Malaya Sadovaya Street
Encyclopedia
Malaya Sadovaya Street is a pedestrian street of cafes, terraces, and fountains in the heart of St. Petersburg. It runs between Italyanskaya Street (Italian Street) and the Nevsky Prospect. At about 175 metres (574.1 ft), it is St. Petersburg's shortest street.
The street's Nevsky Prospect terminus is at Catherine Square, which features the monument to Catherine the Great by the sculptors Mikhail Mikeshin
and Matthew Chizhov
and the architects Victor Schröter
and David Grimm. At the Italyanskaya Street terminus is Manege Square, where there is a view of the portico of the great stables designed by Vincenzo Brenna
and Karl Rossi.
owned land at the corner of what is now Malaya Sadovaya Street and Italyanskaya Street, thus giving the street its first name, Shuvalov Lane. At the same time a different backstreet also called Shuvalov and a street called Novym Pereulkom (New Lane) existed in the area. The name Malaya Sadovaya (Little Garden) Street is first mentioned in 1836.
On April 16, 1887, the street was renamed to Catherine Street in honor of Catherine the Great. It kept this name until the revolution.
In September 1918, a number of streets and squares in Petersburg were renamed, and Catherine Street was renamed Proletkulta Street, after the cultural, educational, and literary organization "Proletarian Culture" which at the time was housed on the street, at #2. But after World War II, most of these streets were returned to their historical names, and on June 28, 1948, Proletkulta Street again became Malaya Sadovaya Street.
and constructed in 1749 - 1756. From 1802 to 1917 it housed the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Empire. An addition to the middle part of the ministry building was constructed in 1845 - 1849; the initial design was by Fyodor Braun and the project was completed by Dmitry Efimov.
In 1875 through 1927 the jurist Anatoly Koni lived in this building. Later the building housed the Public Health Committee of St. Petersburg and the Museum of Hygiene, which is there today.
With the coming of World War I, the Japanese Red Cross set up a hospital in the building for severely wounded soldiers. Japanese doctors, nurses, and pharmacists worked here together with their Russian counterparts, and the staff took pride in the low mortality rate achieved - 6 deaths among the 500 patients admitted. Among the nurses was the wife of the Japanese Ambassador Motono Ichirō. Soon the sprawling hospital took over the whole building, except for the theater hall and several rooms reserved for the Noble Assembly. The Japanese left in April 1916.
In 1918, the organization "Proletarian Culture" took over the building. During this time, the actor, director, and founder of the Petroproletkulta Theater, Alexander Mgebrov, worked here. In 1930 Proletarian Culture was disbanded and beginning in 1933 the building housed Radio Leningrad. This was active during the heroic days of the siege
, and Radio Committee employees lived, worked, and died here. From here they supported the Leningraders with their transmissions, and from here Olga Bergholz, the muse of the embattled city, read her poems and speeches.
On September 7, 1993, the St. Petersburg City Council declared Radio House a monument of historical, cultural, and architectural significance. A plaque to the courage of the workers of Radio Leningrad during the siege now adorns the building entrance.
designed a major reconstruction with new facades, which was undertaken in 1882 - 1883.
Later the building went into the possession of A. Ushokov and became an apartment house. The singer Pauline Viardot-Garcia lived here in 1843, and the photographer Karl Bulla
had his studio here. Today the building houses a small museum dedicated to Bulla.
In 2000 the Expert Committee recommended that this building be placed on the list of newly identified sites of historical, scientific, artistic or other cultural value and included in the list of monuments of history and culture.
, a contemporary of Pushkin.
, designed in the Art Nouveau
style by Gabriel Baranowski
.
In 1881, revolutionary Narodniks built a tunnel under Malaya Sadovaya Street from the basement of this building, preparing to plant mines to assassinate Czar Alexander II
. By March 1 the preparations were complete, but the Czar did not pass that way on that day (and was instead killed by other means).
Akimov
's Comedy Theater is housed in this building.
(a heavy stone ball easily rotatable because of lubrication by the fountain's water) was built.
