Dekabristov Island

Dekabristov Island

Dekabristov Island (Russian: остров Декабристов), known before 1926 as Goloday Island (остров Голодай) is an island in Vasileostrovsky District of Saint Petersburg, Russia, to the north of Vasilievsky Island, separated from it by Smolenka River (59°57′N 30°14′E / 59.95°N 30.233°E / 59.95; 30.233Coordinates: 59°57′N 30°14′E / 59.95°N 30.233°E / 59.95; 30.233).

The island was traditionally used as a cemetery (see Smolensky Lutheran Cemetery). In the early Soviet period, the name was changed to Decembrists' Island to commemorate five executed leaders of Decembrist revolt, who were buried in an unmarked grave on Goloday.

In 1911, a British investment company launched a development project on a 1 square kilometer lot in the western Golodai Island, hiring Ivan Fomin and Fyodor Lidwahl to design a neoclassical middle-classical neighborhood. A small part of this project was completed before World War I and the Russian revolution of 1917. Eastern and northern sides of the island are heavily industrialized; western half of the island is built up with Leonid Brezhnev-era highrise.

Dekabristov Island is connected to Vasilievsky island (south) with five automobile bridges, and to a tiny Serny Island north from it. It is connected to the center of the city through Primorskaya station of Saint Petersburg Metro.