In the Footsteps of the Romanovs

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It is our last full day in Saint Petersburg, and there are still a number of monuments, forts and places of interest that we haven’t seen. With a list and map in hand, Jim’s Walking Tour led us through the streets of the City of the Tsars. We first headed for the Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan, a cathedral of the Russian Orthodox Church on Nevsky Prospekt. Construction of the cathedral started in 1801, with the architect Andrey Voronikhin modelling the building on St Peter’s Basilica in Rome. The cathedral's interior, with its numerous columns, features numerous sculptures and icons created by the best Russian artists of the day. A Church service was underway during our visit, with a choir singing in the loft, interspersed by solo singing by the Orthodox Priest taking the service. It was interesting to watch and listen to the choral.



We then walked along the Moika River to see the Yusopov Palace, the palatial primary residence of the House of Yusopov, an immensely wealthy family of Russian nobles, known for their philanthropy and art collections. The palace was the site where that infamous figure from Russian history, Rasputin, (mystic peasant and the supposed lover of the Russian Queen) was murdered, primarily due to the strong influence he was having over the Queen. What seems clear is that on 30^th December 1916, Felix Yusupov, along with Vladimir Purishkevich and Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich invited Grigori Rasputin to the Moika Palace. He took Rasputin to a small but lavishly furnished cellar room of the palace. There he served Rasputin red wine. When Rasputin was affected, Yusupov retrieved a revolver and shot Rasputin from the side. Taking him for dead, Yusupov went upstairs to where the other conspirators waited in a ground floor study/drawing room. Rasputin succeeded in fleeing through a side door into a gated courtyard which opened onto the street outside. Purishkevich then shot Rasputin in the back, on the doorstep. The body was taken inside and a third bullet, fired at close range, entered his forehead. The conspirators wrapped Rasputin in a broadcloth, drove outside the city and threw the body into the Neva River.



Next stop on our tour was St Isaacs Cathedral, which is the largest Orthodox Basilica and the fourth largest (by the volume under the Cupola) cathedral in the world. The cathedral's main dome rises 101.5 metres and is plated with pure gold. The dome is decorated with twelve statues of angels by Josef Hermann.



We then visited the statue of the Bronze Horseman. The Bronze Horseman is an equestrian statue of Peter the Great in the Senate Square. Commissioned by Catherine the Great, it was created by the French sculptor Etienne Falconet. The name comes from an 1833 poem of the same name by Aleksander Pushkin, which is widely considered one of the most significant works of Russian Literature. The statue is now one of the symbols of Saint Petersburg. The statue's pedestal is the enormous Thunder Stone, the largest stone ever moved by humans. The stone originally weighed about 1,500 tonnes, and was carved down to 1,250 tonnes during transportation to its current site.



Heading for the Neva River, we walked past the very large Admiralty Building, which currently houses the Russian Navy. The Admiralty, with its gilded spire topped by a golden weather-vane in the shape of a small sail warship, is one of the city's most conspicuous landmarks.



We crossed the Dvortsoviy Bridge over the Neva River to Vasilyevsky Island, then crossed over two more bridges in order to reach Zayachy Island, the site of the Peter and Paul Fortress. It was only around 2 degrees with an icy wind blowing, so we called into a restaurant on the island and warmed up with a coffee.



The fortress is the original citadel of St Petersburg, founded by Peter the Great in 1703 and built to Domenico Trezzini’s designs, from 1706 to 1740. Built at the height of the Northern War in order to protect the projected capital from a feared Swedish counterattack, the fort never fulfilled its martial purpose. From around 1720, the fort served as a base for the city garrison and also as a prison for high-ranking or political prisoners. Some of the more famous prisoners of the fortress include Tadeusz Kosciuszko, the Decembrists, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Maxim Gorky, Leon Trotsky and Josip Tito.



The fortress contains several notable buildings clustered around the Peter and Paul Cathedral, constructed between 1712 and 1733, which has a 122.5 m bell-tower, the tallest in the city centre and a gilded angel-topped cupola. The cathedral is the burial place of all Russian Tsars from Peter I to Alexander III, with the exception of Peter II and Ivan VI. The Imperial Romanov Family and their closest aides were imprisoned during the Russian Revolution of 1917, then sent to Yekaterinberg in Siberia, where they were brutally executed in a basement on 18^th July 1918. The remains of Nicholas II and his family and entourage were only re-interred in the Peter and Paul Cathedral on July 17, 1998, on the 80th anniversary of their deaths.



There were several statues of hares on the island, for which we couldn’t work out what the significance was, until I researched and found out that the island was also known as Hare Island.



After crossing over two further bridges to reach the mainland, we headed for True Burgers, as we needed a place to warm up, serving a quick yet good quality meal, with home-made lemonade of course. Another Quentin Tarantino western to watch whilst we ate a late lunch.



Heading back to our Hotel, we were stoked at what we had seen on our last full day in the great city of Saint Petersburg, following in the footsteps of the Romanovs. All that remained was dinner again at Fiolet Restaurant.

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