St. Petersburg discoveries: from the Bermuda Triangle to the first railway
Start
Sennaya Ploshchad metro station
Travel time
40 minutes (calm pace)
Length
2,2 km
Finish
Vitebsky Station
unusual routes
What is this route?
Probably, everyone already knows that St. Petersburg is a city full of secrets, but in some places the concentration of mysticism literally rolls over. For example, did you know that the city on the Neva has its own “Bermuda Triangle”, in which, as they say, people sometimes disappear?
It is not surprising that the area of Sennaya Square and Gorokhovaya Street became the scene of many of Dostoevsky’s novels, that it was here that at the beginning of the 20th century one of the most mysterious figures of Russian history settled - Grigory Rasputin ...
You will follow the route where St. Petersburg myths are intertwined with real historical events.
What will you see?
Metro Stations
Sennaya Square
Famous buildings
Guardhouse on Sennaya
Churches
Temple-chapel on Sennaya
Interesting Places
Rotunda
Bridges
Semenovsky Bridge
Interesting Places
House-ring
Interesting Places
Garden of love
Famous buildings
House of Rasputin
Interesting Places
Semenovsky Platz
Famous buildings
Vitebsk railway station
What can you expect?
The route starts from the Sennaya Ploshchad metro station, built on the site of the bombed church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Nearby you will see the chapel, erected in memory of the demolished church, and on the other side - the guardhouse building, where in 1874 Dostoevsky spent several days under arrest. In the Soviet years, there was a bus station, in the 1990s there was a terrarium, and now it is a place very useful for travelers: City Tourist Information Bureau.
Through Sadovaya street we get to Gorokhovaya. Turning left, look at the Historic courtyards with curious graffiti that recreate the life of St. Petersburg in the 19th century. By the way, next door is Rogozhin’s house from Dostoevsky’s novel “Idiot”, where he stabbed Nastasya Filippovna. Scientists are still arguing which of the two houses: No. 33 or No. 41.
Now we turn back and go towards the Fontanka. In the corner house in front of the Semenovsky bridge, have a look at the porch with the famous Rotonda - the cult place of St. Petersburg masons and Leningrad hippies, and on the other side - into the courtyard of an unusual house in the shape of a ring.
Further, on the left side of Gorokhovaya, there is a building with an apartment where Grigory Rasputin lived. At some point the fate of Russia was being decided here, but now a small museum has been opened.
At the end of the street Pionerskaya Square will open up in front of you - the former Semyonovsky Square, where public executions were carried out in the 19th century. It was here that in 1849 Dostoevsky was preparing to part with his life, but at the last moment the execution was replaced by hard labor.
The end point of your trip will be Vitebsky Station, striking the beauty of architecture and interiors. In 1837, the first train of the first railway in Russia departed from here to Tsarskoye Selo, and today electric trains run to the palaces and parks of Pushkin and Pavlovsk.