The former Kresty pre-trial detention center on Saint Petersburg’s Arsenalnaya Embankment is due for a major reconstruction. The Heritage Preservation Council has approved a concept for adapting the complex for public use.
The plan for transforming Kresty calls for a full-fledged public space that respects the history of the site. It will include a multimedia museum dedicated to the prison’s history, art objects, a pedestrian promenade, two hotels and a gastronomic street. The architectural appearance of Kresty is to be preserved, including the Church of Saint Alexander Nevsky. The territory will become fully pedestrian and accessible, and the place will be open for walks, cultural events and leisure.
Kresty, built in the late 19th century by architect Anton Tomishko, became one of Saint Petersburg’s symbols. Its unique architecture — cross-shaped buildings and a church with separate staircases — once embodied solitary confinement. After the detention center closed in 2017 and operations moved to Kolpino, the city gained an opportunity to rethink the space.
The project is estimated at 15 billion rubles and is planned to take five years. After the reconstruction is completed, around 1,200 jobs are expected to appear there. The decision not to create business centers underscores the investor’s intention to preserve a human-centered approach — with people and memory at the center, not commerce.
