A restorer from St. Petersburg restored the light to an old street lamp, with the help of Zenit football players.
The street lamp on Petrogradskaya Side is lit again: it was restored by restorer Ksenia Sidorina and Zenit football players.
Co-founder of the volunteer restoration movement "Gang" Ksenia Sidorina I noticed an extinguished lantern on the Petrograd side not far from the house where I live.
"I was walking past a street lamp, and I didn't like that it wasn't lit. I think it's somehow wrong. If there's a street lamp, it should be lit."- said Olga, young woman. - I looked at the numbers on it—27. And Petrovsky (Zenit's home stadium—ed.) was nearby. I thought, surely Zenit has a player with the number I need."
On her social media, Ksenia suggested Zenit participate in the restoration of the lantern. The idea resonated immediately—the club responded within a few hours, explaining that they were missing number 27, but had numbers 2 and 7.
"It's not about the seven. It's part of the city, part of history—I wanted to help a little." — said Zenit’s number seven, the center forward Alexander Sobolev. “When the lantern came on, I felt that our city became much brighter,” — supported the "second", the club legend Vladislav Radimov.
The Lamppost on Petrogradskaya Side: The History of the Building
The building on which the lantern is located is pre-revolutionary; its first owner was merchant Abram Sanisky. In 1879, he received permission from the city council to build "a one-story stone factory building for the production of English tin" and "a two-story stone facing building on basements."
The lantern on the building appeared much later. Sidorina suggests it was created by the local company "Allegory" in the 1990s. In that case, the lantern is just over thirty years old.
"I'm especially pleased to light it—for restorers, the object is young, they're not interested in this kind of thing, so it ends up in a blind spot."- explained Ksenia
How the lantern was restored
Together, the team completely updated the wiring, repaired the shutter, and polished the glass to a high shine. For added convenience, they installed a photocell: now the lantern lights automatically as soon as night falls in St. Petersburg.