Animal statues and unusual monuments
One of the world's most highly planned historic cities, strictly molded to the specifications of generations of Russian Emperors, St. Petersburg's architecture and urban decorations are grand, ornate, and majestically beautiful, but rarely frivolous or fun. In recent decades, however, local artists have been able to introduce some more idiosyncratic monuments to the streets of the city, celebrating the city's folklore and civic history. Statues of animals, ranging from regal lions next to the Winter Palace to an 11-centimeter songbird from a famous nursery rhyme, have featured prominently in both traditions.
Four statues of horses standing at the corners of Anichkov Bridge on Nevsky Prospekt, the Horse Tamer by Peter Clodt are among St. Petersburg's most famous statues, admired for their muscular grace and naturalistic majesty.
Around 3,500 years old, the two sphinxes next to the pier in front of the Academy of Arts date from the reign of Pharaoh Amenhotep III. They were brought to St. Petersburg in the 1830s.
These magnificent lions, constructed of bronze leaf and modeled on famous marble statues in Florence. Dating from 1832, they were moved to make way for Palace Bridge in the 1910s.
One of the world's smallest monuments, the 11-centimeter Chizhik Pyzhik was installed in 1994 on Fontanka Embankment - right down by the water. This very Petersburg statue was created by the renowned Georgian sculptor Rezo Gabriadze.
This small statue in the channel next to the Peter and Paul Fortress is an unusual monument to the victims (animal as well as human) of the floods that have regularly affected St. Petersburg throughout its history.
Ivan Turgenev's tale Mumu, about the tragic fate of a deaf-and-dumb caretaker and his dog, is one of the best-known short stories in Russian. This little statue outside a cafe on Ploshchad Turgeneva commemorates the story.
Erected in 1998 to mark the 200th anniversary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, this statue by well-known local sculptor Albert Charkin stands in front of the Swedish Consulate on Malaya Konyushennaya Ulitsa.
A depiction of a generic photographer from the turn of the 20th century, thus characterful bronze sculpture on Malaya Sadovaya Ulitsa is located close to what was once a famous photographer's studio.
