Views from the colonnade of Isaac's cathedral are on the agenda today. Not only them though.
Unfortunately not from here, but lower - where the columns are. They say, once one could get to the top. But now the stairs which lead there are so rusty that even if they were opened, it would be insecure to go up them..
That's what the turrets around the main dome look like examined closely
We'll look around..
Isaac's square is right at the entrance into the cathedral. Hotel "Astoria" is in the left. Mariinsky palace (municipal duma) is in the center.
Car park in the square by duma is seemingly a guarded one :)
At least I doubt that he is blessing them..
If looking to the right from Mariinsky palace one can observe such panorama. Izmailovsky cathedral (Trinity-Izmailovsky actually) is in the right. Church of Christ's Resurrection on Obvodny canal is to the left (a thick and a thin, in the neighborhood).
Now we'll go around the dome and look in the direction of Neva.
This is Academy of Arts (nowadays there is Repin institute). It was built by architects Vallen-Delamot and Kokorinov (in 1764).
The building was repainted recently but this new color after repairs does not suit me at all :) But it's ok, in a year it'll be endurable.
Palace of Menshikov is a bit to the right from Academy.
Neva seems very narrow on these shots because of the great height..
Further - buildings of University. In particular, the light one in the right is Twelve Collegiums (prototype of the ministries in the times of Peter the I).
Construction on embankment (in the left) is remains of the first bridge over Neva which consisted of 38 boats with planking. Before that, under Peter the I, bridges were forbidden (as a hindrance to navigation).
We'll look down now.
Senate square (Decembrists square).
On the 14 of December in 1825 revolted guards' regiments lied here (decembrists, as they were called later).
Buildings of Senate and Synod (connected with the arc in the middle) are in the left.
By architect Karl Rossi, built in 1829-30.
Bronze Horseman is hiding behind the trees.
"Hey, you, down there!" ;-)
Looking even more to the right we see Peter-and-Paul's fortress (in the background) and Admiralty spire. It still remained in some scaffolding so I had to embroider the reality a bit..
And finally the last shot from the height - Palace square. It's interesting how lofty the church in the yard of Zimny(winter) palace seems. From the ground one can see only the dome, and not from all points at that.
Coming down
And several shots around Isaac's and the square..
Autumn animals
Autumn Alexandrovsky garden is very close to the Isaac's square
And on the way back home - lamps by the Italian bridge over Griboedov canal
In the next album you'll see autumn forest (though a bit of summer one will not be superfluous, I think).
