Being the main square of St.Petersburg, The Palace (Dvortsovaya) Square is an architectural ensemble of the second part of 18^th – beginning of 19^th century. Named after the Winter Palace (The Hermitage Museum) and measuring more than 5 ha in square (to compare – the Red square in Moscow is only 2,3 ha), it is bounded with the several historical sites of the city – The Winter Palace, the building of headquarters of the Guards Corps and the building of the General Headquarters with the Triumph Arch. The architectural ensemble is accompanied with the Alexander Coloumn, created by architect O. Monferran in 1830-1834 and symbolizing the victory of Russian army over Napoleon.

Palace square was always popular with the citizens of St.Petersburg for its location and size – it was a place for public holidays and fireworks in the tsars’ times, it was the place of military shows, demonstrations and revolution meetings during the Soviet times. In 1918 the Palace square was renamed to the Uritskogo Square (after famous revolutionary Moisey Uritsky, who was killed in the building of General Headquaters in 1918). During the WWII it was planned to use the square as a military aerodrome, but luckily this idea was not realized and the square remained in its original design.

The restoration works on the square took place right after the war, but the main reconstruction was held in the beginning of 21^st century.

Nowadays the Palace square is not only a tourist attraction and the city’s symbol, but also a place for open-air concerts, annual parades and shows, sport and entertaining events.