St. Petersburg is one of the top tourist destination cities of Russia tour, which has many attractions that people would visit during their travel to Russia, including some of the top public places that at first don’t look like an attractive place in St. Petersburg tour. Still, when you visit it on your trip to Russia, you will see why they are included on your tour to Russia. Some of these public places are city squares that you visit during your visit to St. Petersburg attractive places, but some of them are tourist attractions themselves, such as Senate Square. The Senate Square complex offers an impressive panorama look over the neva river, Admiralty, St. Isaac’s Cathedral, and the Senate and Synod building. It also houses one of the most impressive monuments to the founder of St. Petersburg, Peter the Great. These are some of the reasons why you should visit this square on your tour to Russia alongside the Palace Square and Arts Square.
Senate Square is one of the first squares that emerged in St. Petersburg in 1704. However, it took six years to build the first wooden structure on this square. The wooden building of St. Isaac’s Cathedral was built in 1710. Although the wooden St. Isaac’s Cathedral was the predecessor of the current one, it moved to another location later. The Senate Square became quite busy from 1727, mainly because of the floating bridge that built every summer from ferries and barges, and during winters, a wooden walkway on the frozen river. It was one of the few paths from this side of the St. Petersburg to the Vasiliesvky Island. Another building that once stood in Senate Square was the palace of Alexander Menishkov, who was a close friend of Peter the Great, but a new Baroque palace of Chancellor Aleksey Bestuzhev-Rumin had replaced it in 1744. Originally, Peter the Great had visioned to gather the government in the Twelve Collages on Vasilievsky Island. However, that plan failed due to various reasons, and the Senate had moved to this square during the reign of Catherine the Great. It was then that the square officially acquired the name of Senate Square. The Bronze Horseman, the most famous statue of Peter the Great in St. Petersburg, was also created during the reign of Catherine the Great. The Bronze Horseman is also the symbol of Senate Square, and it took twelve years for the French artists, Etienne Maurice Falconet, to create it.
Senate Square is the place of one of the most famous events during the Imperial Russia era, the Decembrist revolt. After the death of Alexander I, Tsar of Russia in 1825, Konstantin Pavlovich was supposed to become the ruler of Russia, some of the officials and officers of the Russian military even pledge their royalty to him. However, Konstantin removed himself from the title. During the breakdown of most people in Russia, especially generals of the Russian army, Nicholas I had stepped forward to claim the throne. That event led to a riot from the generals and officers who had pledged their royalty to Konstantin. Near 3000 generals, officers, and soldiers of Russian military gathered in the Senate Square for a coup, and part of the grenadier troupe had entered to the winter palace to sized the power, which was unsuccessful. Eventually, Tsar Nicholas I had entered the Senate to reason with the rebels, but they refused to cooperate with the tsar, which led to a battle between 3000 rebels and 9000 Imperial guards. Since this unsuccessful coup happened in December, the rebels named Decembrist. After the October Revolution, to mark this event in the history of Russia, the Soviet government renamed this square to Dekabristov in 1925. The square only reacquired its original name as Senate Square in 2008.
Between 1829 and 1834, the Senate was entirely reconstructed by the famous Italian architect Carlo Rossi. A triumphal arch had erected on the newly expanded Senate, and the governing body of the Russian Orthodox Church had moved to the northern wing of the Senate and Synod. The small park of the Senate Square was also expanded with the Bronze Horseman in the center of it. One of the most famous buildings around Senate Square is the Admiralty building, which can be found on the east side of the square.
Bronze Horseman
The Bronze Horseman is one of the most impressive monuments to Peter the Great, the founder of St. Petersburg, which places on the Senate Square. Etienne Maurice Falconet was commissioned by Cathrine the Great to create this monument in 1768. However, it took twelve years for the French sculptor to finish the work, and the equestrian statue of Peter the Great was erected in 1782. The statue is one of the famous symbols of St. Petersburg, in which you can see the equestrian Peter the Great on a cliff, and his horse stepping on a snake. The entire statue resembles the Russian victory over Sweden in the Northern War, and the snake symbolizes a defeated enemy. It’s one of the main attractions of Senate Square on tour to Russia. You can also learn about other famous Monuments to Prominent Imperial Leaders, which you can visit during your tour to Russia, on our weblog at the Star Travel Group.
Senate and Synod Building
The Russian imperial government had two important administrative organs, the Senate and the Synod. The Senate was the most powerful administrator of the law, and the Synod was the highest rank of the Russian Orthodox Church, which was a replacement for the Patriarchy that Peter the Great introduced to the government and the people during his reign. The current neoclassical Emprial style building that used to house these two highest powers in imperial Russia was built in 1834 under the last-ever project of Italian architect Carlo Rossi in St. Petersburg that you can visit on your tour to Russia. The construction began in 1829, and it took five years for Rossi to complete it. He used two 100-meter-long blocks that joined by a triumphal arch, which gave the building an impressive appearance. During his last project, Carlo Rossi had helped from Vasily Demuth Malinovsky and Stepan Pimenov to decorate the building with multiple amazing sculptures.
Just like the Theatre Square, there is no force on visiting these places, but it’s likely for you to visit them on your tour to Russia because of the attractions around them and their reputation. You can also learn about other places that you should visit during your travel to Russia by visiting our weblog at the Star Travel Group. We provide various tips and pieces of advice about Russia as well.
