On 15 July 1240 Alexander, the prince of Novgorod, overcame the stubborn resistance of Swedes at the Black River (now the Monastyrka River), one of the tributaries of the Neva River, and won a famous victory. He was renowned for that and went down into history under the name of Alexander Nevsky. At the same place, but 463 years later Peter the Great defeated the Swedish Army once more and founded the city of St.Petersburg on the banks of the Neva River.

The memory of the great warrior Prince Alexander was immortalized by Tzar Peter, who ordered to lay down a monastery known as Alexander Nevsky Lavra. It was built at the legendary place where on the eve of the victorious battle with Swedes one of the soldiers in his sleep saw holy martyrs Boris and Gleb hurrying to succour their noble relative Alexander.

Half a year before the death of Peter the First, the remains of Saint Alexander Nevsky were transferred from the city of Vladimir to St.Petersburg. Since that time, Saint Alexander Nevsky has been regarded as the heavenly patron of the city.

While laying the main street of St.Petersburg - Nevsky Prospect - builders of the Admiralty and monks of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra started working simultaneously from the opposite ends in order to meet at the Old Novgorod Road near Znamenskaya Square (now Vosstania Square). The part of Nevsky Prospect from the Old Road to the Alexander Nevsky Lavra is traditionally called Old Nevsky.

On the grounds of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra there are the Theological Seminary, the main Orthodox Temple of St.Petersburg and the Museum of Urban Sculpture with the Necropolis, the burial place of nobility and, in later years, many prominent citizens. Among them were novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky, composers Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Mikhail Glinka, Modest Mussorgsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, architect Carlo Rossi and many others.

cited from "Legends and Myths of St.Petersburg"
by N. Singalovsky, 1999, Norint Publishers