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Saint Petersburg
St. Petersburg, one of the most beautiful cities in the world, was
founded by Peter the Great in
1703 and it was called so in his honour. The city is situated on the Neva
River and has become the "window" to Europe. It was built by the prominent
European and Russian architects
St. Petersburg was
the capital of Russia from 1712 till 1918.
The Peter and Paul Fortress was built to protect the Neva banks from Swedish invasion.
Later D. Trezzini, the famous Swiss architect, reconstructed the fortress. It
became a prison. Now it is a museum. D. Trezzini erected the Peter and Paul
Cathedral here, which is a masterpiece of architecture. Russian tsars were buried in
it.
St. Petersburg is an industrial, cultural and scientific centre. There
are over 80 museums, about 20
theatres, exhibitions, clubs, a University, colleges, institutes, schools,
libraries and parks. The Pushkin Drama Theatre, the Bolshoi Gorky Drama Theatre,
the Mariinsky Theatre of Opera and Ballet are pearls of the Russian art.
In St. Petersburg there are a lot of parks and gardens where the
citizens can spend their free
time.
The Summer Garden is the oldest and most fascinating park. Rare trees, bushes and flowers
grow there. Beautiful marble statues made by Italian sculptors and a cast iron grille
decorate the Summer Garden. There is a bronze monument to the prominent
Russian fabulist Ivan Krylov (by sculptor Klodt) in the Summer Garden.
The city is famous for its magnificent architectural ensembles of the
18-19 centuries.
In St. Petersburg
tourists usually start sightseeing from Palace Square, the largest and most
beautiful one. One cannot help admiring the ensemble in Palace Square: the
Winter Palace (built by Rastrelli) was the residence of Russian tsars till the
revolution.
The Hermitage, one
of the oldest art museums in Russia, occupies the Winter Palace and four other
buildings. There one can see masterpieces of the outstanding artists: Leonardo
da Vinci, Raphael, Rembrandt, Velazques and other unique works of art.
The Russian museum
is located in the Mikhailovsky Palace, designed by Rossi. Marvellous paintings of
the famous Russian artists: Tropinin, Repin, Bryullov, Fedotov, Surikov,
Serov, the works of sculptors: Rastrelli, Shubin, Antokolsky are exhibited here.
The streets and
squares in St. Petersburg are very beautiful. Nevsky Prospect is the main
street of the city, where there are amazing buildings, shops, hotels and the
remarkable Kazan Cathedral (by Voronikhin) with a colonade and monuments to M.
Kutuzov and Barclay de Tolly. Here in the prospect one can see the magnificent building
of the Admiralty (by Zakharov) and an ensemble of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.
Famous Russian writers, painters, composers and actors were buried in the
Lavra.
The majestic
palaces, cathedrals, churches and other buildings, built by famous architects, decorate St.
Petersburg, such as: palaces of Stroganov,
Vorontsov, Menshikov, Anichkov, the Triumphal Arch and St. Isaacs Cathedral, erected by Montferrand. St. Isaak's
Cathedral, one of the most beautiful cathedrals, from the observation place of
one can see the panorama of the city.
One cannot but forget to mention the
Smolny Institute and the Smolny nunnery,
masterpieces of Rastrelli. Girls from aristocratic families studied and lived in the institute.
A lot of bridges cross
the Neva, the Fontanka, the Moika and the canals, but the Anichkov Bridge is
the most beautiful one.
St. Petersburg inspired many of our great poets, writers, painters,
sculptors, composers and actors. Much of the
life and work of Lermontov, Griboyedov, Pushkin, Belinsky, Glinka, Chaikovsky,
Repin and Kramskoi was connected with the
city.
Citizens, tourists
and guests enjoy visiting the suburbs of St. Petersburg: Petergof, Pushkin,
Pavlovsk, Lomonosov with wonderful palaces, parks and fountains.
Welcome to St.
Petersburg and its suburbs to get acquainted with their amazing sight.
The
Peter and Paul Fortress
The foundation stone of
the fortress was laid on the 16th of May (the 27th
of May by new style) in 1703. This is
the day of St. Petersburg’s foundation. Peter I decided to build a new fortress
on a small island. This island is called Zayachy (“Hare”) island. The legend
says that Peter I marked the place for fortress gates with two birch-trees
Zayachy island is situated at the point where the river branches out
into two arms. The island made a good defence position. The fortress had to
protect the lands of the Neva from attacks of Sweden. The fortress took its
name from the small wooden church in the centre of the unfinished fortress. This
church was dedicated to the Apostles Peter and Paul.
Soon after that another
fortress of Chronshlodt island was built and the Peter and Paul fortress lost
its military role and turned into a political prison.
Alexei, the son of Peter I, was one of the first prisoners. He opposed
Peter’s reforms and joined in a conspiracy against him. Alexei was imprisoned
and executed in one of the casemates of the fortress. The fortress remained the
most horrible political prison in Russia for almost 200 years.
The writer Alexander Radishev wrote the book “Voyage from St. Petersburg
to Moscow”. This book was directed against the tsar system. He was imprisoned
in 1790. Five of the Decembrists were hunged in the Fortress. Their names are
Pestel, Ryleev, Muravyev-Apostol, Bestuzhev-Rumin and Kakhovsky. They took part
in a revolt against the rule of tsar in December 1825.
