Ploshchad Iskusstv (Arts Square) - 1

Zdrazdvuitye, turisty! Welcome back to our virtual tour of St. Petersburg and environs, crossing continents and zipping back to November 2004. Today we take a peek at Arts Square (Ploshchad Iskusstv), the tail end of a non-tour-group walk Bill and I took on an overcast day (as the photos will testify).

The usual reminder that clicking on photos gives you an enlarged view with lots more detail.

We entered along Inzhenernaya Ulitsa (Engineer Street).
This paragraph comes from the city's "official portal" online:

ARTS' SQUARE
Arts' Square (Ploshchad Iskusstv) comprises the Russian Museum, the Mussorgsky Opera House, the Musical Comedy Theatre, the Great Hall of the Philharmonia and the Ethnographic Museum. From 1819-1825 a palace designed by architect Karl Rossi was built for Tsar Alexander I's brother Mikhail. Today the Mikhailovsky Palace is the home of the Russian Museum, one of the world's great museums containing the largest collection of Russian fine arts: ancient icons, paintings by Kiprensky, Shchedrin, Venetsianov, Bryullov, Kramskoy, Repin, Surikov, Serov and Vrubel, portraits by Nikitin, Rokotov, Argunov, Levitsky and Borovikovsky.

Here is a shot of the square with its deliciously wet and bare tree branches. Bill is taking a photo of the Russian Museum.
Below is a look at the Russian Museum, a fine example of Rossi's architectural excellence. The proportions of the building are just stunning. The whole ensemble works so well visually. OK, we really get into architecture--enjoying it, disparaging it, evaluating it. This is something I learned to appreciate from Bill, who studied architecture for a couple of years before transferring to Cal (the University of California, Berkeley) and majoring in Byzantine history.

The Russian Museum is the first state museum of the Russian fine art in the country. It was established in 1895 in St Petersburg under the decree of the Emperor Nicholas II. Grand opened for visitors on March 19 (March 7, the Old Style) 1898.

The Russian Museum today is a unique depository of artistic treasures, a famous restoration centre, an authoritative institute of academic research, one of the major cultural and educational centres, research and methodological centre of art museums of the Russian Federation, overseeing activities of 260 art museums of Russia.

The collection in the Russian Museum is just amazing. I recommend giving yourself a visual tour at its official site (whence I snaffled the blurb above the picture).

I could not resisting the opportunity to immortalize this bit of graffiti. I have no idea what it's about, but this provides the nod to the popular arts.
Some detail of the ironwork surrounding the museum.
More to come in part 2.
--the BB