St. Petersburg
Architecture
Churches
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St. Petersburg has been overlooked as a great city for many years. Because of its location, St. Petersburg is known for its long, bitter winters. The temperatures in February average 18 degrees Fahrenheit, but it feels even colder because of the fierce winds. Out of the 365 days in a year, the snow lies on the ground approximately 132 days. The summers are very short, but mild. July temperatures average 64 degrees. While it may have fierce winters, it also have a long history. It is a mirror into our past. Because of its many wonderful buildings and cathedrals in baroque, St. Petersburg reflects typical baroque architecture. |
Map of St. Petersburg
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MAP OF ST. PETERSBURG
- The Admiralty
- Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul
- Cathedral of St. Issac
- Winter Palace
- Church of the Resurrection
- Summer Palace
St. Petersburg was originally a Swedish fortress that Peter the Great captured in 1703. The city itself was founded on May 16, 1703, by Peter the Great. In 1713 the Russian Imperial Capital moved to St. Petersburg. The city represents "the realizations of Peter the Great’s dream of a brillant and unique capital for the country of Russia"
(Online 1). St. Petersburg was nicknamed 'Venice of the North' because of its resemblance to Venice for its many crossroads and bridges. Later, as an attempt to expand the city and building space available, Alexander I had the marshes drained and increased the population. In 1914, after the outbreak of World War I, the name was changed from St. Petersburg to Petrograd by Nicholas II. He thought St. Petersburg sounded too German and wanted a more Russian name. It was again renamed in 1924 to Leningrad in honor of Lenin when he died. In 1991, after the fall of the Soviet Union, the name returned to St. Petersburg. Today it has become the second largest city in Russia. |
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The city itself is vast in size and in buildings. When built by Peter, the layout of the city had an overall thirty-one buildings total. Among those buildings, there are cathedrals, academies, university, museums, stations, palaces, institutes, a fortress, shipyards and gardens. The style of these buildings corresponded to the baroque.
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The word baroque literally means an irregularly-shaped pearl. It was originally used as an abusive word because baroque was originally characterized by 'grotesqueness, extravagance, complexity, and flamboyance' ( Baroque 1). It is expressed by a sense of drama, movement, energy, and tension. The purpose of the baroque was to break the "laws" of traditional art of the times. "It is a style of art and architecture developed principally in Italy and north of the Alps in middle and western Europe roughly from 1600 to 1750" ( Webster 121). Prior to this, "baroque" architecture was demonstrated in the illustrious Versailles in France under the "Sun King", King Louis XIV. Other countries such as Austria, Prussia, and Russia used baroque architecture to show off their wealth, power and beauty. It was baroque architecture that was introduced to St. Petersburg by Tsar Peter the Great. Peter wanted to impress and overawe both his subjects and the rest of Europe. Thus St. Petersburg became the "window to Europe."
St. Petersburg has fabulous baroque architecture. This city was a city that was planned both in layout and in architecture, complexity, structure, shape and appearance. There is no city that could be likened to its individualistic features and its curvaceous walls and domes. There is an emotion effect on those who behold the beauty of such distinguished artwork. That was the purpose of baroque:you the viewer in that picture being a patriot helping your fellow country and its citizens, actually having surgery on one of your patients, and actually dying at your sick bed and pleading your last wishes till your death. That is why so many people as well as kings and tsars adopted this style because they could feel like they were fighting all over again and winning all over again or killing all over again. They never wanted that feeling of triumph to leave them, so they decorated their palaces with war scenes and with victories. It also distracted subjects to behold such picturesque energy, captivating handiwork and exuberant scenes of life popping out. Even today, the buildings are very structured and make St. Petersburg a relatively modern and well-organized city. If it were not for Peter the Great, the architects such as Rastrelli, Trezzini, Argunov and Savva, Fontana and Mattarnovi, the workers, and the many, many painters that contributed to the construction of the city, we would not have this window to the past!
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