The Peterhof Palace

Katie Cook

When we think about the extravagance of the Western monarchs of the past, our heads reflexively turn to that of France and England — to Versailles and the Buckingham Palace. These are grand gestures of wealth, but I dare say no one will try harder than a monarch wanting to be noticed. This was the case for many Russian empresses and emperors biding for recognition as a European power with similar values and lifestyles. Everyone has heard of Versailles and hail it as one of the most beautiful palaces in the world, but I argue that the Peterhof Palace is often overlooked. Both its gardens and interior parallel the great palaces in Versailles and Buckingham, but in addition to this, it also is home to the largest fountain park in the world. What’s more, these fountains operate without the use of pumps, making their operation much more efficient and cost-effective. Water is supplied from natural springs and collects in reservoirs in the Upper Gardens. The elevation difference creates the pressure that drives most of the fountains of the Lower Gardens, including the Grand Cascade.

The most famous ensemble of fountains, the Grand Cascade, which runs from the northern facade of the Grand Palace to the Marine Canal, comprises 64 different fountains, and over 200 bronze statues, and other decorations. At the center stands Rastrelli’s spectacular statue of Samson wrestling the jaws of a lion. The lion represents Sweden and is meant to commemorate Russia’s victory over Sweden in the Great Northern War. As you stroll through the park, you’ll find that there are many such references to Sweden, as it was considered one of Peter the Great’s crowning achievements.

In addition to the grand fountains of gold, there were many small “joke” fountains, as well. Apparently Peter was quite the prankster and would often leave his guests soaking wet through hidden fountains triggered by stepping stones or by workers operating the fountains in a hidden place. I think, my favorite fountain was the dog chasing a duck, but back when the fountain was created, the noises made by the duck and the dog were made just by a person sitting in the shadows, constantly just making dog and duck noises for the guests to get the full effect.

Of course, as amazing as the outdoor park is, the interior of the palace is equally fantastic. Truly, a place suitable for an emperor or empress. The unique qualities of each Russian ruler is clearly displayed in each room. Peter the Great began construction of the palace in 1705, but it was quite a modest spread for an emperor. It wasn’t until his daughter Elizabeth, as extravagant as she was, took power that the palace nearly tripled in size and became a true spectacle. All the rooms constructed by Elizabeth were made in the baroque style, which in layman’s terms means gaudy. Gold everything, with a touch of classicist paintings were the main qualities of each baroque room, and it was always breathtaking. Here’s an example of a typical ceiling within the palace:

Elizabeth had great influence over the palace’s finished product, but we can also see the romantic influences of Catherine the Great as well. Romanticism had similar aspects to baroque in the sense that it cherished the arts, but it is much softer and more delicate. It focused more on rooms decorated in pastels and ornate details, rather than showing off wealth in gold. My favorite room of the whole palace was the portrait room. Catherine II commissioned portraits of regular peasant girls and others, which line every part of the wall in the room. Also featured is a tour guide I accidentally took a candid picture of within the portrait hall.

I thought the personalities of each individual was perfectly captured within their portraits. They also were people we would have otherwise never known what they had looked like, as portraits were a luxury reserved for the rich and famous.

There was only one room that still remained that was decorated by Peter the Great and it looked more like a Captain’s office than a palace. Every part of the room, both the furniture and walls, were made completely of the same wood. It was almost laughable how easy it was to identify this room as his. A palace filled with gold and jewels, but instead Peter chose to be practical in his living situation.

Unfortunately, I feel like I cannot do the palace anymore justice just by simply describing it. It is hard to imagine a place like this once belonged to one family that freely roamed the halls millions of people are now hustled through as they take pictures of a museum. I think that is the greatest challenge with all places like this that are out of a different time. With how publicly marketed it is, the true significance is desensitized to the masses of tourists. We forget that this place was more than a palace, but also a home to some of the most globally influential players in history. This is where they raised their children and ran a country, where they held meetings and made world-altering decisions. However, I’ll end by saying that there is a reason Peterhof is one of the biggest tourist attractions in St. Petersburg, and it is something I think everyone should see, especially any Versailles supremacists!

