Pan-Russian Manufacturing Exhibition (1870)

The Pan-Russian Manufacturing Exhibition of 1870 was held in St Petersburg, in the former warehouses of the Salt Market (Solyanoi Gorodok), which were built in the early nineteenth century on the bank of the River Fontanka, opposite the Summer Garden. The old warehouses were turned into an exhibition centre by Luigi Fontana, who decorating the main facade facing the River Fontanka with columns, mouldings and sculptures, including a group on the attic depicting the genius of peace conferring laurel wreaths on the geniuses of science, industry and trade (lost before the revolution).