One of the most harmonious and beautiful places of St. Petersburg is located in the Central region. Once you move a little away from Nevsky Prospekt to Fontanka, Lomonosov Square will open. It forms a single perspective with the Catherine Square, the Alexandrinsky Theater and is the so-called platform of the bridge bearing the name of MV Lomonosov.
Location
Lomonosov Square is a stone's throw from Nevsky Prospekt. Nearby there are exits of all five metro lines.
The semicircular square framed by ancient buildings is the focus of several streets converging radially to it.
History
In the Northern capital beloved by tourists, neither a house is history, no street is a great name. Lomonosov Square was no exception. We will tell you more about it.
During the development of the Neva banks, the area of the future Lomonosov Square in St. Petersburg was a semi-abandoned outskirts. At the beginning of the 18th century, the batman of Peter the Great Gregory Chernyshev received the land. A smart batman quickly made a career, becoming a senator and anshen-general. His son, Ivan Grigoryevich, is an ambassador and diplomat to many European courts. On the Chernyshev site there were meat and fish markets, taverns, trading establishments, but the name - Chernyshev Lane - was assigned to the territory only at the end of the 18th century.
The lane is adjacent to the vast territory occupied by the Anichkov Palace (a whole block between Nevsky Prospect, the banks of Fontanka and Sadovaya Street). By the end of the XVIII century, St. Petersburg had grown, its central part, full of wastelands, kitchen gardens and dilapidated buildings, required the reconstruction and restoration of order.
The work was entrusted to the famous architect Karl Rossi, who has already done a lot for the improvement of the capital.
Rossi offers a project that is surprisingly elegant in style, combining the future building of the Alexandrinsky Theater, the passage to the bridge over the Fontanka and providing for the appropriate design of the bridge square.
Since 1816, Rossi worked on this project, which the City Duma approved only in 1828. Already in 1834 the townspeople attended the grand opening of the Alexandrinsky Theater and admired the symmetrical perspective of Rossi Street and Chernyshev Square, now Lomonosov.
Architectural features of the square
The center of the Lomonosov semicircular square in plan is a regular circle, from which two perspectives depart from an angle of 45 ° - Zodchego Rossi Street and Torgovy Pereulok. The main visual axis goes from the bridge under the three arches of the building opposite, with two arches being the doors to the room and only one - through - is provided for travel to Lomonosov Street.
This is a typical creative technique of K. Rossi. The same arches adorn the buildings of the General Staff, the Synod and the Senate.
Soon, public buildings appeared on the square - the buildings where the Directorate of the Imperial Theaters and two ministries, foreign affairs and public education are located.
The square created by Rossi played an important role in the development of this area - the buildings located along the Fontanka embankment were included in the general system of city communications.
Walk in a circle
A fan of the elegant, K. Rossi wanted to design Chernyshev Square in the classical style to continue the theme set by the facades of the Alexandrinsky Theater. Two buildings - the Directorate of the Imperial Theaters and the Ministry of Education - are located along the street of the Architect of Russia and mirror each other. They are made in the style of late classicism and are perfectly preserved. This street is an example of ideal proportions in architecture.
Adhering to the traditions of classicism, I. Sherloman, who built on the left edge of the square (Fontanka, 57) a building for the Ministry of the Interior.
The roundabout, also bearing the name of Lomonosov, completes the circular walk along Lomonosov Square (Petersburg). It was built at the end of the 18th century, the central part was divorced, and the mechanisms were located in granite towers. The bridge became stationary only in 1911, but the four towers survived, giving it a solemn romantic appearance.
Green spaces appeared in the center of the square in 1870.
Lomonosov
In the center of Lomonosov Square (St. Petersburg) is a bust of Mikhail Vasilyevich himself.
In 1878, the City Council of St. Petersburg remembered the great scientist who lived and worked in the city on the Neva. It was decided to immortalize his name by erecting a small monument next to the building of the Ministry of Education and giving his name to the square garden.
Emperor Alexander III approved the new name as early as 1881, but the appearance of the bust had to wait. Its discovery took place only in 1892.
Architects A. Lytkin and N. Benois worked on the bust, the model was developed by sculptor P. Zabello.
The monument is made of bronze, the pedestal is made of gray, and the base is made of red granite. The bas-relief on the pedestal reminds of a little boy who loved to study so much. The inscription concisely says "Mikhail Vasilievich Lomonosov." If you bypass the pedestal, then on the back you can read Pushkin’s lines from the poem “Youth”, dedicated to the genius of Russian science.
Lomonosov Square in St. Petersburg
In 1948, a wave of renaming swept through the hero city of Leningrad, replacing the usual names of streets, parks, and squares. Chernyshev’s name was removed from the city map, the square began to bear the name of Lomonosov, the nearby bridge and lane got similar names.
The intelligentsia humorously reacted to such a change of names, calling the Lomonosov Square Oranienbaum, because this ancient suburb also lost its name, given by Peter I, and began to be called in honor of the great scientist.
However, local residents are accustomed to affectionately call a cozy square cheesecake, bagel, bagel or piglet. And what else to call a small round platform, bordered by trees, with a bust in the middle?
