Photo: architectural monuments, other places, Admiralty, Saint Petersburg

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The Admiralty – the Engineering Creation of Peter the Great

Architectural Monuments • Other places

The Admiralty was built upon the drawings of Emperor Peter the Great, who created it as a major shipbuilding yard of Russia in the Baltic Sea. Total of 262 warships were designed here under the Emperor, and their construction lasted until 1844. Later, the Admiralty was used by various marine institutions, and now it houses the Naval Engineering Institute.

The П-shaped Admiralty building also performed a defensive function: it was embanked with bastions, and canals were dug on both sides. In 1711 the Admiralty building acquired a tower with a spire topped by 2-meter-high weather-vane in the form of a small sail warship (korablik), under which there was a gold-plated sphere with a money-box, which stored the samples of coins stricken in the local Mint. This ornament has survived to this day almost unchanged, but the Admiralty building was rebuilt. Since the XIX century, it is a three-storey building richly decorated with details that symbolize the power of the Russian fleet, like statues of nymphs and muses, figures of ancient generals, allegorical images of the elements, seasons and cardinal points: a total of 56 statues, 11 bas-reliefs and 350 molded items.

The Admiralty – the Engineering Creation of Peter the Great

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