|
|
FORTRESS OF PETER
& PAUL
The State Hermitage Museum is the largest museum in the country and second
largest in the world. Only Louvre is larger.
The Winter Palace, was built in Baroque style and designed by the famous Italian
architect, Bartolomeo Rastrelly. It has served as a repository of great art
since the time of Catherine II. However, for many years these riches remained
inaccessible to the general public. Catherine is supposed to have once said that
the whole collection of the Hermitage was there to be admired only by herself
alone with her resident mice.
WINTER PALACE & THE HERMITAGE MUSEUM
The oldest
construction in the city. Its intended mission as a military fortification
constructed to protect the reaches of the Neva was never tested to combat.
During the lifetime of Peter the Great, authorities turned it into a political
prison. Indeed, the first prisoner was Peter the Greats own son, Alexei, who
took part in a conspiracy against his fathers reforms!
In the 19th Century many revolutionaries and terrorists were imprisoned within
the walls of the fortress. In 1924 the Communist government ordered the fortress
to be turned into a museum which today consists of two parts: the prison and the
cathedral. Inside The Cathedral of St. Peters and St. Paul are located 33 tombs;
12 of them hold the remains of all the tsars from Peter I to Nicholas II.
SAINT-ISAAC'S CATHEDRAL
St.Isaac's Cathedral is one of the most beautiful constructions in St.Petersburg.
It stands over 100 meters (333ft.) high. Despite its grandeur, however,
St.Isaac's falls short of architectural excellence. During its construction,
which lasted over forty years, the structure sometimes stood at the centre of
controversy. The French architect August de Monferrand received the commission
through his intense lobbying of Alexander I. The architect promised to
incorporate within his proposal an already existing cathedral of the same name
standing on the site. Unfortunately, the merging of old and new proceeded poorly.
A special commission had to be established to oversee the correction of
Monferrand's deficient work. Nevertheless, over the years the cathedral has been
perceived as solely the creation of Monferrand.
THE CHURCH OF OUR SAVIOR ON THE SPILT BLOOD
On this spot, on March 1, 1881, a terrorist bomb mortally wounded Tsar Alexander
II. As a memorial to him, the royal family paid for the church's construction.
Built between 1883-1907, it stylistically borrows from Russian church
architecture of the 16th and 17th centuries. In particular, it resembles
St.Basil's Cathedral, located on Red Square in Moscow.
"AURORA" CRUISER
The cruiser Aurora, moored in the Neva River, fired the shot which signalled the
launching of the Revolution in 1917.
|
