Show MapPalace Square is the central square of St Petersburg and of the former Russian Empire. It was the setting of many significant events including Bloody Sunday (1905) and the October Revolution of 1917.
Palace Square serves as an excellent example of how different architectural styles can be combined in an aesthetically pleasing way. On the northern side of the square stands the picturesque Baroque Winter Palace (built 1754-62). Across the square, on the southern side, stands the classical yellow-and-white building of the former Imperial Army General Staff. The building encircles the Southern side of the square and combines a Triumphal Arch through which you can reach Nevsky Prospect.
On the eastern side the building of the former Royal Guards' General Staff tastefully closes the panorama of the square while on the west it borders with the Admiralty and the Admiralty Garden. With the gilded spire of the Admiralty and the dome of St Isaac's the view westwards across the stone-clad expanse of Palace Square is quite breathtaking.
In the middle of the square the Alexander Column creates an important focal point. It was designed by the French-born architect Auguste de Montferrand and built between 1830 and 1834. It is topped with a statue of an angel holding a cross (the face of the angel is said to be modelled on the face of Emperor Alexander I). The body of the column is made of a single monolith of red granite which stands 83 feet 6 inches high and about 11 feet 5 inches in diameter. It is a terrific feat of engineering that this enormous column, weighing an incredible 600 tons, was erected in under 2 hours without the aid of modern cranes. The monument is particularly impressive on a sunny evening shortly before dusk when the last beams of sunlight are reflected in the polished red granite of the column.
