Let's explore the Griboyedov Canal!
You can travel by waterbus or by boat
A bit of history
Griboyedov Canal or Kanal Griboyedova (Russian: кана́л Грибое́дова) is a canal in Saint Petersburg, constructed in 1739 on the basis of the existing river Krivusha. In 1764–90, the canal was deepened, and the banks were reinforced and covered with granite.
Griboyedov Canal starts from the Moyka River near the Field of Mars. It flows into the Fontanka River. Its length is 5 kilometres (3 mi), with a width of 32 metres (105 ft).
Before 1923 it was called Catherine Canal, after the empress Catherine the Great, during whose rule it was deepened. The Communist authorities renamed it after the Russian playwright and diplomat Alexandr Griboyedov.
The canal is also considered a street; Naberezhnaya Kanala Griboyedova (The Griboyedov Canal Quay), although the St. Peterburgians just say Kanal Griboyedova, Griboyedov's Canal.
The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood
The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood (Russian: Церковь Спаса на Крови, Tserkovʹ Spasa na Krovi) is one of the main sights of St. Petersburg, Russia. Other names include the Church on Spilled Blood (Russian:Церковь на Крови, Tserkov’ na Krovi), the Temple of the Savior on Spilled Blood (Russian: Храм Спаса на Крови, Khram Spasa na Krovi), and the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ (Russian: Собор Воскресения Христова, Sobor Voskreseniya Khristova).
This Church was built on the site where Emperor Alexander II was fatally wounded in March 1881.The church was built between 1883 and 1907. The construction was funded by the imperial family. The name of the church should not be confused with the Church on Blood in Honour of All Saints Resplendent in the Russian Land inYekaterinburg, built on the site where Alexander's grandson Nicholas II and his family were killed by the Bolsheviks in 1918.[1]
Architecturally, the Cathedral differs from St. Petersburg's other structures. The city's architecture is predominantly Baroque and Neoclassical, but the Savior on Blood harks back to medieval Russian architecture in the spirit of romantic nationalism. It intentionally resembles the 17th-century Yaroslavl churches and the celebrated St. Basil's Cathedral inMoscow.
The Church contains over 7500 square meters of mosaics—according to its restorers, more than any other church in the world. This record may be surpassed by the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, which houses 7700 square meters of mosaics. The interior was designed by some of the most celebrated Russian artists of the day—including Viktor Vasnetsov, Mikhail Nesterov and Mikhail Vrubel — but the church's chief architect, Alfred Alexandrovich Parland, was relatively little-known (born in St. Petersburg in 1842 in a Baltic-German Lutheran family). Perhaps not surprisingly, the Church's construction ran well over budget, having been estimated at 3.6 million rubles but ending up costing over 4.6 million. The walls and ceilings inside the Church are completely covered in intricately detailed mosaics — the main pictures being biblical scenes or figures — but with very fine patterned borders setting off each picture.
In 2005 the State Museum of St.Isaac's Cathedral began a new project for the recreation of the Holy Gates (permanently lost in the 1920s during the Soviet period). Entirely produced with enamels and based on the pictures and lithographies of the time, the new Holy Gates have been designed by V. J. Nikolsky and S. G. Kochetova, while famous enamel artist L. Solomnikova and her atelier have been assigned the task to produce the Holy Gates, whose reconsecration has been celebrated by Orthodos bishop Amvrosij of Gatchina on 14 March 2012, the 129th anniversary of Alexander II's assassination.[3]
Singer House
The building was designed by architect Pavel Suzor for the Russian branch of the Singer Sewing Machine Company. The management of the Singer Company initially intended to construct a skyscraper, similar to the Singer Building, the company headquarters being built at that time in New York, but the Saint Petersburg building code did not allow structures taller than the Winter Palace, residence of the emperor. The architect found an elegant solution to the 23.5 meter height limit: the six-story Art Nouveau building is crowned with a glass tower, which in turn is topped by a glass globe sculpture created by Estonian artist Amandus Adamson.[1] This tower creates the impression of a substantial elevation, but is subtle enough not to overshadow either the Kazan Cathedral or the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood.
In 1919, not long after the October Revolution, the building was given to the Petrograd State Publishing House. It quickly became the city's largest bookstore, and was subsequently named "The House of Books" in 1938. The bookstore remained functioning during the Siege of Leningrad until November 1942, reopening again in 1948. The building closed for reconstruction from 2004-2006, reopening as the home of several businesses, including the familiar House of Books. [2] and Café Singer.[3]
Kazan Cathedral
.The construction was started in 1801 and continued for ten years while being supervised by Alexander Sergeyevich Stroganov.[1] Upon its completion in 1811, the new temple replaced the Church of Nativity of the Theotokos, which was disassembled when the Kazan Cathedral was consecrated.
It was modelled by Andrey Voronikhin[2] after the St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.[1] Some art historians assert that Emperor Paul intended to build a similar church on the other side of Nevsky Prospect that would mirror the Kazan Cathedral but his plans failed to materialize.[citation needed] Although the Russian Orthodox Church strongly disapproved of the plans to create a replica of a Catholic basilica in Russia's then capital, several courtiers supported Voronikhin's Empire Style design.
After Napoleon invaded Russia in 1812, and the commander-in-chief Mikhail Kutuzov asked Our Lady of Kazan for help, the church's purpose was to be altered. The Patriotic War over, the cathedral was perceived primarily as a memorial to the Russian victory against Napoleon.[2] Kutuzov himself was interred in the cathedral in 1813; and Alexander Pushkinwrote celebrated lines meditating over his sepulchre. In 1815, keys to seventeen cities and eight fortresses were brought by the victorious Russian army from Europe and placed in the cathedral's sacristy. In 1837, Boris Orlovsky designed two bronze statues of Kutuzov and Barclay de Tolly in front of the cathedral.
In 1876, the Kazan demonstration, the first political demonstration in Russia, took place in front of the church. After theRussian Revolution of 1917, the cathedral was closed. In 1932 it was reopened as the pro-Marxist "Museum of the History of Religion and Atheism."[3] Services were resumed in 1992, and four years later the cathedral was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church. Now it is the mother cathedral of the metropolis of St. Petersburg.
The cathedral's interior, with its numerous columns, echoes the exterior colonnade and is reminiscent of a palatial hall, being 69 metres in length and 62 metres in height. The interior features numerous sculptures and icons created by the best Russian artists of the day. A wrought iron grille separating the cathedral from a small square behind it is sometimes cited as one of the finest ever created.[4][5]
The cathedral's huge bronze doors are one of three copies of the original doors of the Baptistry in Florence, Italy (the other two are in San Francisco and on the Baptistry itself).