The Main Admiralty building is an outstanding sample of Russian and world architecture, a major achievement of the early classical art. The original Admiralty was one of the first structures built in St.Petersburg.

The ADMIRALTY

Admiralty was designed to be a dockyard, where some of the first ships of Russia's Baltic fleet were built (some with participation of Tzar Peter I himself who was an expert in shipbuilding). The building was assuming its present aspect during a whole century. The first Admiralty was founded in 1704 to a design of Peter I himself. One-story clay- walled structures were arranged in the form of the Russian letter N ("H") in the south the territory was fortified by an earthen rampart and bastions. The yard was surrounded by an inner moat. The building housed warehouses, workshops, as well as different admiralty departments; the yard held covered slips for constructing sailing vessels.

The new, stone building of the Admiralty was erected in 1732-1738 to a design by Korobov. It was built in the same place and retained the former layout and the general outline. In the center, above the gates, a well-proportioned tower went up 72,5 m high, topped by a gilt spire, which has remained there up to the present.

In the early 19th century, when the center of the city could boast of grand architectural ensembles, it became necessary to radically rebuild the Admiralty. The fortification structures were demolished. In 1806-1823 the third Admiralty (the present one) was erected to a design by the Great Russian architect Zakharov that was to commemorate the naval power and victories of the Russian fleet. The grand structure (its main facade being 407 m long) consists of two H-shaped buildings - the outer and the inner ones; a canal used to run between them, that was later filled up. The first of them housed administrative establishments, the Department of Marine and River Transport of Russia; the second housed industrial workshops.

The gilded spire of the Admiralty and particularly its weather-vane - a little ship ("korablik") (width 1,92 m, height 1,58 m, mass 65,2 kg) is a famous St.Petersburg landmark. The tower of the building topped with the spire can be clearly seen from three streets: Nevsky Prospect, Gorokhovaya Street and Voznesensky Prospect. Later in front of the Admiralty a park was laid out which at once became one of the favorite outing places for the people of St.Petersburg.

Zakharov repeated the motif of the arch cutting through the central part of the building in the facades of the two symmetrical pavilions facing the Neva and completing the eastern and western wings. The regular segmentation rhythm makes the Admiralty look like a single whole. The Admiralty building is an example of architectural and sculptural synthesis. Zakharov maintained the original plan of the building, but turned it into a marvelous example of the Russian Empire style, where all lines are proportional and are subordinated to bright joining idea; there are rows of white columns, plentiful relieves and statues.

Zakharov enlisted the best contemporary Russian sculptors with Shchedrin at the head. The main high-relief The Establishment of a Fleet in Russia (sculptor Terebenev) in the tower attic is linked with the raison d'etre of the building-navigation and shipbuilding. The relief represents Neptune who is handing Peter I the trident-a symbol of power over the sea. The lateral parts of the relief are filled with the figures of Tritons and Nymphs, holding giant globes franking the main gate, engaged in the shipbuilding works or saluting the ships already launched. The sculptural decoration of the tower is especially rich and interesting. On both sides of the main arch there are sculptural groups representing Nymphs carrying the Globe; at the corners of the tower attic stand the statues of Alexander the Great, Achilles, Ajax and Pyrrhus (sculptor Shchedrin). The statues above the upper colonnade of the tower symbolize the four seasons of the year, four elements of nature, four main winds, there are Isis, the patroness of shipbuilding, and Urania, the Muse of Astronomy among them. Sculptors Pimenov, Demuth-Malinovsky and Anisimov also took part in the works.

Shipbuilding in the Admiralty went on till 1844. Later only some departments concerned with the Navy remained in the building, and since 1925 the Admiralty houses the Higher Naval Engineering School. The gardens and fountain in front of the Admiralty are particularly lovely in summer.

Metro: Nevsky Prospekt / Gostiny Dvor