May 27 – Saint Petersburg, Russia. Today we are taking the included city tour of Saint Petersburg. Most of the stops will be for photos but we do get inside the Peter & Paul Fortress and its Cathedral.
On the way to town we stopped at the Smolny Convent of the Resurrection & Cathedral. The convent started out as a place to hold Elizabeth, the daughter of Peter the Great. Because her parents were not yet married when she was born she was considered illegitimate. When Peter died those who wanted power used this fact to deny her the throne. When Anna was declared Empress, Elizabeth was stuck. No member of any European royal family could court her as it would be seen as an affront to Anna, Elizabeth couldn't marry a commoner because she'd lose all her property and be ineligible for the throne, to which she still aspired. Her only option was to become a nun and since she had money she was building herself a convent, conveniently located to the capital. But Anna died and the infant Ivan IV became emperor but his mother ran the government as regent. Her rule was not successful and when Ivan was overthrown the throne was offered to Elizabeth. She changed her mind about becoming a nun and accepted although work continued on the convent because of her support.
The Smolny Cathedral, a masterpiece in blue-and-white, was designed by Italian architect Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli, who also redesigned the Winter Palace, and created the Grand Catherine, Peterhof and many other Saint Petersburg landmarks. It's considered to be his best work. It was completed in 1764. The bell tower would have been the tallest building in Saint Petersburg when it was completed. However Elizabeth died and Catherine the Great (II) took the throne. She was not a fan of the baroque style and funding for the project quickly ran out. Not only the bell tower was affected. Rastrelli was unable to finish the interior of the cathedral. It was only completed in 1835 with a newly designed neo-classical interior and long after Catherine died. The church was closed by the Bolsheviks in 1923 and was vandalized and left to rot until 1982, when it became a Concert Hall.
From the convent we headed downtown and alternated between driving next to the Neva River, along one of Saint Petersburg's many canals, on one of the cities wide boulevards and narrow streets. Like any other city with canals, Venice or Amsterdam, Saint Petersburg has a multitude of canals. In fact there's a plaza here from which you can see 7 bridges. We passed the art noveau Singer Sewing Machine building with its elegant glass and copper cupola topped by a copper globe. After the 1917 uprising it was given over to the State Publishing House and is now a large bookstore.
As we arrived downtown we passed the two Rostral Columns that served as lighthouses in the early 1800s. The Ancient Greece and Roman built rostral columns to commemorate naval victories. They decorate the column with models of the prows of ships. Sculptures at the base depict Russia's main waterways, the Dnieper, Volga, Volkhov, and Neva Rivers. Although the columns originally served as lighthouses, until 1855 this was St. Petersburg's commercial harbor, they are now lit only on special occasions, such as City Day and here we are on the 310th anniversary of the city's founding. We are lucky to see them burning. They are really just giant natural gas torches, there was no electricity involved. They are right in front of the Old Stock Exchange which now serves as a naval museum. Putin has promised to open an exchange to sell Russian oil and gas, a true sign that capitalism is catching on here.
Our next stop was the Peter and Paul Fortress to see the Peter and Paul Cathedral burial place for almost all the Russian Tsars since Peter the Great but two, Peter II an Ivan IV. Peter is buried in Moscow at the Kremlin Cathedral of Michael the Archangel. He died of the smallpox and no one wanted to ship his body across country. Ivan IV was murdered and buried in a fortress that is not finally identified yet. Peter the Great, Catherine the Great (technically an empress not a tsar), Elizabeth I, gosh the gang's all here. Many are buried in white marble crypts with gold crosses on top and some have some gold decoration in the corners. Peter the Great has the double headed eagle in gold at all four corners of the top. Two tombs are very special. Alexander II tomb is carved from a single block of green jasper and his wife, Empress Maria's is carved from a single block of pink rhodonite.
Another unusual thing about the cathedral is the iconostasis. Every one I've ever seen is a flat wall with three doors; this one is in the form of a tower over the sanctuary. Very beautiful but odd nevertheless.
We drove around the city for a while past the Hermitage, along the Neva River and eventually to Saint Isaac's Cathedral. On the cathedral square there's a monument to Nicholas I in the form of a mounted bronze. It's the first mounted statue ever to have only two points of contact with the base, the horse's two back hooves. Since that time another has been made but they are the only two.
