Tsentralny (Central) District

Categories / City Topography/Historical Geography/City Districts (2003)
TSENTRALNY (CENTRAL) DISTRICT, an administrative-territorial entity within St. Petersburg, with the territorial administration situated at 176 Nevsky Prospect. The district was set up in 1994, when Smolninsky District, Kuybyshevsky District and Dzerzhinsky District were consolidated into one. The territory stretches from the Bolshaya Neva River and Obvodny Canal. It is linked with Krasnogvardeysky District by the Alexander Nevsky Bridge and the Bolsheokhtinsky Bridge; the Liteyny Bridge connects the territory to Vyborgskaya Side, the Troitsky Bridge links it with Petrogradsky District and the Dvortsovy Bridge establishes the connection between Tsentralny District and Vasilievsky Island. The territory borders on Admiralteysky District in the west. The area of the district amounts to 17.7 square kilometres, while the population totals 244,400 persons as of 2003. Tsentralny District is the most densely populated territory of the city, with the density of population coming up to 14,000 inhabitants per square kilometre. The territory of the district comprises numerous establishments and institutions, because of which the population increases by several times during the day. There are six municipal units within the limits of the district: Dvortsovy Precinct (Palace Precinct), Liteyny Precinct, Vladimirsky Precinct, Smolninskoe, Ligovka-Yamskaya and the municipal precinct No. 78. Most of the territory of the district forms a part of the municipal protective zone, the building of new industrial enterprises is prohibited there. The intense development of the left bank of the Neva River started in the 1700s. The plan of St. Petersburg dated 1738 features the development of Nevsky Prospect and Liteyny Avenue, Millionnaya Street, Konyushennaya Street, Tchaikovskogo Street, all of them still only in the planning stage. By the late 18th century the planning of the district had almost entirely acquired its present-day shape, with Peski remaining the only unbuilt area. The architectural image of the territory, which had formed by the mid-19 century, is defined by numerous palace complexes: the Winter Palace and the Hermitage, Mikhailovsky Palace, Mikhailovsky Castle, Taurida Palace, Mramorny Palace (Marble Palace); Kazan Cathedral and Smolny Cathedral, Bolshoy Gostiny Dvor, the building of the Russian National Library and the Alexandrinsky Theatre. The district was the setting for many historical events, which determined the fate of the country, the palace coups of the 18th century, the events of 1905 and 1917. The district also accommodates nine metro stations: Nevsky Prospect, Gostiny Dvor, Ploshchad Vosstaniya , Mayakovskaya, Vladimirskaya, Dostoevskaya, Ploshchad Alexandra Nevskogo, Chernyshevskaya, Ligovsky Prospect metro stations; the first four of the stations consist of interchanges for different metro lines. The area of the district also locates Moskovsky Railway Station. Nevsky Prospect is the major traffic artery and business-commercial axis of the territory. Much significance should also be attached to Liteyny Avenue, Ligovsky Avenue, Suvorovsky Avenue, Sadovaya Street and to the embankments of the Neva River, the Fontanka River and Obvodny Canal. In general, Tsentralny District is the administrative, business and commercial centre of St. Petersburg which was formed in the course of historical development. It accommodates the Administration of St. Petersburg and the Government of Leningrad Region, the Head Department of Internal Affairs and the Administration of Federal Security Service of St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region, numerous consulates and the bodies of federal and municipal authorities. There are several thousand trade establishments and human services establishments in the district, including large shopping centres, such as Gostiny Dvor, the Passage, DLT (the House of Leningrad Trade), Apraksin Dvor, Maltsevsky Market and Kuznechny Market. Located in the district are 28 museums, including such world-known establishments as the State Hermitage, the State Russian Museum, the Russian Ethnographic Museum, Alexander Pushkin All-Russian Museum, and 37 theatres and concert halls, like the Pushkin Academic Drama Theatre, Mussorgsky Opera and Ballet Theatre, Tovstonogov Bolshoy Drama Theatre, Philharmonic Hall, Capella, Oktyabrsky Grand Concert Hall. There are also 34 libraries, including Russian National Library and V.V. Mayakovsky Central Municipal Library, and 12 higher educational institutions: Herzen Russian State Pedagogical University, Professor M.A. Bonch-Bruevich University of Telecommunications, the University of Design and Technology, the State University of Economics and Finance etc. Guests of the city are welcome to the services of the following hotels: Evropa Grand Hotel, Nevsky Palace Hotel, Moskva Hotel, Oktyabrskaya Hotel and Radisson SAS Royal Hotel. The district is also unique for the accumulation of monuments under the state protection: its territory accommodates over 440 monuments of architecture and town-planning, 20 monumental statues, over 100 historical monuments and a number of monuments of landscape architecture (the Summer Garden, Mikhaylovsky Garden, Taurida Garden). The cemeteries of Alexander Nevsky Lavra have gained national significance as a necropolis.

