The English Embankment in St. Petersburg is located on the left bank of the Neva between the Senate Square and the Novo-Admiralteysky Canal . In the past, the English Quay had a huge number of names : in total this highway had about 22 names at different times . In the beginning of the 18th century it was called the Coastal Lower Embankment Street, a bit later - Isaakievskaya Embankment and Galernaya Embankment . In the 1770s the embankment became English . From 1918 to 1994 it was called the Embankment of Kras th Fleet . Then in honor of the arrival of Queen Elizabeth II from Great Britain the street was returned to its former name .
The first house on the English Embankment was built in 1710 by Alexander Menshikov . At that time he supervised the construction of the shipyard . Peter I planned to use these lands exclusively for industrial purposes, but Menshikov allowed to build a house . First English Quay was an unpresentable area, there were only small buildings of poor workers . But after 1714 everything changed, Peter began to give out these lands to rich and powerful people . But with several conditions: the architecture of buildings had to meet certain requirements, and the owners of the houses were supposed to at his own expense to beautify the shore . The Tsar personally followed the construction process, and everything that he did not like (in particular, wooden houses) was demolished . Of course, all this was done for a reason: The English quay played the role of the city's business card . @ This is the first highway seen by foreign ships sailing to St. Petersburg .
In 1735, Russia and England signed an agreement according to which the homes of English merchants in our country were exempt from tax. Enterprising St. Petersburg immediately began to sell their property to foreigners. Gradually the street turned into a real mini-England. In this case, even had to rebuild the house number 56 and make it the Anglican Church of Jesus Christ. Then there was an English club and a theater.
Local residents are very fond of this street, walks along the embankment became fashionable. In the early 19th century, Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin was often here. The poet served in the building of the College of Foreign Affairs, located on the embankment, and often visited the families of Osterman-Tolstoy, Laval and Vsevolzhsky. After some time, there were practically no Britons left, wealthy Petersburgers settled in the houses.
Many houses on the English embankment have historical and cultural value . So, for example, house number 44 belonged to Foreign Minister Nikolai Rumyantsev, the son of a well-known commander . Count Rumyantsev was not only brilliant diplomat, but also a collector . He collected everything that was somehow connected with the history of Russia, the way of life and culture of Russian people - manuscripts, books, relics . All this was presented in his museum, which anyone could visit . Later his huge library and the museum was transported to Moscow and became the basis of the Russian State Library named after Lenin and the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts .
House No. 4, where Countess Laval lived, became famous for her literary salon, where frequent guests were Krylov, Pushkin, Zhukovsky, Lermontov. House number 14 belonged to Naryshkin and was known for his magnificent balls with many guests. There is a version that Tolstoy in his work "War and Peace", describing the first ball of Natasha Rostova, had in mind either this house, or No. 10, belonging to Osterman-Tolstoy. In the house No. 32 there was the Foreign Affairs Collegium where Griboyedov, Fonvizin, Tyutchev, and later Pushkin and Kuchelbecker served. It was near the Promenade des Anglais in 1917 that the cruiser Aurora made its historic shot, which became a signal of an attack on the Winter Palace.
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| English Embankment |
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| Promenade des Anglais Rumyantsev Mansion, Promenade des Anglais |
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| promenade des Anglais Mansion Tenisheva promenade des Anglais |
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| English Embankment Palace of Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich, Promenade des Anglais |
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| House of the Board of Foreign Affairs, English Embankment |