What is "smolny"

Smolny is a place name in central Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is a compound of historically interrelated buildings erected in 18th and 19th centuries. As the most widely known of the buildings has been used as the seat of the City Governor's Office, its name is associated with city authorities.

From late 1917 until 1991 it was mostly associated with the October Revolution of 1917 and Vladimir Lenin, who lived and worked there from late 1917 to early 1918.

A pre-1917 educational facility for young ladies gave rise after 1991 to a number of similarly named places of learning in the city because of the high prestige of the original one in popular culture.