Sources:

http://www.saint-petersburg.com/peterhof/fountains-peterhof/

Anna Akhmatova is regarded as one of the greatest Russian poets of the 20th century. Her most notable work is Requiem, but she wrote hundreds of poems throughout her life. Our group went to the Anna Akhmatova Museum in Saint Petersburg to learn more about the life of this influential poet of early Soviet times.

When first stepping into the museum, I was surprised by how small the living quarters actually were. The museum was located in old communal apartment from the Soviet era. We were greeted by a friendly guide, who first showed the entry room. She told us the coat hanging by the door actually was worn by and belong to Anna’s third husband, Nikolai Punin! I found that to be a unique piece of history. Moving through the apartment, we stopped in the kitchen, then a short hallway. The guide noted that Akhmatova’s son from her first marriage resided in this tiny hall for a few years before being imprisoned under Stalin’s regime.

Image from https://www.inyourpocket.com/st-petersburg-en/anna-akhmatova-museum_9783v

After passing through another short, small hallway, we entered my favorite exhibit at the museum. The walls were covered in poems written by Anna Akhmatova, and pictures from her life were littered throughout the poems, as well as portraits of her and other artifacts from her life. Here, the guide told us more about Akhmatova’s poetry. Much of it was anti-Stalinist, and understandably so; Stalin’s regime took many people from her inner circle of friends and family and imprisoned or killed them. The imprisonment that affected her most was that of her son, Lev, who was imprisoned for being the son of Nikolai Gumilev, Anna’s first husband. Nikolai was imprisoned and shot early in the Soviet era. Anna would stand in a line for hours for the chance to give Lev food, and plead for his release. I recall our lecturer from class telling us she wrote a poem praising Stalin, a man she despised, just for the chance for her son to be released. Lev remained in a Siberian labor camp until 1956.

Although Anna Akhmatova’s work was banned, and she was being watched by the government, she still made poetry. The tour guide told us how she would write a few lines, and memorize them quickly before throwing them in the fire, as to not have evidence for the regime to arrest her. Many poets of this time practiced this secretive ritual, and it is believed that many poems of this era were lost simply because poets would be arrested for having their poetry. I find this to be sad. What great poets would we know about today had their poems been allowed to be published, instead of just quickly memorized before the words were burnt to ashes?

Next the group moved past a few rooms containing chairs and the occasional bed. These were the rooms where Akhmatova resided throughout her time in Saint Petersburg. I found it interesting how she lived one room over from her husband, even after their marriage was dissolved. Anna Akhmatova lived a difficult life, and did not change herself during the Soviet era, but continued to write about what she experienced, against the wishes of the Stalinist regime, showing her perseverance and bravery in a time when she could have just given up.

After Stalin’s death, Anna Akhmatova experienced a little more freedom, but still not enough to publish her poem Requiem in it’s entirety. She was given an honorary degree from Oxford University in England, as well as several other awards. Shortly after her return to Russia, she had a heart attack and died a few months later in the spring of 1966, at the age of 76. Her life had such a strong impact on many citizens under Stalin’s rule of terror. She acted as a voice for the oppressed people in Saint Petersburg for most of her life, recording what horrors they all went through. The museum was opened on what would have been Anna Akhmatova’s 100th birthday to commemorate her life. I found it to showcase her strength in times of hardship, which to me was very inspiring.

References:

Lecture about Russian Literature

Tour of Anna Akhmatova Museum

http://www.russianmuseums.info/M127

Before leaving the United States for Russia, one of the experiences I was most excited for was going to see the Russian Ballet. Russian ballet is world-renowned and known for having some of the most skilled and talented dancers in the world. The group walked to the Mariinsky Theater, and immediately the craftsmanship of the building previewed the exquisite show we were going to see.

The building itself is beautifully made, and resembles many building styles seen in Saint Petersburg throughout the duration of our stay there. The grandeur does not stop with the tall mint green exterior. Upon entrance, we made our way through security, but the metal detector was the only device that wasn’t covered in lavish ornamentation. Going up the stairs transported me back in time to 1859, when the Mariinsky Theater was originally built. The group had seats located on the first balcony, which provided a great view for the ballet. I was ecstatic when I was told we were seeing The Sleeping Beauty, as I was already familiar with the symphony composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. I was surprised to find out that The Sleeping Beauty first premiered at the Mariinsky Theater in 1890. This show is known around the world, and there was even a Disney movie that includes some of the same musical themes, so I find it interesting how far this Russian work has spread throughout not only Europe, but the entire world.

