Bolshoi Gostiny Dvor in Saint Petersburg (shopping center)

Updated: 24.11.2022
Yulia Klaos

Bolshoy Gostiny Dvor is a historic shopping department store in the center of St. Petersburg.

Gostiny Dvor is a monument of history and architecture of the 18th century.

Bolshoy Gostiny Dvor occupies an entire block in the historical center of St. Petersburg, and its main facade faces Nevsky Prospekt - one of the most visited streets in the city.

The history of Gostiny Dvor is closely connected with the formation of the city, when Gostiny Dvor was conceived by decree of the Empress Elizabeth Petrovna as the largest retail space in the Russian Empire.

Construction lasted from 1761 to 1785, designed by the French architect Jean-Baptiste-Michel Vallin-Delamotte, who built the building in the style of early classicism.

Gostiny Dvor had four trading lines, where merchants ' counters were located: the Cloth Line (now Nevsky), Bolshaya Surovskaya (now Perinnaya), Malaya Surovskaya (now Lomonosovskaya) and Mirror (now Sadovaya).

Subsequently, the facades of the Gostiny Dvor were modified. The main facade, facing Nevsky Prospekt, has acquired a new festive decor, designed by the architect and artist Albert Nikolaevich Benois.

During the Great Patriotic War, the building was badly damaged. In 1945-1948, Gostiny Dvor was restored according to the project and under the direction of the Soviet architect Oleg Leonidovich Lyalin. The facades again took on a look close to the Delamotte plan, and a new pediment decorated with bas-reliefs was built over the main portico on Nevsky Prospekt. Along the facade on Nevsky Prospekt, a lime alley was planted.

View of the portico of the Perinnaya Line (left) and the complex of the City Duma building with the tower (right) from Nevsky Prospekt

Bolshoy Gostiny Dvor occupies the block between Nevsky Prospekt, Sadovaya Street, Lomonosov Street and Perinnaya Line, together with Dumskaya Street (considered to be two separate streets).

Gostiny Dvor has lines (the same as a shopping mall in relation to a part of the market) and a courtyard.

Today, Bolshoy Gostiny Dvor, as well as many years ago, is a shopping place, the largest and most famous department store in the city.

In its 2-kilometer-long sales halls, more than three thousand Russian and foreign companies present their products, the range of which includes: collections of clothing, shoes and accessories for women, men and children, fur products, decorative items, tableware, premium gifts, light salon and home textiles.

The Big Gostiny Dvor traditionally hosts School and New Year's Bazaars.

In addition to trade, the Department Store provides a range of additional services:

- guests have the opportunity to relax and have a snack in a cafe, bar, pizzeria;

- visit the "Museum of the History of Merchants of St. Petersburg and Russia", located in a renovated building built in 1869, in the courtyard of Gostiny Dvor.

Here is also located the house church of St. Seraphim of Vyritsky (in the world Vasily Nikolaevich Muravyov), who was a prominent representative of the Russian merchant class. He began his career as a ten-year-old boy in Gostiny Dvor, where he worked as a messenger.

Today, the temple and museum located in Bolshoy Gostiny Dvor is a monument to Russian merchants, which is designed to show that you can successfully conduct business and at the same time maintain high spirituality;

- also on the territory of Gostiny Dvor is the International Academy of Music of Elena Obraztsova, where weekly concerts of students are held, which can be attended free of charge.