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Sennaya Square

Categories / City Topography/Urban Network/Squares

SENNAYA SQUARE (from 1952 to 1991 - Mira Square), located at the intersection of Sadovaya Street (some buildings numbered) and Moskovsky Avenue. The St. Petersburg Construction Commission proposed the construction of an extensive square on this site, but following the resolution of Commission for Stone Construction in St. Petersburg and Moscow in the 1760s, the dimensions of the square were reduced. The name Sennaya Square dates back to the late 18th century and comes from the goods sold here ("seno" is Russian for hay, and the name fully translates as "Haymarket Square"). In 1753-65, Holy Assumption Church on Sennaya Square was constructed (demolished in 1961) and opposite it a guardhouse was built (building 37, 1818-20, architect V.I. Beretti). In the early 19th century, Sennaya Square was built up with stone houses, among which building 39 (late 18th - early 19th centuries, reconstructed in 1830, architect A.I. Melnikov) stands out. Until the middle of the 19th century, the square was used as a public execution ground (so-called trade executions, which consisted of floggins and branding) for people found guilty of robbery, theft and fraud. In June 1831, a mass spontaneous rebellion, known as the Cholera Revolt of 1831, took place on Sennaya Square. In the second half of the 19th century, a number of apartment houses were constructed and buildings of Sennoy Market appeared in the centre of the square (1883-86, architect I.S. Kitner, engineers G.E. Pauker and O.E. Krell, not preserved). The neighbouring area was populated by the poor (one of the terrible slum was "Vyazemskaya Lavra" - the complex of buildings on the lot between modern Moskovsky Avenue, Efimova Street and the Fontanka River, not preserved), the everyday life, morals and manners of their inhabitants were depicted by F.M. Dostoevsky and V.V. Krestovsky. In the 1910s, a tramway started running across Sennaya Square. In the 1920s, slums, taverns and dens surrounding the square were destroyed; in the 1930s, the square was reconstructed, buildings of Sennoy Market were taken down, the ground was paved with asphalt and planted with trees. In 1941-44, many houses in the region of the square were damaged by gun-fire and bombing, the house at the corner of Grivtsova Lane was destroyed. In the 1940s, the Column of Peace was installed (not preserved). In 1950, building 9 (architect M.Y. Klimentov) was constructed, buildings on the west side of the square were covered with a uniform facade. In 1963, Ploshchad Mira (today Sennaya) metro station started functioning, and, in 1991, Sadovaya metro station was put into operation. Since the early 1990s, an unlicensed market functioned on Sennaya Square (liquidated after the construction of the new Sennoy Market in 1998). In 2003, Sennaya Square was redeveloped, new trade buildings, a fountain and a chapel in the memory of the demolished Holy Assumption Church were constructed on Sennaya Square.

Reference: Канн П. Я. Площадь Мира - бывшая Сенная... // Нева. 1974. № 10. С. 210-211; Синюхаев Б. Г. Садовая улица. Л., 1974. С. 110-130; Бахтиаров А. А. Брюхо Петербурга: Очерки столич. жизни. СПб., 1994.

G. Y. Nikitenko.

Beretti Vikenty Ivanovich
Dostoevsky Fedor Mikhailovich
Kitner Ieronim Sevastianovich
Klimentov Mikhail Yakovlevich
Krell Otton Egorovich
Krestovsky Vsevolod Vladimirovich
Melnikov Avraam Ivanovich
Pauker German Egorovich (Herman Julius Georg) von

Efimova Street/Saint Petersburg, city
Grivtsova Lane/Saint Petersburg, city
Moskovsky Ave/Saint Petersburg, city
Sadovaya St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 39
Sadovaya St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 37
Sadovaya St./Saint Petersburg, city
Sennaya Square/Saint Petersburg, city

Канн П. Я.. Площадь Мира - бывшая Сенная... // Нева, 1974
Синюхаев Б. Г. Садовая улица. Л., 1974

The subject Index
Commission for St. Petersburg Construction
Commission for St. Petersburg and Moscow Stone Construction
Holy Assumption Church on Sennaya Square
Guardhouse (general article)
Cholera Riot 1831