In various states and forms (liquid, vapour, ice; raw and refined stone), the elements of this union aim to evoke, with a near-tactile chill on the skin, a multifaceted St. Petersburg: austere and enigmatic, monolithic yet secretive. Water and stone—two opposing forces—merge through human will, not to destroy one another but to create something marvellous. At a certain point, the boundary between ice and granite dissolves: ancient ammonites, once dwellers of the seas, turn to stone; the river’s icy veneer cracks like an old embankment. Out of mist or blizzard, Petrograd emerges before us.