Apothecary Island

What can you expect?

The route starts from the Petrogradskaya metro station, from where along Bolshoy Prospect you will get to the embankment of the Karpovka River. In these places there are many interesting examples of St. Petersburg Art Nouveau. In order to feel the atmosphere of “little Paris”, as the Petersburgers call this area, look into an unusual well-courtyard on the corner of Bolshoi and Karpovka, and then further along the green embankment past the buildings of the First Medical Institute to the historic buildings of the Grenadier barracks.

Relax on a bench or on the swing of a new public space, admire the boats, swaying on the waters of the river, and go to the other side along the Aptekarsky bridge, one of the widest in St. Petersburg. In front of you in all its splendor will appear the Peter the Great Botanical Garden. To get into the garden, you have to go around it - the entrance is located on the side of Professor Popov Street. 

A visit to the Botanical Garden is a separate big trip, after which you will need a halt in one of the many cafes in the Lenpolygraphmash creative space. If your choice stops at the Coffee 3 coffee shop, you can not only drink coffee, but also enjoy the view from the 5th floor on the roofs of neighboring houses.

Further along the Karpovka embankment you will find several interesting historical buildings of the first half of the 20th century: the first Lensoviet residential building - an example of the constructivism of the 1930s, the bizarre Art Nouveau house of the actress and the writers' dormitory, where the great Russian artist Pavel Filonov lived and died. 

You can continue acquaintance with the history of literature and art of the first half of the 20th century on Professor Popov Street, in the Museum of the St. Petersburg Avant-Garde ("M.V. Matyushin's House") and the Museum of the History of Photography.

Moving further along Medikov Avenue, you will see a unique engineering structure - the St. Petersburg TV Tower, which until recent years was the tallest building in the city (in 2017, the Lakhta Center seized the palm).

Turn left, onto Akademika Pavlova Street, to the complex of buildings of the Institute of Experimental Medicine, where the academician himself worked and where a monument to the nameless experimental dog was installed, which made an invaluable contribution to the study of the physiology of nervous activity. 

The final point of the route is Lopukhinsky Garden. After relaxing on a bench by the pond and admiring the wooden cottage of Gromov, you can go to Kamennoostrovsky Avenue and get to the nearest metro station - or continue your journey around the Islands yourself.