Dvortsovaya Ploshchad (Palace Square)

Dvortsovaya Ploshchad (Palace Square) Review

One of the world's most magnificent plazas, the square is a stunning ensemble of buildings and open space, a combination of several seemingly incongruous architectural styles in perfect harmony. It's where the city's Imperial past has been preserved in all its glorious splendor, but it also resonates with the history of the revolution that followed. Here, the fate of the last Russian tsar was effectively sealed, on Bloody Sunday in 1905, when palace troops opened fire on peaceful demonstrators, killing scores of women and children. It was across Palace Square in October 1917 that Bolshevik revolutionaries stormed the Winter Palace in a successful attempt to overthrow Kerensky's Provisional Government, an event that led to the birth of the Soviet Union. Almost 75 years later, during tense days, huge crowds rallied on Palace Square in support of perestroika and democracy. Today, the beautiful square is a bustling hubbub of tourist and marketing activity, lively yet seemingly imperturbable as ever. Horseback and carriage rides are available for hire here. A carriage ride around the square costs about 200R per person. A 20-minute tour of the city in the direction of your choosing costs about 2,000R, for up to six people.