Kamenny Islands

Kamenny Islands

Каменные острова
Map of Kronstadt bay with the Kamenny Islands on the right side
Kamenny Islands
Geography
Location	Gulf of Finland
Coordinates	59°59′N 30°17′E / 59.98°N 30.29°E / 59.98; 30.29Coordinates: 59°59′N 30°17′E / 59.98°N 30.29°E / 59.98; 30.29
Archipelago	Kamenny Islands
Total islands	3
Area	5.4 km2 (2.1 sq mi)
Length	5.3 km (3.29 mi)
Width	1.9[1]
Highest elevation	18 m (59 ft)
Administration
Russian Federation
Region	Saint Petersburg

Kamenny Islands (Russian: Каменные острова, Kamenny Ostrova, meaning 'Stony Islands') are a group of three islands in the Neva delta, Russian Federation.

Geography

The three islands are flat. They are divided by channels and have bridges connecting each other, as well as the group with the mainland. The Kamenny Islands are part of the city of Saint Petersburg

Kamenny Island

Kamenny Island (Russian: Каменный остров, meaning 'Stone Island'), with an area of 1.06 km², it is the easternmost island and gives its name to the group.^[2] It was renamed as Workers' Island (Russian: остров Трудящихся) in Soviet times.^[3] Since that era and to this day, government residences have been located on Kamenny Island.

Yelagin Island

Yelagin Island (Russian: Елагин остров) lies in the centre/north, where the Yelagin Palace is located.^[4]

Krestovsky Island

Krestovsky Island (Russian: Крестовский остров) is the westernmost and largest island. It is the location of the Kamenny Island Palace.^[5]

History of Kamenny Island

Peter the Great presented Kamenny Island to Count Gavriil Golovkin, Chancellor of the Russian Empire. After his family fell into disgrace, the island passed to his successor, Count Aleksei Petrovich Bestuzhev-Ryumin. A decade later, Empress Elizabeth granted it to the future Peter III of Russia.

During the 19th century, the island was home to summer retreats ("dachas") of the Russian royalty and nobility. At the easternmost tip of the island stands the Kamennoostrovsky Palace, built by Georg von Veldten for Paul I and the Neo-Gothic church of Saint John of Jerusalem (1776–81) constructed in honor of the victory at Chesma and frequented by Alexander Pushkin during his stay at a dacha on Kamenny Ostrov. A cluster of Pushkin's last poems, including his version of Exegi monumentum, date from that period.

To the west lies a park with numerous mansions from the beginning of the 20th century, and some of the finest Moderne constructions in the city: the Shene Mansion (3 Skvoznoi Proyezd), the Follenweider Mansion (13 Bolshaya Alleya) and the Meltser Mansion (8 Polevaya Alleya). The Polovtsov Dacha (1911–13), with its opulent interiors, is a gem of the 20th-century Neoclassicism.

Landscape of Kamenny Island in 1786

Kamenny Island in 2011. View over the Malaya Nevka River.

Further reading

• Витязева В. А. Каменный остров. Л., 1975.

References

External links

• Views of Kamenny Island
• View of Kamennoostrovsky Palace
• Dachas of Kamenny Island
• History of architecture