Poison Drop in Saint Petersburg, by the Red Bridge
The French name of the department store tells you where to find Poison Drop in Saint Petersburg. Au Pont Rouge means “at the Red Bridge.” The bridge carries Gorokhovaya Street across the Moyka. On the corner stands a building with a tower, and the jewelry counter is on its ground floor.
The tower that came back
The department store opened in 1907. In 1919 a sewing factory took over the building, and the rooms once used to sell clothes were put to work making them. The corner tower disappeared during the Soviet years. According to the city’s bridge authority, old photographs guided its reconstruction in 2012, down to the staff of Mercury, patron of commerce, at its tip. The department store reopened three years later.
Inside, look for the curved, wood-fronted case at the Poison Drop counter. In the shop’s photograph it stands on two short metal cylinders, with lit shelves set into the wood. Beyond it rise tall oval mirrors. Look up a little further and the photograph also takes in the relief patterns on the ceiling panels. The photograph catches both the ornament above and the jewelry under glass below.
Poison Drop at Au Pont Rouge, 73 Moyka River Embankment, Saint Petersburg, ground floor.
View on map+7 800 775-07-19 ext. 310
Open daily, 10 am to 10 pm. To check whether a particular STRUGA piece is available to try on, contact the shop.
