The city of our dream.

I)Walk around the old centre II)Skyscrapers: for and against. III)Things that spoil city image. IV)City of our dream

St. Petersburg In 1703 Tsar Peter the Great founded St. Petersburg, a city on the banks of the Neva River. St. Petersburg, the first Russian city where many houses were made of stone. Peter the Great wanted to make city very beautiful. Now, we can say that St. Petersburg is one of the most beautiful cities of Russia, Europe and the whole world. St. Petersburg is situated on many islands. A lot of small rivers and canals separate different parts of the city from each other. St. Petersburg has a lot of symbols. Perhaps most famous symbol of the city is the monument to Peter the Great in Dekabrists Square (the Bronze Horseman). Great architects of the 18th and 19th centuries worked in S1. Petersburg: V. Rastrelli, A. V oronihin and K. Rossi. Petersburg is the only megalopolis in the world whose center as a whole is one the UNESCO.

Peter and Paul Fortress. Opening hours: Mon & Thurs – Sun 11am-6pm, Tues 11am- 5pm; closed Wed & the last Tues of each month. The Peter and Paul Fortress was founded by Peter the Great on a small island in the Neva delta on May 27, 1703 (May 16 according to the old calendar. More pleasantly, the Peter and Paul Fortress is home to the Peter and Paul Cathedral, a church where almost all the Russian Emperors and Empresses from Peter the Great to Nicholas are buried. The Cathedral was the first church in the city to be built of stone (in ).

Hermitage. The State Hermitage features one of the largest art collections in the world. The collection includes culture objects concerning the period from the Stone Age till modern times. The Hermitage occupies five magnificent buildings along the Neva River.

The Russian Museum. Address: 4, Inzhenernaya street. Opening hours: Wed – Sun 10am-5pm, Mon till 4pm, closed Tues. The State Russian Museum has the world's largest collection of Russian fine art. It was opened on March 7 (March 19, New Style), The collections of the Russian Museum number over 400,000 exhibits.

St. Isaak’s Cathedral. Address: 1, Isaakievskaya square. Opening hours: 11am – 6pm, closed Wed. The history of St. Isaac Cathedral dates back to the construction of the small wooden church. The church was built in 1710 close to the Admiralty on the place where nowadays the Bronze Horseman stands.

The Summer Garden & The Summer Palace of Peter the Great The Summer garden is a world of giant trees that were planted hundred of years ago. This place is famous for one of the first stone buildings in St. Petersburg - the Summer palace of Peter the Great, which was built in by D. Trezzini. Here you can also find Peter's study room, his bedroom, the workshop, dining room, kitchen and receptions rooms.

The Kunstkammer (The Peter the Great Anthropology and Ethnography Museum) Address: 3, Universitetskaya embankment Opening hours: 11am – 5 pm, closed Mon & the last Tues of each month The Kunstkammer was founded in It was intended for the library and collections of "monsters and rarities" gathered by Peter I. Nowadays the Kunstkammer contains the collections of the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography based.

The Mikhailovsky Castle. Address: 2, Sadovaya street Opening hours: 10am – 5pm, closed Tues The Mikhailovsky Castle was constructed in by the order of Paul I. He didn't like the Winter Palace where he could never feel himself safe.

The Cathedral of Christ’s Resurrection (The Church of the Savior on the Blood) Address: 2a, Canal Griboedova Opening hours: 11am – 6pm, closed Wed One of the most beautiful cathedrals of Saint Petersburg. The cathedral was constructed in the style of the 16th-17th century Russian architecture and has a lot in common with the Church of St. Basil the Blessed in Moscow.

The Kazan Cathedral. Address: 2, Kazanskaya square Services daily The cathedral replaced the wooden church that had been constructed in by architect Zemtsev. Icon of Our Lady of Kazan was a family relic of the Romanovs and was thought to be the patroness of all Russia.

Things that spoil the view of the city. We can see, that there are many advertisements in our city. Some advertisement labels are fixed to the trees. There are many advertisements on the edge of town. Valentina Matviyenko has offered to elicit advertisement from the city. A group was created to regulate and standardize advertisement in the city. She suggested removing the banners at the advertisers’ expense and large advertisements were banned in St. Petersburg because of the unique architectural environment, especially in the city center.

Opinions about Gaspromcity. The construction of this huge building will damage all the houses near this skyscraper. The houses will crack because this building will be situated on the bank of the river Neva and the soil is very poor here. It will spoil the view because it will be in the centre of our city and the other buildings are not so high. Of course the construction of this business centre will attract investment and create new working places but I don’t think that we will get benefits. Personally we dislike this idea for many reasons: It doesn’t suit the image of the city. It will surely disturb the life of the citizens. Finally, there is enough infrastructure to serve this building.

City of our dreams.

Использованная литература. fortress.asp