Russia Inmate Search & Prison Directory

The building is located in theCentral District�of Saint Petersburg at the beginning of�Liteyny Prospekt, one block from�Neva river. It was constructed in 1931-1932 in the late�Constructivist style�at the site of imperial Old Armoury Building burnt down in 1917. The building was designed by Soviet architects�Noi Trotsky,�Alexander Gegello�and�Andrey Ol�for the use by Soviet secret police�OGPU. The Big House is part of a larger complex which includes the detention facility on Shpalernaya Street.

KRESTY (Crosses)�(5-7 Arsenalnaya Embankment/ 8 Komsomola Street), a colloquial name of St. Petersburg solitary confinement prison. It was built in 1884-90 (architect A.O. Tomishko) on the site of Vinny (Wine) Settlement adapted for a prison for short-term prisoners in 1868 (architect V.P. Lvov). Two 5-storeyed cruciform in plan (hence the name) buildings comprise 960 cells assigned for 1150 persons. On the upper storey of the central building, five-domed St. Alexander Nevsky church is situated (closed down in 1918). Along with criminals, political prisoners sentenced to solitary confinement were kept here, (including members of Narodnaya Volya - V.I. Braudo, A.A. Ergin, M.S. Olminsky, V.P. Priyutov). At the time of the Revolution of 1905-07, Kresty were predominantly a political prison (among the prisoners were representatives of different political parties and organizations, members of St. Petersburg Soviet of working people' deputies, deputies of the 1st State Duma that had signed the Vyborg proclamation