References: Даринский А. В. Невский край: С.-Петербург и Ленингр. обл.: Природа. Население. Хоз-во. Р-ны. СПб., 2000; Памятники истории и культуры Санкт-Петербурга, состоящие под государственной охраной: Справ. СПб., 2000; Атлас исторического наследия Санкт-Петербурга. СПб., 2001; Историческая застройка Санкт-Петербурга: Перечень вновь выявленных объектов, представляющих ист., науч., худож. или иную культурную ценность (учетных зданий): Справ. СПб., 2001.

Е. А. Bondarchuk, P.Y. Yudin. Bonch-Bruevich Mikhail Alexandrovich
Herzen Alexander Ivanovich
Mayakovsky Vladimir Vladimirovich
Mussorgsky Modest Petrovich
Pushkin Alexander Sergeevich
Tovstonogov Georgy Alexandrovich
Bolshaya Konyushennaya St./Saint Petersburg, city
Fontanka River Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city
Ligovsky Ave/Saint Petersburg, city
Liteiny Ave/Saint Petersburg, city
Malaya Konyushennaya St./Saint Petersburg, city
Millionnaya St./Saint Petersburg, city
Nevsky prospect/Saint Petersburg, city
Nevsky prospect/Saint Petersburg, city, house 176
Obvodny Canal Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city
Sadovaya St./Saint Petersburg, city
Suvorovsky Ave/Saint Petersburg, city
Tchaikovskogo St./Saint Petersburg, city
Центральный район
Даринский А. В. Невский край: С-Петербург и Ленингр. обл.: Природа. Население. Хоз-во. Районы. СПб., 2000
Даринский А. В., Асеева И. В. География Санкт-Петербурга. СПб., 1996
Историческая застройка Санкт-Петербурга: Перечень вновь выявленных объектов, представляющих ист., науч., худож. или иную культур. ценность (учетных зданий): Справ. СПб., 2001
Атлас исторического наследия Санкт-Петербурга. СПб., 2001
Памятники истории и культуры Санкт-Петербурга, состоящие под государственной охраной: Справ. СПб., 2000 Winter Palace
Hermitage
Hermitage
Mikhailovsky Palace
Mikhailovsky Castle
Tauride Palace
Marble Palace
Kazan Cathedral
Cathedral of the Renewal of the Jerusalem Holy Resurrection Temple
Bolshoy Gostiny Dvor
Russian National Library
Alexandrinsky Theatre
Palace Coups (entry)
February Revolution of 1917
Revolution of 1905-07
Moskovsky Railway Station
Passage, department store
Leningrad Trading House
Apraksin Yard
Russian Museum, State
Mussorgsky Opera and Ballet Theatre
Tovstonogov Bolshoy Drama Theatre
Philharmonic named after D.D. Shostakovich
Mayakovsky Library, central, municipal
Pedagogical University
Telecommunications University
State University of Technology and Design, St. Petersburg
State University of Economics and Finances, St. Petersburg
Grand Hotel Europe
Corinthia Nevskij Palace Hotel
Moscow, Hotel
Pribaltiiskaya Hotel
Alexander Nevsky Lavra