On August 19, 1839, 19 kilometers south of St. Petersburg, at the Pulkovo Heights, located 75 meters above sea level, the Main Astronomical Observatory of the Russian Academy of Sciences, known as the Pulkovo Observatory, was opened.

The idea of creating a new observatory arose in the mid-18th century when it became clear that the academic observatory located in the Kunstkamera tower on Vasilievsky Island in St. Petersburg had become inconvenient for observations due to the city's expansion. In 1827, the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences decided to build a new observatory, which was approved by Emperor Nicholas I.

Construction began in the spring of 1834, and in February 1835, architect A. P. Bryullov presented the final estimate, which included the cost of stone for the foundations, instruments, and furniture. The director of the observatory became Vasily Yakovlevich Struve, an academician and astronomer who acquired modern equipment abroad.

The ceremonial laying of the observatory took place on July 3, 1835, and on July 1, 1838, Nicholas I approved its staff and charter. According to the charter, the observatory was to conduct continuous and highly accurate observations for the development of astronomy, as well as geographical research and scientific expeditions. It was also tasked with ensuring that the work of other Russian observatories met the modern level of astronomy and provided maximum benefit to science.

By the summer of 1839, the construction of the observatory was completed, and the equipment acquired by Struve arrived from abroad. The opening of the Pulkovo Observatory took place on August 19, 1839, in the presence of invited astronomers from Russia.

At the time of its opening, the observatory had a staff of 8 people and housed the world's largest 15-inch refractor. Its task was to create catalogs of the precise positions of stars using four of the five major instruments. Accurate catalogs of the night sky were compiled, initially including the coordinates of 374 stars, and later 558 stars for the epochs of 1845, 1865, 1885, 1905, and 1930. The observatory also conducted geographical studies of Russia and contributed to the development of navigation.

Pulkovo astronomers published high-precision research results, and the instrument park was constantly updated. In 1885, the son of V. Y. Struve, O. V. Struve, with the support of the Academy of Sciences, acquired the world's largest 30-inch refracting telescope made in the USA.

The observatory participated in geodetic work, including measuring meridian arcs from the Danube to the Arctic Ocean. Since the 1890s, it began engaging in astrophotography. In the first half of the 20th century, its equipment was supplemented with a Litrow spectrograph, a solar telescope, and a zonal astrometer. Since 1920, the observatory began transmitting radio signals of precise time.

During the Great Patriotic War, the observatory was destroyed, but it was restored in 1946 and 1954, significantly expanding its capabilities.

Today, the Pulkovo Observatory conducts fundamental research in astronomy, including celestial mechanics, stellar dynamics, astrometry, the study of the Sun and solar-terrestrial connections, the physics and evolution of stars, as well as the development of equipment and methods for astronomical observations.