Explore the real places in St. Petersburg that appear in The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons. Each location on the map shows what happens there in the novel, the real history of the place, and what's there today. Featured locations include Kirov Factory Area and the Metanov Apartment, Bronze Horseman Monument, Summer Garden, Kirovsky Islands Park (Kirov Islands), Palace Square and the Winter Palace and 7 more.
Kirovsky District, Narvskaya Zastava — the Metanov family's cramped home
The Metanov family lives in a cramped communal apartment in Leningrad's industrial south. Tatiana and her sister Dasha share one room with their brother Pasha and their parents, Marina and Georgy. Here the family endures the first shortages of the war and the winter hunger that nearly destroys them. The apartment is where Tatiana's secret love for Alexander collides with Dasha's claim on him.
The Narvskaya Zastava and Kirov district was a heavily industrial working-class area, built up in the Soviet era around the Kirov Plant. It was close to the front line and came under heavy German shelling during the siege. Housing was overcrowded, with multiple families commonly sharing apartments.
The district is a residential and industrial area of Saint Petersburg, with the Kirov Plant still operating. Narvskaya Gate, a triumphal arch, remains a notable monument. The exact fictional apartment is not identifiable and is not a visitor site.
Senate Square — Peter the Great statue that gives the novel its title
The statue of Peter the Great on his rearing horse is a recurring symbol of the city and of Tatiana and Alexander's love, and the book's title refers to it. Alexander is the figure of the horseman in Tatiana's mind: a commanding, enigmatic soldier. The statue stands in the city's heart during the war, shrouded and sandbagged for protection against bombs.
Commissioned by Catherine the Great and sculpted by Étienne Maurice Falconet, the monument was unveiled in 1782. It was immortalized by Pushkin's 1833 poem 'The Bronze Horseman'. During the siege it was covered in sandbags and boards to protect it.
The statue stands on Senate Square near the Neva embankment and is one of Saint Petersburg's most famous landmarks. It is freely accessible and always crowded with visitors and photographers.
Visit: Bronze Horseman Monument (monument)
Along the Fontanka and Neva — where Tatiana and Alexander meet and walk
Tatiana and Alexander's early meetings and walks occur in the city's parks and gardens in the summer of 1941. In the Summer Garden among the statues and linden trees, their feelings deepen and they imagine a future together. The beauty of the gardens contrasts sharply with the approaching war and the lovers' growing danger.
Founded by Peter the Great in 1704, the Summer Garden is the oldest park in Saint Petersburg and was laid out with fountains and marble sculptures. It was heavily damaged by floods and war and underwent a major restoration completed in 2012.
The Summer Garden is a public park with restored statues, avenues and the nearby Summer Palace of Peter the Great. It is open to visitors for much of the year.
Visit: Summer Garden (park)
Kirovsky Islands — green outing area on the Neva delta
The islands are a pleasure ground where Leningraders go in the last peaceful summer days. Tatiana and Alexander's romance blossoms in outdoor spaces such as these, away from the watching eyes of family. Their time together here feels like a stolen respite before war closes in.
The islands of the Neva delta north of the center were developed as aristocratic estates and later as public parks. The Soviets renamed the group after Sergei Kirov in the 1930s. Today the islands are known as Yelagin, Kamenny and Krestovsky islands.
The islands comprise public parks including Yelagin Island with its palace and Krestovsky Island with its stadium and leisure grounds. They are popular for walking, boating and picnics.
Visit: Yelagin Island Park (park)
Dvortsovaya Ploshchad — heart of imperial Petersburg
The splendid palaces of the city are the backdrop for the novel's contrast between faded imperial grandeur and Soviet hardship. Tatiana and Alexander pass through the center of the city under the shadow of the Hermitage, whose treasures are being evacuated as the German army approaches. Its beauty heightens the sense of what the war threatens to destroy.
The Winter Palace was the official residence of the Russian emperors, completed in 1762. Its collections formed the Hermitage Museum, whose treasures were evacuated by train to the Urals in 1941, while staff sheltered in the basements during the siege.
The Winter Palace is part of the State Hermitage Museum, one of the largest art museums in the world. Palace Square is a vast public plaza anchored by the Alexander Column.
Visit: State Hermitage Museum (museum)
Main boulevard — Leningrad's central artery
Nevsky Prospekt is the great boulevard where Tatiana and Dasha walk, queue, and watch the city's changes after the German invasion is announced. Crowds gather around loudspeakers to hear of the war. Later its shops empty out and its residents grow thin as the blockade begins to bite.
