Great Gostiny Dvor

Great Gostiny Dvor is a large shopping center in the center of St. Petersburg on Nevsky Prospekt. The building where the department store is located was built in the middle of the 18th century. The design of the building can be considered typical, similar shops were built everywhere, in different cities of Russia. But each time the project was rethought and with a careful examination, you can find a large number of differences.

I took these photos in the winter, on some photos you can see the Christmas decoration.

Galleries surround the building on both the first and second floors. I walked through the gallery of the second floor, on the first floor is much more crowded.

The architecture of such buildings was determined by their purpose. In addition to the premises for trade, it was required to erect buildings for storing goods, customs, stables, hotels for merchants. Department stores of this type were built in the form of an area surrounded by galleries. In the center were warehouses, barns and office space.

The Great Gostiny Dvor building overlooks four streets. Now the galleries are named after these streets. But in the last century, their names came from basic goods. For example, the gallery with shops along Sadovaya Street was called the Mirror Line. It sounds very beautiful.