Admiralty

Categories / Architecture/Architectural Monuments/Public Buildings and Edifices
ADMIRALTY, in the 18-19 centuries - a place for the building and repairing of warships, provided with all the necessary equipment (dockyards, ship-ways, slipways, storehouses, workshops, etc.). In St. Petersburg of the 18th to early 19th century the so-called New Admiralty, the Admiralty on Galerny (Galley) Island, the Admiralty and a dockyard in the region of Galernaya Harbour functioned. The best known is the Main Admiralty (today 1 Admiralteisky Avenue) founded on 5 November 1704, on the left bank of the Bolshaya Neva River to the plans of Tsar Peter the Great. The general management of its construction was entrusted to A.D. Menshikov. To protect the Main Admiralty and its dockyards, the Admiralty Fortress was constructed. On the adjacent territory Morskaya ("naval") settlements appeared (hence the names of Bolshaya and Malaya Morskaya Streets), where naval officers lived, and admiralty settlements, where workers and servants were quartered. From the Main Admiralty to New Holland, the Admiralteisky Canal was dug (Konnogvardeisky Boulevard is partially modelled on where it was situated). The building of the Main Admiralty (Admiralteisky House, constructed under the guidance of P.I. Yakovlev) was U-shaped, with its wings embracing the extensive yard open to the Neva. In the yard the Admiralty dockyard was set up. Various workshops, premises for rope, mast, block, sailing and resin craftspeople, storehouses for ropes and rigging were to be arranged in the building of the Main Admiralty. In 1711, in the centre of the main facade a stone tower was erected, crowned with a spire (since 1718 it housed the Admiralty Collegium – an upper body for Naval Administration). In 1721, the Main Admiralty was reconstructed in stone, with the preservation of previous layout and composition, was launched (in 1727-38 the construction work was headed by the architect I.K. Korobov). The height of the tower with the spire reached 72 metres. In 1806-23, there was a full reconstruction of the Main Admiralty to the style of the high Neoclassicism (architect A. D. Zakharov). The grand complex (the length of the main facade is 406 metres, of the side facades - 163 metres) consists of two U-shaped buildings. In the outer building different establishments of the Naval department were quartered, in the inner building various workshops were located. Between the buildings there was a channel opened in the 18th century (filled in by the middle of the 19th century). In the centre of the main facade a tower with a gate, encircled with a colonnade of Ionic pattern and crowned with a cupola and a spire, was erected. The gilded weather vane-"ship", that has become one of the symbols of St. Petersburg, surmounts the spire. On the flanks of the main facade are twelve and six Dorian column porticoes, etched on the side facades. The pavilions facing the Neva are crowned with flagstones. The sculptures were created by V.I. Demut-Malinovsky, F.F. Shchedrin, I.I. Terebenev, S.S. Pimenov and A.A. Anisimov. The front staircase, the staterooms and the library retained the original decor. In 1821-58, in the hall of the Main Admiralty 's western wing St. Isaac's Cathedral functioned temporarily, succeeded by St. Spiridon’s Cathedral of the Naval Department (abolished in 1920). In the 19th - early 20th centuries the Main Admiralty housed the Naval Ministry (Admiralty), Main Naval Staff, Hydrographic Administration and other establishments of Naval Department, Naval Architectural School (since 1925, Dzerzhinsky Naval Engineering Academy, today Naval Engineering Institute). Until 1939, part of the building was occupied by the Naval Museum. During the Siege of 1941-44, the Main Admiralty was extensively damaged (five air bombs and 20 heavy-calibre shells hit it), in 1945-47, reparations were undertaken; in 1952, the restoration of the sculptural decor was completed. In 2001-03, the central tower was restored. The Main Admiralty forms a centre of the St. Petersburg layout; three main city thoroughfares - Nevsky Prospect, Gorokhovaya Street and Voznesensky Avenue converge on its tower. From the Main Admiralty the names of the Admiralteisky Islands, Admiralteiskaya Side, Admiralteisky District, Admiralteisky Avenue and Admiralteiskaya Embankment originate.

References: Пилявский В. И. Главное Адмиралтейство в Ленинграде. Л.; М., 1945; Синявер М. М. Адмиралтейство. М., 1948; Сашонко В. Н. Адмиралтейство. 3-е изд., испр. и доп. Л., 1982.

A. N. Lukirsky, S. V. Boglachev. Anisimov Artemy Anisimovich
Demut-Malinovsky Vasily Ivanovich
Korobov Ivan Kuzmich
Menshikov Alexander Danilovich, Gracious Prince
Peter I, Emperor
Pilyavsky Vladimir Ivanovich
Pimenov Stepan Stepanovich
Shchedrin Feodosy Fedorovich
the Terebenevs
Yakovlev Peter Ivanovich
Zakharov Andreyan (Adrian) Dmitrievich
Admiralteyskaya Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city
Admiralteysky Ave/Saint Petersburg, city, house 1
Admiralteysky Ave/Saint Petersburg, city
Bolshaya Morskaya St./Saint Petersburg, city
Gorokhovaya St./Saint Petersburg, city
Konnogvardeisky Boulevard/Saint Petersburg, city
Malaya Morskaya St./Saint Petersburg, city
Nevsky prospect/Saint Petersburg, city
Voznesensky Ave/Saint Petersburg, city
Синявер М. М. Адмиралтейство. М., 1948
Пилявский В. И. Главное Адмиралтейство в Ленинграде. Л.; М., 1945
Сашонко В. Н. Адмиралтейство. 3 изд., испр. и доп. Л., 1982 Admiralty Dockyards
Admiralty
Admiralty
Admiralty Fortress
St. Isaac's Cathedral
Ministry of the Navy
Navy Engineering Institute
Siege of 1941-44
1738
1806
1823