3 Roubles The Smolny Institute and Cloister in St. Petersburg

The Smolny complex occupies an unusual position in Russian history — the cathedral was commissioned by Empress Elizabeth in the 1740s as part of a convent she intended to retire to, a plan she never carried out. Rastrelli's baroque ensemble sat unfinished for decades, the cathedral lacking its interior fittings well into the nineteenth century. Then, in October 1917, the adjacent Smolny Institute became Bolshevik headquarters during the seizure of Petrograd — Lenin directed the revolution from its halls.

This coin belongs to the Bank of Russia's ongoing architectural monuments series launched in the early 1990s.