St Petersburg Palace Square (Dvortsovaya Ploshchad)

Palace Square is the central square of St. Petersberg, which conjoins some of the city’s major landmarks and monuments, including most famously the Winter Palace. Because it is so spacious it regularly functions as the grounds for national parades, bards, and concerts. In the past, square has been transformed during the winter months to become a free ice rink.

Palace square was also the setting for some of Russia’s most significant historical events including the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 and the 1905 massacre Bloody Sunday, where peaceful protesters were gunned down while trying to present Tsar Nicholas II with a petition .

Although the buildings surrounding the square were built in different eras, they were all built to scale, giving the square a beauty in symmetry.

Practical Info

The square is a single architectural ensemble, in the northern boundary is the Winter Palace, to the south the General Staff building, a two story arch mounted by the chariot of victory, and installed in the center is the 156 feet (47.5 m) high and 500 ton granite Alexander Column. It also connects key city areas such as Nevsky Prospekt and Palace bridge, which leads into Vasilievsky Island.

As Palace Square is considered one of the biggest hubs in the city, it is easily accessible by the metro to Admiralty and by other modes of transportation at Nevsky Prospekt.