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Kamenny Island Palace

Houses completed in the 18th centuryNeoclassical architecture in RussiaNeoclassical palacesPalaces in Saint PetersburgRoyal residences in Russia
Kamenny Island Palace
Kamenny Island Palace

Kamenny Island Palace (Каменноостровский дворец) is a former imperial palace on the south-western promontory of Kamenny Island in St. Petersburg. The Neoclassical edifice was commissioned in the 1770s by Catherine II of Russia for her son Paul. It has a portico of six Tuscan columns and a spacious cour d'honneur. The river front of the palace is broken by eight Doric columns. The residence was built under the general supervision of Yury Felten. The interiors were designed by Vincenzo Brenna in imitation of Piranesi's views of Rome. Jean-François Thomas de Thomon was responsible for renovating the garden. Giacomo Quarenghi updated the design after the work resumed.Emperor Paul presented the palace to the former Polish king, Stanisław August Poniatowski. The palace's most famous tenant was Alexander I of Russia. After his death the estate was inherited by his brother Michael, then by his widow Helen and their daughter Catherine. Since the early 20th century the palace has fallen into neglect. It remained in use as a convalescence home for soldiers throughout the Soviet period. Along with other imperial palaces in St. Petersburg, the Stone Island Palace is part of the World Heritage site Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments. It is currently closed for major repairs in view to house the city's guests. The park contains the wooden Kamenny Island Theatre which was built in just 40 days. It was Felten who designed the nearby Church of St. John the Baptist, where Alexander Pushkin had two of his children baptised. The 1770s church building is rather unusual for Russia in that it imitates the Gothic architecture of Western Europe.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Kamenny Island Palace (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Kamenny Island Palace
Malaya Nevka River Embankment, Saint Petersburg

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N 59.9797 ° E 30.3044 °
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Каменноостровский дворец

Malaya Nevka River Embankment 1
197022 Saint Petersburg (округ Чкаловское)
Saint Petersburg, Russia
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Kamenny Island Palace
Kamenny Island Palace
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Aptekarsky Island
Aptekarsky Island

Aptekarsky Island (Russian: Апте́карский о́стров, pronounced [ɐˈpʲtʲɛkərstkʲɪj ˈostrəf], "Apothecary Island", Finnish: Korpisaari, "Deep Forest Island") is a relatively small island situated in the northern part of the Neva delta. It is separated from Petrogradsky Island by the Karpovka River, from Kamenny Island and Krestovsky Island by the Malaya Nevka and from the Vyborgskaya region of St-Petersburg by the Bolshaya Nevka. It has an area of approximately two square kilometres. Aptekarsky Island is connected to Petrogradsky Island by seven bridges: Aptekarsky Bridge, Petropavlovsky Bridge, Silyn Bridge, Geslerovsky Bridge, Karpovsky Bridge, Barochny Bridge and Molodyozhny Bridge. It is connected to Kamenny Island by Kamennoostrovsky Bridge and to the Vyborgskaya region by Kantemirovsky Bridge and Grenadersky Bridge. In 1714, Tsar Peter I gave orders to transform the island into a headquarters for the Medical Clerical Office and the Main Pharmacy. The island's name, Aptekarsky, means pharmacy in Russian. On the southeastern part of the island, a garden was set up for the cultivation of medicinal herbs. Over time, it became the Saint Petersburg Botanical Garden and eventually, the Komarov Botanical Institute was founded here. The island expanded from medicinal herbs into medical devices with the founding of the first medical device laboratory. This laboratory has since become the firm Krasnogvardeets, which is based in St. Petersburg. During the reigns of Paul I and Alexander I of Russia, the area became a resort destination as Russian aristocrats came to the island and built their country estates. As the industrialization of the island grew, the 20th century brought apartment construction to house the new workers. A number of the apartment houses were designed by such renowned Russian architects as Vladimir Shuko, designer of the Russian State Library in Moscow, and Fyodor Lidval, designer of the Hotel Astoria in St. Petersburg. A number of significant structures still stand on the island today including the First Lensoveta House (designed by Yevgeniy Levinson and Ivan Fomin), several buildings for television broadcast center (designed by Sergei Speransky), the television tower and the Youth Palace. Major educational institutions include the Saint Petersburg State Electrotechnical University, Saint-Petersburg State Chemical Pharmaceutical Academy and the Experimental Medicine Institute of the Russian Academy of Medical Science. The St. Petersburg Hydro Meteorological Center is also located on the island.