ST PETERSBURG (Russia): Admired by madmen and dreamers, the elegant skyline of St Petersburg has survived revolutions, wartime bombing and the heavy hand of Soviet planners.

But its charm may not survive Gazprom and a new generation of Russian rich who are building up their own dreams -- some say nightmares -- in Russia's imperial capital.

The gas behemoth wants to build a towering office block 300 metres (990 feet) high that will dominate the skyline of Russia's second city, an elegant Baroque and neo-classical city of canals and bridges.

Plans to construct “Gazprom City” only 24 metres or so shorter than the Eiffel Tower in Paris, albeit in a forlorn industrial area, have triggered outrage among local historians who see it as the latest attack on the “Venice of the North”.“The city is steadily losing its main virtue -- its authenticity,” said Alexander Margolis, a historian and head of the Fund for Saving St Petersburg-Leningrad.

“We have come right up to a dangerous line; the destruction of the city's integrity.”

Russians hold St Petersburg, founded by Peter the Great in 1703 as a 'window on Europe', in special affection because of its imperial elegance and cultural cachet as the home of Russia's greatest writers including poet Alexander Pushkin and the tormented Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

But with oil money pouring in, the impact is felt in Russia's second city in the shape of outlandish restoration and demolition of 200-year-old buildings to free up space.

Opponents of the planned skyscraper, for which Gazprom has shortlisted seven international architects, say it will blight the city landscape as seen from the historic centre where no building is taller than 24 metres.

“This destroys the skyline of St Petersburg,” said Mikhail Piotrovsky, director of the world-famous Hermitage museum.

The skyline of St Petersburg, then known as Leningrad, survived a 900-day siege by German forces during World War Two, after Hitler ordered the city wiped off the face of the earth.

But new city reformers recently reduced to rubble a radio station from which the Bolsheviks told the world they had seized power in 1917.—Reuters