Wednesday Walk from the Atlanteans to the Horse Tamers

I started this walk on Millionnaya Street, near the Hermitage building. An orange lorry (top photo) blocked this street as a temporary measure: car traffic was briefly blocked during a city event. Millionnaya Street starts from Palace Square, and the buildings of the main Hermitage Museum complex form the left side of this street.

The main museum complex of Hermitage buildings is formed by six buildings connected by arched passages and common corridors. Behind me is the Winter Palace, the light green building with white columns on the left is the Small Hermitage, and the building next to it is called the New Hermitage. The portico of the New Hermitage building is decorated with ten giant statues of Atlantes.

Atlantes on the steps of the Hermitage became the main characters of Alexander Gorodnitsky's song. This song has long been the unofficial anthem of the Hermitage and one of the most beautiful songs about our city. A few years ago, the song ‘Atlantes hold the sky in their stone hands’ became the official anthem of the museum, and an agreement was signed between the museum and the author of the song.

Millionnaya Street is not too long, this street is only about a kilometre long. I turn off towards the Field of Mars and soon come to the Engineer Castle. The Engineer (or Mikhailovsky) Castle is a former imperial palace. It was built for Emperor Paul I. It is said that the emperor's ghost still wanders inside these walls. Now the building is part of the complex of the State Russian Museum.

During the construction of Mikhailovsky Castle, the adjacent territory was turned into an island. Two facades of the castle face the junction of two rivers, the Moika and the Fontanka, and the other sides of the castle were surrounded by canals. One of these canals is now completely filled in, while the other is partially preserved. In order to enter the museum, you will have to pass over the vaults of this canal. However, you will have to come back here in the morning - it's evening time and the gates leading to the castle grounds are closed.

I pass the Engineer Castle and continue my walk along the Fontanka embankment. The winter is warm this year and the water is only partially covered with ice. In cold winters the ice on the rivers was so thick that you could walk on this ice without danger. But such winters are rare now. I pass a brightly lit building - it's another museum, the Fabergé Museum. I didn't plan this on purpose - but it turns out I'm telling you about the third museum in a row... However, three is a nice number. My walk is nearing its end. I have only to reach Nevsky Prospekt, to the bridge decorated with figures of Peter Klodt's horse tamers.

This is my entry for the #WednesdayWalk challenge by @tattoodjay.