Saint Isaac's was one of the first churches to have a cast iron dome. It's an engineering marvel that they are still very proud of. The dome is covered in pure gold applied in a new way, at the time, that was guaranteed not to need restoration for 100 years. It was finished in 1858, hasn't ever been restored and looks absolutely great to this day.
We have a tour of Catherine's Palace in Pushkin this afternoon so it was back to the ship for lunch and a break before heading out again.
Built for Catherine I (not the Great) and expanded by Elizabeth it's a Russian baroque masterpiece, well Rococo to me. (Baroque, in its various styles, and Rococo are awfully difficult for an amateur like me to distinguish. There are guidelines but unfortunately baroque is different in various countries and has early, middle and late periods, so Yikes!) It was totally destroyed in the Great Siege but was so well restored that it is reputed to be the best building restoration in the world. The front façade is 600 feet long and is truly a gold, white and blue Rococo marvel.
This was the summer residence of the tsars. It's not convenient in the winter as it's about 12 miles from downtown, not much in modern times but in the dead of Russian winter in the 1700s it would be quite a trip.
The original building was begun in 1717 and expanded by Empress Anna in 1733. In 1752 Empress Elizabeth was finally allowed to take the throne she had that building torn down and replaced by the structure we see today.
One ironic element to this building is that because it's known as Catherine's Palace and everyone knows about Catherine the Great (II) it's usually associated with her. Fact is, she didn't like it and was appalled to see how much Elizabeth spent on it, not only government money but her own as well. She was very hard on Elizabeth when she wrote her memoirs.
This could have been a little disingenuous, because Catherine II then proceeded to hire an architect and refurbish the interior of one wing in a more modern style and built personal apartments in a separate building.
When Catherine the Great died in 1796 the palace was abandoned in favor of other palaces and regarded this place as a monument to Elizabeth's wealth and Catharine's glory. Unfortunately during the siege of Saint Petersburg (then Leningrad) the Germans occupied Pushkin and used the various palaces as headquarters, housing and stables. When they retreated they mostly destroyed the building. Many of the rooms are not yet refurbished but if you have a few extra dollars you can rent the Grand Ballroom for an evening affair.
Our old buddy Rastrelli designed the most famous area of the building that starts with the Grand Ballroom and continues through the Hall of Lights and other smaller rooms to the Amber Room.
The Grand Ballroom is very large. It covers the entire width of the building and is a gorgeous sight in white and gold with mirrors between the windows that run along both outer walls. Good for letting in light, bad for trying to get a decent picture. The chandeliers are located on the walls and are always adjacent to mirrors so the light from both sides comes into the room. It's dazzling, even in the daylight, at night it must be spectacular.
The much smaller room next door is the Courtiers-in-Attendance Dining Room. It does not extend across the entire building but they designed mirrored "windows" on the wall opposite the actual windows that give the room seem larger and brighter. They have a table set with all the things needed for a dinner. The most interesting thing about the room is the ceiling painting. It represents the story of the Greek gods Helios (Sun) and Eos (Dawn). What makes it interesting is that Catherine is shown as Eos.
The Drawing Room of Alexander I was completed in 1756 and was in his private suite. The walls are covered in Chinese silk, a totally different style from the rest of the palace. It was one of the best rooms we saw for actually living in. The surroundings were very pleasant and still beautiful.
The Green Dining Room was built in 1773. It has green walls with white stucco figures and designs on them. Looks a lot like Wedgewood green jasperware. It's a look I really like but I don't know if I could live with it.
This evening they had a Cossack show in a large tent here at the pier. They had 10 dancers, 5 men and 5 women and 5 singers, four sang as a quartet and one soloist. They performed several styles of Russian dance including the prototypical kicking-while-squatting dances. The band that accompanied them had two accordion like instruments, three balalaikas (one small, one medium and one huge) and drums. The dancers wore 5 different costumes some very military, others more peasant like. I was drafted by one of the young ladies to join in on one of the dances. Believe me, it was more of an issue of survival than grace and style, but it was fun.
We've had some excellent sunsets when I remember to look at them around midnight. Today was no exception.
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