Later, small sculptures were added:
The street's Nevsky Prospect terminus is at Catherine Square, which features the monument to Catherine the Great by the sculptors Mikhail Mikeshin
Mikhail Mikeshin
Mikhail Osipovich Mikeshin was a Russian artist who regularly worked for the Romanov family and designed a number of outdoor statues in the major cities of the Russian Empire.Mikeshin was born on 21 February 1835 in a village near Roslavl...
and Matthew Chizhov
Matthew Chizhov
Matthew Afanasyevich Chizhov was a Russian sculptor.Chizhov was born the son of a peasant mason on November 10, 1838 in the village of Pudov in the Podolsky District of Moscow Oblast. Chizhov's father had a small workshop and made tombstones for the Moscow German cemetery...
and the architects Victor Schröter
Victor Schröter
-Career:Schröter was born on April 27, 1839, in St. Petersburg of Baltic German ancestry. His father was Alexander Gottlieb Schröter. He attended the Petrischule run by St. Peter's Lutheran Church in St. Petersburg. He then attended the Imperial Academy of Arts, then the Berlin Academy of Art...
and David Grimm. At the Italyanskaya Street terminus is Manege Square, where there is a view of the portico of the great stables designed by Vincenzo Brenna
Vincenzo Brenna
Vincenzo Brenna was an Italian architect and painter who was the house architect of Paul I of Russia. Brenna was hired by Paul and his spouse Maria Fyodorovna as interior decorator in 1781 and by the end of 1780s became the couple's leading architect...
and Karl Rossi.
Naming history
In the 18th Century, Ivan ShuvalovIvan Shuvalov
Ivan Ivanovich Shuvalov was called the Maecenas of the Russian Enlightenment and the first Russian Minister of Education...
owned land at the corner of what is now Malaya Sadovaya Street and Italyanskaya Street, thus giving the street its first name, Shuvalov Lane. At the same time a different backstreet also called Shuvalov and a street called Novym Pereulkom (New Lane) existed in the area. The name Malaya Sadovaya (Little Garden) Street is first mentioned in 1836.
On April 16, 1887, the street was renamed to Catherine Street in honor of Catherine the Great. It kept this name until the revolution.
In September 1918, a number of streets and squares in Petersburg were renamed, and Catherine Street was renamed Proletkulta Street, after the cultural, educational, and literary organization "Proletarian Culture" which at the time was housed on the street, at #2. But after World War II, most of these streets were returned to their historical names, and on June 28, 1948, Proletkulta Street again became Malaya Sadovaya Street.
Shuvalov Mansion
The Shuvalov Mansion at #1 Malaya Sadovaya/#25 Italyanskaya was designed by the architect Savva ChevakinskySavva Chevakinsky
Savva Ivanovich Chevakinsky was a Russian architect of the Baroque school. He worked in St. Petersburg and Tsarskoe Selo.Chevakinsky was born into a noble family in the village of Veshki in the Novotorzhsk district of Tver province....
and constructed in 1749 - 1756. From 1802 to 1917 it housed the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Empire. An addition to the middle part of the ministry building was constructed in 1845 - 1849; the initial design was by Fyodor Braun and the project was completed by Dmitry Efimov.
In 1875 through 1927 the jurist Anatoly Koni lived in this building. Later the building housed the Public Health Committee of St. Petersburg and the Museum of Hygiene, which is there today.
Radio House
Across the street, at #2 Malaya Sadovaya/#27 Italyanskaya the architect brothers Vasily Kosyakova, Vladimir Kosyakova, and Georgi Kosyakova designed a building for the St. Petersburg Assembly of Nobles, which was constructed in 1912 - 1914.With the coming of World War I, the Japanese Red Cross set up a hospital in the building for severely wounded soldiers. Japanese doctors, nurses, and pharmacists worked here together with their Russian counterparts, and the staff took pride in the low mortality rate achieved - 6 deaths among the 500 patients admitted. Among the nurses was the wife of the Japanese Ambassador Motono Ichirō. Soon the sprawling hospital took over the whole building, except for the theater hall and several rooms reserved for the Noble Assembly. The Japanese left in April 1916.
In 1918, the organization "Proletarian Culture" took over the building. During this time, the actor, director, and founder of the Petroproletkulta Theater, Alexander Mgebrov, worked here. In 1930 Proletarian Culture was disbanded and beginning in 1933 the building housed Radio Leningrad. This was active during the heroic days of the siege
Siege of Leningrad
The Siege of Leningrad, also known as the Leningrad Blockade was a prolonged military operation resulting from the failure of the German Army Group North to capture Leningrad, now known as Saint Petersburg, in the Eastern Front theatre of World War II. It started on 8 September 1941, when the last...
, and Radio Committee employees lived, worked, and died here. From here they supported the Leningraders with their transmissions, and from here Olga Bergholz, the muse of the embattled city, read her poems and speeches.
On September 7, 1993, the St. Petersburg City Council declared Radio House a monument of historical, cultural, and architectural significance. A plaque to the courage of the workers of Radio Leningrad during the siege now adorns the building entrance.
