continued in the principalities of Vladimir-Suzdal, Novgorod, and the succeeding states of the Tsardom of Russia. The great churches of Kievan Rus', built after the adoption of Christianity in 988, were the first examples of monumental architecture in the East Slavic region. Early Eastern Orthodox churches were mainly built from wood, with their simplest form known as a cell church. Cathedrals often featured many small domes, which has led some art historians to infer how the pagan Slavic temples may have appeared.
The Field of Mars is a large square in the centre of Saint Petersburg. Over its long history it has been alternately a meadow, park, pleasure garden, military parade ground, revolutionary pantheon and public meeting place.
The Moyka is a secondary, in comparison with the Neva, river in Saint Petersburg that encircles the central portion of the city, effectively making it an island or a group of islands together with the Neva, Fontanka, Griboyedov Canal and shorter canals like Kryukov. The river, originally known as Mya, derives its name from the Ingrian word Muya for "slush" or "mire", having its original source in former swamp. It is 5 kilometres (3 mi) long and 40 metres (130 ft) wide.
The Palace Embankment or Palace Quay is a street along the Neva River in Central Saint Petersburg which contains the complex of the Hermitage Museum buildings, the Hermitage Theatre, the New Michael Palace, the Saltykov Mansion and the Summer Garden.
The Admiralty Embankment or Admiralty Quay is a street along the Neva River in Central Saint Petersburg, named after the Admiralty Board. Between 1919 and 1944 the street was known as Roshal Embankment, named after the revolutionary S. G. Roshal.
The English Embankment or English Quay is a street along the left bank of the Bolshaya Neva River in Central Saint Petersburg. It has been historically one of the most fashionable streets in Saint Petersburg, and in the 19th century was called by the French term, Promenade des Anglais. It was from the English Embankment that at 2 AM on October 25, 1917, the gunshot from the Aurora sent the signal to storm the Winter Palace during Russian Revolution.
Sadovaya Street or Garden Street is a major thoroughfare in Saint Petersburg, Russia, passing through the historic city center.
Admiralteysky Municipal Okrug is a municipal okrug of Admiralteysky District of the federal city of St. Petersburg, Russia. Population: 22,634 (2010 Census); 30,533 (2002 Census).
Saint Isaac's Square or Isaakiyevskaya Ploshchad, known as Vorovsky Square between 1923 and 1944, in Saint Petersburg, Russia is a major city square sprawling between the Mariinsky Palace and Saint Isaac's Cathedral, which separates it from Senate Square. The square is graced by the equestrian Monument to Nicholas I.
The appearance of Saint Petersburg includes long, straight boulevards, vast spaces, gardens and parks, decorative wrought-iron fences, monuments and decorative sculptures. The Neva River itself, together with its many canals and their granite embankments and bridges help to give the city its particular ambience.
Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), is the second-largest city in Russia. It is situated on the Neva River, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea, with a population of roughly 5.4 million residents. Saint Petersburg is the fourth-most populous city in Europe after Istanbul, Moscow and London, the most populous city on the Baltic Sea, and the world's northernmost city of more than 1 million residents. As Russia's Imperial capital, and a historically strategic port, it is governed as a federal city.
The Alexander Garden lies along the south and west façades of the Russian Admiralty in St. Petersburg, parallel to the Neva River and Admiralty Quay, extending from Palace Square in the east to St. Isaac's Cathedral in the west. The English park is named after Alexander II of Russia who ordered some 52 species of trees to be planted there. It was formerly known as the Admiralty Boulevard, the Admiralty Meadow, and the Labourers Garden.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Saint Petersburg – second-largest city in Russia. An important Russian port on the Baltic Sea, it has the status of a federal subject. Its name was changed to "Petrograd" in 1914, then to "Leningrad" in 1924, and back to Saint Petersburg in 1991.