{"id":1809,"date":"2020-02-27T19:14:07","date_gmt":"2020-02-27T19:14:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/russiable.com\/?p=1809"},"modified":"2024-01-06T11:37:55","modified_gmt":"2024-01-06T11:37:55","slug":"nevsky-prospect-st-petersburg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/russiable.com\/nevsky-prospect-st-petersburg\/","title":{"rendered":"A walk along Nevsky Avenue, St. Petersburg\u2019s fascinating Main Street"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Walking along Nevsky Avenue (or Nevsky Prospekt) from beginning to end is the best way to get to know St. Petersburg and to check its pulse, while being able to stop at the many shops and restaurants that you will find on your way. In this article I will take you on a very special tour of one of the streets with the greatest history in the world looking at its most representative buildings and attractions, direct testimonies of the city\u2019s past, present and future.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Nevsky<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

1. Nevsky Avenue: the best start for getting to know the city<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The first thing you should know is that Nevsky Avenue (or Nevsky Prospect) is no less than 4.5 kilometers long and ranges between 25 and 60 meters wide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traveling on foot from end to end without stopping, may take around 60 minutes and I would say it\u2019s the best start for getting to know the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a very lively place for pedestrians, with prominent buildings and where cars and buses also run. Very crowded with tourists.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Zara<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

It is St. Petersburg\u2019s quintessential avenue, which, if we pay attention to its numbering, begins at the Palace Square, next to the Admiralty Building and the Hermitage<\/a>, and ends at the Alexander Nevsky Monastery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even numbers correspond to the sunny area, a popular place for pedestrians, while odd numbers are informally said to be in the \u201cshade\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you like walking around cities, this walk is, without a doubt, the place for you. And not only during the day, because at night it is also very pleasant to walk along this street full of cafes, restaurants, bookstores and souvenir shops.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Souvenirs<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

2. A little bit on the history of Nevsky Avenue (Nevsky Prospect)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The beginnings of the avenue, around 1718, parallels the birth of St. Petersburg in 1703 under Peter the Great, when it was only a road leading towards Novgorod<\/a> located in a swampy, wooded area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a major fire, in the mid-18th<\/sup> cent. the buildings or mansions of the noble, wealthy people, were already being made out of stone and not of wood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the beginning of the 19th<\/sup> cent. the Kazan Cathedral, the city\u2019s main cathedral, was built. Banks and commercial buildings were also starting to spring up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the middle of the same century, the popularly called Moskovsky train station, the terminal for trains from Moscow, was built. Today it is also called St. Petersburg-Glavny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the early 20th<\/sup> cent. there already were electric lights, replacing the previous oil and gas lamps. The first public transportation also appeared, albeit drawn by animals.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Beloselsky-Belozersky_Palace_and_Anichkov_Bridge_St._Petersburg\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

After the October Revolution of 1917, the name was changed to Avenue of the 25th<\/sup> of October (from 1918 to 1944), while in World War II it was bombed several times and many buildings were destroyed. Some warning signs are current reminders of this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was during the 1950s and 1960s that construction work on the Metro began and the first two stations appeared. Apartments and residential buildings also multiplied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many annual events take place on its pavement: Victory Day (May 9), St. Petersburg Foundation Day (May 27) or the procession from the Kazan Cathedral to the Alexander Nevsky Monastery, to commemorate the day of this Holy Prince every September 12, which has seen a great boom in recent years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because of all this, the power and beauty of the avenue remain essentially intact.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"St.<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Who is the person who gave this famous avenue its name?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The avenue is named after Alexander Yaroslavich (Vladimir, 1220 – Gorodets, 1263), prince of Novgorod and Vladimir during the period when Russia was divided into multiple principalities subjected to the hegemony of the Mongols. He stood out in his youth for his military feats, having beaten the Swedes in the Battle of the Neva in 1240, which earned him the nickname of Nevsky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church after his death and became a symbol of Russia’s national resistance against German power in Eastern Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His memory has been honored by both the regime of the czars, with Peter the Great of Russia founding a convent called Alexander Nevsky in 1712 at the location of his victory against the Swedes, and by the Soviet regime, with Stalin creating a military order in his name in 1942 during World War II.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Alexander_Nevsky,_Russian_School_19th-20th_century\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

In addition, the life of Alexander Nevsky was made into a film in 1938 by Sergei Eisenstein<\/a>.<\/u> The Soviet director\u2019s first sound film, it starred Russian actor Nikolay Cherkasov and the soundtrack was composed by Sergei Prokofiev.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"\u0410\u043b\u0435\u043a\u0441\u0430\u043d\u0434\u0440<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

3. Walking along Nevsky Avenue from beginning to end: what to see<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

First you have to keep in mind that you will find imposing buildings on both sides of the avenue, as well as bridges with a history, must-see squares and interesting monuments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The common denominator is the variety and mixture of styles, from the 18th to the 20th centuries, including the Baroque, Classicism, eclecticism, Modernism or Constructivism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is a summary of what I consider most important. I will suggest the route that leaves Palace Square, next to the Admiralty Building, which follows the principle of the numbering of the buildings. However, you can also do the tour in reverse and start at the Alexander Nevsky Bridge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve placed in parenthesis the number of the buildings on the avenue. Obviously, I will also mention the squares surrounding it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The buildings and bridges are described in order of appearance as you walk, not by their sequential numbering, since the even numbers are not correlated with the odd ones on the opposite side, something that happens on many city streets. On the map below you can see the route, as well as each of the buildings or monuments that I will mention. Let’s get to it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n