The ballet itself was not what I was expecting. I had assumed it would only be two hours maximum, and only have one short intermission between acts. I was very wrong; the ballet consisted of a prologue and three acts, with intermissions of about 20 minutes each between the first and second acts, as well as between the second and third act. In my opinion, the prologue and first act seemed to drag on for hours. It ended up being an hour and forty five minutes just for that portion of the show! At that point, I remember feeling tired and my back was aching from the excursions we had gone on earlier in the day. I wondered if I should leave early, but I decided to stick through my slight discomforts in the hopes that the second and third acts would go more quickly.

To my delight, the second and third acts were full of more action and I am so happy I decided to stay! My favorite part of the show was during the third act, where various fairy tale creatures arrived at the royal wedding of Aurora and the prince. There is nothing quite like seeing Puss In Boots dance, along with Cinderella and her own Prince Charming, followed by Little Red Riding Hood, who, for some reason, decided to come to the wedding with the wolf that ate her grandmother in her popular fairy tale. The costuming on each character throughout the show was amazing, and these minor characters were no exception; their tutus glistened just as much as any lead dancer. This attention to detail was stunning and showed a strong sense of dedication by the costume designers.

Image from http://passioneperladanza.tumblr.com/post/153620150277/oksana-skoryk-as-princess-aurora-in-the-sleeping

After the show had it’s happy ending, the crowd gave a standing ovation to the dancers as they came out for their final bows. I thought it was interesting how the crowd varied in appearance(some people dressed very formally and others wore jeans), but each Russian citizen was engrossed in the ballet for the duration of the show, whereas I had become exhausted after just the first act! This showed how highly regarded the Russian Ballet truly is in the Russian culture. To those people, it wasn’t simply ballet – it was a show of some of the finest artistic works to come from Russia, and I felt their pride show as they applauded each dancer vigorously. As the curtain closed after the final bows and the group left the Mariinsky Theater, I felt content with being a part of a very Russian experience.

References:

Attending the Russian Ballet

https://www.mariinsky.ru/en/about/history/mariinsky_theatre/

http://www.rohcollections.org.uk/work.aspx?work=1344

by Ryan McRowe

Known to Americans and Western Europe as the Russian theater of the Second World War, the Great Patriotic War was fought from June 22, 1941 with the launching of Operation Barbarossa until May 9, 1945 when Germany officially surrendered. The conflict pitted the Soviet Union against Nazi Germany and its allies in Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, Finland, and Italy. Battles in this theater were by far the largest and bloodiest of the entire war and even of the century, armies numbering sometimes in the millions would clash, often for months, and would leave hundreds of thousands of dead in their wake.

The war did not initially go well for the Soviets, in 1941 and 1942 the Germans pushed within a few miles of Moscow, besieged the second city of Leningrad, and eliminated whole Soviet armies. But with the intervention of Russia’s greatest natural barrier, winter, and a massive aid program from the United States and Britain the Soviets rallied. At the Battle of Moscow, the Germans were thrown back and the capital was saved, but it would be at Stalingrad from August 1942 to February 1943 that the Soviet Union got its first decisive victory, enveloping and destroying the entire 6^th Army of 350,000 of German and their allied troops, while costing the Soviets over 1.1 million soldiers and civilians. This would turn the tide of the war and the Germans would always be pushed back towards Europe from this point. Germany would rally in July 1943 for an attempt at a major foray to try and retake the initiative at the Battle of Kursk, in what would become the largest tank battle in history the Soviets, once again through massive causalities and force of will, defeated the Germans in their last offensive against the Soviets of the war.

Nowhere was Soviet resistance to the invasion, of shear resolve and commitment no matter the cost, better encapsulated than in the Siege of Leningrad. In what was one of the longest sieges in history and by far the bloodiest with nearly 3.5 million deaths, the Soviets held on through 900 days of vicious bombardments, starvation, and one of the coldest winters in living memory.

