Manezhnaya square and elephants

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Of course, a legitimate question will arise, dear readers of our site: what do the elephants have to do with it? The whole secret is in the history of the appearance of Manezhnaya Square.

I will tell you about everything in order, and when you walk around St. Petersburg, do not lose sight of this interesting place. You will find it not far from Fontanka, walking along Italian street. You can also get here along Malaya Sadovaya Street directly from Nevsky Prospect. Or, for example, walk quite a bit from the Mikhailovsky Castle. There are many options, choose whichever you like.

Manezhnaya Square in St. Petersburg is a former vegetable garden

Believe me - this is the true truth. After the Swedish feudal lord left these lands and St. Petersburg arose, in 1712 they began to belong to the residence of the wife of Peter I, Catherine. Vegetable gardens were located exactly where the Manezhnaya Square of St. Petersburg is now located, some areas were specially set aside for the cultivation of medicinal herbs. An alley led from the garden to the wooden palace of Catherine.

Already during the reign of Anna Ioannovna, a lover of hunting, a so-called "Yagd-garten" for corraling and shooting wild animals began to be arranged at this place. It was even supposed to enclose it with a fence, so as not to accidentally shoot someone from the passers-by. But the work on the arrangement of such a garden was never completed.

Back to our elephants

Once the Shah of Persia gave the Empress Anna Ioannovna a very expensive exotic gift - an elephant. The Empress immediately ordered to arrange an elephant courtyard, where Manezhnaya Square is now located. There were already at that time the "animal yard" and the greenhouse. But that's not all. Later, Anna Ioannovna received 14 more elephants as a gift, but, without waiting for the arrival of this gift, she died. Anna Leopoldovna already accepted the gift.

View of the Admiralty and Palace Square during the procession of elephants sent by the Persian Shah

A barn was built on the site of the current Winter Stadium, and animals were bathed in Fontanka. Especially for them, a gentle platform was arranged so that it would be more convenient for them to enter the river. Of course, today it is difficult to imagine such a phenomenon in the center of St. Petersburg, perhaps in the Zoo or the Ciniselli Circus, but this story is reliable and even the square was called Elephant Square. Unofficially, of course. And today, only the name of the Karavannaya street adjacent to Manezhnaya Square reminds of the presence of elephants, along which caravanserais of elephant drovers were located. At one time the square itself was called Karavannaya.

By the way: the expression "loitering around", Krylov's fable "The Elephant and the Pug" - all this was born in St. Petersburg, thanks to a generous gift from the Persian Shah.

Throughout its history, the territory of Manezhnaya Square has been rebuilt more than once. First, in connection with the construction of the wooden Summer Palace, then the Mikhailovsky Castle began to be built in its place. Together with them, the territory was improved. By the way, the square, until the appearance of the Manege on it, bore the name of Mikhailovskaya, and then became the Manege. The name of Mikhailovskaya Square passed to the current Arts Square.

Mikhailovsky Palace, 1832

The appearance of the square was also rebuilt in connection with the construction of the Mikhailovsky Palace. Then the sculptor K. Rossi rebuilt the facades of the arena and stables. They have preserved their appearance to this day. A gazebo was also built here at one time, and even the building of the Ciniselli circus was here. Subsequently, the circus acquired its current stone building at 3 Fontanka Embankment.

The architectural ensemble of Manezhnaya Square

Manege. Winter stadium

Mikhailovsky Manege (Winter Stadium). Architect K. I. Russia

Modern Manezhnaya Square in St. Petersburg was formed at the intersection of Karavannaya, Malaya Sadovaya and Italyanskaya streets. According to K. Rossi's plan, the Mikhailovsky Manege became the center of the square's architectural ensemble, which gave the square its modern name. Here the cavalrymen used to train and hold their meetings. Now it houses the Winter Stadium, where various sports competitions and exhibitions are held.

