A Lovely City Full of History
The
city, and Russia’s largest seaport, sprawls over 600 square kilometers and 101
separate islands. St. Petersburg, with its 70 canals and 300 bridges, is
Russia’s loveliest city. Even though the city is the same latitude as Alaska,
the Gulf Stream moderates its winter climate, which tends to be milder than
that of Moscow.
The
population of 2 million enjoys 50 museums, 20 theaters and concert halls, 60
stadiums, and 4500 libraries. With 200 monuments and stunning palaces,
typically of baroque and neoclassical styles, the city is a museum of
architectural beauty. Nicholas I once remarked that St. Petersburg is Russian
but is not Russia. Soft northern light twenty-four hours a day in summer
contrasts with long foreboding winter nights. Our guide told us, “Once known as
Leningrad its citizens possess a
peculiar kind of arrogance and Muscovites consider them snobbish.”
Described
as a city of water bridges and wrought iron railings, the city’s bridges range
from a single foot bridge to the high elaborate decorative Palace Draw-Bridge.
The bridges have a high degree of ornamentation with statues, towers, obelisks
chains and grille rails everywhere. It is said that there are 90 miles of
wrought iron railings in the city, often works of art in their own right. In
1932 the first permanent bridge replacing a pontoon bridge was built over the
Neva River.
In 1703 Peter the Great hiked the
marshy-mosquito infected island in the Neva River delta. He decided the area
was perfect for his future navy and cut two strips of soil, laid them in the
shape of a cross declaring here would be his city. He forced Swedish prisoners
and Russian destitutes to dredge the area, dig out a system of canals, and lay
foundations for the initial structures. Then the czar compelled his subjects to
inhabit the place.
In
his European metropolis his first concern was building a fortress. He also
wanted to consolidate a major trade route from the Baltic Sea to Russia’s
inland waterways. Despite the laborers carrying dirt in their shirts and
dropping dead of malaria, scurvy, and starvation the first wooden structures of
the new city were erected just five months after the ground breaking. The first
structures of fortifications and a church formed the basis for the Peter and
Paul Fortress.
In 1710 the imperial family moved to
St. Petersburg. Two years later Peter declared St. Petersburg the capital of
Russia. The aristocracy and merchant class were more horrified of moving to the
uncivilized northern swamp than they were of the loss of power. However, given
the choice of losing their heads or relocating, they reluctantly moved to the
young city only to learn they were obliged to build large structures at their
own expense. In addition 40,000 masons flocked to the city because stone
buildings were forbidden to be built anywhere else.
Floods routinely plagued the island
and wolves roamed free at night. In 1725 when Peter died, 100,000 people
inhabited the city, and 90 percent of Russia’s trade moved through it. Except
for Peter’s grandson, Peter II, who moved the imperial court to Moscow for a
couple of years before his death from smallpox in 1730; future monarchs
remained faithful to Peter’s dream.
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