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Published: July 27th 2011
Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood, St Petersburg
We got to do a compare and contrast between this and St Basil's Church in Moscow, on which it was partly modelled.Saint Petersburg
We arrived to a sunny and warm St Petersburg Airport and headed into the city to find our accommodation for the next 3 nights. Following directions given to us, we walked through an archway off the main road into a small courtyard of Eastern Block stylised buildings, where we would find our hostel. On first impressions it wasn't winning Jo over, who was already on edge after a not-so pleasant introduction to Moscow on the metro: Jo had boarded first and Brett followed but so did three local guys who thought it would be a bit of a laugh - or worth their while - to give Brett a bit of a 'shake down'. Not really clocking what was happening, it wasn't until Brett stepped away that we realised they were probably trying to pick his pockets. Luckily Brett didn't have anything of value on him - apart from his iPhone and wallet. But nothing was taken, so no harm done - except perhaps to Jo's impression of the country.
Having settled into our room and realising it wasn't as bad as its exterior would suggest, we set off to explore the nearby city.
The
Church of Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood, St Petersburg
The interior is covered in 7,500sqm of mosaic! This is only a snapshot but when you are looking at the whole thing it is a truly awesome sight. the Saviour on Spilled Blood, sitting by one of the many canals running through the city, was the destination for our first visit. . It was Jo's first introduction to the multi-coloured domes and tiles used on so many of the exteriors of Russian churches (which we have since found out is a reference to the rainbows of heaven in the book of Revelations) but the real beauty of this church lies inside with the 7500 square metres of mosaics which cover almost every visible surface — and according to its restorers, that's more than any other church in the world. The church lies on the site where Tsar Alexander II was assassinated in 1881 and was dedicated in his memory. The cobblestones of the street on which the tsar's blood was spilled have been left exposed in the floor of the church and a shrine has been built over them.
Nearby is the
Russian Museum, which was more of a gallery than a museum, displaying the largest depository of Russian fine art in St Petersburg. However this collection was dwarfed by that held within the
Hermitage Museum. One of the largest and oldest museums of the world, the
The Hermitage
Brett taking in the quantity and quality of the many, many portraits at the Hermitage Hermitage was founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great and has been opened to the public since 1852. The museum is set in six of the historic buildings along the Palace Embankment including the Winter Palace, a former residence of Russian emperors. It houses the largest collection of paintings in the world, included in its total collection of nearly 3 million items, not all of which are on display. However given the 5 hours of attention we gave this place, we're not sure many of the 3 million are in hiding.
No visit to Russia would be complete without a visit to the
Russian Ballet. Unfortunately the leading companies were on their summer tours across the world but there were still plenty of offerings. We wanted to see a performance in St Petersburg's famous Mariinsky Theatre. We had mixed luck - there was nothing at the theatre that night but the lady at the ticket office assured us; ''Every night you can see Swan Lake in St Petersburg''. So Swan Lake it was. Though the 'contemporary' version of this famous ballet first premiered in 1895 at the Mariinsky Theatre, the show we saw was at the Aleksandrinsky Theatre.
Built
Russian Ballerinas
Here they are standing still but for us they performed Swan Lake at the Aleksadrinsky Theatre, St Petersburg. They were very good and we were very cultured. in 1828, the theatre sits within Aleksandrinsky Square. It had a lovely interior complete with an impressive chandelier and judging by the number of spare seats in the place (and trust us, from where we were sitting we could see them all) there really are plenty of nights to chose from. It was a wonderful performance - though we are still confused about the good swan vs bad swan ending. Should have bought a program...
The adventure Jo was most looking forward to in Russia was the overnight train trips we would be taking between St Petersburg and Moscow. After an afternoon spent at the train station trying to retrieve our tickets it was with great relief that we caught our midnight train to Moscow. (We later found out Brett had selected to collect the tickets from the London office of the Russian agency we used. So we can't really blame anyone but him for the panic and stress caused by being told there were no tickets for us to collect at the station.) The plush red velveteen interior, gold tasselled curtains and crisp white sheets of the four-bed sleeper cabin were nothing like the timber clad, livestock-carrying cargo
Waiting to board
with the precious tickets in hand! train Jo had in mind (she did think she heard a chicken but Brett assured her it was the door of another carriage squeaking).
It was actually all quite nice.
Moscow
At about 8am the train arrived into a grey and rainy Moscow morning and we headed to our hostel only to be told that it had been 'overbooked' and we would be put into another hostel which turned out to be a 45minute walk from the main sights. The inconvenience aside, we dropped our bags, grabbed the umbrella and headed out onto the wet streets of the city.
