St Petersburg First Day, 1 of 11 Coach trip around city

St Petersburg is a Russian port on the Baltic Sea and Russia's second largest city after Moscow It was founded by Peter the Great in 1703 and was the imperial capital until 1918, a period of over two centuries. 

It is the westernmost city of Russia and it has an undeniably eventful history, having witnessed the February and October Revolutions of 1917 and its defence and siege during World War II have been well documented. 

Today, St. Petersberg is recognised as Russia's intellectual and cultural hub and though we had just two days to explore St Petersburg we had an amazing whirlwind around this city. We managed to click over 800 photos throughout those two days and  whittling them down to a manageable number has been difficult. 

We are still  amazed at how much we saw and learnt about Russia's history over those two days.

The main river of St. Petersburg is the Neva River which flows from Lake Ladoga, through the city and empties into the the Baltic Sea through the Gulf of Finland is a major shipping route.  

Some people refer to the city as the "Venice of the North " for the city is built on the Neva delta marshlands where many tributaries and canals which form a network of lace-like waterways. More than 340 bridges, of various style and sizes span the canal and river systems making St. Petersburg a navigable city like Venice.

Day one, 2nd July began with a coach tour around the city streets and across several bridges. We saw many apartment buildings, the spires of churches and  row upon row of historic buildings. From the windows our coach we gained gained a broad overview of how large the large city is.  As we passed many major landmarks, our guide pointed them out and named some of these buildings which included several churches, museums and palaces. Many of these we were to visit later on in the day. 

Like any big metropolis, St. Petersburg has  excellent transportation system for commuters. These include buses, coaches, motor bikes,  trams, taxis, modern cars, a huge metro system and canal traffic for ferrying goods around the city and carrying tourists and leisure craft.

Most city dwellers live in large multi-storey government apartments which dot the skyline throughout the city. Public transport is convenient and relatively inexpensive but only the wealthy can afford private cars. 

Many of  the beautiful buildings are beautiful and impressive and give evidence of the wealth of the aristrocracy of past regimes during the times when tsars ruled their empires. We were amazed at the variety of colours and varying sizes of the iconic onion shaped domes with pure gold gilding that we saw throughout the tour.

St Petersburg is a large city and its waterways give it a graceful setting. Though there are many apartment towers we also passed areas of parkland and gardens where families gathered to enjoy the sunshine or to engage in recreational activities. Some parks had water fountains and statues honouring past leaders.

Our coach also took us past outdoor market areas and at one stop we were amused at the Russian dolls with painted images of Putin, Stalin, Rasputin, Kruchev, Gorbachev and other Soviet leaders. We saw many intricate, beautifully coloured and delicately designed Russian egg ornaments in many of the shop windows but we jusy looked, admired and resisted adding more trinkets to our cluttered lives.

An interesting senario we watched being played out was  Russian police carrying out a car search and booking the occupants, not an unusual scene in any city today. In the police scene photo you can see a Coca Cola sign in the background. During the Soviet Union times this would not have existed but today Russia trades with other western countries and international relations are much more open.

St Petersburg First Day, 2 of 11 Riverside visit

Our first tour stop was beside the Neva River which snakes through St Petersburg. Locals and visitors frequently take long walks along the banks of the Neva because watching the river traffic of barges, pleasure craft and trading boats is an interesting pastime in this big city. When we stopped off at a special point on the riverbank it was only about 8.30 in the morning o'clock but already early morning commuters were flitting along the Neva on ferries and barges, as they headed  to work.

Though the sky was misty and it was quite cool around the river promenade area, as the mists lifted we had a clear view across the river, of the many buildings along the shoreline. We saw the beautiful tourquoise-blue and white gilt Hermitage building which graces the riverside as well as many other stately buildings and several bridges.

The first thing that caught our eyes as we stepped onto the riverside promenade were two large and imposing sphinxes. We'd seen similar sphinxes in Egypt some years ago and assumed that this set of sphinxes were carbon copies. However, we learned from our guide that these sphinxes are " the real deal" and that they're over 3,500 years old. Originally they were carved out of syenite stone to protect the temple of Amenhotrp III built near Thebes in Egypt, but over a long period of time frequent desert sandstorms covered the edifices in sand and they lay hidden and 'forgotten'.  

