This place
Palace Square is the central square of St. Petersburg and is named for the Winter palace which faces it. For a long time this area was simply a field and the square was only formed in the early 19th century when the architect Carlo Rossi created a single architectural complex by building the General Staff Building.
The column in the centre of Palace Square bears the name of Alexander I and stands as a monument to the Russian victory over Napoleon in 1812.
It was put up in 1834 by the order of Nicholas I. It is topped with a statue of angel who`s facial features bear great similarity to the face of Alexander I. The bas-reliefs on the pedestal represent scenes that symbolically glorify the success of the Russian army and the courage of the Russian soldiers
Interesting fact: The Alexander column is 47 m high and is made of a single block of granite, standing upright only due to its immense weight, 700 tons. It was raised with the help of a special scaffolding in only 1 hour and 45 minutes.
This day in the History of St.Petersburg
On February 27, 1781, Catherine II signed a decree establishing first in Russia public schools. The first 6 schools were opened at empress`s own expense. The subjects included religious rules, rituals and studying of the Bible, as well as reading, writing, drawing and arithmetic. It was declared that children from all ranks of society and both boys and girls should be admitted except for serfs.
“Plebeians should not be educated, otherwise they will know as much as you and I and will not obey us to the same extent as now,” – she wrote to one of her associates.
Nevertheless, it was the first attempt to create a public educational system.