Where St Petersburg has a distinctly, and surprisingly, European feel Moscow is much more 'Russian'. As the capital of the country and base of its government, the constant security presence is the most noticed difference.
The Kremlin lies at the heart of the city and is the symbol of the state: in 1917 the Soviet government transferred the Russian capital back to Moscow from St Petersburg and the Kremlin became the seat of power in the country. Both Lenin and Stalin have resided there and since 1992 it has been the residence of the Russian President - though
The Tsar Bell
This 202 tonne bell was never rung — during a fire in 1737, a huge slab (weighing 11.5 tonnes) cracked off while it was still in the casting pit. We thought we'd try and help out... we didn't get to see Vladimir our on a walk. The Kremlin is as synonymous with Russian government as the White House is in the US.
It has only been since the 1950's that the great walled fortification has opened to the public, allowing some access to the the cathedrals, churches and museums within.
Our first stop was the
Armoury, the equivalent to the crown jewels in the Tower of London. Along with the vast displays of wealth - gold and silver, precious stone jewelery, Faberge eggs and the most elaborate 'cups' we have ever seen - there was also an impressive collection of thrones, carriages and clothing of the past Russian royalty.
Further into the grounds of the Kremlin were gold-domed churches containing stunning icons and paintings as well as the tombs of many of the past Tsars and royalty.
The tallest structure in the Kremlin is
Ivan the Great's Bell Tower which is said to mark the exact centre of Moscow and resemble a burning candle. It was completed in 1600 and until the Russian Revolution was the tallest structure in the city (81 meters/266 ft), as construction of taller buildings was forbidden. With 21
Red Sq, Moscow
with the State History Museum behind bells inside, it was designed as an alarm station if any enemy was approaching. At the base of the tower is the
Tsar bell the largest bell in the world at 202 tonne! Sadly this beauty was never rung as it cracked while still in the casting pit.
Outside the grounds of the Kremlin is the UNESCO World Heritage site: Moscow's
Red Square. Named to mean 'beautiful' and not to be associated with Russia's communist past, it has been used as a market place, for public ceremonies and in the Soviet period a showcase for military parades.
The most famous buildings in the Red Square are St Basil's Cathedral and Lenin's Mausoleum.
Unfortunately we missed the opening days for
Lenin's Mausoleum which was a disappointment but it would have mean't an early start and a very long queue joining the hundreds of other visitors who come to see Lenin's embalmed body. The body is displayed in a glass enclosure within an imposing monolithic style building. For years the process used to keep the body in such pristine condition was a closely guarded secret of the family who had 'discovered' it. The secret has since been revealed and the
service is offered to the anyone willing to spend a mere US$1 million! What is known of the procedure is that the body was pumped full of preserving chemicals and is wiped down every few days.
St Basil's Catherdral is another multi-coloured, mulit-domed marvel that dominates the skyline of the square. A Russian Orthodox chuch it was built in the 1550's on the order of then Tsar, Ivan the Terrible (What makes him so terrible? By all accounts he was a pretty tough guy: legend has it that he blinded the architect so that he could not recreate this masterpiece anywhere else!). The interior is a winding series of passages that seem to link a number of chapels and churches that have been built off the main cathedral over time.
And a side note because I know you are interested: St Basil's was the tallest building in Moscow until Ivan's Bell Tower took the honours in 1600.
After what seemed an exhaustive 2 days in Moscow enjoying the sunshine that had finally broken through, it was time for our last overnight train back to St Petersburg. With the ticket fiasco well behind us, all there was to do
Moscow Train Station
The ever present Vladimir Lenin inside Moscow's main train station. He currently rests as the centre piece in Red Square, the cetnre of Moscow. His embalmed body has been on public display there since shortly after his death in 1924 and still attracts the crowds. was wait and enjoy the ride back. The whole experience was much easier second time around for Jo who now knew what levers to pull to make her bed appear.
Back in St Petersburg there was time for a pancake breakfast before heading out to the airport (no misadventures on the metro this time) and flying back to London via Switzerland of all places - our next destination after a couple of days rest (i.e repacking and washing) in the UK.
Russia had been an experience - a wonderful place to have visited but one both of us were just a little bit happy to leave.
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Katriena Emmanuel
non-member comment
From Russia with Love.....From Australia with Love
hey guys, awesome pics, did you take those of the Church spies by the river and the cathedral or Brett is that a postcard that you ripped off? hahaha, the pics look amazing - so jealous! and what the hell is up with that Trucker look, I can't believe Joe is allowing you to grow out for lack of an aussie expression - "bogan" or "ferral" look hahaha (see I know the lingo now), she is too nice to you! hahaha