While performing their strictly functional role, the firewalls of pre-revolutionary St. Petersburg buildings have become one of the city’s calling cards. With the development of the urban environment, these blind walls—originally meant to prevent the spread of fire—often turn into canvases for street artists. Yet even without paintings, the many times plastered firewalls often resemble abstract works of art, examples of contemporary art shaped by their environment, in which they reveal themselves most vividly.