In the early 19th century following Napoleon Bonaparte's Egyptian campaign, which revealed many other wonders of ancient Egypt to the world, these two spinxes were uncovered from their sandy grave. In the 1830's Europe and Russia bought many Egyptian trophies from Egypt. In 1830, Andrew Muryayov who was an historian of the Russian Orthodox Church, made a pilgrimage to Alexandria and bought the two sphinxes for the Russian Empire but it was not an easy task to ship them from Egypt to St. Petersburg since each Sphinx weighed 23 tonnes. However, with many peasant labourers and bulky barges these trophies were relocated in St. Petersburg.

They have been restored several times since coming to St Petersburg because of the damage that the harsh winter climate in Russia can cause. 

The river sometimes freezes over for months and the snow-cover piles freeze and melt upon the forms of these ancient sphinxes  once hidden in hot desert sands.

However, with many peasant labourers and bulky barges these trophies finally arrived in St Petersburg city in 1832. For next two years the spinxes stood in the courtyard of the Russian Academy of Arts. Today the sphinxes are mounted on granite pedestals which stand on the riverside quay embankment directly opposite the Imperial Academy of Arts. 

The  sphinxes are a great tourist attraction and without fail, every day during summer, people pose for photographs in front of these giant ancient monuments.
 

I stood beside one of two giant bronze winged lion statues (known as Griffins) which sit below each sphinx and marvelled at the craftsmanship of the foundry workshop artists of St. Peterburg who first poured these modelled statues in 1834. The original models  mysteriously disappeared and were recreated in the foundry of the Arts Academy in 1959, following their original patterns.

It was fairly busy and crowded at our early morning visit session and we had to wait our turn to take photographs but it was well worth hearing about the history of these monuments.

As we continue to drive along the river side we also passed several ornate bridges, one of which stands near a walled fort built by Peter the Great. I will refer to this later on in the blog because we were visited this island fort area later in the morning.  We passed many other unique buildings  and I was particularly taken by the onion shaped domes which are so unique to Russian architecture.            

St Petersburg First Day, 3 of 11 Underground Metro Experience

St. Petersburg Metro system has five different lines with a total of 72 stations and it covers about 124 kilometres in all. It is also one of the deepest underground railway systems in a the world with its deepest station being 86 metres below ground level. About 2 million people use the metro lines each day so it is a busy efficient way of travelling across the city.

Our first stop after visiting the riverside sphinxes was to visit one of the underground railway stations and experience the everyday commute that Petersburgians do every day.

The concept of building an underground railway system began as early as 1938 and whilst deep shafts had been by constructed by 1941, work ceased during the Second World War due to lack of funding and manpower. In 1947 work began in constructing a subway and 10 years after the war on October 7th 1955 the city's first underground transport system with 7 stations, was opened. 

Since this time there has been continual expansion of metro lines and stations across the city and today there are plans to extend these systems ever further. 

One of the reasons for having an extremely deep metro system was that the tunnels were built to double-up as bomb shelters in case of nuclear attack during the Cold War years. Another reason is that much of the city lies on marshland and therefore the tunnels needed to built below the waterway bed.

Following a 2017 terrorist attack in which 14 people died and 50 were injured and with the more recent escalation of terrorist threats, all metro stations in St Petersburg are now linked to CCTV surveillance systems. Since the CCTV system was installed at leasttwo terrorist attacks have been aborted. adopted. 

We were impressed with the highly decorative station platforms that we visited. Admiraleyskaya station where our tour began, is one of the newest stations and the deepest station in the city. We had to travel down two very long escalators to reach the station 86 metres underground. What a unique experience! We'd never had such a long, deep escalator ride before. It made Sydney's Wynard escalator ride seem like a zip in comparison.  

Admiraleyskaya station is built near to the Admiralty, hence its name and the theme of its decor. The station's platform precinct walls are decorated with huge mosaic-tiled frescoes depicting the historic naval scenes and portraits of Russian admirals and naval leaders. They are impressive works of art and honour Russia's naval past. 

We boarded a carriage of one of the metro trains and travelled underground with local passengers. The carriage we were in was fairly full with many passengers standing and hanging onto ceiling rails but it was not as "sardined -packed" as the trains on the Tokyo or Monti Carlo metros that we have travelled. The design of the rolling stock was simple and practical, with soft lighting and automatic doors. There was limited seating ad they are designed to move as many commuters as possible ascrss the city.

