The Environs of Leningrad [antikvár]

Dear reader, We hope that this guide to the environs of Leningrád will prove useful to those ofyou who wish to see more ofthe beautíful places that encircle the city on the Neva like a necklace ofpearls. Most likely you will have already felt something ofthe pulsing rhythm of city life in Leningrád itself and had a chance to admire its long avenues and broad squares, its gránité embankments and magnificent palaces and its many monuments, bridges and cathedrals. Leningrád must certainly rank among the most beautiful cities in the world. It was the first European capital to be built according to a preconceived plan and was subsequently developed according to clearly defined and progressively orientated town-planning principles. The result ofthis has been the creation of a unique architectural ensemble comprising the central regions ofthe city and its environs-Peterhof (now Petrodvorets), Tsarskoye Selo (now Pushkin), Pavlovsk and other suburban spots. Their palaces, fountains and parks which were designed by architects of historical fame and built by Russian masterbuilders have been an object of continued admiration and wonderment for more than two and a half centuries. If architecture is music rendered visible and tangible in stone, then the great architects, builders, stone-masons, carvers and gold-smiths created a veritable symphony on the banks ofthe Neva. Care and concern for our great cultural heritage is an integrál part ofthe policies ofour socialist state. One ofthe first decrees ofthe new Soviet Republic was a decree on the nationalisation of cultural monuments and landmarks and making them widely available to the public. "It is absolutely indispensable," Lenin said, "to direct all our efforts to maintaining the pillars ofculture, otherwise the proletariat will not forgive us." In your excursions around Petrodvorets, Pushkin and Pavlovsk you will see astounding works by great Russian and European architects, sculptors and painters who built these beautiful estates in the 18th century as suburban residences for the tsars of Russia, whose capital was St. Petersburg (Leningrád). But it is not only the object ofthis book to describe the places of cultural and artistic interest that arefound in the