Greetings, friends, today I decided to take a walk on the embankment of the Obvodny Canal, to the massive round towers of old red brick. The purpose of these towers remains a mystery to the casual traveler. They look like artifacts from a bygone civilization - but because they were built after the spread of written language, we can easily find out what they were for in the city's archives.
The four red-brick towers are located on the bank of the Obvodny Canal, historically an important transport artery of the city. In past centuries, cargo was transported mainly by water, and the banks were used for storing goods.
Especially for this post, I took an overview photo so that I could capture three towers at once (all four at once can only be photographed from above). I had to take it against the sun, so it was not very good, but it gives a general idea. In addition, one of the towers I was able to photograph as a whole by going to the farthest corner of the courtyard.
All of these towers were erected in the middle of the 19th century to store gas, when gas street lighting appeared and began to spread rapidly. Gas was used not only for street lighting, but for other purposes as well. But when it comes to these particular gas towers, they were built by the Metropolitan Lighting Society.
The popularity of gas lighting was short-lived: by the end of the 19th century, electric lanterns had already begun to supplant gas ones. The towers lost their significance as gas storages and were converted to industrial buildings or warehouses. At the end of the twentieth century, the unusual shape of these buildings began to seem romantic - and thus suitable for art galleries, clubs, and other creative spaces.
The four towers on the bank of the Obvodny Canal have different fates. The most spacious one is home to the Planetarium. On the embankment side at the entrance to the planetarium there is a big inflatable moon and it is hard to pass by without wondering what is going on here! A few steps down and you're in the courtyard.
Planetarium is proudly called Planetarium №1 and positions itself as the largest in the world. Perhaps it is - this tower is so big that I couldn't photograph it as a whole, only part of the wall fit in the frame. In addition to the Planetarium itself, there are several other interesting points here: a robotics museum, a library and a cafe.
The other three gas towers are a little farther away, and the space next to them is not as landscaped. The second largest tower houses the Lumiere Hall projection museum, and the third tower houses the clubhouse. The courtyard around these towers is being renovated, and it is not as comfortable as the planetarium courtyard, but you can see graffiti and installations made of shipping pallets.
Thanks to the renovations, the gates in the courtyard were open and I was able to approach the fourth tower, too. Inside this tower, some kind of workshop is operation. You can still see some old signs on the walls of this tower. It's amazing how the simplest informational plaques over time begin to look like witnesses to an era! At this point my walk was close to its conclusion - I saw even more than I had hoped and was very satisfied.
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| Smartphone | Google Pixel 3a |
| Location | Saint Petersburg, Russia |
This is my entry for the #WednesdayWalk challenge by 