General Staff Building (Saint Petersburg)

The General Staff Building (Russian: Здание Главного штаба, Zdanie Glavnogo Shtaba) is an edifice with a 580 m long bow-shaped facade, situated on Palace Square in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in front of the Winter Palace.

The monumental Neoclassical building was designed by Carlo Rossi in the Empire style and built in 1819–1829.

It consists of two wings, which are separated by a tripartite triumphal arch adorned by sculptors Stepan Pimenov and Vasily Demuth-Malinovsky and commemorating the Russian victory over Napoleonic France in the Patriotic War of 1812.

The arch links Palace Square through Bolshaya Morskaya Street to Nevsky Prospekt.

The western wing now hosts the headquarters of the Leningrad Military District.

General Staff Building
Eastern Facade