The station that we alighted from had an equally impressive persona. It opened in 1997 and was named Sportivnaya because of its proximity to two major sporting stadiums and opened in 1997 and was very clean and modern.The walls of Sportivnaya station have been designed with tiled mosaics of sporting scenes from the Greek origins of the Olympic Games and the mosaics have been created with multi-coloured glittering tiles. It all looks so impressive with scenes depicting athletes, medallions and even a scene from the ancient ceremony of the lighting of the flame in Olympia. These mosaics are further enhanced by a series of  "Greek" lamps which illuminate the station platform and precinct and reflect light onto the ceilings. Even the long row of lights that illuminate the lengthy escalator-ride, are in the form of modern Olympic torches. 

Since returning home I have surfed the net and 'visited' many more of the metro stations in St. Petersburg. Not only have I been impressed by the architectural design of the stations but the unique and varying decors of the station platforms have been refreshingly expressive and meaningful.  The Metro in St Petersburg has become a mecca of artistic architecture and creative expression for tourist like us.. Its scale is grand and exotic and beautiful and should not be missed. 

St Petersburg First Day, 4 of 11 St Peter and St Paul Cathedral

The St. Peter and St. Paul Fortress  stands on a small island near the north bank of the Neva River and it is the birthplace of St. Petersburg.  Peter the Great founded the fortress to protect the city from the threat of Swedish invasion in 1700. The original fort was a wooden structure with earthen embankments and it took two years to build.  However, the fortress was rebuilt in stone after the 1750's and had the added fortification of a solid star-shaped wall which encircled the  embankments of its river borders. Later the fortress became a political prison for those opposing the governing leaders at the time. 

A bit of Fortress history: During the 1917 February Revolution when the fortress came under attack by mutinous soldiers, the prisoners were freed and many Tsarist leaders and officials were held within its walls. By October the Bolsheviks controlled the fortress, the Winter Palace had been captured and many ministers had been taken to the fortress as prisoners. Records show that between 1917 and 1921 at least 112 prisoners including 4 grand dukes were killed within in the fortress walls. 

In 1924 the Fortress site was converted to a museum and other buildings were added to around it. During the bombardment by the Luftwaffe in World War II damage was caused to some buildings but these have been faithfully restored so that today the Fortress and its many notable buildings attract streams of tourists to the  site. Many of these buildings are built around the Cathedral site within the fortress wall. They include for example; the Petersbugh Mint building which is still in operation today, a Mausoleum which is connected to the Cathedral by a corridor and the Trubetskoy Bastion or prison which is now the city museum. 

Not surprisingly, this Fortress comples is a very popular tourist venue all year round.  Crowds of locals spend their hot summer days on the sandy beaches which are overlooked by parts of the fortress walls and in winter when the river freezes over sleds and skaters can be seen enjoying winter outdoor activities within and beside the fortress precinct. 

Our visit to the island Fortress was mainly to tour the Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul a Russian Orthodox Church, built within the walls of the Peter and Paul Fortress. It was the first church to be built in the newly formed city and as such it is the oldest church in St. Petersburg. In 1704, just one month after the city of St. Petersburg was founded, a wooden church was built on this site. Eight 8 years later, in 1712 the construction of the current stone building began.  It took 20 years to complete the St. Peter and St. Paul Cathedral that we visited today and it was finally consecrated in June 1733. Interestingly it is the second tallest building in the city.  (the television tower being the largest building in St. Petersburg) 

The St Peter and St Paul Cathedral's building design is radically different  from the traditional Orthodox churches of Russia in that it is built in the early Baroque style and is rectangular in shape. These feature ideas were borrowed from the Protestant churches of western Europe that were being built in the 1700's.  

The Cathedral has a belltower which is part of the overall building and it has a huge gold encrusted needle-like spire, 123 metres in height and it is a noteable landmark, seen from many parts of the city of St. Petersburg. Perched high on the tip of this needle-like spire is a gold figurine of a 'flying angel carrying a cross'. The detail is exquisite and is best seen on a you-tube video or from an enlarged photograph shot because the naked eye cannot appreciate the image without assistance. According to the wishes of Peter the Great, the clock on the bell tower was imported from Holland at the cost of 45,000 rubles which was a huge sum of money at that time. 

