Saint Petersburg was not supposed to be my first trip within Russia but as Russians kept talking about the rivalry between Moscow and "Peter" and the absolute necessity of seeing both cities, I finally booked tickets for a three days trip to "Russia's other capital city". Time went by very fast but that was enough to make me long for another, longer stay in this incredible city.
Let's start with a comparison between Moscow and Peter.
Saint Petersburg, called "Peter" by Russians, is often referred to as Russia's "European capital city" and the contrast with Moscow is sharp.
Firstly, the immigrant population (from Caucasus and Central Asia) in Peter is half that of Moscow. Instead, the immigration comes more from Finland and other Northern European countries, contribuing to the city's Europeanization.
Founded to copy Italian, French and Dutch classical architecture, each building in the city centre seems to be a museum itself and I was very surprised not to notice a single Soviet concrete block like in Moscow. Saint Petersburg has three skyscrapers: Leader Tower (140 m), Alexander Nevsky (124 m) and Atlantic City (105 m) all three being situated far away from the historical centre. Current regulations forbid construction of high buildings in the city centre. The whole city constitutes a Unesco world heritage site.
The city's architecture is irreprochable, absolutely perfect. Having visited Venice, Rome, Florence, Amsterdam and Paris, I was able to say which of these cities had served as a model for this street or this church. It appeared to me that Peter is what Rome should have looked like at its best time. Having been built in the 18th century, almost all buildings are still in very good conditions. Peter is a perfect beauty, a pure jewel, my only regret is the idea that it's been built to copy and not to inovate a style.
My first opinion of Soviet concrete blocks was undoubtedly negative but it changed when coming to Moscow and seeing the way both beautiful old imperial buildings and Stalinist towers fit together to reflect all epochs of the History of Russia. I didn't understand why they had not been removed, but I soon understood they were part of the History of the Russian people, which they are proud of. they are a constant memory and tribute to the hard work and sacrifices Russian people gave to their motherland for so many years. Removing them would be an insult to these people, as if they had never existed and the country had forgotten about them. This is also why Peter is more European than Moscow, it misses an entire Russian historical period.
Moscow remains the most important city in the country, and one can notice it within some minutes spent in the capital city: everything happens in Moscow, the city lives at a 200km/h speed day and night. It might seem dirtier and people less sympathetic (which I still believe is a false stereotype about Muscovites), but which capital city isn't today? Indeed, in comparison, life in Peter is more relaxed, cleaner and, they say people are more polite. I loved Peter, but I know it is because I saw no difference with Europe and therefore felt like home. It wasn't a change of scene at all like it is in Moscow.
Among the city's numerous sights, I had enough time to quickly visit:
The Hermitage: the Tsars' winter residence, which I loved even more than Versailles!
One of the largest and oldest museums in the world, it was founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great and has been open to the public since 1852. Its collections, of which only a small part is on permanent display, comprise over three million items, including the largest collection of paintings in the world. The collections occupy a large complex of six historic buildings along Palace Embankment.
Courtyard
Tsarskoye Celo (translated: the Tsars' town) also called Pushkin:
Roman style
With Russian symbols
The Tsars' summer residence, a place of high interest. During the reign of Elizabeth, Tsarskoye Selo became the imperial residence. In 1740-50s the modest palace of Catherine I was rebuilt into a luxurious summer residence, the Catherine Palace. Between 1751 and 1756 the reconstruction was led by Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli (which explains the Italian style of the buildings), and the present look of the palace has not changed much since then.The gardens were extended and decorated with sculptures and pavilions. A canal was dug from Vittolovsky Springs (6 km from the Tsarskoye Selo) to provide water for the park ponds.
Reproductions of a mosk, a pyramid and a Chinese town are located at different points in the town:
The church of the Savior on Split Blood:
Ornamented fence around the church
View from the bridge
The Church contains over 7500 square metres of mosaics, more than any other church in the world.
Peterhof or Petrodvorets (Peter's palace): the Tsars' summer palace
Saints Peter and Paul cathedral
Saint Petersburg Metro:
opened in 1955, it is the deepest in the world. Much smaller than Moscow Metropolitain but not less beautiful, it has five lines with 64 stations carrying 3.4 million passengers daily.
Kazanckaya cathedral:
One of the entrances to the Palace Square (and the Hermitage museum):
The Bronze Horseman:
Now one of the symbols of the city, the statue represents Peter the Great crushing his enemies (represented by the snake) who highly critisized him claiming the building of Petersburg was extravagant.
Some facts about the statue:
A 19th-century legend states that while the Bronze Horseman stands in the middle of Saint Petersburg, enemy forces would not be able to conquer the city. During the 900-day Siege of Leningrad by the invading Germans during the Second World War (Leningrad being the city's name from 1924–1991), the statue was not taken down, but covered with sandbags and a wooden shelter. The protection served so well that the Bronze Horseman survived the 900 days of bombing and artillery virtually untouched.[ True to the legend, Leningrad was never taken.
The Bronze Horseman is the title of a poem written by Aleksandr Pushkin in 1833, widely considered to be one of the most significant works of Russian literature. Due to the popularity of his work, the statue came to be called the "Bronze Horseman". A major theme of the poem is conflict between the needs of the state and the needs of ordinary citizens.
In the poem, Pushkin describes the fates of the poor man Evgenii and his beloved Parasha during a severe flood of the Neva. Evgenii curses the statue, furious at Peter the Great for founding a city in such an unsuitable location and indirectly causing the death of his beloved. Coming to life, the horseman chases Evgenii through the city. The poem closes with the discovery of the young man's corpse in a ruined hut floating at the edge of the river.
Some other sights of the city:
