VASILEVSKIY (ISLAND) OSTROV

is one of the most elegant architectural ensembles of St. Petersburg. It was created in the early 19th century on the eastern tip of the island, designed by Domenico Trezzini, the first architect of St. Petersburg. According to the plan of Peter the Great it was to become the main square with a complex of administrative, scientific and commercial institutions. By backfilling the ground and increasing the shoreline by more than 100 meters a semicircular square with granite walls and gently sloping descents to the water was formed.

is the compositional center of the Strelka, built in the neoclassical style in 1805-1810 by Jean François Thomas de Thomon. The building of the Stock Exchange resembles an ancient Greek temple. Forty-four powerful Doric columns encircle the colossal building, almost hiding its walls. On the portico of the main facade is an allegorical sculpture depicting the sea god Neptune, accompanied by the Neva and Volkhov rivers. Above the entrance on the opposite side is a sculpture of Navigation in the form of a young woman with a crown on her head, next to her the god of trade Mercury and two sculptures symbolizing rivers. Since 1939 the building has been allocated to the Central Naval Museum. Since 2010, the museum has moved to the building of the Kryukov (Sea) barracks (Bolshaya Morskaya str., 69 A, entrance from the Kryukov Canal embankment). In 2014, the Exchange was handed over to the State Hermitage to create the Museum of Heraldry and Awards, which is scheduled to open in the near future. In 2014, the Exchange building was transferred to the State Hermitage Museum to create the Museum of Heraldry and Awards, which will open in a few years. The building is currently undergoing restoration work.

34 meters high express the idea of the maritime glory of the Russian capital. They originally served as beacons. For a long time – until 1880 – the Strelka bank was the main port of St.Petersburg. Erected in 1810 in honor of the Russian fleet, the columns are decorated with the prows of the ships (rostra). At the foot of the columns there are sculptural allegories of the four great Russian rivers – the Volga, Dnieper, Neva and Volkhov. Gas flares on the Rostral Columns light up on special occasions.

The Museum of Soil Science is one of the most mysterious museums of our city. Ordinary people, not specialists, know very little about soil and do not even assume that it is a huge and very interesting world inhabited by visible and invisible inhabitants. Soil is an amazing and complex natural object, the study and protection of which is not given enough attention around the world. The museum popularizes the science of the soil in every possible way for more than 100 years.
The museum conducts extensive scientific and educational activities, but the main activity of the Museum of Soil Science is scientific work: research, including scientific expeditions, creating various collections, organizing and conducting conferences, publishing scientific articles, developing educational programs and teaching aids.
In the funds of the Museum of Soil Science there are collections, called "Russia's wealth" by its employees. Based on these collections, a unique soil and environmental monitoring is conducted. Soil science, originally a fundamental science, has great potential for practical application of knowledge in agriculture, construction, archeology, ecology, geography, cartography...

The Central Museum of Soil

The museum was founded in 1832 on the basis of zoological collections of the Natural Cabinet of the Kunstkammer of Peter the Great, created in 1714. The zoological collection of the Kunstkammer was gradually detached. Large sea voyages and expeditions of Russian scientists played an important role in replenishing and preserving the collections of the Museum.
In the early 1830s, following the reform of the Academy of Sciences, the Zoological Museum was established. Initially it was housed in the Museum wing of the Academy of Sciences (Universitetskaya Nab., 5) and had only three halls.
The collection of the museum has been gradually replenished: by means of various expeditions, purchase or exchange with other establishments, including those abroad, as well as donations. By the middle of the XIX century the collections of the Zoological Museum were as big as those of the best collections of foreign museums. Now the collections were located in 32 halls.
In 1891-1893 the Museum moved to the building on the Spit of Vasilyevsky Island (Universitetskaya nab. 1) and was opened for visitors in 1901.
In 1931 the museum was renamed the Zoological Institute: the employees of the museum were extensively engaged in research activities.
Nowadays the collection of different types of animals of the Zoological Museum includes about 30,000 exhibits and is one of the three largest in the world. The museum has nine collections: invertebrates, insects, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals, marine communities, mammoth and its contemporaries. The exposition of the "mammoth" hall includes the famous Berezovsky mammoth stuffed animal, skeleton of southern elephant and mummies of mammoths.