In 1756 the belltower were hit by lightning and burnt down. Catherine the Great ordered the belltower to be rebuilt and this was complete in 1776 with new bells being crafted in Holland and installed in the tower. These bells chimed every hour and right up until 1917, they played the National anthem "God save the Tsar" at noon every day.

In 1952 under Soviet rule a new clock be installed in the tower. It chimed four times a day and played the hymn of the Soviet Union. 

In 1919, the cathedral was closed and repurposed as a museum in 1924. Though it is still officially a museum in recent times (since 2000) church services and weddings have resumed within the sanctuary and worshippers continue to meet at this iconic church, set on an island within fortification walls. 

Impressive as the outside of the Cathedral is because of its setting and golden spire, we were blown away by its interior which is not only vast but lavish in its decor and petina. Most of the high curved ceilings are embellished with beautifully intricate mosaic patterned designs in delicate soft pinks, greens and yellows. 

We spent over an hour in this building which was crowded with tourists,  all impressed by the beauty of the inside of the cathedral and dwarfed by the many pink marble collums that support the dome roof structures. 

Hanging high above the throng of tourists were rows of extremely large glittering crystal chandeliers which eluminate the building and enhance the decorative gold covered ornamentations above the collums and around the huge window frames. All in all this is a magnificent building fit for a coronation.

The building is huge and houses smaller chapels and special sections of it contain the burial tombstones of all the Russian emperors and empresses who have ruled since the death of Peter the Great. In 1998 the remains of Tsar Nicholas II and most of his family were exhumed from a grave near the Ural Mountains. After DNA analysis confirm their identity, the family was reburied in a place of honour within St. Peter and St Paul Cathedral. Tsar Nicholas II, the last Russian emperor and his family were murdered by the Bolshevik troops on July 16, 1918.

One architectural feature that is unique to St. Peter and St. Paul Cathedral is its very ornate iconostasis (the screen that separates the nave of the church from the sanctuary)  Iconostasis are usually a flat wall or screen which has three doors for the solemn entrance of the priests. The walls of an iconostasis are usually

highly decorated with carved wooden or gold panel decorations which will include at least two icons of saints. The iconostasis in the St. Peter and St. Paul Cathedral is not a flat wall but an ornate and elaborately gilt iconostasis which forms a tower over the sanctuary. On either side of the iconostasis, winged angels "stand guard" over the sactuary and gold framed picture icons of saints adorn the side gold panels. It is all very grand.

Like many churches we visited, we acknowledged and admired the wonderful craftsmanship, skill and architectural achievements of bygone artisans, builders and designers but the words of the Bible echo that God is not impressed with our endeavours. Rather he wants us to worship him in spirit and in truth with open contrite hearts and to live and love as Jesus did when he walked our earth. There is a tendency for mankind to worship and glorify the building and its constructors and to ignore the Creator of all things and our Saviour.  

St Petersburg First Day, 5 of 11 Saint Isaac's Cathedral

St. Isaac Cathedral, an Orthodox Church was built between 1818-1858 and took 40 years to complete. Its designer was French architect Auduste de Montferrand who used a Greek-cross ground plan with a central dome and four smaller domes. The main ribbed dome rises 101.5 metre and is plated with 400kg of pure gold. During WWII the dome was painted grey to camouflage its glisten gold facade. 

St. Isaac Cathedral is a colossal granite building and an engineering feat because it is an extremely heavy building having been constructed in 300,000 tons of granite and marble which was successfully constructed on swampy land. Records show that a total of 24,000 piles had to be drive in ground to form its foundation. It took 11,000 serfs several year to complete the pile-foundation work. They worked night and day in the summer and throughout the bitter winter and many lives were lost during the construction.

The exterior of the cathedral is  made of grey and pink granite stone. It is an impressive looking building looks very it looks very impressive with its massive central dome, twin bell towers and 4 identical grand portico entrances. These porticos entrances have a total of 48 polished red granite columns that dwarf all tourists and locals. Each collumn is 101.5 metres in height, weighs 114 tons and was hewn from single blocks of stone before being and shipped from Finland to St Petersburg. The massive central dome which  can be seen from all over the city,  is supported by another 24 polished red granite columns and each smaller dome has 8 columns as well. What a massive shipment undertaking!