Laid out in the early 18th century, Nevsky Prospekt became the city's principal avenue and the main commercial street. During the siege it was shelled repeatedly, and signs warned pedestrians of the more dangerous side of the street.
It is still the main shopping and cultural street of Saint Petersburg, lined with historic buildings, cafes and shops. Some preserved wartime signs remain on the side of the street.
Visit: Nevsky Prospekt (landmark)
Badayevsky Warehouses — site of the great food fire
Food becomes the central struggle of the Metanov family as winter 1941 arrives. Tatiana queues for bread rations that shrink from week to week and carries her family's survival on her shoulders. The loss of food stores to German bombing reflects the real horrors that set Leningrad on the path to famine.
On 8 September 1941 German bombers set fire to the Badayev warehouses, which held a large share of the city's food reserves. Contrary to myth, the fire destroyed only a portion of the supplies, but it came to symbolize the coming famine. Rations fell to 125 grams of bread per day for civilians in November 1941.
The Badayev warehouses area has been partly redeveloped, though some of the historic brick buildings remain. A memorial to the siege's victims stands nearby.
Along the Neva — lovers' meeting place by the water
The Neva is the setting for Tatiana and Alexander's most intimate talks, including one beside the water at night. Alexander reveals more of himself here, hinting at the dangerous secret of his past as an American-born son of defectors. The river later becomes the route of desperate journeys across the frozen waters.
The Neva embankments, faced in granite in the 18th and 19th centuries, define the city's historic center. During the siege the river was both a source of water and a place of death for residents. Its icy surface became part of the Road of Life in winter.
The granite embankments are a popular promenade for walking and sightseeing, with views of the Peter and Paul Fortress and the Hermitage.
Visit: Palace Embankment (landmark)
Zayachy Island — the city's founding citadel
The fortress rises across the river from the city center as a constant presence in Tatiana's Leningrad. Its beach is a place where citizens sunbathe and swim in the last peaceful days of June 1941. The grim history of its prison echoes the secret police terror that hangs over Alexander's past and the Metanov family's fears.
Founded in 1703 by Peter the Great, the fortress is the original nucleus of Saint Petersburg. It later served as a political prison and holds the tombs of the Romanov emperors in its cathedral.
The fortress is a museum complex with the Peter and Paul Cathedral, former prison bastion, and a city beach on its edge. It is open to the public year-round.
Visit: Peter and Paul Fortress (historic site)
Lake Ladoga — the only route out of the besieged city
The ice road across Lake Ladoga is the lifeline of the besieged city and a crucial setting in the novel's later part. Tatiana is evacuated across the lake in a desperate bid for survival. The frozen lake becomes the stage for loss, rescue and the lovers' fate under German bombardment.
From November 1941 the Road of Life carried food into Leningrad and evacuated civilians across the frozen Lake Ladoga under constant fire. Hundreds of thousands were evacuated over the winters of the siege. Many trucks fell through the ice.
The lakeshore at Osinovets has a Road of Life museum and memorials, including the Broken Ring monument. The area is open to visitors.
Visit: Road of Life Museum, Kokkorevo (museum)
Nevsky District — mass graves of the siege victims
The cemetery stands for the hundreds of thousands who died of starvation and cold, as the Metanov family fears to do. Like many Leningraders, the family lose loved ones during the dreadful winter of 1941–42. The depth of the tragedy provides the backdrop against which Tatiana's and Alexander's devotion is tested.
Opened in 1939, the cemetery holds the mass graves of about 420,000 civilians and 70,000 soldiers who died during the siege. The memorial ensemble, with the Motherland statue, was opened in 1960.
The memorial cemetery is a solemn public site with rows of mass-grave mounds, an eternal flame, and a pavilion museum. Visitors lay flowers and bread in remembrance.
Visit: Piskaryovskoye Memorial Cemetery (monument)
Saint Isaac's Square — landmark of the city skyline
The great golden dome dominates the skyline Tatiana sees as she moves through the city. During the war the dome was painted a dull gray to hide it from German bombers. It stands as a symbol of the city's endurance as the siege tightens around Leningrad.
Completed in 1858 to a design by Auguste de Montferrand, the cathedral was turned into a museum by the Soviets in the 1930s. In the war its golden dome was camouflaged, and the building was damaged by shell fragments whose marks remain on the columns.
Saint Isaac's Cathedral is a museum and one of the largest domed cathedrals in the world. Visitors can climb the colonnade for panoramic views of the city.
Visit: Saint Isaac's Cathedral (museum)
More by Paullina Simons: All Paullina Simons books
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