Saint Petersburg Spbcity.info - History of St. Petersburg

History of St. Petersburg

During all the history of the world civilization, no other city either in Russia or anywhere else was founded the way St. Petersburg was founded.

In 1703, after occupying the Swedish fortress of Nienschantz located on the banks of the Neva, Peter the Great founded a fortress on Hare's Island in order to put an end to the conservative traditions of Moscow.

The day when the city was founded is considered to be May 16 (according to the old Russian calendar), 1703 when the fortress of St. Petersburg (St. Peter's Fortress) was founded on Hare's Island in the estuary of the Neva. The fortress was to prevent the enemy's ships arriving from the Bigger Neva and the Smaller Neva. Later, the fortress would be named the Peter and Paul Fortress – after the Cathedral was constructed inside the fortress.

From the very first days of St. Petersburg's existence, the struggle between the city and the nature began. The architect Jean-Baptiste Leblond designed the city as a sea port, something like Amsterdam, the favorite city of Peter the Great, or like Venice, with canals stretched along the streets and ships going from the harbor for unloading. Very soon, however, it turned out that architectural solutions other than those of Venice would be necessary for the severe northern nature of St. Petersburg (still St. Petersburg is often called "the Northern Venice"). The near-by sea, the numerous water reservoirs united together, the high latitude (60 degrees of northern latitude and 30 degrees of eastern longitude) determine many peculiar features of St. Petersburg: the "White Nights" in summer and early dusk in winter, very changeable weather.

Yet Russian history knew no other example, except St. Petersburg, when so much effort was taken to construct a city. A lot of work was done at the same time. Peter the Great forbade to construct brick buildings anywhere else in Russia. Every person arriving in the city was obliged to bring a few bricks or stones or to pay a special tax. New building appeared within a few days and, sometimes, within a few hours. Soon the image of the future city became visible. The construction works began from Vasilyevsky Island.

The palace of Menshikov who was born in a very poor family, but later became one of the best assistants of Peter the Great, the building of the Twelve Collegia, the Kunstkammer – these wonderful architectural landmarks constructed in the very first years of St. Petersburg's existence attract everybody who visits the city. But both the visitors and the inhabitants of the city have a special warm-hearted attitude towards a modest cottage located near the Peter and Paul Fortress and almost hidden among the trees. This is the first wooden cottage of Peter the Great constructed within three days and carefully preserved for the posterity. It is wonderful to see how modest was the founder of St. Petersburg in his everyday life. Yet, almost at the same time, the construction of another residence of Peter the Great, the bigger and two-storied Summer Palace, began. According to a popular opinion, Peter the Great began the construction of this palace as an example to stimulate other people to construct their houses on the opposite bank of the Neva. But the Summer Garden surrounding the palace looks more luxurious and picturesque. Landscaping of this rather small, but at the same time, exquisite and well-proportioned garden, was done by Peter the Great himself. Peter's decision to decorate the garden with classical statues was a very successful landscaping solution. Their exquisite shapes and their whiteness are successfully combined with the old lime trees and the strict lines of the cast iron fence designed by Yuri Felten. The charming Summer Garden is one of the most favorite places of walks of the inhabitants of the city.

The St. Petersburg epoch of the history of Russia, however, is far from being an idyll. There were dramatic contrasts and terrible tragedies.

Yet people do not want to remember what was bad, if the posterity see the results of creative work. Peter I who founded not only St. Petersburg, but also the new Russia will always be remembered as Peter the Great, the founder of the Russian Empire. This is how he is shown in the famous statue in front of Vasilyevsky Island. The Bronze Horseman , an excellent work of the French sculptor Etienne Falconet, became one of the principal symbols of the city.

Of course, the early and unexpected death of Peter the Great made the changes slower and caused uncertainty about the heirs to the throne. Intrigues of the courtiers, and first of all Alexander Menshikov, made Catherine I the Empress. She was followed by Anna with whom a long line of Livonian Germans headed by Biron hurried to St. Petersburg in search of fortunes. The only memorial of the unpleasant reign of Anna in today's St. Petersburg seems to be the monument later constructed near St. Samson' s Cathedral, in Vyborgskaya Side, at the tomb of Prince Volynsky and his associates, Khrushchov and Yeropkin (one of the city's architects) who tried to fight against the power of Germans. At the same time, it was in the reign of Anna Ioannovna that the capital of Russia transferred to Moscow by Peter II in 1728 was returned to St. Petersburg.