The main dome which rises 101.5 metres into the sky, can be seen all over the city. Its fluted facade is covered with 400 kg of pure gold. During WWII the dome was painted grey to camouflage its glisten gold facade. No wonder that the cathedral building's cost was an incredible 1 million gold rubles. 

The church may look western European on the outside but it is pure Russian on the inside with its blending of sculpture, mosaics, paintings, murals and a very elaborate iconostasis. Words to describe the interior of St. Isaac would include; ostentatious, extravagant, lavish and opulent because its interior visual impact is overwhelming.

Multi-coloured granites and marbles which were sourced from all parts of Russia, have been used on the floor, columns, pilasters and various statues found in the cathedral. Many sculptors, artisans and painters were hired to produce the wonderfully, colourful works of art and stone that grace this ediface today.

Originally the inside walls of the cathedral  were  decorated by scores of paintings by Russian artists of the day but when these paintings began to deteriorate because of the damp conditions inside, Montferrand ordered that all the paintings be recreated in tiled mosaics. This was an expensive and painstaking task and is a real feature of the cathedral today, though the mosaic reproductions are still in the process of completion. 

The ceilings of the cathedral also have detailed paintings of various Bible narratives such as, the Genesis creation account.

The  cathedral walls are also adorned with richly painted scenes from the Bible. These master pieces, were painted by artists of the early and mid 18th century. They portray many of the gospel stories such as, the 'Calling of the Disciples', the 'Healing Miracles of Jesus' and the 'Last Supper in the Upper Room'. In this painting Judas is depicted clasping his bribe money as he sits with his back to Jesus.

I loved the inticately carved white marble frescoes. They are not only beautiful works of art but they bring 'alive' the gospel accounts of the events recorded with the the feelings and expressions that the sculptors convey in their work. 

The huge painting in the cupola of the central dome covers almost 800 metres and as we stare up at it in wonder the beauty, detail and skill of the painter was astounding to behold. Suspended in the zenith of the interior of the dome is a tiny white dove sculpture, representing the Holy Spirit. During the Soviet regime the dove was removed but after  the fall of the Soviet Union the dove was reinstalled into its previous place, in the centre of the dome. This would not have been easy as the dove is not tiny at all. In fact it is 6 metres wide. Look for it when you have the opportunity to visit. 

The 3-tiered iconostasis which is set in white marble, is framed by eight green malachite and two blue lazurite columns. The columns and pilasters are adorned with grooves and decorated with gilded capitals. Between the richly sculptured, pediments rich paintings of saints adorn the iconostasis.

In 1864, Juan Valera  described the interior of St Isaac Cathedral like this; " The interior of the Temple is truly a treasure. The rich paintings on the walls, mostly works  of Italian and German artists,  are only temporary and will be replaced with as many mosaics, which are being manufactured in Russia and Rome.  The variety of mouldings  and ornaments of bronze, jasper, lapis lazuli, malachite and other expensive stones is amazing. The iconostasisasis are ten collumns of malachite-excessive gtreatness. The three indoor chapels, where only the priests can enter, and where the most sacred rite is held, are inconceivable delicacy" I think he  describes this better than I could. 

Before the revolution in 1917 the inside of the cathedral had approximately 200 unsecured icons and painting, as well as  statues and religious paraphernalia, including several tons of silver or gold trimmings and decorations.  One can only imagine what a fantastic and splendid image was given especially when the several hundred candles burn brightly and eliminated the building. The cathedral has the capacity to hold 14,000 worshippers because Russian Orthodox churches do not have pews or places to sit - it is usual for worshippers in Orthodox churches to stand throughout their services.

The Orthodox Church  was very inclusive so worshippers and sightseers and like flocked to this beautiful building  which function as a cathedral until 1931 when Sovient government closed churches, took over their buildings and reassigned their use. During the Soviet government years, this large iconic building was stripped of all its religious trimmings and was turned into the Museum of the History of Religion and Atheism which would have been a real blow to those of faith at the time.

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In 2017, the governor of St Petersburg the announced that the Cathedral  would be returned to the Russian Orthodox church.  However, the cityfolk still wanted it to be used as a museum and so now a side chapel is used but for regular worship services and the rest of the building remains a museum.