The Griboyedov Canal (kanal Griboedova) is the most winding and arguably the most photogenic canal in the centre: from the Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood it runs under Nevsky Prospekt, past Bank Bridge with its golden griffins, through Sennaya Square and on into the quiet Kolomna district to St Nicholas Cathedral. The whole walk is about 4 km to the cathedral plus 1.3 km to the metro: roughly an hour and a quarter of walking, or 2–2.5 hours with stops.
In autumn the canal is a comfortable choice: it runs between buildings rather than along the open Neva, and every 15–20 minutes there is somewhere to warm up. Here is what we checked on 19 October 2026: opening hours and prices for the Saviour on Spilled Blood on the museum's official website, hours for the cathedrals, the market and the bookshop on Yandex Maps, and walking distances between the stops. The legends told along this route are marked as legends. On 21 October the sun sets at 17:33, and by mid-November at around 16:30, so set off in daylight.
⛪ The Saviour on Spilled Blood: the start of the route
Start at Nevsky Prospekt metro: the Church of the Resurrection of Christ, known to everyone as the Saviour on Spilled Blood (Spas na Krovi), is about 550 metres away, 7 minutes along the canal embankment. It stands on the spot where Emperor Alexander II was mortally wounded on 1 March 1881. It was founded in 1883 to a design by the architect Alfred Parland, and the mosaics inside cover more than 7,000 square metres, one of the largest collections of monumental mosaic in Europe.
The museum is open 10:00–18:00, ticket desks until 17:30, closed on Wednesdays (except during school and public holidays). A ticket costs 700 roubles and an audio guide 300 roubles; the audio guide is available in English and ten other languages. If you are not going in, walk around the outside: the walls carry mosaic panels, and the best views are from Konyushennaya Square and Teatralny Bridge. How it compares with St Isaac's, and which to pick if you only have time for one, is covered in St Isaac's or the Saviour on Spilled Blood.
🏛 Kazansky Bridge: Nevsky, the Singer House and Kazan Cathedral
Walk back along the canal to Nevsky, about 500 metres, 7 minutes. Here the canal passes under Kazansky Bridge, which carries Nevsky Prospekt. On the corner of Nevsky and the canal stands the Singer House (Dom Zingera) with its little tower and globe, and across Nevsky is the curved colonnade of Kazan Cathedral.
The colonnade of Kazan Cathedral and the view along the canal to the Saviour on Spilled Blood — Photo: angelius1979, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
The first place to warm up is right here. The Dom Knigi bookshop in the Singer House, 28 Nevsky, is open daily 9:00–23:00. Kazan Cathedral is open Monday to Saturday 9:00–19:45 and on Sundays 6:30–19:45; it is a working church, so modest dress is expected and women usually cover their heads.
🦁 Bank Bridge and the griffins
Another 500 metres, 7 minutes along the embankment, brings you to the canal's most famous little bridge. Bank Bridge (Bankovsky most) is a pedestrian chain bridge built in 1825–1826 to a design by the engineer Wilhelm von Traitteur, and the four winged griffins with golden wings were cast by the sculptor Pavel Sokolov. The bridge turned 200 in 2026. The griffins "hold" in their mouths the chains from which the span hangs, and behind the bridge is the former Assignation Bank, which gave the bridge its name.
The griffins of Bank Bridge — Photo: Tsyganov Sergey, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Legend: rub a griffin's paw or wing and make a wish, and money will come your way. This is local folklore, not history. The sculptures are a 19th-century monument, so it is better to photograph them than to rub them.
🛒 Sennaya Square and "Raskolnikov's house"
From here the canal makes several turns: Sennaya Square is about a kilometre away, 13 minutes, past Kamenny (Stone) Bridge on Gorokhovaya Street. Three metro stations meet at Sennaya: Sennaya Ploshchad, Spasskaya and Sadovaya, and the Sennoy Market is nearby at 4 Moskovsky Prospekt. It is open daily 8:00–20:00 and is the second place to grab a bite and warm up.
These streets are where Crime and Punishment is set. 400 metres from Sennaya, on the corner of Grazhdanskaya Street and Stolyarny Lane (19 Grazhdanskaya), stands an apartment block that Dostoevsky scholars consider the likely model for Raskolnikov's house. To be clear, this is a literary theory, not an established fact. In the novel the address is disguised as "S— Lane", and there is no firm proof that Dostoevsky described this particular building.
🌉 Lion Bridge
From Sennaya to Lion Bridge (Lviny most) is about a kilometre, 13 minutes. The canal is quieter here, with fewer tourists and lower buildings along the embankment. Lion Bridge, another pedestrian chain bridge, was built to Traitteur's design in 1825–1826, and its four cast-iron lions are again the work of Pavel Sokolov. The bridge's chains run straight into the lions' mouths.
Lion Bridge over the Griboyedov Canal — Photo: GAlexandrova, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
