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The Vasilevsky Island Spit

The Rostral Columns are situated near the slipway into the Neva on the square in front of the Stock Exchange. They were the brain-child of Thomas de Thomon, the architect who designed the whole area around the Vasilevsky Island Spit; they symbolised the importance of St. Petersburg as a port, while at the same time serving as beacons.

The monumental Doric columns were installed on their mighty granite pedestals in 1810. They were carved from blocks of stone from the village of Pudost in the Leningrad Region, which was still being quarried until recently.

The decoration of the columns is a synthesis of architecture and sculpture. Four huge figures, carved from the same stone, are arranged around the bases: they represent the great Russian rivers - Volga, Dnepr, Neva and Volkhov. The identity of the author of the sketches for these sculptures has, unfortunately, not been established; it is known, however, that they were created by the famous master stonemason S. Sukhanov, a peasant from Vologda.

Over the course of many decades, the statues have slowly been destroyed. Paradoxically, the numerous attempts to repair and restore them using the same method, before and after 1917, played a "bad joke" on them; iron pins were used to strengthen them, while the parts that had fallen off were filled with cement, followed by the application of many layers of paint. In this way the monument was fairly rapidly decaying and losing its original appearance.

Last August, St. Petersburg's leading experts set about the task of restoring the columns, using new specially-devised technology; the Hermitage's top art restorers were invited to take part. They embarked upon a truly scientific restoration, which would preserve the artistic and historic value of the monuments. The enormous accumulated experience of the museum, the oldest centre of sculpture restoration in the country, was put to good use. New methods devised by their specialists have over many years been applied to the restoration of works of art from the Hermitage's collection.

The process involves removing the layers created during previous restoration work and replacing the lost fragments with pieces of Pudost stone. The materials used are as near as possible to the properties of the original sculpture. The reinforcement and protection of the stone will prevent the further destruction of the monument and will restore its artistic appearance.

The columns are not the only feature of the Vassilevsky Island Spit, the promontory in the eastern section of Vasilievsky Island. Built to be viewed from the water, until the mid-19th Century, this was in fact a trading port. With the passing of time, the buildings of the ensemble, designed by Jean Baptiste Toma de Tomon at the beginning of the 19th Century, found themselves occupied by predominantly cultural institutions.

At the center of the ensemble, recalling ancient temples, is the building of the Stock Exchange (1810) with which de Tomon replaced a construction by Quarenghi that had previously stood here. Today, it is home to the Naval Museum. The Rostral Columns (1810s) on the promontory served as lighthouses for the port, receiving their names from the prows of enemy ships which were traditionally used to decorate columns erected to commemorate maritime victories. The sculptures decorating the columns are considered to be embodiments of four key Russian rivers: the Volga, Dnepr, Neva and Volkhov. The symmetrical composition of the Strelka is underlined by the warehouses and customs buildings erected on the Makarov Embankment in 1832 by Ivan Lukini. The ensemble is topped by a tower, mirroring that on the Kunstkammer, which stands close by on University Embankment. The warehouses are now home to the Zoological and Soil Science museums, while the customs house is now the Institute of Russian Literature, or Pushkin House, which contains the manuscripts of great Russian writers. Along University Embankment, the ensemble is continued by the Kunstkammer, the Academy of Sciences and the Twelve Colleges building. The Kunstkammer (Georg Mattarnovi, 1734) is a masterpiece of Petrine baroque and the oldest Russian museum (now the Ethnographical and Anthropological Museum and the Mikhail Lomonosov Memorial Museum). The apartments of academics and warehousing premises were originally housed in the Academy of Sciences (Giacomo Quarenghi, 1789), built in a late classicist style and decorated with an eight-columned portico of the Ionic order. Inside, on the upper landing of the main staircase, we can see Lomonosov’s mosaic, “The Poltava Battle.” The long Twelve Colleges building, according to the conception of its architect, Domenico Trezini, comprises twelve identical wings – one for each college – linked on the western side by a gallery, the renowned “university corridor.” In the mid-19th Century, these premises were transferred to the University, and they now contain the rector’s office, the geological and biological faculties and the Gorky Library. At the end of the 19th Century and the beginning of the 20th Century, the Otta Clinical Gynecological Institute and the library of the Academy of Sciences were added to the Strelka ensemble.

The nearest metro station is Vasileovstrovskaya. See here for information about the Kunstkammer, and here for information about the Central Naval Museum.

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