Admiralteyskiy III - The Bronze Horseman
"And all the night the madman, poor,
where'er he might direct his steps,
aft him the Bronze Horseman, for sure,
keeps on the heavy-treading race"
- A.S. Pushkin, extract from The Bronze Horseman poem
14/1/1913 - The Embassy of Germany the day it was officially opened. Several members of the community criticized the Teutonic style of the building as being hostile to the architectural style of the city.
23/8/1941 - The impressive statues of Castor and Pollux were lost in 1914, when the angry crowd stormed the building and torched the throne room. Today the facade shows heavy damage from German artillery fire. Being used now as a hospital, the hole in the roof has been covered with wooden boards.
Anti-aircraft guns and machine gun posts in the Northern shore of the Neva river. In the distance we see Saint Isaac's Cathedral and the Senate and Synod building.
15/7/1941 - Hotel Anglaterre. The First World War prevented its demolition when it was planed that the Astoria would be expanded mirrowing the existing building. Parked near the entrance there are three official Gaz-M1 cars.
2/8/1941 - The Senate and Synod building; a magnificent piece of architecture serving as storage for the Russian State Historical Archive. Just crossing Senatskaya Avenue we find the statue of Peter the Great, also know as the Bronze Horseman after Pushkin's poem. Oddly enough, the statue is aligned to that of Nicholas I and they are almost at identical distance from Saint Isaac's Cathedral.
The Bronze Horseman has been protected with wood and sand. This was less risky than the first proposal, which was to sink it to the bottom of the Neva river, as had been planned at the time of Napoleon's invasion of Russia.
30/8/1941 - The Senate and Synod building as seen from the Neva river. To the top left of the picture we see the statue of Peter hidden in a great sandbox. To the bottom, a gunboat patrols the river very close to the shore.
Disclaimer: This CJ includes original photos taken during the siege. To my knowledge none of them is protected by copyright, but if I were wrong I'm happy to delete any picture that infringes the law.
----------------------------------[CREDITS]----------------------------------
I'd like to dedicate this entry to Odainsaker, whose feedback in the previous update has inspired half of the content featured in this one.
Thank you all for commenting, it is a strong encouragement to have the support of so many people 
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