Overall the Great Patriotic War was the most brutal and vicious part of the Second World War, for both sides. The Soviet Union lost somewhere between 22 and 26 million people in the war to 5.5 million for Germany and its allies. What would probably be one of the most shocking aspects of the Soviet number was that, unlike for all the other major powers that fought from Britain, France, Italy, Japan, and America the vast majority of casualties where soldiers who died fighting, for the Soviet Union however possibly up to 60% of the dead were civilians who died from getting caught in the vicious and expansive battles, massacres, sieges, and starvation. Even Japan after an extensive carpet bombing campaign and two atomic bombs from American air forces did not reach the level of civilian casualties as the Soviet Union. The war left a massive imprint into the psyche of the people of the Soviet Union and its current successor states, particularly Russia. With a number like 26 million nearly every family lost at least one member and most people knew someone that was killed, perhaps strangely the loss of these people is remembered not with great bitterness or animosity towards Germany and its allies but as a sacrifice for their motherland, there is plenty of grief and sadness, but at the same time pride at what the loss achieved and bravery of their ancestors.

References:

https://russiapedia.rt.com/russian-history/the-great-patriotic-war/

Piskaryovskoye Memorial Cemetery tour

Victory Day parade St. Petersburg

By Ryan McRowe

St. Petersburg was founded in 1703 by Tsar and Russia’s first emperor Peter the Great on swamp landed he seized from Sweden, and while a war raged to hold that land from the now indignant Swedes. This new city was to be one of Peter the Great’s first and greatest tangible achievements for his westernization reforms of his empire. Its position on the Baltic would give Russia one of its first war water ports with full access to much of Europe, and northern Europe (where Peter traveled and studied extensively) in particular. Construction of the city would be a monumental struggle that would cost thousands of lives and require levels of effort and manpower that had never been seen in Russia, the first in a long history of mass public works projects in Russia’s history. Sitting on a swamp as well as below sea level would prove a constant headache for the populace, floods were a regular occurrence for most of the city (one would even eventually kill its founder when Peter contracted pneumonia, from depending on the account, either rescuing people from his boat or falling off it accidentally). Floods would only cease being a threat to the city when the massive 16-mile St. Petersburg Dam was built, begun in 1979 and only finished in 2011. On top of this, the soggy soil was less than ideal for the kind of heavy stone construction that Peter mandated for his city, this would be remedied with the inserting of over twenty-five million pine logs into the ground to stabilize it. The tsars would call St. Petersburg their home and capital for over two hundred years after its founding, its central status fall with the imperial family during the Revolution, that started in the streets below the Winter Palace.

St. Petersburg, as the first center of power in Russia, was the center of Bolshevik activity prior to and in the early days of the Revolution. One of the first acts of the revolutionaries would be to relocate the center of power from the tsars’ creation of St. Petersburg back to Russia’s more organic first city of Moscow and as further spite to the tsars would rename the city Leningrad. Despite of its artificial inception, the city would prove more resilient than its founders and would survive the realignment as Russia’s second city. Early in the Soviet Era the city’s communist boss, and de facto mayor, Sergey Kirov, rose to great popularity, effectiveness, and admiration, his position becoming one of such prominence that he would be murdered, under suspicious circumstances, in what could quite easily be understood as an assassination ordered by Stalin. The city’s importance would again be brought to the fore when the Germans invested into a nearly three year siege of Leningrad in what would become one of the longest and deadliest sieges in history, leading to deaths of over three million people along with the destruction or looting of many priceless buildings and art. The siege would destroy a great deal of the city but due to a combination of Soviet determination and German sentimentality most of the greatest monuments and artifacts survived. With the collapse of the Soviet Union the freshly renamed city, once again St. Petersburg, gained a new prominence in also rechristened Russian Federation, as the literal cradle of power (once again) with the rise fall of President Yeltsin and the rise of Vladimir Putin. Putin’s ascent to the Russian presidency would see him bring in his “Petersburg Gang” from Prime Minister Medvedev to Federal Council Chairman Matviyenko to rule the country, which they do to this day.

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