Palace Square

Palace Square is the main square of Saint Petersburg and one of the city's most recognisable architectural ensembles, taking shape in the second half of the 18th and the first half of the 19th century. It is formed by the southern façade of the Winter Palace, the semicircular building of the General Staff with its Triumphal Arch, and the building of the Guards Corps Staff; the square covers about 5.4 hectares and is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List as part of the city's historic centre. Until the mid-18th century the site was occupied by the overgrown Admiralty Meadow, used for storing shipbuilding timber, for public festivities, and for military drills.

The square's development was founded on the Winter Palace, built between 1754 and 1762 by the architect Bartolomeo Rastrelli in the lavish Elizabethan Baroque style — from 1732 to 1917 it served as the official winter residence of the Russian emperors. The square's present appearance took shape thanks to the architect Carlo Rossi, who between 1819 and 1829 built the General Staff building as two wings joined by a triumphal arch crowned with the Chariot of Glory — a monument to Russia's victory over Napoleon. In 1830–1834 the Alexander Column was erected at the centre of the square to the design of Auguste de Montferrand — a monolith of pink granite topped with the figure of an angel by the sculptor Boris Orlovsky. The column commemorates Alexander I's victory over Napoleon and stands on its pedestal by its own weight alone, without any fastenings.

As early as 1753 the architect Francesco Rastrelli had proposed creating the capital's central square on this site, with an equestrian monument to Peter the Great inside a ring-shaped colonnade, but the idea could not be realised at the time — the square's final appearance emerged only decades later, through the work of Rossi and Montferrand.

Palace Square has repeatedly been the setting for major historical events: in January 1905 a procession of workers was shot here on "Bloody Sunday," and in October 1917 revolutionary detachments stormed the Winter Palace from the square, where the Provisional Government was in session. From 1918 to 1944 the square was named Uritsky Square, after which its historic name was restored. Today Palace Square is a pedestrian zone and the venue for the city's major public celebrations, including the "Scarlet Sails" graduation festival, which draws tens of thousands of people.