Palace Square

Welcome to Palace Square. Stand in the very center of this vast, perfectly paved expanse and slowly turn in a full circle. …

Let us begin at the unmistakable focal point of the square, the colossal Alexander Column. Erected in eighteen thirty four during the fiercely autocratic reign of Nicholas I, this monument was officially dedicated to his older…

Turn your attention to the massive, sprawling teal structure defining the northern edge of the square. This is the Winter Palace, the primary, heavily guarded residence of the Russian Emperors. …

Turn entirely around to face the southern perimeter. Here we see the sweeping, masterful geometry of the General Staff Building. …

While the Winter Palace served as the residence and the stage for statecraft, the buildings extending eastward from it house one of the greatest cultural repositories on earth, the Hermitage. The institution began strictly as the…

It is impossible to stand in Palace Square without acknowledging the profound, shattering tragedy that unfolded right here, a tragedy that fatally cracked the foundation of the Russian Empire. Direct your gaze toward the eastern…

Twelve years after the massacre of Bloody Sunday, the square witnessed the final, chaotic death throes of the old world. In the freezing, dark night of October twenty fifth, nineteen seventeen, according to the old Julian…

As our tour of Palace Square concludes, take a moment to stand near the base of the Alexander Column and listen to the ambient noise of the modern city echoing off the vast facades. You have just walked across a surface that…