Historic Heart - St Petersburg - page 142

square, commonly referred to as Cathy's Garden (Katkin Sad), was created by Carlo
Rossi in the 1820s and 1830s.
The most prominent building on the square is Rossi's neoclassical Alexandrinsky
Theatre ( CLICK HERE ). In 1896, at the opening night of Anton Chekhov's The
Seagull, the play was so badly received here that the playwright fled to wander an-
onymously among the crowds on Nevsky pr.
The square's west side is taken up by the lavish National Library of Russia
OFFLINE MAP GOOGLE MAP , St Petersburg's biggest with some 31 million items,
nearly a sixth of which are in foreign languages.
Rossi's ensemble continues behind the theatre on ul Zodchego Rossi. It is propor-
tion deified: the buildings are 22m wide, 22m apart and 220m long. The Vaganova
School of Choreography OFFLINE MAP GOOGLE MAP at No 2 is the Kirov Bal-
let's training school, where Pavlova, Nijinsky, Nureyev and others learned their art.