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St Petersburg Leningrad Ленингра́д Санкт-Петербу́рг Petrograd Петрогра́д ́

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mendeleyev:
St Petersburg Rivers and Bridges


The bridges on the Neva River open 2 times per night to allow boats to pass.



It is such a beautiful sight at night!




The longest bridge in St. Petersburg is Alexander Nevsky Bridge (Most Aleksandra Nevskovo) - 2971' 5'' (905.7 meters) long.



The widest bridge in St. Petersburg (and in the world) is the Blue Bridge (Siniy Most) - 319' 2'' ( 97.3 meters) wide.



The narrowest bridge in St. Petersburg (excluding bridges in parks and gardens) is the Bank Bridge (Bankovskii Most) - only 6' 1'' (1.85 meters) wide.



The first permanent bridge across the mighty Neva River is currently called the Lieutenant Schmidt Bridge (Most Leitenanta Schmidta) and was built in 1842-1850.  It was the first bridge to unite the banks of the Neva River and the first bridge on the course from the Gulf of Finland to the center of the Northern Capital.

When opened in July 1826, the Lions Bridge was an innovation, because its support was hidden in the metal bodies of the four white cast-iron lions which stand in majestic pairs at each end of the bridge.



The Moika River (Мойка) is a small (5 km long, 40 m wide) river which encircles the Saint Petersburg downtown, effectively making it an island. The river, originally known as Mya, derives its name from the Finnish word for "slush, mire".

The river flows from the Fontanka River near the Summer Garden past the Field of Mars, crosses Nevsky Prospekt and the Kryukov Canal before entering the Neva River. It is also connected with the Neva by the Swan Channel and the Winter Channel.

(Fontanka river)

In 1711, Peter the Great ordered the banks of the river to be consolidated. After the Kryukov Canal linked it with the Fontanka River four years later, the Moika became so much clearer that its name was changed from Mya to Moika, associated with the Russian verb "to wash".

(Fontanka river frozen)

In 1736, the first Moika quay was constructed in wood. Four bridges originally spanned the river: the Blue, the Green, the Yellow, and the Red. The 99-meter-wide Blue Bridge, now hardly visible underneath St Isaac's Square, remains the widest bridge in the whole city.

Among the magnificent 18th-century edifices lining the Moika quay are Stroganov Palace, Razumovsky Palace, Yusupov Palace, New Holland Arch, Circular Market, St. Michael's Castle, and the last accommodation and museum of Alexander Pushkin.

(Moika River/Мойка)

In 1798, work started to construct a stately embankment faced with red granite and adorned with ornate railings. After construction works were completed in 1811, it was discovered that the water of the river became so muddy that its use for cooking has been officially forbidden ever since.

mendeleyev:
More St Petersburg Rivers and Bridges

Wikipedia:  The Neva (Нева́) is a river in northwestern Russia flowing from Lake Ladoga through the western part of Leningrad Oblast (historical region of Ingria) and the city of Saint Petersburg to the Gulf of Finland. Despite its modest length, it is the third largest river in Europe in terms of average discharge (after the Volga and the Danube).



Water is important to transportation in St Petersburg. 



Saint-Petersburg's bridges are an integral part of its panorama. It is impossible to imagine St. Petersburg without its bridges: one might just as well try to visualize New York without its skyscrapers or Egypt without its pyramids.  The next two photos are of the bridge across the Okhta river which is called the Okhtinskiy Bridge or sometimes the Okhtinskaya bridge (as in the name of the Okhtinskaya hotel).






This next photo is of the Trinity Bridge:




"It was a swamp before, it is a swamp today.  If you are studying the Russian disease (culture), you must live in the Russian swamp (Petrograd)."  Author John le Carre'




Video Presentations:

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAvt6QKiKNc
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsHTbwWk-ao

mendeleyev:
Yusupov's Palace




Today it is an elegant museum to the greatness of Russia's past.  But in 1916 this grand place was the scene of a murder.  It was the murder of Grigory Rasputin.



Its such a quiet place along the Moika River and upon which stands a long yellow building, once the residence of the wealthy and respected Yusupov family and which saw one of the most dramatic episodes in Russia's history. In 1916 a group of the city's noble elite, including one of the Grand Dukes and led by the prominent anglophile Prince Felix Yusupov, conspired to kill the one who they felt threatened the stability of an already war-torn Russian Empire.

