Sennaya Square

It was built under the extension of the Garden Street, and grew quickly, becoming the cheapest and the most active market in Saint Petersburg.

In 1753, local merchants commissioned the building of the Church of the Assumption of the Mother of God in a sumptuous Baroque style.

The surrounding district was known for its infamous slums, which provide the setting for Fedor Dostoevsky's novel Crime and Punishment.

In 1961, at the height of Nikita Khrushchev's anti-religious campaign, he had the church demolished; a chapel now marks the site.

Three metro stations serve the square; its namesake Sennaya Ploshchad, Sadovaya (Garden Street) and Spasskaya.

Neptune fountain at Sennaya Square
Vintage view of Sennaya Square
by Benjamin Patersen (1748/50 to 1814/15)
Sennaya Square at the beginning of the XX century; the church was blown up by the Soviet regime in 1961, and the market has since been disassembled
Aerial view of Sennaya Square in 2022, The guardhouse on Sennaya Square in the bottom left corner