The Admiralty

Admiralty building is a major achievement of early classical architecture. The Admiralty is the architectural and compositional center of St. Petersburg. Three main thoroughfares of the city converge here - Nevsky Prospekt,Voznesensky Prospekt and Gorokhovaya Street.

The first Admiralty was founded as a shipyard in 1704 according to a design by Peter I himself. One-story clay-walled structures were arranged in the form of the Russian letter �. The building housed warehouses and workshops, as well as different admiralty departments.

The new, stone building of the Admiralty was erected in 1732-38 to a design by Ivan 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 which is 72 m high and is topped by a gilt spire, which has remained there to this day.

In the early 19th century it became necessary to radically rebuild the Admiralty. The fortification structures were demolished. Designed (1806-1823) by the great Russian architect, Andreyan Zakharov, the third Admiralty (the present one) was to commemorate the naval power and victories of the Russian fleet. The central part of the main building has a tower with an entrance arch. The tower is adorned by a colonnade and crowned with a copula and a gilded spire. The gilded spire carries a weathervane in the form of a ship that has become the symbol of the city.

The relief represents Neptune who is handing Peter I a trident that is the symbol of power over the sea. The lateral parts of the relief are filled with the figures of Tritons and Nymphs engaged in the shipbuilding or saluting the ships already launched. 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, made by sculptor Feodosy Shchedrin. The statues above the upper colonnade of the tower symbolize the four seasons of the year, four elements of nature, four main winds. Among themare Isida, the patroness of shipbuilding, and Urania, the Muse of Astronomy. The sculptors Stepan Pimenov and Vasily Demuth-Malinovsky also contributed to creating decoration.

Shipbuilding in the Admiralty went on till 1844. Later only some departments concerned with the navy remained in the building. Since 1925 the Admiralty has housed the Higher Naval Engineering School.

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