|
|
|
St. Petersburg - Culture |
|
St
Petersburg is a year-round destination. The city's northern latitude means
long days in summer and long nights in winter. In winter, hotels and
tourist attractions are less crowded and, while some describe the weather
merely as 'dark', there's a twinkling magic about the winter sky. And
while white nights in mid-summer are undeniably beautiful, some people
find it disconcerting to look out of a window and think it's about 8 pm
when it's really 3 am. Climate-wise, St Petersburg is
much milder than its extreme northern latitude would suggest. January
temperatures average -8°C (17°F); a really cold day will get down to -15°C
(5°F). It's a windy city though and in some areas the wind chill is quite
fierce, so bring a good warm hat and scarf. Summer is cool and takes a
while to get going: snow in late April is not uncommon and the warm
weather doesn't really start until the period between June and August,
when temperatures reach 20°C (68°F). During these months the city is
packed with foreign and Russian tourists.
The north side of the city has
three main areas. The westernmost is Vasilevsky Island at the eastern end
of which stand many of the city's fine early buildings. The middle area is
Petrograd Side, a cluster of delta islands whose southern end is marked by
the tall gold spire of the SS Peter & Paul Cathedral. This is where
the city began. The third, eastern, area is Vyborg Side, divided from
Petrograd Side by the Bolshaya Nevka channel and stretching east along the
north bank of the Neva. Palace Square
For 200
years the vast Russian empire was ruled from this half-km block at St
Petersburg's heart. This is one of Europe's great squares, lined with
colourful yet elegant edifices and dotted with monuments commemorating
Russia's victory over Napoleon. It witnessed Bloody Sunday in 1905, the
Bolshevik's grab for power in 1917, and all-night vigils in the name of
democracy during the 1991 coup. The square is dominated by the
green and white rococo fantasy of the Winter Palace, the largest of the
architectural components, which make up the State Hermitage Museum. In the
grey old days visitors came to the city for the museum alone and even
today it could probably eat up a week of your precious time. The complex
of buildings is the size of a small town - a map and compass are absolute
essentials. Four linked riverside buildings - the Winter Palace, the
Little and Large Hermitage buildings and the Hermitage Theatre - hold a
vast collection of Western European art, with enough chandeliers,
over-the-top interior encrustations and tsarist jewels and treasures to
have Adjacent to the Winter Palace
is the gilded spire of the Admiralty - a good landmark to use when you're
out and about. This Empire-style classical building houses a naval college
and is replete with trumpeting angels, oversized statues and fountains.
Another building, which dominates the skyline, is the golden-domed St
Isaac's Cathedral, which provides fine views from the supporting
colonnade. Peter & Paul Fortress
Tiny
Zayachy Island contains the oldest building in town - the Peter & Paul
Fortress. It was built in 1703 to defend the newly acquired land from the
Swedes and designed according to plans laid out by Peter the Great
himself. However, its main use up to 1917 was as a political prison and
the first inmate was Peter's own son Alexey, who was followed by other
notables such as Dostoevsky, Gorky, Trotsky and Lenin's older brother,
Alexander. The adjacent cathedral, though plain on the outside, has a
magnificent baroque interior. Most of Russia's Romanov rulers are buried
here. All this was built while Peter was still roughing it in a log cabin
overlooking his golden embryonic city. The cabin is preserved as a shrine
like museum. St
Petersburg's splendid architecture provides a visible means of
understanding the revolution of 1917: just mentally contrast the opulent
lifestyles of the royal family and nobility with the lives of the have-not
soldiers and workers. The city's buildings reflect European tastes and
traditions, and were largely commissioned during the reigns of Empress
Elizabeth, Catherine the Great and Alexander I. Neoclassical styles
predominate. The Summer Palace, located in St Petersburg's loveliest
public gardens, was built for Peter and is pretty nigh intact today. Its
comparative modesty contrasts with the Versailles-like symmetry of the
gardens. One of the city's most
photographed relics of former glories lies at the eastern end of Nevsky
prospekt: the Beloselsky-Belozersky Palace. The building is easily
recognised by its dark-red stucco and row of weight-bearing musclemen
sporting crumpled nappies. It's easy to understand why the building was
utilised by the local branch of the Communist Party until 1991. Empress
Elizabeth's favourite architect (and lover), Rastrelli, was responsible
for the green and white Stroganov Palace, which overlooks the Moyka River.
