ISBN 0789202174
Vrij van inscripties e.d.

Unlike in Moscow, the historic architecture of Saint Petersburg's city centre, mostly Baroque and Neoclassical buildings of the 18th and 19th centuries, has been largely preserved; although a number of buildings were demolished after the Bolsheviks' seizure of power, during the Siege of Leningrad and in recent years. The oldest of the remaining building is a wooden house built for Peter I in 1703 on the shore of the Neva near Trinity Square. Since 1991 the Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments in Saint Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast have been listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.
The ensemble of Peter and Paul Fortress with the Peter and Paul Cathedral takes a dominant position on Zayachy Island along the right bank of the Neva River. Each noon a cannon fires a blank shot from the fortress. The Saint Petersburg Mosque, the largest mosque in Europe when opened in 1913, is on the right bank nearby. The Spit of Vasilievsky Island, which splits the river into two largest armlets, the Bolshaya Neva and Malaya Neva, is connected to the northern bank (Petrogradsky Island) via the Exchange Bridge and occupied by the Old Saint Petersburg Stock Exchange and Rostral Columns. The southern coast of Vasilyevsky Island along the Bolshaya Neva features some of the city's oldest buildings, dating from the 18th century, including the Kunstkamera, Twelve Collegia, Menshikov Palace and Imperial Academy of Arts. It hosts one of two campuses of Saint Petersburg State University.
On the southern, left bank of the Neva, connected to the spit of Vasilyevsky Island via the Palace Bridge, lie the Admiralty building, the vast Hermitage Museum complex stretching along the Palace Embankment, which includes the Baroque Winter Palace, former official residence of Russian emperors, as well as the neoclassical Marble Palace. The Winter Palace faces Palace Square, the city's main square with the Alexander Column.
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Dmitry Shvidkovsky (Russian: Дмитрий Олегович Швидковский, born 14 May 1959) is a Russian educator and historian of architecture of Russia and the United Kingdom during the Age of Enlightenment. A 1982 alumnus and long-term professor of Moscow Architectural Institute, Shvidkovsky was appointed its rector in 2007.
Dmitry Shvidkovsky was born in Moscow. He is the son of historian Oleg Shvidkovsky, author of General History of Arts and Building in the U.S.S.R., 1917-1932; his mother hails from the Mamontov dynasty.
Shvidkovsky is the author of the definitive biography of Charles Cameron and a series of essays on contemporary British artists (William Hastie, Adam Menelaws) in Russia and their role in Russian art. In 1997 Shvidkovsky was awarded the medal of the Russian Academy of Arts for his 1996 books St. Petersburg: Architecture of the Tsars and The empress & the architect: British architecture and gardens at the court of Catherine the Great, both printed overseas. The topic of Western influence continued with the 2007 edition of Russian architecture and the West, illustrated by Yekaterina Shorban (Shvidkovsky's wife). Adam Wilkinson of the Architects Journal summarized: "his thesis [is] that Russian architecture is the product of waves of European influence filtered through Russian conditions - a brave move, given Russia's proud architectural historical tradition... The result is a thrilling architectural grand tour, not dry scholarship".
Shvidkovsky is a full member of the Russian Academy of Arts and its secretary for History of Arts since 1998, and vice-president since 2004. Shvidkovsky is also a full member of the Russian Academy of Architecture and Construction and a corresponding fellow of the British Academy.
Asked in 2009 about the role of independent preservation groups, Shvidkovsky said "I frequently admire what they do, but this is not enough. We must raise a new type of architects who would fight to preserve historic environment... [this is why] this year we make historic preservation courses mandatory for all architecture students, not only restorators."
(Wikipedia)