Have You Ever Wondered about Rubinshteina Street?

Despite being famous today as St. Petersburg bar and restaurant street, Rubinshteina Street (Улица Рубинштейна) is actually an historical place in the heart of the city.

First called Troitskaya Ulitsa, it was renamed in honour of composer Anton Rubinshtein, who lived there and founded the St. Petersburg Conservatory.  At the start of the street there is a Soviet building that was the house of Olga Berggolts (Ольга Берггольц). This famous poet lifted the spirits of the citizens thanks to her radio addressing during the Leningrad Blockade. She used to call this communal house “the most absurd building in St. Petersburg”.

Among other important features of the street is the Maly Dramatichesky Teatr (Малый Драматический Театр), that also houses a museum and a library. The House of Ruadze is another historical location: it was the home of the Leningrad Rock Club, where the first rock concerts in the city took place. Next to it is the house of Mikhail Tolstoy, a great building with three courtyards were many television programmes and movies have been filmed.

Rubinshteina Street ends when it meets up with three other streets to form Pyat Uglov (Пять Углов), a unique intersection in the entire city. Make sure to visit it, and also to enjoy the great food that you can get there.

This post was brought to you by Zoran, currently studying Russian at Liden and Denz