The Zoological Museum

The former Customs House stands behind and to the west of the Dokuchaev Museum of Soil Science, on the Makarov Embankment of the Malaya Neva River. The Customs House was built in late Classical style, with Ionic columns, a dome and drum. Statues of Mercury, Neptune and Ceres decorate the roof. Today the building houses the Institute of Russian Literature, also known as Pushkin House. It owns the largest collection in Russia of artistic, documentary and pictorial materials related to the history of Russian literature.

The building of the former New Exchange Bazaar, a scaled-down version of the Gostinyy Dvor, built by Giacomo Quarenghi in the early 19th century.

The library was founded in 1714 from private library of Peter the Great and Aptekarskii Prikaz archives. Nowadays the library contains over 20 million books and rare manuscripts. The library fronts Academician Sakharov Square with a Monument to Andrey Sakharov – an eminent Russian physicist, human rights activist and Noble Prize winner.

Academician Sakharov Square with a monument to Andrei Sakharov, a prominent Russian physicist, human rights activist, and Nobel Prize winner.

Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera) of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The Kunstkammer's grand appearance was determined not only by the building's location but also by its purpose. The building was intended to house the first public museum of natural science in Russia. The astronomical instruments, maps, rare stones and minerals, stuffed exotic animals, anatomical preparations and various curiosities were collected both on order of Peter the Great and by the Tsar himself. Today the Kunstkammer building houses the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography, one of the largest of its kind in the world. The collections of the museum include items which illustrate the daily lives and cultures of many different countries, along with their weapons, clothes and religious objects. The Kunstkammer also contains a memorial museum of the 18th century Russian scientist and encyclopaedist Mikhail Lomonosov, who worked here from 1741 to 1765.
In 1704, Peter the Great issued a series of decrees which laid the foundation for the collection of the future museum. Peter the Great's personal collections, as well as collections of anatomy, zoology and Peter's library were transported from Moscow to St. Petersburg and placed in the Green Drawing Room of the Summer Palace. Soon the collections of A. Seba and H. Gottwald, and F. Ruysch were added to the collections of the Kunstkammer. In 1718 by the new decrees of Peter I the Great the collections were extended with the exhibits of the Russian Empire: for more than two hundred years the Kunstkammer received the collections gathered by the famous Russian travelers and sailors; special Academic expeditions were sent to gather the collections; the local authorities were obliged to bring to the capital the unique works of nature of their region.
In 1719 the Museum, which was then located in the "Kikin Chambers" (9, Stavropolskaya St.) was opened to the public.
The transfer of the Kunstkamera to the Academy of Sciences in 1724 was instrumental in the development of the first Russian museum which became a true scientific institution. Besides, the Museum performed cultural and educational functions. By 1725 it was on a par with the best collections of Western Europe.
In November 1728, the Kunstkammer, Russia's first public natural science museum, was opened on Vasilyevsky Island.
By 1914 the ethnographic collections had grown to almost 100 thousand items.
In the 1930s seven independent academic museums were created on the basis of the Kunstkammer collections: Ethnography, Asia, Egypt, Anatomy, Zoology, Botany, Mineralogy and the Cabinet of Peter the Great. The Ethnographic and Anatomical Museums continued to be located in the building of the Kunstkammer. On November 10, 1879, the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (MAE) was approved by the decision of the State Council. In 1903, during the celebration of the 200th anniversary of St. Petersburg, it was named after the founder of the Kunstkammer – Peter the Great.
In 2022, for the 350th anniversary of the birth of Peter the Great, the museum created a new permanent exhibition "Peter's Kunstkamera, or the Tower of Knowledge", reviving in a historical building from the 18th century the spirit and atmosphere of the Kunstkamera of Peter the Great.
Today the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera) is not only one of the largest academic museums in the world, but also one of the leading research centers of Russian Academy of Sciences, which continues traditions of great Russian ethnographers and anthropologists of 18-20th centuries. The invaluable ethnographic, anthropological and archeological collections kept in the Museum are among the most complete and interesting in the world, reflecting all cultural diversity of peoples of the Old and New World and being a part of cultural heritage of all mankind.