But Elisabeth, the daughter of Peter the Great, who came to power with the help of Preobrazhensky Regiment which still followed the traditions of Peter the Great, in spite of somewhat light-hearted attitudes and in spite of being fond of balls and clothes, successfully continued the work of her father. In her reign, Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli began the construction of the Winter Palace which is well-known today, as well as the construction of the Smolny Cathedral. In her reign, St. Nicholas's Cathedral was also constructed, and the architect Rastrelli also constructed the beautiful palace in Tsarskoye Selo for the Empress. In the reign of Elisabeth, Pages' School and the Academy of Arts were founded.

St. Petersburg developed very quickly in the reign of Catherine the Great. She grew outside Russia and came to the throne illegally, she was very busy with her love affairs and gave very expensive presents to her favorites, she was vain and sometimes inconsistent. But, at the same time, all Russia and especially St. Petersburg benefited a lot from the reign of Catherine the Great. Considering herself a follower of the ideas of Peter the Great, Catherine contributed significantly to strengthening Russia and to developing its capital. In the reign of Catherine the Great, the city's principal shape was formed and its classical beauty became as strong as never before.

Besides, following the traditions of Peter the Great, Catherine collected works of art. Moreover, she made collecting systematic. It was she who began to form the collections of the world famous Hermitage. Towards the end of her reign, there were more than 2,000 pictures in the Hermitage, including the works of Titian, Rembrandt, Raphael and Poussin. At the same time, other collections of works of art were growing.

An excellent reminder of the reign of Catherine the Great is her statue which can be seen in the center of Nevsky Prospect. The statue of the Empress is surrounded by statues of those who became famous in her reign - Potemkin, Suvorov, Rumyantsev, Orlov, Bezborodko, Dashkova, Derzhavin…

The destiny of the son of Catherine the Great, Emperor Paul I, was tragic. When a child, he learned that his father, Peter III, had been murdered and that his mother had been among the organizers of the murder. Paul hated everything that was connected with his mother and, until becoming the Emperor, he lived only in the environs of St. Petersburg, in Gatchina.

The short reign of the unbalanced Paul I was marked by increasing military discipline and censorship is often described by historians in a negative way. The less partial latest studies, however, show the Emperor not as a half-crazy and despotic man (as he was previously described), but as a man whose life was tragic. Yet none of the reasonable reforms implemented by Paul I became more than a project.

The most tragic events were connected with Mikhailovsky Castle constructed for Paul I and his family in St. Petersburg, at the crossing point of the Moika and the Fontanka rivers. It was in Mikhailovsky Castle, an isolated place separated from all the city, as the result of courtiers' conspiracy and with silent consent of his son, the heir to the throne, the Emperor was murdered.

Many architectural achievements marked the reign of Alexander I. The success in the war against Napoleon culminated by the victory of the allies and Russian army entering Paris. This could not but result in growing enthusiasm and increasing popularity of the Emperor. The Stock Exchange (designed by Thomas de Thomon), the Smolny Institute boarding school for girls from noble families (designed by Giacomo Quarenghi), the Yelagin Palace (designed by Carlo Rossi) and the Admiralty (designed by Andreyan Zakharov) were constructed in the reign of Alexander I. In 1811, the architect Andrei Voronikhin constructed the Kazan Cathedral in the very center of Nevsky Prospect. The Cathedral became a real decoration of the city's main street. The Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum and the Mining Institute were founded in the reign of Alexander I. The monumental column on Palace Square also reminds us about Alexander I.

In the end of 1825, Alexander I unexpectedly died. The sudden death of the Emperor was one of the reasons for the uprising of "Decemberists" – a group of military officers-conspirators who were advocate of the French type of Republic. The uprising was soon put an end to. Nicholas I who came to power had very conservative views. His adherence to the values of absolute monarchy were often criticized in the society both by advocates of Western values with their liberal democracy and by advocates of traditional Slavic values, the so called "Slavianophils". Cruel conservatism and increasing bureaucracy resulted in growing alienation between the authorities and the people and, finally, in provoking the strong nihilistic movement which grew tremendously after the death of Nicholas I.