Noble assembly

House of Radio Italian street Saint Petersburg excursion

On the contrary, at the corner of Italianskaya and Malaya Sadovaya streets, the building of the Noble Assembly is located. During the First World War, it served as a hospital, and under Soviet rule, the Leningrad Radio Committee began to work in the building. St. Petersburgers habitually call it the House of Radio. It was from here that during the years of the siege of Leningrad continuous radio broadcasting was carried out. Now the St. Petersburg TV and Radio Company is located here.

Shuvalov Palace. Hygiene Museum

I. I. Shuvalov's palace

And on the other corner of Malaya Sadovaya and Italyanskaya there is a wonderful monument of the Elizabethan Baroque - the Shuvalov Palace. Its author is the Russian architect Savva Chevakinsky. Count Ivan Shuvalov, president of the Academy of Arts, Elizabeth Petrovna's favorite, was not constrained by the means, and therefore became the owner of one of the most luxurious mansions in St. Petersburg. Now the palace houses a rather peculiar, but very interesting Museum of Hygiene.

Home Cinema

House of Cinema, St. Petersburg

In the depths of Manezhnaya Square, you can see a massive palace-like building with columns and Venetian windows above them. Once this building was built for the Petrograd Provincial Credit Society. The bank never moved in there. But in 1917, the Splendid Palace cinema appeared there, which quickly became the best cinema in the city. After the war, the first children's cinema "Rodina" in Leningrad appeared here. Now the building houses the famous main film festival center of the city "Dom Kino".

Novo-Manezhniy square

Novo-Manezhniy square

On the square there is a beautiful and cozy park, in the center of which there is a fountain, a smaller copy of the fountain near the Admiralty. The square began to bear the name Novo-Manezhny. And the former Manezh Square became Staro-Manezhny. On the occasion of the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg, Novo-Manezh Square on Manezhnaya Square was decorated with four busts of the Italian architects who built St. Petersburg, B. F. Rastrelli, G. Quarenghi, C. Rossi, A. Rinaldi. The busts are a gift from the Italian city of Milan for the anniversary of St. Petersburg. Everything is quite logical: Italian street, Italian craftsmen.

Monument to Turgenev

Monument to Turgenev

In 2001, an ambiguous monument to the writer Ivan Turgenev appeared in the depths of Staro-Manezh Square. Why has this caused a controversial assessment of the townspeople? They say that the authors chose the site of the monument here, because the Turgenev routes intersect here. This is partly true. Nearby was the Demidov hotel, where the writer met Polina Viardot, the Sovremennik editorial office, and the Alexandrinsky Theater, where Turgenev often visited.

Still, I think that St. Petersburg on the way from Spassky-Lutovinov to Baden-Baden was only a waypoint for Turgenev. The action of his novels takes place either on some estates or abroad. Turgenev had little connection with St. Petersburg. At least, much less than other well-known literary men. Apparently, this fact alarmed the townspeople.

By the way, foreigners see another Ivan in the monument - Tsar Ivan the Terrible, and not the writer Turgenev.

And one more well-known fact about the monument. Two sculptors Ya. Ya. Neumann and V. D. Sveshnikov was a little embarrassed. The coat in which the Turgenev monument is dressed has one floor significantly longer than the other. There was an interesting post about this here.

An interesting story on Manezhnaya Square

On a hot July day in the 1880s, a huge number of people (several hundred) suddenly gathered on Manezhnaya Square, dressed in fashionable fur coats. Imagine mid-July. They read an ad in the Kopeyka newspaper, which announced a competition for the most original fur coat. A prize was awarded - one hundred rubles. They all came to show off their fur coats. The competition never started. The people went to investigate the editorial office, but the police did not let them go there.

The newspaper apologized, of course, in the next issue, citing a typo. The competition was supposed to be, according to them, not on July 15, but on January 15. They considered it all a joke, but then it became known that the owners of the trade pavilions on Manezhnaya Square simply "agreed" with the editor-in-chief of the newspaper.

It turned out that while the people were waiting for the opening of the competition, a huge amount of kvass, juices, lemonade and much more were drunk. The merchants shared the profits with the newspaper. That's what the power of the printed word and entrepreneurial cunning mean.