Petrogradsky Island The main island of the Petrograd Side. Peter the Great originally wanted to build the city’s administrative center in the region of Troitsky Square, but the island only really blossomed two hundred years later, following the construction in 1903 of the Troitsky Bridge which connected the Petrograd Side with the left bank of the Neva River. Here, you’ll find one of Petersburg’s first constructions – Peter the First’s house and block after block of stunning architecture from the 1910s: large houses built to be rented out as individual apartments, dachas and mansions. In the vicinity of the Troitsky Square stands the mansion of Mathilda Kshesinskaya (Alexander von Gogen, 1906), which preserves the memory of the last Romanovs and Lenin, and close by is the Bolshaya Mosque (Nikolai Vasiliev, Stepan Krichinsky, Alexander von Gogen, 1913). Kids and adult kids will be fascinated by the Artillery Museum in the Arsenal building opposite Zayachy Island. On the shore of the Bolshaya Neva River, next to the Aurora Cruiser, stands the Nakhimovskoe Naval Institute (Alexander Dmitriev, 1912). Kamennoostrovsky Prospect, according to the poet Osip Mandelshtam, “is Petersburg’s lightest and most carefree street,” comprising a row of first class buildings by Petersburg’s finest retrospectivist and Moderne architects: Fyodor Lidval, Vasily Shaub, Vladimir Shuko and Andrei Belogrud. Today, Kamennoostrovsky and Bolshoi Prospect, which leads off it, are among the most fashionable thoroughfares in the city. The area around the Tuchkov Bridge is less up-market, thanks to the sporting and cultural venues that can be found there – on the right of the bridge (on Petrovsky Island) is the Petrovsky Stadium, which attracts thousands of Zenith Football Club fans, while on the left stands the Yubileiny Palace, which hosts numerous pop and rock concerts, as well as sports events. Of architectural interest in this area is Tuchkov Buyan, formerly a hemp warehouse built by Rinaldi in the 1770s, and the Prince Vladimir Cathedral, built by Zemtsov and reconstructed by Rinaldi. Zayachy Island A small island of 18 hectares located in the wides section of the Neva, separated from the Petrograd Side by the Kronverksky Channel. The island’s name is a literal translation of the original Finnish name – Enisaari, “enis” meaning “hare.” On May 16 (27), 1703, Peter the First ordered the construction of the St. Petersburg fort here. The name was later transferred to the whole city, and the fortress’s new name, the Peter and Paul, was bestowed upon it following the construction of the Peter and Paul Fortress here. Petrovsky IslandThis island lies between the Zhdanovka and Malaya Neva rivers. At its southern tip stands the Petrovsky Stadium, home to local football side Zenith, and from here runs the island’s main thoroughfare, Petrovsky Prospect, and the remains of the once sumptuous Petrovsky Park with its large pond. On the island you can also find the House of Veterans of the Stage, founded by the prima of the Alexandrinsky Theater Maria Savina, and the yacht club with its wonderful sea view, café and restaurant. Aptekarsky IslandThe northern section of the Petrograd Side, located between the Karpovka River and the Nevkas. It comprises a city landscape predominantly built up at the beginning of the 20th Century and the remains of what was a fashionable area for dachas during the 19th Century. The Botanical Gardens and Museum are located here, as is the small Lopukhinsky Gardens of the 18th Century, the Institute of Experimental Medicine with its curious monument – a laboratory dog – and the television center (6 Ulitsa Chapygina) and television tower.
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