The family fortune was based on the Siberian fur trade, and, yes, their
chef did invent beef stroganoff. Vasilevsky Island
St
Petersburg's largest island lies wedged like a plug in the mouth of the
Neva. The main points of interest are clustered on its eastern 'nose',
just across the river from the Admiralty. They include maritime buildings,
the city's university, a clutch of museums, and some of the best views of
the city. Museums include the Naval Museum, Zoological Museum, Kunstkammer
(with its freakish collection) and the Academy of Arts. The island's
nostrils are adorned with the Rostral Columns, navigation beacons shaped
like ship's prows which today spurt forth gas-fuelled fire on holidays.
The Menshikov Palace was one of the first buildings erected on the island
and today it functions as a museum, overflowing with period furnishings
and fittings. St
Petersburg's `Champs Elysées' is the famous Nevsky prospekt, which runs
west from the Admiralty 4km (2mi) to the Alexandr Nevsky Monastery on the
banks of the Neva. It's lined with fine buildings and thronged with people
- a good place to feel the city's pulse, particularly during the midsummer
White Nights. The list of former residents who lived on and around the
famous thoroughfare reads like a veritable Who's Who: Gogol,
Tchaikovsky, Turgenev,
Pushkin launched Russia's
impressive literary pedigree and described St Petersburg's decadence
particularly well in Eugene Onegin. His poem The Bronze Horseman
brings the famous statue that graces the Neva's embankment to life.
Tolstoy also had a go at the nobs in War and Peace and Anna
Karenina, comparing simple Moscow life with superficial and
sophisticated St Petersburg. Dostoevsky on the other hand targeted the
life of the poor in Crime and Punishment. Pushkin's last home, on
one of the prettiest curves of the Moyka River, is now a museum, complete
with stopped clock and replicated library. The writer expired here after
fighting a duel to defend the tarnished reputation of his wife.
Dostoevsky's home has also been turned into a faithfully reconstructed
museum. He died here of a throat hemorrhage while writing up his diary.
In summer, a lovely way to
while away a day is paddling through the canals and lakes around the During the
last 10 days of June, when night never falls, many St Petersburgers stay
out celebrating White Nights all night, particularly at weekends. There's
a White Nights Dance Festival with events ranging from folk to ballet, but
the main Kirov company doesn't always take part, more often its students
do. Festivities during the Russian
Winter Festival, 25 December to 5 January, and Goodbye Russian Winter,
late February to early March, centre outside the city, with troyka
(horse-drawn sleigh) rides, folk shows and performing bears. Less known
are the Christmas Musical Meetings in Northern Palmyra, a classical
musical festival held during the week before Christmas. The St Petersburg
Music Spring, an international classical music festival held in April or
May, and the mid-November international jazz festival, Osenie Ritmy
(Autumn Rhythms), are built around St Petersburg's jazz clubs. |
|
|
|
|
©
Copyright 2000 - 2003
Eurotravelling.net POWERED BY
wORLDTRAVELGATE.NET |
 Back to WTG |
St Petersburg was built on a
grand scale, with palaces and boulevards designed to be viewed from afar,
and bold symmetry embracing the whole. The city sprawls across and around
the mouth of the Neva River, at the end of the easternmost arm of the
Baltic Sea. The Neva splits the city into northern, eastern and southern
sectors. The area spreading back from the Winter Palace and the Admiralty
on the south bank is the city's heart, and Nevsky prospect is its main
artery. This central area is a pedestrian's dream, as the waterside
walkways and elegant streetscapes are best seen on foot.
you seeing stars for days. The collection largely dates from the
culturally heightened days of Catherine the Great, and many works were
gained when Napoleon's power began to wane. 
Nijinsky, Rimsky-Korsakov and Dostoevsky. While
strolling, don't forget to look up and around at the wealth of
architectural details. Sights you'll pass include the many-columned Kazan
Cathedral (home to the Museum of Religion), the Art Nouveau former
premises of the Singer sewing-machine company (now a bookshop), the
arcaded Gostiny Dvor department store and the huge square dominated by the
statue of Catherine the Great surrounded by her numerous lovers. Many of
the shops are worth browsing for their interiors alone. They range from
19th-century palaces of merchandise to amazingly opulent Art Nouveau and
Art Deco extravaganzas.
Kirovsky Islands. There are also rowing boat rentals at the northern end
of the moat around the Peter & Paul Fortress. If that's too much
effort, the 100,000-seat Kirov Stadium on Krestovsky Island is a bracing
place to watch some woeful soccer - the local team is unfortunately rather
skill-challenged.