The Kunstkammer

The Academy of Sciences is a citadel of Russian science. The academy was founded in 1724 and began operating the following year. The current classical building designed by Giacomo Quarenghi was completed sixty years later (1783-1789). The building is decorated with an eight-column portico with a pediment and a double staircase leading to the main entrance. The marble plaque on the building's plinth shows the level of the rising water in the Neva River during the 1924 flood.
On February 8, 2024, the Academy of Sciences will celebrate its 300th anniversary. The history of St. Petersburg and the history of Russian science are closely linked. The Academy of Sciences was moved to Moscow in 1934, but half a century later the Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) Scientific Center (SPbSC RAS) was established, which is rightfully the historical core of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
The Center promotes the development of St.Petersburg academic institutions and their interaction in conducting interdisciplinary research; develops international scientific relations.
A significant contribution to world science was made by outstanding scientists of the Academy: M.V.Lomonosov, A.K.Nartov, B.S.Jacobi, D.I.Mendeleev, I.M.Sechenov, I.P.Pavlov, I.I.Mechnikov, A.A.Friedman, A.S.Popov, L.Euler, N.N.Semenov, N.I.Vavilov, P.L.Chebyshev, A.E.Kantorovich, Frenkel and E.F.Gross, V.K.Zvorykin, N.A.Goryunova and A.R.Regel, M.V.Volkenstein and others.
At present the building houses the Nauka publishing house, the Research Institute of the History of Science and Technology, and a polyclinic.

The monument to Mikhail Lomonosov on the Mendeleevskaya line is located between the building of the Academy of Sciences and the building of the Twelve Collegia.

Is one of the oldest in the city, the construction of which is associated with the desire of Peter the Great to create a city center on Vasilievsky Island. The architect Domenico Trezzini was commissioned to design a building for twelve collegia, the architecture of which was to reflect the independence of each collegium. The complex of buildings, designed by Domenico Trezzini in 1722-1741, has survived to this day and consists of 12 adjacent buildings.
In 1819, the building of the Twelve Collegia was transferred to St. Petersburg State University — the oldest and one of the most famous universities in Russia. In 2024, the University will celebrate its 300th anniversary. For almost three centuries of the history of the University, thousands of outstanding scientists, public, state and political figures, writers, artists and musicians: Dmitry Mendeleev, Alexander Popov, Ivan Turgenev, Pyotr Stolypin, Ivan Pavlov, Vasily Dokuchaev, Alexander Blok, Mikhail Vrubel, Mikhail Glinka, Nikolai Roerich, Lev Landau, Leonid Kantorovich, Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Medvedev and others. In the building of the Twelve Collegiums since 1911 has been opened the Museum for Dmitry Mendeleev. The great scientist-chemist developed the table of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements, lived and worked here from 1866 to 1890.

Menshikov Palace is an architectural monument, one of the first stone buildings in St. Petersburg. The palace was intended for Alexander Menshikov, the closest associate of Peter the Great, the first governor of St. Petersburg, a prominent statesman and military leader. The palace was built in the Peter's Baroque style in 1710-1716 by Giovanni Fontana and Gottfried Schadel. It successfully combines traditional Russian and Western European methods and forms of architecture. The rich and original ornamentation of the palace used Dutch and Russian tiles, wooden panels, carved and gilded decorations, sculptural molding and monumental and decorative painting. The architecture, interior decoration and ornamentation of the building were determined not only by the personal tastes of its owner but also by his public position and the significance of the palace in the life of the new capital.
The architecture of the building was centred and strictly symmetrical, and the rooms were arranged in enfilade. Small and low rooms with light walls and ceilings, decorated with faience tiles, silks and paintings, and with large glazed windows and doors met the new requirements for comfort. The ensemble of the palace's "tiled" chambers can be considered unique, with no similar interiors surviving anywhere else. The interior of the Walnut Room — a state room with walnut walls, presumably designed by Jean-Baptiste LeBlond – is of interest.
On the territory of the vast Menshikov estate there were also erected: Ambassador's Palace, a mazanky Church of the Resurrection, a stone two-story manager's house, outbuildings, and a large garden.
The power struggle after the death of Peter I resulted in Menshikov's arrest and exile, where he died in 1729.
In 1731 the palace building was handed over to the newly created Cadet Corps. From that moment a new stage in the history of the palace began: reconstruction in connection with the need to adapt the building to a new purpose. The premises and the facade were changed. The Menshikov private apartments which housed the Directorate, the Council and, from the 1890s, the museum of the Cadet Corps were the least affected.
Today the Menshikov Palace is a branch of the State Hermitage; it houses exhibitions from the collections of paintings, sculptures, prints, artistic furniture and objects of applied art dedicated to Russian culture of the early 18th century.

