During the early Soviet years (1918–44) the name of Nevsky Prospect was changed, first and briefly to “Proletkult Street” (Ulitsa Proletkul’ta) in honor of that Soviet artistic organization. Following the demise of Proletkult already around 1920 the name was changed again, this time to “Avenue of the 25th of October”, alluding to the day of the October Revolution: the name never took on in the daily language of the city’s inhabitants who continued to use the pre-revolutionary name. During the siege of Leningrad (1941–1944) some walls on the north side of Nevsky Prospect were stencilled with the inscription “Citizens! During shelling this side of the street is the most dangerous“, warning passers-by of the areas most at risk from German artillery bombardment. In 1962, the inscription was recreated on school building No. 210 on Nevsky Prospect through the initiative of poet Mikhail Dudin. The inscription, and other examples across the city, are considered war memorials and are frequently the site of commemorations of the siege. In January 2019 Governor of Saint PetersburgAlexander Beglov laid flowers at the inscription on Nevsky Prospect. At the end of the siege of Leningrad, in January 1944, the name Nevsky Prospect was formally restored and has remained ever since. The Nevsky today functions as the main thoroughfare in Saint Petersburg. The majority of the city’s shopping and nightlife takes place on or immediately off Nevsky Prospekt.
There is nothing better than Nevsky Prospect, at least in St. Petersburg; for him he is everything. Why this street does not shine – the beauty of our capital! I know that none of its pale and bureaucratic residents will exchange for all the benefits of Nevsky Prospect. Not only someone who is twenty-five years old, a wonderful mustache and an amazingly tailored frock coat, but even someone with white hair popping out on their chin and a head as smooth as a silver dish is delighted with Nevsky Prospect. And ladies! Oh, ladies are even more pleased with Nevsky Prospect. And who doesn’t like it? As soon as you climb onto Nevsky Prospekt, it already smells of one party. At least he had some necessary, necessary business, but, having climbed on it, surely, you will forget about any business. Here is the only place where people are shown unnecessarily, where their need and mercantile interest, which embraces the whole of Petersburg, has not driven them.
– Andrei Ivanovich Bogdanov