Palace Square, a focal point in the history of St. Petersburg, notably in the bloody revolutions of 1905 and 1917, is now the city’s cultural centre boasting the prestigious Hermitage Museum. Designed by Carlo Rossi like a stage set, it affords a grand (8 ha) perspective. It is closed off on the Neva side by the Winter Palace, across from the spectacular semicircular colonnade of the General Staff Building pierced in the middle by a majestic triumphal arch. In the centre of the square stands the Alexander Column.