Strange as it is, but it was in the reign of Nicholas I that the talents of Pushkin, Zhukovsky, Gogol, Griboyedov, Turgenev Dostoevsky flourished. The Northern Capital's main architectural ensembles designed by Rossi (Palace Square, Senate and Synode, Alexandrinsky Theater), de Montferrand (St. Isaac's Square, the Alexander Column) and Thomas de Thomon (the Spit of Vasilyevsky Island) were also formed in the reign of Nicholas I. A kind of symbol of the autocratic reign of Nicholas I became the huge St. Isaac's Cathedral – one of the principal architectural landmarks of St. Petersburg. Nicholas's successor, Alexander II, is well-known in Russian history as "Czar-liberator": in 1861, he issued an order putting an end to serfdom. Yet, due to a tragic chance, this very Czar became the target of several terrorist attacks among the growing revolutionary movement, and one of these attacks resulted in his death. As a monument to Alexander II, near Nevsky Prospect, on the very place where he had been killed, the beautiful church of Resurrection, popularly known as the church of Our Savior "on the Blood", was constructed.

Alexander III who became the successor of his father on the Russian throne was more conservative in his politics. In his reign, there was quick Capitalist development of the country. In particular, the great Trans-Siberian Railroad was constructed. There was also a lot of construction works in St. Petersburg. Many luxurious palaces, rich mansions and churches were constructed. Yet there was nothing extraordinary about their architectural features. It was in the reign of Alexander III that the Russian Museum was constructed. This museum contains the world's biggest collections of the works of Russian artists, including the famous pictures by Bryullov, Venetsianov, Shishkin, Aivazovsky, Repin, Surikov, Vrubel…

The destiny of the last Czar of the Romanov dynasty, Nicholas II who was crowned in 1894, was especially tragic. Tragic events began from the very day of his coronation: when coronation was celebrated in Moscow, on Khodynskoye Field, the place was so crowded that many people died in the throng. Then there was Russia's defeat in the war against Japan, the peaceful demonstration was shot in January 1905, and the first revolution began. This was followed by the tragic war, the worsening reputation of the Czar's power because of Rasputin, the monarch rejecting his throne and, finally, the October revolution and the martyrs' death of the Czar and his family…

The art of the reign of Nicholas II was distinguished by the growing influence of Art Nouveau in St. Petersburg's architecture. The Trinity Bridge was built, and Petrogradskaya Side, previously considered a quiet suburban area, became the site of intensive construction works. Many buildings of Petrogradskaya Side were constructed in the new modern style. A typical example of this style is the mansion of the ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya located not far from the entrance to the Peter and Paul Fortress.

Bolsheviks coming to power marked the beginning of a very special epoch both for all the country and for St. Petersburg. The wish to reject the past completely, to put an end to everything reminding about monarchy and religion, resulted in terrible losses in art and architecture. Moscow which became the capital of Russia again in 1918 was considerable damaged. St. Petersburg which was at that time called Petrograd and later, in 1924, after the death of Lenin, - Leningrad, was "luckier", although many churches and historical monuments were also ruined here.

During World War II, Leningrad was besieged by the enemy's army. For more than two years, the city resisted the siege of Nazi. Hundreds of thousands Leningradians died of starvation, but the heroic city did not surrender to the enemy. This heroic deed of the population of Leningrad was commemorated by many monuments. The greatest among them is the memorial complex of Pirskarevskoye Cemetery where many people who were killed in air-raids or died during the siege are buried.

In the process of post-war reconstruction, the city gradually regained the features previously characteristic of the Northern Capital of Russia. Considerable work was done in the Czars' residences located in the city's environs which had been occupied by Nazi and completely ruined. At present, these palaces and parks look as before, and those who visit the city and admire them can hardly imagine how terrible the damage had been and how difficult it was to restore these excellent architectural landmarks.

As for the development of the city, the post-war construction works were, first of all, aimed at reducing the shortage of apartments. Following strict ideological restrictions, this did not allow to construct real masterpieces of architecture competing with the greatest architectural landmarks of the past. Yet the city was "lucky": unlike Moscow, these construction works were mainly in the areas which had not been inhabited before, so the excellent architectural landmarks of the city's center were not damaged. One of the most successful works of the epoch was the statue of Pushkin by Mikhail Anikushin: this statue became an integral part of the square in front of the Russian Museum.

In the late 1980s, Russia entered another "revolutionary" epoch. In 1991, St. Petersburg regained its original name.

Today's St. Petersburg is in a transitional epoch, and the best traditions of the city's past are being revived.