Saltykov-Shchedrin Russian National Library

Strict semi-circle classical building hosts the book temple of St. Petersburg. This library is one of the largest in the world and second largest in the country after the Russian State Library in Moscow. It was founded in 1795 and opened in 1814. The first library building was built in 1796-1801. Then, in the 1828-1834 the architect Rossi built a new library building. Its facade is decorated with bas-reliefs, statues of ancient scholars, speakers, philosophers and writers, and crowned with the figure of the goddess of wisdom, Minerva. The halls of the library were attended by V.G. Belinsky, N.G. Chernyshevsky, G.V. Plekhanov, L.N. Tolstoy, and A.M. Gorky. The book treasury has the most comprehensive collection of publications in Russian language, priceless collections of books and documents, unique printing samples and manuscripts. The total number of items exceeds 25 million.