Back to St. Petersburg. We departed from Helsinki on the Russian ship Princess Maria of the St. Peter Line.
Immigration was interesting. This was Russian immigration not FInnish. It's the first and only place so far that has truly scrutinized our passports. Terry went through first and waited quite a while for the unsmiling woman to check her passport. Ask her when she entered Europe and what her itinerary was. Checked every page and finally passed her through. When I told her I was traveling with the lady ahead of me, she spent less time, but scrutinized each page carefully before passing me through. There is something about going into Russia that makes you just a little nervous.
We had booked a tour of the city and the Hermitage through our Scandinavian tour operator. We were told when we went aboard the ship that we must turn these in on the ship and get a ticket for the tour; and we must be sure to get on the correct bus when we departed the ship. Our cabin was much the same as the other ships we have been on overnight, except the food was not so good. Kind of blah! And the crew; they were polite, but did not smile much. Took a couple pictures after dinner and then retired to our cabin as we were tired.
Interesting fact: As you boarded the ship on Deck 4, reception area, there were a number of pictures featuring Tsar Nicholas II (last Tsar of Russia), Alexandra and their children prior to the revolution.
Not sure what I was expecting, but it was not this rather tired looking city. The palaces and a few churches glitter with gold, but the city felt depressing. They weather didn't help. It was cloudy and cold.
We were only there one day as we did not have a visa and were only allowed to stay with our tour guide. There is apparently a temporary visa of 72 hours if you book a hotel in the city. We were not aware of this when we booked this trip. I would have like to have gotten out of the city, which Terry said she remembers as being beautiful. I did not get to see the Peterhof (summer house of Peter the Great) as it is not in St Petersburg. Not sure I would have wanted to stay for two or three days in St. Petersburg.
Our guide Olga was very knowledgeable and gave us a lot of history, both pre-revolution and after he revolution of 1918 when Tsar Nicholas and his family were assassinated. Most of the below info comes from googling the various buildings and sites. I wanted to get my facts right.
We drove through the city
and made some picture stops.
First stop: The St. Nicholas Cathedral.
"The golden Baroque spires and domes of St. Nicholas' Cathedral (known locally as the Sailors' Cathedral) rises among the trees at the bottom of Ulitsa Glinki and shines above the bland residential and commercial buildings in the area. It is home to a number of revered 18th-century icons and a fine carved wooden iconostasis. Its beautiful bell tower overlooks Kryukov Canal".
The bell tower is separate from the church and faces it across the courtyard
St. Nicholas Cathedral is one of a very few cathedrals in the city that was not closed in Soviet times. In 1941, it became the official residence of Metropolitan of Leningrad and Novgorod Alexey (Simanskiy), who served in the cathedral from 1941 to 1944 during the 900-day siege of the city.
No photos allowed inside
Next stop: St. Isaac's Square and
"St. Isaac' Cathedral - Designed by Architect Auguste Montferrand, it is a monument of 19th century Russian architecture. It is the biggest Russian Orthodox cathedral in the city. The church on St Isaac's Square was ordered by Tsar Alexander I, to replace an earlier structure, and was the fourth consecutive church standing at this place.
Under the Soviet government, the building was stripped of religious trappings. In 1931, it was turned into the Museum of the History of Religion and Atheism.
With the fall of communism, the museum was removed and regular worship activity has resumed in the cathedral, but only in the left-hand side chapel. The main body of the cathedral is used for services on feast days only.
As of 2012, the church is still a museum".
The palace faces the rear of the NIcholas I Monument. It is said the Princess Maria disliked looking at the rear end of her father's horse.
Nicholas I Monument
Next stop: The Royal Academy of Arts
"It was founded in 1757 by Ivan Shuvalov under the name Academy of the Three Noblest Arts. Catherine the Great renamed it the Imperial Academy of Arts and commissioned a new building, completed 25 years later in 1789 by the Neva River. The academy promoted the neoclassical style and technique, and sent its promising students to European capitals for further study. Training at the academy was virtually required for artists to make successful careers".
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"Formally abolished in 1918 after the Russian Revolution, the academy was renamed several times. It established free tuition; students from across the country competed fiercely for its few places annually. In 1947 the national institution was moved to Moscow, and much of its art collection was moved to the Hermitage. The building in Leningrad was devoted to the Ilya Repin Leningrad Institute for Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, named in honor of one of Russia's foremost realist artists. Since 1991 it has been called the St. Petersburg Institute for Painting, Sculpture and Architecture".
Across the street lie two magnificent sphinxes.
"They are roughly 3,500 years old and are considered among the finest examples of Ancient Egyptian colossal sculpture kept outside Egypt. They once stood on the Alley of Sphinxes in front of the tomb of Pharaoh Amenhotep III. For nearly two centuries, however, it has been the waters of the River Neva rather than the Nile that reflect in their bottomless eyes".
"The sphinxes were discovered during excavations in the 1820s, and were soon written about by the great French Egyptologist Jean-Francois Champollion. At the beginning of the 1830s, they were bought in France on behalf of the Russian Emperor and shipped to St. Petersburg. Carved from pink granite, the sphinxes weigh around 23 tons each, and the great neo-classical architect Konstantin Ton designed their pedestals and the granite pier, with its bronze lamps and griffins".
"The sphinxes have been restored several times during their sojourn in St. Petersburg (most recently in 2003), and the suggestion has been raised of moving them into the Hermitage to protect them from the harsh northern climate. For now, however, they remain among the greatest monuments of the city, a piece of ancient history on the banks of the River Neva".
Next stop: Maritime Square
The Spit (Strelka) was St.Petersburg's main port (built in 1735) for over one hundred years, with the big reddish Rostral Columns serving as lighthouses. The columns represent Russian Rivers
next stop: Refreshment, souvenirs and coffee. Actually coffee and vodka were gratis.
Matryoshka Dolls
Next stop: Church of the Spilled Blood
Construction began in 1883 under Alexander III, as a memorial to his father, Alexander II who was assassinated on the site of the Church. Work progressed slowly and was finally completed during the reign of Nicholas II in 1907. Funding was provided by the Imperial family with the support of many private donors.
In the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, the church was ransacked and looted, badly damaging its interior. The Soviet government closed the church in the early 1930s. During the Second World War when many people were starving due to the Siege of Leningrad by Nazi German military forces, the church was used as a temporary morgue for those who died in combat and from starvation and illness. The church suffered significant damage. After the war, it was used as a warehouse for vegetables, leading to the sardonic name of Saviour on Potatoes.
In July 1970, management of the Church passed to Saint Isaac's Cathedral (then used as a highly profitable museum) and proceeds from the Cathedral were funneled back into restoring the Church. It was reopened in August 1997, after 27 years of restoration, but has not been reconsecrated and does not function as a full-time place of worship; it is a Museum of Mosaics. Even before the Revolution it never functioned as a public place of worship; having been dedicated exclusively to the memory of the assassinated tsar, the only services were panikhidas (memorial services).
Our last stop will be the Hermitage, which will be a blog all by itself.
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