Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg History
In the early years of the last millennium the forests, lakes and rivers of Karelia and Ladoga were fought over by Swedish and Russian forces. In 1703 Peter the First (the Great) ordered a fortress to be built by the river Neva to defend the area against the Swedish armies. The Peter and Paul fortress was one of the first sites to be established. The area was also developed as the base for Russia's Baltic fleet which grew rapidly making St Petersburg an important ship building city. By 1712 the city had grown to the extent that Peter the Great adopted it as the capital of Russia. Initially Peter the Great lived in a tiny cabin, which became known as the Cabin of Peter the Great, but 1714 saw the construction of his Summer Palace and a Winter Palace. The term "Venice of the North" dates back to these days when most of the traffic between the islands and different riverbanks was carried by boat. The city grew rapidly. In 1762 Catherine the Great assumed power in a coup d'etat by overthrowing (and killing) her incompetent husband. Her enlightened reign saw great progress being made in all fields throughout Russia and the expansion of the empire to Crimea and the Black Sea. Her love of culture helped to develop the newly built Winter Palace. She started a royal art collection that later became the world-famous Hermitage.

Under Catherine's patronage education, science, the arts and trade flourished. New buildings for the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Academy of Fine Arts and the first Public Library (now the Russian National Library) were constructed and the large Gostiny Dvor trading complex was opened on the Nevsky Prospekt.

St Petersburg continued to flourish until gradually the poor working and living conditions of peasants and factory workers were used to rouse the population against the old Tsarist system. In January 1905 a peaceful demonstration of workers was fired on by troops at the Palace Square. This led to public outrage and the start of the 1905-07 Revolution. On October 17, 1905 Tsar Nicholas II was forced to issue a manifesto proclaiming an improved of civil rights and instituting a new parliament, consisting of the Duma and the reformed State Council.

The opening of the Duma in 1906 gave fresh grounds for hope to thousands of liberals in the intelligentsia. The district where the Duma was located soon became one of the most popular residential areas. However reforms were being carried through too slowly and the weak Duma gradually lost the support of the people. In 1917, the young and dynamic Bolshevik party led by Vladimir Lenin captured political power, a blank shot fired from the cruiser "Aurora" gave workers and soldiers the signal to storm the Winter Palace, then the residence of the ineffective Provisional Government. Most of the ministers were arrested and the 73 year long Communist rule began. St Petersburg was renamed Leningrad.

Housing for the masses was improved, sometimes at the expense of the "bourgeoisie". During Stalin's period some impressive buildings were put up but this at a great cost to the nation during his rule of terror to which were added the horrors of the 2nd world war. In September 1941 German troops had encircled Leningrad and a siege began that lasted for about 900 days. By January 1944 when the siege was lifted over half a million people out of the 3 million trapped had died (mainly of starvation) but the city never surrendered to the Germans. Throughout this period the war industry still worked, the treasures of the Hermitage and the palaces of Petrodvorets and others were hidden in the basements of the Hermitage and St Isaac's Cathedral. Most students continued their studies and even passed finals. Dmitry Shostakovich wrote his Seventh "Leningrad" Symphony and it was performed in the besieged city.

After the war Leningrad was restored to its pre-war glory. The palaces of Peterhof and Pushkin were almost fully rebuilt but time and an increasing lack of money saw the city deteriorate in the last years of the Soviet Union. After the collapse of the Union the city was renamed St Petersburg and gradually the restoration work was initiated. Although Moscow received the lion's share of money for restoration St Petersburg is catching up and it is by far the more beautiful and fascinating city to visit especially during the "White Nights" in the middle of the summer when the golden domes and steeples glisten in the setting sun at 10pm.

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