Nevsky Prospect

Nevsky Prospect
Former name(s) 25 October Prospect
Location St. Petersburg
Coordinates 59°55′54″N 30°21′10″E / 59.9318°N 30.3527°E / 59.9318; 30.3527Coordinates: 59°55′54″N 30°21′10″E / 59.9318°N 30.3527°E / 59.9318; 30.3527
The avenue near the Gostiny Dvor, 1799
by Benjamin Patersen.
The avenue near the Nicholas Station, 1890s

Nevsky Prospect (Russian: Не́вский проспе́кт, tr. Nevsky Prospekt, IPA: [ˈnʲɛfskʲɪj prɐˈspʲɛkt]) is the main street in the city of St. Petersburg, Russia, named after the 13th-century Russian prince Alexander Nevsky. Planned by Peter the Great as the beginning of the road to Novgorod and Moscow, the avenue runs from the Admiralty to the Moscow Railway Station and, after making a turn at Vosstaniya Square, to the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

The chief sights include the Rastrelliesque Stroganov Palace, the huge neoclassical Kazan Cathedral, the Art Nouveau Bookhouse, Elisseeff Emporium, half a dozen 18th-century churches, a monument to Catherine the Great, an enormous 18th-century shopping mall, a mid-19th-century department store, the Russian National Library, the Anichkov Bridge with its horse statues, and the Singer House.

The feverish life of the avenue was described by Nikolai Gogol in his story "Nevsky Prospekt". Fyodor Dostoevsky often employed the Nevksy Prospekt as a setting within his works, such as Crime and Punishment and The Double: A Petersburg Poem. The café-restaurant where the famous writers of the 19th century Golden Age of the Russian literature frequented still remains as "Literary Cafe" on Nevsky Prospect.

During the early Soviet years (1918–44) the name of Nevsky Prospect was changed, first to "Proletkult Street" (Ulitsa Proletkul'ta) in honor of that Soviet artistic organization.[1] Following the demise of Proletkult the name was changed again, this time to "Avenue of the 25th of October," alluding to the day of the October Revolution.

The Nevsky today functions as the main thoroughfare in Saint Petersburg. The majority of the city's shopping and nightlife are located on or right off the Nevsky Prospekt.

The street is served by the stations Admiralteyskaya, Nevsky Prospekt, Gostiny Dvor, Mayakovskaya, Ploshchad Vosstaniya and Ploshchad Alexandra Nevskogo I of Saint Petersburg Metro.[2]

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Lynn Mally, Culture of the Future: The Proletkult Movement in Revolutionary Russia. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1990; pg. 44.
  2. ↑ http://www.nevsky-prospekt.com/home.html
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