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Published: August 19th 2016
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I'm intrigued by the over-specified gauge of tube for the St Petersburg down pipes, or as we like to call them: 'spoots'.
I haven't measured them, but I reckon they must be 250mm in diameter, standard, on pretty much every building in the centre of town. They're made of light galvanised tin. Many are characteristically 'bashed in' on the bottom two metres...... I suppose their substantial size makes them a pleasing target for a kick from a drunken Doc Martin wearer......
Our current theory for the design brief is that when snow melts in the spring there'll be need for a quick evacuation of excess water to stop leaks through tin roofs. Or perhaps there's been a very successful gutter salesperson maintaining a market for big pipes 'cos there's more profit in them for the manufacturer?
I've also been on the look out for my favourite style: Secessionist architecture..... Art Nouveau. The Baltic cities were full of the stuff, a whole district in Helsinki which is only a spit's distance away. In St Petersburg there's the Singer Café building which I've already noted, and I've noticed a few more buildings close to our hotel: one is
Kazanskaya ul., 2, another is Mytninskaya nab., 7, home of 'Chocolate Point' and finally onedown on Mosovsky Avenue by the Fontanka River (can't quite pin down the location) see the photos below.
In Russia, Art Nouveau is known as Modern (Модерн) perhaps named after Parisian gallery "La Maison Moderne". The style was promoted by the art magazine Mir iskusstva ('World of Art'), which spawned the revolutionary Ballets Russes.
Marion was pointing out that the dates for Art Nouveau are just when things were unsettled and pre-revolutionary, when there might have been less development than in other countries?
10.20am We were organised enough to have bought internet tickets for The Hermitage Museum and were waiting on the doorstep of part of the complex, the General Head Quarters Building, ready for its opening at 10.30. We were searching out the Impressionism Fest to be had on the 2nd floor. This whole building has just been refashioned with internal courtyards roofed over to create stylish atria. Lavish hardwood flooring, glass stairs and bridges between buildings and a quarry load of marble have been used in the makeover.
In the new Impressionist gallery there's a full circuit of
the vast second floor with whole rooms devoted to big names like Monet, Van Gogh, Degas, Manet, Renoir, Pissaro, Sisley, Gauguin and Cezanne. Even more intriguing are some corking pictures by names less well known e.g. Maurice Lobre, Charles Hoffbauer, Lempereur, Besson, and Maurice Denis. See a selection below. The Impressionist movement affected many artists beyond the small number of famous names, and they are often best represented in galleries outside of France, we've discovered.
In addition there's some expressionist stuff. In previous blogs I've wondered about how Picasso managed to produce so much stuff, lots here.... I prefer Matisse, who also has a room to himself..... lots of colour and movement... 'Les Danseurs' is the high light and it must be 2.5m X 2.5m, I hadn't realised it would be so big.
Advice to any future exhibition goers: have a coffee and something to eat directly before going into the General Head Quarters, 'cos the excellent café is outside the turnstile, and you can't re-use your ticket to get back in! Something that should be changed.... We were gagging for refreshment but had not finished exploring.
After lunch we headed over to the Winter
Palace. It's so huge, it's difficult to find what we think might be interesting. But the decorative architecture, the presentation of different eras of cultural life (including an Art Nouveau room) and, especially, the marquetry on the hardwood floors makes the meander a special experience. Most of the floors seemed brand new restorations, pristine ...... surprising when thousands walk over them daily.
By the time we were fatigued we had still managed to miss out on Russian Art, Dutch Art and the Rembrandt collection..... but we have a ticket for two consecutive days, so we'll be back tomorrow.
After a Baltica Beer (this time a white beer, like a Hoëgarten) we walked hotel-ward via the Church on the Spilt Blood.
I mistook its name yesterday, but now understand that the named doesn't refer to Christ in the cross, but au contraire, to Alexander ll's assassination on the spot where it was built, commissioned by his son Alexander lll in 1883. After the revolution if was used as a vegetable store and became nicknamed 'the Saviour on the Potatoes'. It took 27 years to restore it before being reopened in 1997.
Externally is
Baroque with large numbers of colourful domes and ceramic decoration.
Inside it is completely covered in mosaics. New Testament scenes in rich turquoise, wine reds, ochres, and golds. The iconostasis is a complete screen of gold and mosaic with marble on left and right. A rich treat for the eye throughout.
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