The Smolny yard used to be the name of a location on the bank of the Neva River where people prepared a viscous liquid for ship building. Later, the place was purified, the yard was demolished and a cathedral and an institute were built in that place; the institute gave rise to female education in Russia. Since then this place has been a major landmark in Saint Petersburg.
For more than 100 years the building was an untouched sanctuary of science. In 1917, everything changed: the institute was transferred to Novocherkassk, meanwhile Bolsheviks moved in the Smolny. They commanded armed insurrection in Petrograd and located their government there.
Today, the government and administration of Saint Petersburg are located in the building. Although services responsible for the street and road network maintenance are just studying the option to use Bionord, the Smolny is a place which is always kept clean and safe thanks to deicing materials of UZPM manufacture: the multi-component material effectively copes with slippery winter conditions and can be used at very low temperatures.