The heart of St. Petersburg and the city's main square - enclosed by Rastrelli's beautiful Baroque Winter Palace, Rossi's imposing General Staff Building and the historical home of the Russian Navy - the Admiralty, and centered on the impressive, 155 foot-tall Alexander Column.
This monument was named after Emperor Alexander I, who ruled Russia between 1801 and 1825 (during the Napoleonic Wars). The column is a wonderful piece of architecture and engineering. The Alexander Column, the focal point of Palace Square, was designed by the French-born architect Auguste de Montferrand and built between 1830 and 1834. The monument is 155 feet 8 inches tall and is topped with a statue of an angel holding a cross (the face of the angel is said to be modeled on the face of Emperor Alexander I). The body of the column is made of a single monolith of red granite, which stands 83 feet 6 inches high and about 11 feet 5 inches in diameter. It is a terrific feat of engineering that this enormous column, weighing an incredible 1,322,760 pounds (600 tons), was erected in under 2 hours without the aid of modern cranes and engineering machines. The pedestal of the Alexander Column is decorated with symbols of military glory. The monument is particularly impressive on a sunny evening shortly before dusk, when the last beams of sunlight are reflected in the polished red granite of the column. | | The General Saff and the Palace square  The Alexander column in the centre of the Palace square  Palace square  |
