Two fantastic days that need much more than this diary
extract. I feel incredibly fortunate to have been able to join 3 different
tours in St. Petersburg ,
the most incredible city.
Tour 1: The Hermitage
Museum
Tour 2- General city sightseeing
Tour 3- The Gulf of Finland
Equestrian Statue of Peter the Great |
The influence of Peter the Great is everywhere. The classical buildings are plentiful and impressive in their condition. When the state of bombardment of the Second World War is accounted for it’s amazing that any of the buildings have survived.
According to our very knowledgeable tour guide there is a current
ongoing programme of ‘keeping up’ the state of many of the oldest buildings, by
the ‘state’. She didn’t go into the intricacies of the funding details but it’s
clearly important in St. Petersburg
to show off the oldest buildings to great advantage. I am highly impressed by
the tasteful decorative colours of the buildings given a little knowledge of
the history of their creation. It would be so easy to paint what are essentially
brick buildings in garish colours, but that’s not what currently happens in St. Petersburg .
The most important and impressive ones have arresting tones.
One could even say ‘Pastel Perfect’ in many cases, maybe even most cases. The classical
styles that Peter the Great wanted for his city are so incredibly well-planned and
well-maintained. Having visited a few places of his inspirations like Versailles and Rome , the
architects that Peter the Great used so long ago did a very fine job in an area
that had few of the resources available to the original architects in Rome or Versailles .
I’ve lived in Holland
for three years and know just how much effort it takes to form the foundations
for building magnificent palaces and large public buildings. Peter the Great’s St. Petersburg land was swampy and needed the innovative
creation of canals and reclaimed land to make a port on the Gulf
of Finland worthwhile. The lack of local building stone was also a
problem that many of the northern European countries, like Holland
and Denmark ,
had to overcome. Brick was a reality yet the products needed to make bricks
also had to be imported. The effort put into the creation of the buildings of
Peter the Great’s era was immense. And so lastingly worthwhile.
The highlight of the 3 event visit to St. Petersburg
was my visit to the Hermitage, though the rest was also very impressive.
Look out for the next post on The Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg - contents that are as impressive as the Vatican Museums.
Slainthe!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for reading my blog. Please pop your thoughts about this post in the comment box. :-)