Menshikov Palace

The Cadet Corps established in the buildings of the Menshikov Palace in the middle and second half of the 18th century was a military school, from whose walls famous Russians came: poet, playwright and satirist Alexander Sumarokov, the first actor of Russian professional theater F.G. Volkov, Decembrists K.F.Ryleyev and F.N. Glinka. It is believed that it was here – in the corner room on the second floor with windows on the embankment and the Cadet Line – that the office of the general director of the corps, the famous army commander Mikhail Kutuzov, was located at the end of the XVIII century. Since 2011, the building belongs to St. Petersburg State University.

At the time of Peter the Great there was the Menshikov Market; later there was a deserted, cobblestone paved square, which had the meaning of a parade ground. The square was named Rumyantsevskaya Square after the obelisk "Rumyantsev's Victories" (arch. Vincenzo Brenna) was erected in its center in 1881 in honor of Field Marshal General Peter Alexandrovich Rumyantsev (1725-1796). Rumyantsev proved himself in landmark battles in the wars during the reign of Catherine the Great. Initially, in 1799, the 21-meter high obelisk was placed on the Champ de Mars, but later it was moved to the Cadet Corps, where the field marshal had once studied. Around the obelisk in the 1860s was laid out public garden on the money of S.F.Soloviev – Russian merchant, gold merchant and philanthropist. Architect N.Kovrigin planned it according to the laws of symmetry (as Place de la Concorde in Paris). In the center of the garden by the project of D.I.Iensen two fountains were installed. Marble vases were installed in its alleys along the Neva, and a musical pavilion – a stage on a high granite plinth – was built into its fence. From the beginning of the XIX century to the middle of the XX century brass bands played here regularly, attracting both listeners and lovers of dancing. The tradition was renewed in 2009.
From Rumyantsev Garden starts the narrowest street in the city – Repin Street (former Solovyov Lane). Its width is only 6 meters. The street runs between the 1st and 2nd lines and stretches to Sredny Prospect, crossing the Bolshoi Prospect of Vasilevsky Island.

St. Petersburg Academy of Arts was founded on the initiative of I. I. Shuvalov and M. V. Lomonosov by a decree of the Senate in 1757, and the names of many leading artists and architects of Russia were associated with it.
The building of the Academy, which is a rectangle with a large courtyard in the center and four small courtyards at the corners, occupies an entire block on Vasilyevsky Island. It was built by the architects Anton Kokorinov and Jean-Baptiste Vallin-Delamotte in 1764-1788. This is one of the brightest examples of early classicism in Russian architecture. The main Neva facade of the building is accentuated by three four-column porticoes – the central one completed with a dome, and two side ones. Inside the central portico are statues of Hercules and Flora. The interior of the building is richly decorated: its numerous halls vary in size and decoration, but are united in composition. Particular luxury is present in the decor of the lower floor vestibule, front staircase, Titian and Raphael halls.
Here is also the Research Museum of the Academy of Arts, founded in the mid-18th century at the same time as the Academy itself (MAH).
From the very beginning, the basis of the Academy of Arts education has been a slender methodical system, which has been changing and improving, reflecting new and growing demands of each period of the institution's development, which has raised the international prestige of Russian fine arts.

