Saint Petersburg’s Manege

Horse Guards Manege is a monumental building in the style of classicism, which was built in St. Petersburg in 1804-1807 according to the project of Giacomo Quarenghi for winter and summer training, as well as ceremonial horse dressage of the Life Guards Horse Regiment.

It occupies a part of Konnogvardeisky Boulevard, with a facade overlooking St. Isaac’s Square and St. Isaac’s Cathedral. In Soviet times, it was rebuilt as an NKVD garage, since 1977 it has been used as an exhibition hall.

On November 5, an exhibition of works by Leningrad artists, dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the Great October Revolution and held under the motto “Art belongs to the people”, opened the Central Exhibition Hall “Манеж”. Since then, it has been the city’s most popular venue for exhibitions.

The Manege is a low, rectangular block with arched openings and lunettes. According to the Companion Guide, “it mimics a 5th-century BC Athenian temple with a portico of eight Doric columns bearing a pediment and bas reliefs”.

The marble statues of the Dioscuri standing beside their horses were patterned by sculptor Paolo Triscornia after the Fontana dei Dioscuri in Rome.

Address: St. Isaac’s Square, 1

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