Rostral Columns

Built by architect Jean-François Thomas de Thomon (1805–10). Designed to serve as lighthouses with lanterns at the top in the form of cups on tripods and to underline the importance of the Stock Exchange as the centre of the port. The pedestals were made of grey granite. The columns were made from blocks of Pudost stone and decorated with metallic sculptural images of rostra (noses of ships). The Pudost stone figures at the feet of the columns were sculpted by Joseph Camberlain and Philippe Thibaud (stonemason Samson Sukhanov) and symbolised the four main navigable rivers of Russia – the Neva, Volkhov, Volga and Don.

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