Sculptures of Egyptian sphinxes are the only real sphinxes from Ancient Egypt in St. Petersburg. The hieroglyphic inscriptions on them glorify Pharaoh Amenhotep III, who lived in Thebes in 1455-1419 B.C., whose sanctuary they guarded. The sphinxes sculptures were found during archaeological excavations of the pharaoh's temple, restored, after which they were put up for sale and purchased by Russia. The sphinxes were carved from pink granite mined in the famous quarries of Aswan. They were brought to Russia from Egypt in 1832. It took almost a year for the Greek ship carrying the sphinxes, each weighing over 23 tons, to sail from Alexandria to the shores of Neva. The height of the sculpture – 5 meters, length 4.5 meters. The high pedestals under them are made of Finnish granite.
After the Blagoveshchensky (Annunciation) Bridge, the embankment changes the name and continues the embankment of Lieutenant Schmidt. Peter Schmidt (1867-1906) in November 1905 led the Sevastopol uprising on the cruiser Ochakov. Graduated from the Naval Academy in St. Petersburg.
The Blagoveshchensky Bridge (Lieutenant Schmidt Bridge) was the first permanent bridge across the Neva, built to a design by Russian engineer Stanislav Kerbedz. The construction took almost eight years: from January 1843 to November 1850. For the first time in the history of Russian bridge building it was necessary to drive piles into the bottom of such a full-flowing river with a fast stream. The bridge connected Vasilevsky Island with Blagoveshchenskaya Square (now Truda Square), hence the name. At the time of its opening, the Blagoveshchensky Bridge was the longest in Europe, its length was about 300 meters.
In 1936-1938 the bridge was rebuilt under the project of engineer Grigory Perederiy and got a new name – the Bridge of Lieutenant Schmidt – one of the first all-welded bridges in our country. During the reconstruction in 2005-2007 the bridge regained its appearance, architecturally close to the original. The bascule span was significantly increased, and the bridge became much wider. The bridge regained its historic name, Blagoveshchensky.

Monument to Domenico Trezini – the first architect of St. Petersburg. Installed on the area of the architect at the same name, at the congress from the Blagoveshchensky bridge, in 2014. Sculptor Pavel Ignatiev, Architect Pavel Bogriantsev. The height of the bronze sculpture is 5.5 meters.
Domenco Andrea Trezzini is of Italian descent. By 1703, when a contract was signed with Trezzini at the behest of Peter the Great, he was already an acknowledged architect and fortification engineer in Europe.
Trezzini carried out the construction of the Peter and Paul Fortress in stone and also designed the drawings of all the other structures of the fortress: Peter and Paul Cathedral, Petrovsky Gates, Cavalier, Ober-Kommandant House; he participated in the planning of Vasilevsky Island, created the master plan for the Alexander Nevsky Monastery (now the Holy Trinity Alexander Nevsky Lavra); built the Summer Palace of Peter I in the Summer Garden and the building of the Twelve Colleges, developed designs for "model" (standard) houses.
Domenico Trezzini devoted about thirty years of his creative life to St Petersburg and became completely rudimentary, he even began to be called Andrei Petrovich. The great architect died in St. Petersburg in 1734. Like many architects of the XVIII century he was buried on the first city cemetery near Sampsonievsky Cathedral (the Cathedral of St. Sampsonievsky Stranger). Today in its place is Sampsonievsky garden.
Many ask the question, "Why did Peter invite foreign specialists to build St. Petersburg?" It is not just because Peter I wanted to create a new city following the example of European cities: in the XVIII century there was an intensive construction of fortresses and cities in the south and north of the country. Russian architects were engaged in building domestic ancient cities (Moscow, Ryazan, Rostov ...), and there were not enough architects for new cities.

At the beginning of the XVIII century on its site were two unfinished houses belonging to private individuals. In the 1750s the architect Savva Chevakinsky rebuilt the houses into one, and then, in the early XIX century, the house was again completely rebuilt by the architect of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, Denis Evstigneevich Filippov.
The house belonged to the Academy of Sciences, and its inhabitants were always academicians and scientists. There are only 29 memorial plaques attached to the walls of the building. They commemorate the outstanding scientists of Russia. But many more dignified people lived and worked there, who left their mark on science, but were not immortalized on memorial plaques.
For two and a half centuries the house of academicians has embodied the greatness and nobility of science, and the fates of many generations of Russian and Soviet scientists are closely connected with it.

