The Four Seasons is located in a renovated “the House with Lions” – the former princely residence of the XIX century in the historic Admiralty district, located within five minutes of walking from the Hermitage. The palace was built on St. Isaac’s Square for Prince Lobanov-Rostovsky and designed by the famous French architect Auguste de Montferrand.
Legend suggests the personal involvement of Tsar Alexander I in the building’s destiny. Once, when Alexander I was passing through the city with his aide-de-camp, Prince Lobanov-Rostovsky, the Tsar expressed his displeasure with the unsightly state of St. Isaac’s Square. The prince took note but kept his silence, and a few years later showed the Tsar the enormous palace he had built to express his loyalty.
The lions were immortalized in Alexander Pushkin’s poem, “The Bronze Horseman”, written in 1833. Considered Russia’s greatest poet, Pushkin was renowned for his meticulous attention to detail, and this poem is no exception, including a precise description of the House with Lions.Superior room.