They dumped his body in the frozen river.



The colonnaded building was acquired in 1830 by the aristocratic Yusupov family to house their magnificent collection of paintings. 



The cellar contains an exhibition with wax figures on the notorius "mad monk" Grigoriy Rasputin, who was murdered there in 1916 by Prince Felix Yusupov.  (You'll need to buy a separate ticket for the Rasputin exhibit.)



The museum's collection represents some of the finest art from across Russian periods.







Video Presentations:

http://www.youtube.com/v/zJlNoZiHm0A


       

mendeleyev:
Sankt Peterburg is home to some of the most beautiful churches. 



Many of them are famous historical landmarks.  But a handful of churches have earned special recognition over the years.  And the two churches in St Peterburg which receive the most attention are the Church on the Spilled Blood and the equally significant St Isaac's Cathedral. 



The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood (Храм Спаса на Крови) is one of the main Russian Orthodox churches of St. Petersburg, Russia. It is also variously called the Church on Spilt Blood and the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ (Собор Воскресения Христова), its official name.



Also known as the Resurrection Church of Our Saviour, the Church on the Spilled Blood was built on the spot where Tsar Alexander II was assasinated on March 1, 1881. 



After assuming power in 1855 in the wake of Russia’s disastrous defeat in the Crimean war against Britain, France and Turkey, Alexander II initiated a number of reforms. In 1861 he freed the Russian serfs (peasants, who were almost enslaved to their owners) from their ties to their masters and undertook a rigorous program of military, judicial and urban reforms, never before attempted in Russia.



During the second half of his reign Alexander II grew wary of the dangers of his system of reforms, having only barely survived a series of attempts on his life, including an explosion in the Winter Palace and the derailment of a train. Alexander II was finally assassinated in 1881 by a group of revolutionaries, who threw a bomb at his royal carriage.



During the Great Patriotric War the Soviet government used the Church as storage for weapons.  After the war it was used, unbelievably, as a garbage collection center.  Then later it was converted into storage for a public theatre and performing arts committee.  Today after the rightful discrediting of the communist lunacy, the Church has been restored and it now a state museum.




Video Presentations:

http://www.youtube.com/v/-65xmNjC9Nc

mendeleyev:
Saint Isaac's Cathedral, St Petersburg is one of the most beautiful and special churches in all of Russia. 



Saint Isaac's Cathedral (Исаа́киевский Собо́р) in Saint Petersburg, Russia is the largest cathedral (sobor) in the city and was the largest church in Russia when it was built (101.5 meters high). It was dedicated to Saint Isaac of Dalmatia, a patron saint of Peter the Great who had been born on the feast day of that saint.



The dome of St. Isaac’s Cathedral dominates the skyline of St. Petersburg and its gilded cupola can be seen glistening from all over the city. You can climb up the 300 or so steps to the observation walkway at the base of the cathedral’s dome and enjoy the breathtaking views over the city.



The cathedral can accommodate 14,000 worshipers but is held by the state as a museum and services are held only on significant church holidays.



During the October revolution and following, many churches were looted and/or destroyed.  Leading the ruthless destruction of Russia's historic religious heritage was Vladimir Lenin who said that "without ruthless confiscation, we can not even start thinking about any economic means, any state work, any upholding of our position in Genoa. The process against should end with the execution of a very large number of reactionary bourgeoisie and clergy.”



As a result cathedrals were vandalized, there were thousands upon thousands of victims, much of the Russian cultural heritage and religious loci were destroyed. Only in Petrograd alone, more than 3 poods of gold 665 poods and 16 pounds of silver, 1028 of diamonds and 366 jewels were confiscated from churches. About 3 poods of gold, 140 poods of silver and about 800 jewels, i.e. the most part of what was confiscated in city cathedrals was taken from St. Isaac’s Cathedral.  The church articles were priced according to their weight, therefore the majority of unique pieces of art were lost forever.



In the year 1809 Emperor Alexander I announced an architectural competition for the design of a new cathedral in St. Petersburg, which after its completion (some 49 years later), St Isaacs became the main cathedral of the Russian Empire from 1858 until its downfall in 1917.




One of the best videos on St Isaac's Church: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=agx6_bcI2oo

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