In 1924 the fortress became a museum of the history of St. Petersburg.
In the centre of the fortress stands the Mint. It was founded in 1724. Coins,
badges, orders, medals have been minted there.
The Peter and Paul
Fortress is a historical monument of the 18th century.
The Hermitage Museum
The Hermitage Museum is
Russia's best gallery of world art, one of the most prominent art museums in
the world and definitely the main tourist attraction of St. Petersburg. The
museum was founded in 1764 when Catherine the Great purchased a collection of
255 paintings from the German city of Berlin. Today, the Hermitage boasts over
2.7 million exhibits and displays a diverse range of art and artifacts from all
over the world and from throughout history (from Ancient Egypt to the early
20th century Europe). The Hermitage's collections include works by Leonardo da
Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael and Titian, a unique collection of Rembrandts and
Rubens, many French Impressionist works by Renoir, Cezanne, Manet, Monet and
Pissarro, numerous canvasses by Van Gogh, Matisse, Gaugin and several
sculptures by Rodin. The collection is both enormous and diverse and is an
essential stop for all those interested in art and history. The main building of the Hermitage Museum is the Winter Palace, which was once the main residence of the Russian Tsars. Magnificently located on the bank of the Neva River, this green-and-white three-storey palace is a marvel of Baroque architecture and boasts 1,786 doors, 1,945 windows and 1,057 elegantly and lavishly decorated halls and rooms, many of which are open to the public. The Baroque Winter Palace was built between 1754 and 1762 and its first resident was none other than the celebrated Catherine the Great. Many of the palace's impressive interiors were remodeled after the huge fire that partly destroyed the building in 1837. Some of the best Russian and most famous foreign architects worked exhaustively to ensure that this Imperial residence was one of the finest and most luxurious palaces in the world.
The Hermitage's collections are displayed in adjoining buildings along the Neva embankment, together form an enormous museum complex: the Winter Palace, the Small Hermitage, the Old Hermitage and lastly the New Hermitage. The Hermitage Theater, the private theater of the Tsars, is a beautifully decorated amphitheater and still hosts regular lectures, concerts, opera and ballet performances.
The experts say that if you were to spend a minute looking at each exhibit on display in the Hermitage, you would need 11 years before you'd seen them all!
St. Isaac's Cathedral
St. Isaac's Cathedral was originally the
city's main church and the largest cathedral in Russia. It was built between
1818 and 1858, by the French-born architect Auguste Montferrand, to be one of
the most impressive landmarks of the Russian Imperial capital. One hundred and
eighty years later the gilded dome of St. Isaac's still dominates the skyline
of St. Petersburg. Although the cathedral is considerably smaller than the
newly rebuilt Church of Christ the Savior in Moscow, it boasts much more
impressive fades and interiors. The cathedral's facades are decorated with sculptures and massive granite columns (made of single pieces of red granite), while the interior is adorned with incredibly detailed mosaic icons, paintings and columns made of malachite and lapis lazuli. A large, brightly colored stained glass window of the "Resurrected Christ" takes pride of place inside the main altar. The church, designed to accommodate 14,000 standing worshipers, was closed in the early 1930s and reopened as a museum. Today, church services are held here only on major ecclesiastical occasions.
From the creator of the
marvelous St. Isaac's Cathedral came this monument to the Russian military
victory in the war with Napoleon's France. Named after Emperor Alexander I, who
ruled Russia between 1801 and 1825 (during the Napoleonic Wars), the column is
a terrific piece of architecture and engineering. The Alexander Column (Aleksandrovskaia Kolonna ), the focal point of Palace Square, was designed by the French-born architect Auguste de Montferrand and built between 1830 and 1834. The monument is 155 feet 8 inches tall and is topped with a statue of an angel holding a cross (the face of the angel is said to be modeled on the face of Emperor Alexander I). The body of the column is made of a single monolith of red granite, which stands 83 feet 6 inches high and about 11 feet 5 inches in diameter. It is a terrific feat of engineering that this enormous column, weighing an incredible 1,322,760 pounds (600 tons), was erected in under 2 hours without the aid of modern cranes and engineering machines.
The pedestal of the Alexander Column is decorated with symbols of military glory. The monument is particularly impressive on a sunny evening shortly before dusk, when the last beams of sunlight are reflected in the polished red granite of the column.
Senate Square
Senate Square is a really
marvelous and picturesque place in the city. It is situated in the centre of
St. Petersburg, on the left bank of the Neva. Once it was called Decembrist’s
square, but then got back its historical name of Senate. The architectural
ensemble of the square was created in the 18 century. Nearby we can see the
majestic St. Isaac’s Cathedral. In the center of the Senate square there’s a
monument to a city founder Peter I. It is known as the “Bronze Horseman” sung
by A. Pushkin. The monument was designed by the sculptor Falconet in 1782. Peter
the Great is depicted as a rider crowned with a laurel wreath. The inscription
in Latin and Russian reads: “To Peter I from Catherine II, 1782.”