Konyushenny Square and its interesting history

2024 Author: Harold Hamphrey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:06

St. Petersburg is a storehouse of sights and interesting historical places. Probably nowhere in the world there are so many buildings, squares, streets with an unimaginably rich history.

So Konyushennaya Square is not far behind the whole city and can tell about its history. Given that all people at that time rode horses to visit and serve, and there were many horses at the royal court, a place was needed to find them. In 1723, it was built by the then famous architect Peter N. F. Gerbel building for the court stables. The area on the left bank of the Moika River, where court trips gathered, became known as Konyushennaya.

And the streets that overlooked this square, respectively, had the names Bolshaya and Malaya Konyushennaya. Later, small buildings for servants and employees began to appear here, barns for feeding horses, forges for making horseshoes, bridles and other items needed for the stable. The Court and Stable Department was created, responsible for this territory. And a few years later it became necessary to build a new building forstable yard, which was erected in an unusual form - in the form of a square. Here are the offices of the crew committee and the court stables, sheds for carriages and living quarters for employees and officials. And in the center is the Church of the Savior Not Made by Hands, which was also later called Konyushennaya, where, after a duel, the famous poet Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin was buried in 1837.

This building, which is located between Konyushennaya Square and Shvedsky lane, Malaya and Bolshaya Konyushennaya streets, has survived to this day, and it also houses a transport agency.

The non-standard elongated square attracts tourists and citizens with its museum, located at 2, Konyushennaya Square, where there are rather unusual exhibits, such as a double cart made by the hands of Peter I, the remains of a blown up in 1881 (March 1) the carriage that Alexander II rode before the assassination attempt, stuffed court horses. During the revolution the museum was closed. Some of the exhibits have disappeared, some are now in the Hermitage, others are in Tsarskoye Selo, and restaurants and clubs are located in the building of the Museum of the Court Carriage at 2 Konyushennaya Square.

St. Petersburg is famous for its unique buildings, unlike each other. Many architects took part in their creation. So on Konyushennaya Square the plans of N. F. Gerbel, a famous architect, later (a hundred years later) V. P. Stasov,the building of the Stables Museum was erected according to the project of P. S. Sadovnikova.

In our time it is planned to reconstruct it. Konyushennaya Square is being transformed into a recreation center for citizens and tourists with bicycle paths in summer and skating rinks in winter, for outdoor activities, a cafe with summer verandas, an alley with coniferous evergreen trees for those who want to relax calmly, breathe fresh air, admiring the beauty of the museum city.