Sea Corpus Peter the Great (St. Petersburg Naval Institute) is the oldest of the current educational institution of Russia. Founded by Peter I in 1701. Admiral Nakhimov learned here, the defender of Sevastopol in the Crimean War and the famous composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.

Sculptural monument to Admiral I.F. Kruzenshtern – Russian navigator, who led the first world journey (1803-1806). The monument is made of bronze and opened in 1873. Sculptor Ivan Schroeder depicted the admiral in a parade form holding in his left hand the map of the seas.

The Mining Institute was founded in 1773. The handsome Classical building was built in 1806-1811 by Andrey Voronikhin. The main facade consists of twelve Doric columns with statues and bas-reliefs by Vasiliy Demut-Malinovsky and Stepan Pimenov. Initially the educational institution was called Mining School, in 1804–1833 it was called Mining Cadet Corps, in 1834–1866 it was called Mining Engineers Corps Institute.
For a long time the Mining Institute was the only educational institution for the mineral resource complex of the country.
By the end of the XVIII century there were 108 people studying there. In the nineteenth century students of the St. Petersburg Mining Institute were mostly representatives of privileged estates and a small part of peasants and of raznochintsy (people of different ranks and titles).
During the Great Patriotic War professor Alexander Kuznetsov with a group of co-authors invented a new explosive substance "Sinal", which in the conditions of ammunition shortage became a real scientific breakthrough and indispensable help to the front. The main target of one of the fascists' artillery bombardments was the first special production workshop.
By the beginning of the XXI century the total output of engineers exceeded 40 thousand people.
The institute has a unique museum, which occupies its best historical premises. Catherine II ordered all mines, mines and mining enterprises to send to the Mineral Cabinet "Russian and foreign mineral bodies" the best samples. The Mining Museum has one of the richest collections of minerals, ores, stones, rocks, paleontological rarities, models of the history of mining and smelting equipment, items of stone-cutting and jewelry art. The museum funds consist of 240 thousand exhibits.

The Mining Institute

The industrial and manufacturing quarter, which has always been known as the "Chekushi" (the Crushers), on account of the mallets which were used to crush the lumps of damp flour piled in the warehouses here. About a dozen tanneries were located along the Kozhevennaya (Tannery) line. In the western part of Vasilevsky Island in the second half of the XIX century are built a variety of factories, plants and workshops.
In the middle of XIX century St. Petersburg was the most important port of Russia. All life of the city was closely linked with the sea and the navy. One of the largest factories, established at that time on Vasilyevsky Island, was the Baltic Shipyard and Mechanical Plant (JSC "Baltic Shipyard"), founded in 1856. In the 19th century, the plant specialized in building metal ships for the Russian Navy, steam engines and other ship mechanisms. Currently, most of the plant's products have no analogues in the world. Over its 165-year history, the Baltic Shipyard has built more than 600 warships, submarines, icebreakers and civilian ships.
The Grand Prospect of Vasilevsky Island was laid in 1710 – it was the first cut-through on the island, stretching from the Menshikov Garden to the shore of the Gulf of Finland. The clearing served as a defining axis for the island's further planning. The Great Prospect begins from the Kadet line and stretches to the Sea Glory Square, overlooking the Gulf of Finland. The Great Prospect on Vasilievsky Island is longer than its namesake on the Petrograd side.

Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Catherine (Bolshoy Prospect, 1) is an impressive classic building with a four-column portico and a dome. Built in 1768-1771 Yuri Felten for the Evangelical Lutheran community of Vasilyevsky Island. The St. Petersburg community was founded in 1728 by Lutherans living on Vasilyevsky Island, and existed until 1935. In Soviet times, for many years, the church building served as a recording studio for the company "Melody". In 1991, the church was returned to the Lutheran parish. The Church of Saint Catherine is open for worship services and visits, concerts of classical music.

Andreevsky Cathedral is Orthodox Cathedral, built between 1764 and 1780, on the project of Alexander Vista on the site of the wooden Cathedral, erected by the D.Trezini project in 1729-1732, and burned during a thunderstorm as a result of lightning in July 1761. The cathedral has a large central dome on a raised drum with 4 side domes. A bell tower with a high spire rises over the nave.

