Saint Petersburg

Brief information

Saint Petersburg grew where land had to be literally reclaimed from the water. The city was founded at the mouth of the Neva, by the Gulf of Finland, on low marshy ground. That is why the canals and ponds here appeared not as decoration: they drained the territory, while the excavated earth raised the surface of future streets and blocks.

Peter I envisioned the new capital on the model of Venice and Amsterdam, with a network of canals instead of ordinary streets. This plan was not carried out literally, but water still determined the city’s layout. The Neva delta, with its rivers, canals, islands, embankments, and bridges, became the basis of the historic center, which, together with its associated monuments, is included on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

What to notice first

The main key to Petersburg is to compare the water, straight lines, and stone framing of the banks. The Peter and Paul Fortress on Zayachy Island was the city’s first structure: it was placed so as to control the fairways of the Neva and the Bolshaya Nevka. This explains why the city began not with a square or a palace, but with a point of control over the river.

It makes sense to notice the straight grid of Vasilyevsky Island: the first general plan laid out perpendicular streets and wide avenues. Another principle can be seen in the “trident” from the Admiralty, where Nevsky Prospekt, Gorokhovaya Street, and Voznesensky Prospekt radiate from the compositional center. The granite embankments of the Neva, Fontanka, and canals show the next step: the altered water environment was fixed in stone. Bridges connect this system into a single urban body.