The Admiralty Building is the former headquarters of the
Admiralty Board
The Admiralty Board is the body established under the Defence Council of the United Kingdom for the administration of the Naval Service of the United Kingdom. It meets formally only once a year, and the day-to-day running of the Royal Navy is ...
and the
Imperial Russian Navy
The Imperial Russian Navy () operated as the navy of the Russian Tsardom and later the Russian Empire from 1696 to 1917. Formally established in 1696, it lasted until dissolved in the wake of the February Revolution of 1917. It developed from a ...
in
Central
Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object.
Central may also refer to:
Directions and generalised locations
* Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...
St. Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
,
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
and the current headquarters of the
Russian Navy.
"Russian Navy HQ Moves to St. Petersburg", RIA Novosti, October 31, 2012
/ref>
The edifice was rebuilt in the nineteenth century to support the Tsar's maritime ambitions. The original design was a fortified shipyard which was later surrounded by five bastions and further protected by a moat.
The Empire Style
The Empire style (, ''style Empire'') is an early-nineteenth-century design movement in architecture, furniture, other decorative arts, and the visual arts, representing the second phase of Neoclassicism. It flourished between 1800 and 1815 durin ...
edifice visible today lining the Admiralty Quay was constructed to Andreyan Zakharov
Andreyan Zakharov (russian: Андрея́н Дми́триевич Заха́ров; 19 August 1761 – 8 September 1811) was a Russian Imperial architect and representative of the Empire style. His designs also alternated neoclassicism with ecle ...
's design between 1806 and 1823.[ Located at the western end of the ]Nevsky Prospekt
Nevsky Prospect ( rus, Не́вский проспе́кт, r=Nevsky Prospekt (street), Prospekt, p=ˈnʲɛfskʲɪj prɐˈspʲɛkt) is the main street (high street) in the federal city of Saint Petersburg, St. Petersburg in Russian Federation, ...
, The Admiralty with its gilded spire topped by a golden weather-vane in the shape of a small sail warship (''Korablik''), is one of the city's most conspicuous landmarks and the focal point of old St. Petersburg's three main streets - Nevsky Prospect
Nevsky Prospect ( rus, Не́вский проспе́кт, r=Nevsky Prospekt, p=ˈnʲɛfskʲɪj prɐˈspʲɛkt) is the main street (high street) in the federal city of St. Petersburg in Russia. It takes its name from the Alexander Nevsky La ...
, Gorokhovaya Street
Gorokhovaya Street (russian: link=no, Гороховая улица) is a north-south thoroughfare in the Central Business District of Saint Petersburg.
Gorokhovaya Street is one of central Saint Petersburg's major thoroughfares, extending from t ...
, and Voznesensky Avenue
Voznesensky Prospekt (russian: Вознесенский проспект) is a 1.8 km long street in Admiralteysky District of Saint Petersburg, Russia. Crossing Saint Isaac's Square, the Moika (Blue Bridge (Saint Petersburg), Blue Bridge) a ...
- underscoring the importance Peter I placed on Russia's Navy.
Until merger and relocation to the town of Pushkin in 1998 the building housed which since 1927 was named after Felix Dzerzhinsky
Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky ( pl, Feliks Dzierżyński ; russian: Фе́ликс Эдму́ндович Дзержи́нский; – 20 July 1926), nicknamed "Iron Felix", was a Bolshevik revolutionary and official, born into Poland, Polish n ...
.
Vladimir Nabokov
Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov (russian: link=no, Владимир Владимирович Набоков ; 2 July 1977), also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin (), was a Russian-American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Bo ...
, writer and native of St. Petersburg, wrote a short story in May 1933 entitled "The Admiralty Spire."
See also
*Admiralty Embankment
The Admiralty Embankment ( (''Admiralteyskaya Naberezhnaya'')) or Admiralty Quay is a street along the Neva River in Central Saint Petersburg, named after the Admiralty Board.
Between 1919 and 1944 the street was known as Roshal Embankment, named ...
with the Lions at the Dvortsovaya pier
The Lions at the Dvortsovaya pier are two lion sculptures in bronze placed at the Admiralty embankment in Saint Petersburg since 1832. The lions are copies of the late 16th century Italian Medici lions in Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ...
References
External links
{{Coord, 59.937601, N, 30.308576, E, type:landmark, display=title
Buildings and structures in Saint Petersburg
Russian Navy
Tourist attractions in Saint Petersburg
Government buildings completed in 1823
Neoclassical architecture in Russia
Cultural heritage monuments of federal significance in Saint Petersburg