Nevsky Prospekt

Nevsky runs about four and a half kilometres from the Admiralty to the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, cut through forest from the 1710s as the road to Novgorod and Moscow. It was laid out from both ends at once by separate teams, and where they met near what is now Ploshchad Vosstaniya the alignments did not match - the street has a visible kink there, and the story is that Peter had the responsible parties flogged. Along it are the Stroganov Palace, the Kazan Cathedral colonnade, the Singer building with its glass globe, Gostiny Dvor, the Eliseyev grocery with its Art Nouveau interior, the Anichkov bridge with Klodt's four horse-taming groups, and the Catherine statue in front of the Alexandrinsky theatre. Gogol, Dostoevsky and Bely all wrote it as a character. During the siege the northern side of the street carried painted warnings that it was the more dangerous in shelling, and one is preserved.

What you actually see

• The kink - the bend near Vosstaniya where two survey teams failed to meet.
• The buildings - Stroganov Palace, Singer, Gostiny Dvor and the Eliseyev grocery.
• The Anichkov bridge - Klodt's four horse-taming bronze groups.
• The siege sign - a preserved warning about which side of the street was more dangerous.

When to go

May to September, with the white nights in June; December for lights and Christmas markets. Half a day to walk it end to end.

Honest expectations

Extremely crowded, particularly between the Admiralty and Vosstaniya. Traffic is heavy and crossings are underpasses in places. Pickpocketing and street-scam approaches are common. The eastern end towards the Lavra is much plainer than the western.

Nearby

The Hermitage is at the western end; the Alexander Nevsky Lavra closes the eastern.