"Dressed in Granite": Makarov Embankment

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

Petersburg is not only a city of rivers and canals, but also a city of islands and bridges. It can rightly be called the city of granite embankments. The Neva banks began to dress in this outfit thanks to Empress Catherine the Great. One of the most famous embankments of the northern capital is the Makarov embankment. It will be discussed in this article.

History of occurrence

Before the appearance on the northern side of Vasilyevsky Island, between its Strelka and the Smolenka River, the Makarov Embankment, a lot of time passed from the beginning of land development in the Neva delta. Initially, the city center was located on Berezovy Island - on Troitskaya Square, where the first port in the B altic was located. Only after 1716 did the development of the territory of Vasilyevsky Island begin.

According to the idea of Peter I, it was here that it was necessary to start rebuilding the center of European St. Petersburg. And it was planned to move the B altic port to the cape - the arrow. Gradually, port facilities began to be built on the cape - an exchange, warehouses, customs. They were built at different times by different architects. That architectural ensemble, which is familiar to the modern resident and guests of the city, took shape only inthe first half of the 19th century. Stonecutters Samson Sukhanov and French architect J. F. Thomas de Thomon worked on its appearance. It was then that the coastline of the Malaya Neva began to be faced with granite.

On the Malaya Neva in the 18th century, houses were mainly built by St. Petersburg merchants, there were warehouses of coal and metal owned by breeders. The first name was given to the shore - Gostinaya Street, later Gostinaya Embankment. And according to the customs building built here - the Customs embankment. After that, the name was completely canceled, and the coast of the Malaya Neva began to be called simply - the embankment of the Malaya Neva. Gradually, in the 19th century, the number of port facilities increased, and at the same time, the length of the embankment. In the 1880s, due to the thorough deterioration of the Makarov embankment in St. Petersburg, it was reinforced with piles. The port was moved to Gutuev Island. The arrow gradually became a "visiting card", a symbol, a place that everyone who makes tours to St. Petersburg does not ignore. But until 1952, the embankment existed without an official name. Only in mid-December 1952 was she given a name - in honor of the scientist and sailor Stepan Osipovich Makarov. One of the sights of the city, which connected the embankment with the Petrograd side, was the Tuchkov Bridge, famous for all residents of St. Petersburg.

Whose name is it named?

Naval commander Stepan Osipovich Makarov - a native of Nikolaev, graduated in 1865 from the nautical school in Nikolaevsk-on-Amur andserved four years as a midshipman on various ships. The first of these ships was the steamship America. Then he received the first officer rank - midshipman and served on the frigate "Dmitry Donskoy" and on the armored boat "Mermaid". He showed remarkable analytical skills and deep knowledge of the functional structure of ships. As a result, comparing the capabilities of ships and the characteristics of emergency situations, he made a number of valuable proposals for the creation of a system of unsinkable ships. And in a situation of searching for means of victorious battles with the Turkish fleet during the years of the Russian-Turkish wars, he proposed the use of fast steamers equipped with mine boats, and also for the first time applied the tactics of attacking the enemy fleet with the help of such ships. The panic sown in the ranks of the Turkish naval forces played into the hands of the Russian fleet. And Makarov, for his merits, was awarded alternately new officer ranks: lieutenant commander, and then - captain of the 2nd rank.

Architectural ensemble of the Makarov embankment

The architectural ensemble of the embankment that has developed to our time opens with one of the facades of the northern warehouse erected by the Italian architect Giovanni Luchini in 1809 on the Spit of Vasilyevsky Island. This building now houses the Museum of Soil Science. In house 4 on the Makarov Embankment is located the Institute of Russian Literature. A. S. Pushkin. Earlier, this building, erected by the same Giovanni Luchini, housed the St. Petersburg Customs. Its turret is decorated with sculptures, one of which is recognizable as the patron of the seas, the god Poseidon. True, inIn this case, instead of the traditional trident, he holds an oar in his hand. And nearby is the god of trade and the messenger of the gods Hermes and the goddess of fertility Pomona.

In the next house is the Research Institute of Physiology. Academician I. P. Pavlov, followed by a whole string of historical tenement houses. Closer to the embankment R. Smolenka stands out as a corner building made of gray stone, stylized as cobblestone masonry. It was built in Art Nouveau style and is the former club building of the plant named after. Kozitsky, whose old buildings are still located deep in the street.

The current state of the embankment

In 2015, many embankments in St. Petersburg were equipped with modern lighting equipment. Makarov embankment is among them: the facades of its houses are equipped with evening illumination.

Now the continuation of the embankment to the Western High-Speed Diameter is under construction. It is planned to be completed by the end of 2018. A new bridge across the Smolenka will also be built, which, like the neighboring island, will be named Serny.

Going on tourist tours to St. Petersburg, do not forget to visit this truly wonderful corner.