Rossi Street

Between Ostrovsky Square and Lomonosov Square runs what is perhaps the most mathematically precise street in the world: the height of its façades, the width of its roadway and its overall length all follow a strict proportion. The buildings on both sides rise exactly 22 metres, the street is exactly 22 metres wide, and its length is 220 metres — precisely ten times as much. Architects and local historians call this correspondence to classical canons a unique phenomenon with no direct parallel.

Until the early nineteenth century, this site was occupied by the gardens and outbuildings of the Vorontsov and Anichkov palaces. In 1816 Emperor Alexander I entrusted the engineer Augustin de Betancourt, who headed the relevant Committee for Buildings and Hydraulic Works, with the task of redeveloping the Anichkov Palace estate together with the surrounding land. The architects Modyui and Carlo Rossi each submitted their own designs; although Modyui's project was initially approved, it was ultimately Rossi who was called upon to realise the plan. The present-day ensemble took shape to his design between 1828 and 1834.

The street is formed by just two long twin buildings that mirror each other — a rare example of such strict architectural unity. Building 1/3 was originally intended to house military educational institutions, but in the end it was occupied by the Ministry of Public Education and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Building 2 was conceived as an income-generating property of the Department of Crown Lands, with shops on the ground floor; after merchants of the Gostiny Dvor complained of unfair competition, it was transferred in 1836 to the Directorate of Imperial Theatres. A theatre school later opened within its walls, training performers for the imperial stage — today it is the celebrated Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet; the building also houses a museum of theatre and music, a library, and a house church of the Holy Trinity, restored in 1998.

The thoroughfare was originally called New Theatre Street, then simply Theatre Street, and it was only in 1923 that it received the name of its creator. The name, awkward to pronounce, gave rise to a piece of city folklore — a tale of a bewildered taxi driver unable to work out where to take a passenger with such an unfamiliar address; in the 1920s and 1930s tram conductors even announced the stop as "Zoshchenko-Rossi Street".

In 1999, following an architectural competition, the pavements were paved with large geometric patterns of grey and red granite slabs, and the entrances to the courtyards were fitted with stone ramps. The ensemble has repeatedly attracted filmmakers and remains one of the most recognisable backdrops in the city's historic centre.

Today Rossi Street is not only an architectural monument of federal significance but also a living centre of ballet education: it is here that future performers of the renowned Academy of Russian Ballet are trained. Its strict, almost blueprint-like symmetry draws thousands of tourists and photographers every year, all seeking out this rare example of perfect proportion amid the dense fabric of the historic city.