One of the reasons behind Peter the Great’s decision to move the capital into the north was to create and establish a new city from the start for his capital. Before 1703, St. Petersburg did not exist as a city but a vast field used as a hunting ground for the Swedish Empire’s nobles and generals. Peter the Great was obsessed with European culture, primarily Dutch and Italian culture, which is why he imagined his new capital to be something like Venice and Amsterdam with multiple connected canals. However, his vision never came true, but St. Petersburg had become one of Russia’s top cities with the best network in the country. That’s why it has various significant streets, squares, and avenues. When tourists decide to visit St. Petersburg during their tour to Russia, they need to learn about these famous addresses in St. Petersburg and their porpuses because there are more than enough attractions in St. Petersburg that travel agencies could cover in one short trip to St. Petersburg. That’s why most tourists would wander around the city in their free time to explore St. Petersburg themselves in addition to the places that they have visited via their tour to Russia program. There are several main streets in St. Petersburg, which each of them is important for tourists in their way. One of them is Mosckovsky Prospect.
Mosckovsky Prospect had appeared in St. Petersburg at the same time as the most famous avenue in the city, Nevsky Prospect. This ten-kilometer long street starts from the center of the town and goes to the south of St. Petersburg in Moscow’s direction. In the beginning, this route was only used by the imperial family and the nobles of the city. That’s why at first, it was called the Tsarskoselsky Tract. Although it appeared in St. Petersburg in the 18th century, the development of this avenue started in the 19th century, around the time that Mosckovsky Triumphal Gates was constructed at St. Petersburg’s city limit in the south. It was in 1845 when the Voskresensky Novodevichy Convent, a cemetery in which many prominent citizens of the city were buried, appeared in Moscovsky Prospect as well as the Railway Institute, several military academies, and the Technological Institute over time. Although the Moscovsky Prospect was developing through the 19th century, it was during the Soviet Union era and Stalin’s regime that this avenue saw the most changes. During that time, several significant buildings in the Stalinism neoclassical architecture style were constructed in this avenue, such as the House of Soviets and General’s House. The victory park was laid out to honor the victory over Nazi Germany in the second world war. The famous Monument to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad was also constructed on the Ploshchad Pobedy in 1975 to complete the majestic look of Moskosvky Prospect. Throughout history, this prospect was given multiple different names until the mid 20th century, and it acquired its current title as the Moskosvsky Prospect. However, regardless of its name, Moskosvky Prospect has always been one of the main thoroughfares of the city. Today, many tourists would step inside it as they arrived at St. Petersburg for their Tour to Russia via Pulkovo Airport. Besides that, the Moskovsky Prospect is the main road to Tsarskoe Selo (Pushkin), one of the major attractions of the St. Petersburg tour that you will visit during your travel to Russia.
The Moscow Triumphal Arch
The Moscow Triumphal Arch was the most massive iron-cast structure in the world at its time, and it was one of the masterpieces of architect Vasiliy Stasov. The Moscow Triumphal Arch was erected in 1838 to honor the Russian victory in the campaign of 1828, the Russo-Turkish war. Although it supposed to be built near the Obvodny Canal, since the city was grown a lot, especially to the south, it was decided to change the site of the arch to the intersection of the Ligovsky Canal and the Moscow highway. However, another reason for choosing this location was to create a majestic gateway into the city of St. Petersburg, which was the imperial capital at the moment.
House of Soviets
House of Soviets is one of the finest examples of St. Petersburg’s Stalinist architecture style that was constructed in the 1930s. Although the Soviet government had plans to host the Leningrad’s Soviet government in this building, the construction of House of Soviets was barley ended before the siege of Leningrad; thus, it never used for its intended purpose. The Soviet government wanted to change the center of the city to the current location of House of Soviets for two main reasons; one, because of the frequent floods that happened in the downtown area, and second was to get away from the Tsarist power’s remaining symbols in the city. When the Second World War ended, the House of Soviets was given to various research institutes, instead of being used as its initial purpose. The square in front of the House of Soviets is called the Moskosvky Square, and Mikhail Anikushin designed the massive monument to Vladimir Lenin in 1970. Today, part of the House of Soviets building has been rented out as office space. Although there’s nothing particularly attractive inside this massive building, it has been often recognized during the tour to St. Petersburg; that’s why most people would like to learn about its history when they travel to Russia.
Moscow Victory Park
The Moscow Victory Park was founded in 1945 to honor the Allied victory in the second world war. Besides the ponds, canals, and park landscapes, one of the main avenues of Victory Park is the Avenue of Heroes, in which tourists of Russia tour will find multiple bronze statues of Heros of the Soviet Union, including the statue of Marshal Georgy Zhukov, who commanded to Leningrad front at the beginning of the Siege of Leningrad in 1941, which was erected in the 50th anniversary of the end of the second world war. Although today the Victory Park is one of the beautiful places of St. Petersburg tour in which many people would have fun, it is a monument to the suffering of people during the Siege of Leningrad.
Monument to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad
Besides the Victory Park, there’s another monument to the people’s suffering during the Siege of Leningrad on Moskosvky Prospect, which is the Monument to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad on Victory Square. This massive monument was erected in the 1970s. It has multiple monumental features, including the statue of Leningrad residents, who had fought hard beside the soldiers to save the city from the Nazi invasion. Although it shows the heroic acts of people during those days, it also shows people’s suffering during the second world war. There’s a small area under the monument which is dedicated to the museum of Siege of Leningrad. Although it’s unlikely for tourists to visit this monument during their travel to Russia, they may see it on their way to their hotel from the Pulkovo Airport.
Moskovsky Prospect is one of St. Petersburg’s main avenues that tourists should know if they have plans to wander around the city during their trip to St. Petersburg. You can also learn about other famous addresses of St. Petersburg on our weblog as well as the top attractions of Russia tour and the best places that you should visit during your travel to Russia.
