Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
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over Bolshaya Morskaya ul. The arch is topped by the Chariot of
Glory, another monument to the Napoleonic Wars.
On Bloody Sunday (9 January 1905), tsarist troops fired on workers who were
peaceably gathered in the square, sparking the 1905 revolution. And it was across
Dvortsovaya pl that the much-exaggerated storming of the Winter Palace took place
during the 1917 October Revolution.
CATHEDR
THEDRAAL
KAZAN CATHEDRAL
11am-7pm; Nevsky Prospekt)
Atypical of St Petersburg churches, the neoclassical
Kazan Cathedral was commissioned by Tsar Paul shortly before he was murdered in a
coup. It reflects his eccentric desire to unite Catholicism and Orthodoxy in a kind of
'super-Christianity' as well as his fascination with the Knights of Malta, of which he
was a member. The cathedral's great, 111m-long colonnaded arms reach out towards
Nevsky pr, encircling a pleasant garden that is studded with statues. Andrei Voronikh-
in, a former serf, built the cathedral between 1801 and 1811 and his design was influ-
enced by St Peter's in Rome. His original plan was to build a second, mirror version
of the cathedral opposite it on the other side of Nevsky pr, but this never materialised.
Look for the victorious Napoleonic War field marshal Mikhail Kutuzov (whose re-
mains are buried inside the cathedral) and his friend and aide Mikhail Barclay de
Tolly.
Inside, the cathedral is dark and traditionally orthodox, with a daunting 80m-high
dome. There is usually a long queue of believers waiting to kiss the icon of Our Lady
of Kazan, a copy of one of Russia's most important icons.
STROGANOV PALACE
150, combined 24hr ticket for all four palaces of the Russian Museum adult/student R600/300;
10am-5pm Wed-Mon; Nevsky Prospekt)
One of the city's loveliest baroque exteri-
ors, the salmon-pink Stroganov Palace was designed by court favourite Bartolomeo
Rastrelli in 1753 for one of the city's leading aristocratic families. Most famously, the
Stroganov's chef created a beef dish served in a sour cream and mushroom sauce that
PAALACCE