The church was laid in 1740, built under the project J. Trezini and consecrated in 1760. Its construction began with a request of the parishioners at a time when the Andreevsky Cathedral was wooden, small enough and without heating.
The pedestrian zone of the 6th and 7th lines are the space where the inhabitants of Vasilyevsky Island are going to stroll, chat in a cafe or go shopping.
The main building of the Marine Glory Square, the Marine Station (Old Sea Port), opened in 1982. It was designed by V. Sohin, the building is made in the form of a ship. Its panels are like large sails and the spire is 78 meters high, topped with a small ship on top. Today the Marine Station is considered part of the city's seaport.
The berths of the station can accommodate almost any type of vessel, even large ferries and ships.

БThe Passenger Port opened in 2008 on the reclaimed land of Vasilievsky Island. The port includes seven berths with a total length of 2 212 meters for receiving ocean liners up to 340 meters, three cruise and one specialized cruise-ferry terminal.
The Sredniy Prospect of Vasilevsky Island runs parallel to Bolshoi Prospect. In the beginning it was called Maly Prospect, but when to the north a third avenue was built parallel to it, in accordance with its new position, it received its present name – it was called Middle (Middle) Prospect of Vasilevsky Island.

ЦThe Church of St.Catherine the Martyr is Orthodox church. The first wooden church, intended for visiting citizens, patients with smallpox and measles, burned down in 1809. The new stone church was built between 1811 and 1823 for donations of the inhabitants of Vasilyevsky Island. In 1863, a high bell tower was attached from the west side. Currently, worship is held in the room under the bell tower. The main part of the temple needs complete restoration.

БThe Blagoveshchenskaya (Annunciation) Church is of interest from the point of view of architecture, as It was built in 1750-1765 in the style of the "traditional" 19th century Moscow church. The multi-tiered bell-tower with a small spire dates from the 1780's.

The Smolenskoe Cemetery, one of the oldest in the city established in 1738. According to legend, in the early years of construction of St. Petersburg there were buried carpenters and diggers from the peasants of Smolensk province here, so Smolenskoye field and Orthodox cemetery were named near the workers' slobodok. The nearby river, which used to be called Gluhaya and then Chernaya, also got a new name – River Smolenka.

The first wooden church was laid in 1758, consecrated in September 1760. In 1786-1790 it was replaced by the stone church designed by architect Aleksey Ivanov in the style of early Russian Classicism. During Soviet times the Church of the Smolenskaya Icon of the Mother of God was the only functioning church on Vasilevskiy Island.

Temple of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God

The Chapel of St.Kseniya the Blessed of St.Petersburg is also located on the cemetery grounds. It was built in 1902 in Pseudo-Russian style. In the chapel, the relics of the Saint Ksenia of Blessed – the patron of St.Petersburg, who deceased in the early 19th century. The facade is decorated with semi-circular kokoshniks, the windows contain stained glass icons. The building's upper part consists of scaly tent topped by gilded dome with a cross.
Ksenia Grigorievna, after the untimely death of her beloved husband Andrei Fyodorovich Petrov, assumed a false frenzy, gave away all her possessions, dressed in his clothes with the words that Andrei Fyodorovich lived and Ksenia died, and henceforth responded only to his name. For forty-five years she lived on the streets of St. Petersburg. Blessed Ksenia always came to the aid of the needy. Soon people began to notice her unusual abilities – the gift of foresight and healing. Nights she prayed at Smolensk Field, where the Kirov Palace of Culture is now located, or she carried bricks for the construction of the Smolensk Church.
Thousands of pilgrims attend the chapel annually, pray for the help of Saint Ksenia.
The Chapel

Erarta Museum is the largest private museum of contemporary art in Russia. Since 2010 it conducts exhibitions, guided tours, education programs, theater performances, music concerts and other events. The permanent collection includes 2 800 works by 300 artists from different regions of Russia. In museum there are exhibited not only paintings, but also graphic works, sculptures, installations, video art and science art. All works of art are considered contemporary because they were all created after 1945. The collection is being constantly updated.

Erarta Museum