Demidov House
the Demidov House was built in the 18th Century at the corner of Malaya Sadovaya Steet and Nevsky Prospect (#3 Malaya Sadovaya/#54 Nevsky Prospect). In the 19th Century the house underwent two major renovations. The first was in 1841 to a design by Alexander Peltier. Later, the architect Pavel SuzorPavel Suzor
Pavel Yulievich Suzor was a Russian architect, president of the Architects Society and count.Suzor graduated from the Saint Petersburg Imperial Academy of Arts in 1866. He started to work for the city council in 1873, and in 1883 he started to teach at the Saint Petersburg Institute of Civil...
designed a major reconstruction with new facades, which was undertaken in 1882 - 1883.
Later the building went into the possession of A. Ushokov and became an apartment house. The singer Pauline Viardot-Garcia lived here in 1843, and the photographer Karl Bulla
Karl Bulla
Carl Oswald Bulla or Karl Karlovich Bulla was a prominent Russian photographer, often referred as the "father of photo-reporting in Russia".-Biography:...
had his studio here. Today the building houses a small museum dedicated to Bulla.
In 2000 the Expert Committee recommended that this building be placed on the list of newly identified sites of historical, scientific, artistic or other cultural value and included in the list of monuments of history and culture.
Armyaninova House
At #4 Malaya Sadovaya Steet is the Armyaninova House. Here in 1828 lived the poet Ivan KozlovIvan Kozlov
Ivan Ivanovich Kozlov was a Russian Romantic poet and translator. As D. S. Mirsky noted, "his poetry appealed to the easily awakened emotions of the sentimental reader rather than to the higher poetic receptivity"....
, a contemporary of Pushkin.
Elisseevskiy Store
At the corner of Malaya Sadovaya Street and Nevsky Prospect (#8 Malaya Sadovaya/#56 Nevsky Prospect) is the Elisseeff EmporiumEliseyev Emporium (Saint Petersburg)
Elisseeff Emporium in St. Petersburg is a large retail and entertainment complex constructed in 1902-1903 for the Elisseeff Brothers. Located at 56 Nevsky Prospekt, the complex consists of three buildings, although the corner one is the structure that is referred to as Elisseeff’s store or shop...
, designed in the Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most popular during 1890–1910. The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art"...
style by Gabriel Baranowski
Gavriil Baranovsky
Gavriil Vasilyevich Baranovsky was a Ukrainian-born Russian architect, civil engineer, art historian and publisher, who worked primarily in Saint Petersburg for the Elisseeff family, but also practiced in Moscow and produced the first town plan for Murmansk .-Education and early career:Born in...
.
In 1881, revolutionary Narodniks built a tunnel under Malaya Sadovaya Street from the basement of this building, preparing to plant mines to assassinate Czar Alexander II
Alexander II of Russia
Alexander II , also known as Alexander the Liberator was the Emperor of the Russian Empire from 3 March 1855 until his assassination in 1881...
. By March 1 the preparations were complete, but the Czar did not pass that way on that day (and was instead killed by other means).
Akimov
Nikolay Akimov
Nikolay Pavlovich Akimov was an experimental theatre director and scenic designer noted for his work with the Leningrad Comedy Theatre. His most notorious production was the cynical version of Hamlet , with Ophelia as a drunken prostitute and the king's ghost as a clever mystification arranged by...
's Comedy Theater is housed in this building.
Conversion to pedestrian street
In 1998 Malaya Sadovaya Street was turned into a pedestrian zone. The street was paved with tiles, the separation between street and sidewalk was removed, benches were added, and a fountain featuring a Kugel ballKugel ball
A Kugel ball is a sculpture consisting of a large granite ball supported by a very thin film of water. Water flows beneath a very heavy, perfectly spherical rock from a spherical concave base with exactly the same curvature...
(a heavy stone ball easily rotatable because of lubrication by the fountain's water) was built.
Later, small sculptures were added:
- In 1991, "Dog Gavryusha" by V. A. Sivakov was placed in the courtyard of a house.
- In 2000, two metal cats (named Elisha and Vasilisa) were placed on eaves above the street, at #3 and #8. Petersburgers throw coins at the cats hoping that their wish will be granted if one lands near.
- In 2003, a sculpture by B. Petrov was placed, of a photographer (former street resident Karl BullaKarl BullaCarl Oswald Bulla or Karl Karlovich Bulla was a prominent Russian photographer, often referred as the "father of photo-reporting in Russia".-Biography:...
) with a droll bulldog.
External links
- Malaya Sadovaya Street article at the Encyclopedia of St. Petersburg
- History of Malaya Sadovaya Street buildings at St. Petersburg Assembly
- Contemporary photographs of Malaya Sadovaya Street at PetersburgCity
- Photograph of one of the Malaya Sadovaya Street cats
- National Geographic description of area with map
- Map showing Malaya Sadovaya Street at maps.yandex.ru