The Admiralty Building is the former headquarters of the

Admiralty Board The Admiralty Board is the body established under the Defence Council of the United Kingdom for the administration of the Naval Service of the United Kingdom. It meets formally only once a year, and the day-to-day running of the Royal Navy is ...

and the

Imperial Russian Navy The Imperial Russian Navy () operated as the navy of the Russian Tsardom and later the Russian Empire from 1696 to 1917. Formally established in 1696, it lasted until dissolved in the wake of the February Revolution of 1917. It developed from ...

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known a ...

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

and the current headquarters of the Russian Navy."Russian Navy HQ Moves to St. Petersburg", RIA Novosti, October 31, 2012
/ref> The edifice was rebuilt in the nineteenth century to support the Tsar's maritime ambitions. The original design was a fortified shipyard which was later surrounded by five bastions and further protected by a moat. The

Empire Style The Empire style (, ''style Empire'') is an early-nineteenth-century design movement in architecture, furniture, other decorative arts, and the visual arts, representing the second phase of Neoclassicism. It flourished between 1800 and 1815 durin ...

edifice visible today lining the Admiralty Quay was constructed to

Andreyan Zakharov Andreyan Zakharov (russian: Андрея́н Дми́триевич Заха́ров; 19 August 1761 – 8 September 1811) was a Russian Imperial architect and representative of the Empire style. His designs also alternated neoclassicism with eclec ...

's design between 1806 and 1823. Located at the western end of the

Nevsky Prospekt Nevsky Prospect ( rus, Не́вский проспе́кт, r=Nevsky Prospekt, p=ˈnʲɛfskʲɪj prɐˈspʲɛkt) is the main street (high street) in the federal city of St. Petersburg in Russia. It takes its name from the Alexander Nevsky L ...

, The Admiralty with its gilded spire topped by a golden weather-vane in the shape of a small sail warship (''Korablik''), is one of the city's most conspicuous landmarks and the focal point of old St. Petersburg's three main streets -

Nevsky Prospect Nevsky Prospect ( rus, Не́вский проспе́кт, r=Nevsky Prospekt, p=ˈnʲɛfskʲɪj prɐˈspʲɛkt) is the main street (high street) in the federal city of St. Petersburg in Russia. It takes its name from the Alexander Nevsky La ...

Gorokhovaya Street Gorokhovaya Street (russian: link=no, Гороховая улица) is a north-south thoroughfare in the Central Business District of Saint Petersburg. Gorokhovaya Street is one of central Saint Petersburg's major thoroughfares, extending from t ...

, and Voznesensky Avenue - underscoring the importance Peter I placed on Russia's Navy. Until merger and relocation to the town of Pushkin in 1998 the building housed which since 1927 was named after

Felix Dzerzhinsky Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky ( pl, Feliks Dzierżyński ; russian: Фе́ликс Эдму́ндович Дзержи́нский; – 20 July 1926), nicknamed "Iron Felix", was a Bolshevik revolutionary and official, born into Polish nobility ...

Vladimir Nabokov Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov (russian: link=no, Владимир Владимирович Набоков ; 2 July 1977), also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin (), was a Russian-American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Bor ...

, writer and native of St. Petersburg, wrote a short story in May 1933 entitled "The Admiralty Spire."

References

External links

{{Coord, 59.937601, N, 30.308576, E, type:landmark, display=title Buildings and structures in Saint Petersburg Russian Navy Tourist attractions in Saint Petersburg Government buildings completed in 1823 Neoclassical architecture in Russia Cultural heritage monuments of federal significance in Saint Petersburg

See also

References

External links