Mikhailovsky Castle


After we left the Summer Gardens we walked to the Russian Museum, looking at a few more sights along the way. We stopped at the Mikahilovsky Castle. It was built by the Emperor Paul, the son of Catherine the Great (incidentally she hated him). Paul was obsessed that people were always trying to overthrow him and didn’t feel safe in the Winter Palace. This castle was his answer. He had three to six thousand laborers working on it 24 hours a day during all seasons and it was completed in 3 1/2 years (pretty good for 1797, but the fast pace meant shoddy workmanship and the castle was impossible to heat, summer or winter). Unfortunately Paul made the mistake of humiliating the military. He was infatuated with Prussian uniforms and made the switch (his Field Marshall retorted: "Russians always beat the Prussians, so what are these changes for?"). The huge tricornered hats were uncomfortable and didn’t stay on. The soldiers had to spend all day preparing for military reviews, powder their hair with flour and sleep sitting up. Sometimes rats would try to eat the flour. Paul also regimented street traffic and lighting to accommodate his sleeping pattern (lights out by 8 p.m., no traffic by 9 p.m.). Thus, 41 days after he moved into the castle his own guards accosted and murdered him. (I refreshed my memory with the help of our guidebook, Russia Walks, less you think I remembered all these details. All quotes throughout are also from the book). The cobblestones are just outside the castle, but representative of those found in spots throughout the city. Notice the lovely vista to the castle (the picture with the flowers in front). This is another example of deliberately planning a street to end with the castle.







We ended up at the Russian Museum where Luda left us and we all traipsed through the Museum. This showcases Russian artists, from the earliest iconographic art to romantic periods. As they were all out of English audio tours and our Russian was still a bit rusty (still is) our enjoyment of the museum was purely visual. We were quite worn out, suffering from jet lag, and Brad and Dad had a little nap when they found a bench. There were some extraordinary oil paintings depicting biblical scenes (usually the bloody ones). They were about 20 x 15 feet. What is really interesting is that there was even this much art done in "realistic" styles, as the Russian Orthodox church strongly opposed realism. When Russian artists first started to follow the traditions of the Renaissance they were quickly told to keep to iconographic painting (told is probably a nice way of putting it).

After we finished at the museum we walked around to look at the Church of the Savior of the Blood (built from 1883-1907). It was built on the spot where Alexander II was mortally wounded from a terrorist bomb in 1881. The Bolshevik’s had their say, though when they named the bridge just behind the church for Ignacy Hyrniewicky, Alexander’s murderer. This church was built as "an ethnographic and art historical game." The artists and architects "mined the Russian past," studying folk woodcarving and medieval architecture. Thus this church is a short of "light charm" of all that is Russian, not the "full blooded, great work of art" that Saint Basil’s is.

Behind the church are vendors selling souvenirs and Russian Folk Art. I bought a watercolor of the Russian Museum and the Church of the Savior of the Blood. We bought the rest of our souvenirs and folkart at Izmailovsky Park, outside of Moscow. Things were generally more expensive here. We then went to find some dinner before we had to be at the ballet. We finally decided on a little cafe and ordered a few Russian pancakes (very similar to a French crepe--you can get all sorts of fillings from cheese to chocolate). They had some great hot stew and meat dishes on the menu but when we everyone we tried to order they said they were out of it. We didn’t have time to go anywhere else so the pancakes were going to have to do.

Summer Gardens

The Summer Gardens were originally just what they sound like--the summer gardens of Peter the Great where he lived every year from May through October until he died. He patterned them after European gardens (mostly Versailles), but he also grew vegetables there (well, his serfs did) to live off. This first picture shows me on a bridge over the Fontanka canal. The gardens are behind me.

The Summer Gardens are significant to us because in 1909 it was here that Elder Lyman dedicated the Russian land for the preaching of the gospel. Elder Lyman had previously dedicated Finland on July 24, 1909. He arrived in Saint Petersburg in August, but because they were still using the Julian calendar (Finland had switched to the Gregorian calendar) he dedicated Russia on July 24th too. The garden was beautiful, as you can see. It was filled with the soft greens of early spring. I could have walked on the crushed gravel paths and looked at the flowers all day. Elder Russell M. Nelson reblessed the land in the early 1990s. He did it near this statue of Camila, in honor of President Kimball's wife. I loved the weather worn statues and their small details. The garden is surrounded by a fence that has these Medusa heads on it.

Arriving in Saint Petersburg

Wednesday morning we left Moscow at 6:00 a.m. for our flight to Saint Petersburg. The flight was around an hour and it took another hour to drive from the airport to the hotel. Saint Petersburg is a lot different than Moscow. Since it's located on the edge of the Neva River (which empties into the Baltic Sea) there is no ring road and thus traffic is very congested getting in and out of Saint Petersburg (and in the city too, which is basically true for Moscow too).

At the hotel we met Luda, the first member of the church in Saint Petersburg and I think even Russia. She graciously volunteered her time and would be our tour guide for the next three days. She was definitely a true Saint Petersburger--fiercly proud of her city--and a definite part of what we would later call "a Russian experience." After checking in we went next store to a cafe for some lunch. We had there probably the best solyanka (a typical Russian soup) there. It was quite cold and cloudy and later started to rain so the soup hit the spot.

At the cafe I also learned a great new tightwadding technique. They had taken a typical (=cheap) paper napkin and ripped it into tiny triangles. If you only used one of these it would definitely cut down on napkin costs! (Every restaurant we went into here used this technique).

We left the cafe and started our walking tour. (Luda has one speed and it's fast!) Saint Petersburg is a unique city in that the entire city was deliberately planned from the beginning, rather than growing naturally . It is often called "Peter's window to the west." Peter the great literally built it out of swamp land (on the backs of slave labor--it's said that while it was being built any visitor had to bring two stones to enter the city as there wasn't near enough naturally occurring stone to build everything Peter wanted). He wanted Saint Petersburg to be a classical, European city as opposed to the more rough Moskva. Thus, every building and street is laid out with respect to proportions, vistas and ensembles. Peter required all his counts to build lavish palaces in the classical fashion. He dug canals in from the Neva to make St. Petersburg like Venice (it never approached Venice's canal system).
From the cafe we headed toward the Summer Gardens.