Rostral Column and Fortress Skyline

A Panorama Over the Neva

This rooftop-height camera looks out from the Admiralty Embankment across the broad Neva River, one of the widest urban waterways in Europe. Passenger ferries and pleasure boats regularly cross the frame, tracing the same route sailors have followed since the city's founding.

The Rostral Column and the Strelka

On the far shore stands a Rostral Column, its shaft studded with bronze ship prows that once celebrated Russia's naval victories. It marks the tip of the Strelka of Vasilievsky Island, the historic spit where the old Stock Exchange and the Kunstkamera museum face the water.

Palace Bridge and the Fortress Beyond

The elegant spans of the Palace Bridge cross the middle of the view, linking the embankment to the island. Further along the river, the gilded spire of the Peter and Paul Cathedral catches the light above the walls of the fortress that gave the city its name.

An Imperial Cityscape

Together the bridge, the column and the fortress form one of Saint Petersburg's most photographed skylines, a scene of granite embankments and gilded domes that has defined the city's waterfront for three centuries.