We are driving out to the Canal Boat Ride portion of our tour and we pass by St. Isaac's Cathedral
St. Isaac's Cathedral was originally the city's main church and the largest cathedral in Russia. It was built between 1818 and 1858, by the French-born architect Auguste Montferrand, to be one of the most impressive landmarks of the Russian Imperial capital. One hundred and eighty years later the gilded dome of St. Isaac's still dominates the skyline of St. Petersburg. Although the cathedral is considerably smaller than the newly rebuilt Church of Christ the Savior in Moscow, it boasts much more impressive fades and interiors.
The cathedral's facades are decorated with sculptures and massive granite columns (made of single pieces of red granite), while the interior is adorned with incredibly detailed mosaic icons, paintings and columns made of malachite and lapis lazuli. A large, brightly colored stained glass window of the "Resurrected Christ" takes pride of place inside the main altar. The church, designed to accommodate 14,000 standing worshipers, was closed in the early 1930s and reopened as a museum. Today, church services are held here only on major ecclesiastical occasions.
We also drove past the MANEGE Central Exhibition Hall has been housed in the former Horse-guards riding school since 1977, it was constructed in 1807 to the designs of the architect Giacomo Quarenghi.
The Manege is arrangement of home and foreign artists exhibitions of painting, drawings, sculpture, applied art and art of theatrics, contemporary art as well as exhibitions from the museum reserves, archives and private collections. Important Russian and international industrial exhibitions are arranged in the Manege.
Next on our drive we saw the Central State Historical Archive of Russia, The Leningrad State Oblast Historical Archive (LOGIA) was established in 1936, on the basis of an earlier historical archive that had taken over records of local institutions of the city and guberniia of St. Petersburg, and in 1988, it became the Central State Historical Archive of Leningrad (TsGIA Leningrada) (from 1991 of St. Petersburg). The archive holds the records of local government and administration, court and police, land and estates, manufacturing, finance, credit, and statistical agencies, along with other records of the public and private sectors of the city and guberniia of St. Petersburg during the prerevolutionary period.
Next we passed the Bronze Horseman, it is an equestrian statue of Peter the Great it was a gift to the city by Catherine the Great to honor her predecessor.
The German princess Catherine, who married into the Romanov line, was eager to establish her legitimacy by linking her name to that of the city's founder, and commissioned French sculptor Etienne-Maurice Falconet with a suiting monument to the founder of the Russian empire.
The imposing statue was the first equestrian statue in St. Petersburg. The pedestal of the statue resembles a cliff and is fashioned from one huge, solid piece of red granite. The block of granite alone weighs more than 1600 ton and took nine months to transport from the Gulf of Finland.
An inscription on the side of the pedestal says "to Peter the First from Catherine the Second", one one side in Latin and on the other side in Russian.
Peter and his horse, which is rearing up on its hind legs, sit atop the cliff, facing West and "leading Russia forward". It is said that the founder faces west because the countries of the West were his source of inspiration for ideas to reform Old Russia. A snake, symbol of treason, is trampled by the horse.
As long as the statue maintains its location in Senatskaya Square, legend says, enemy forces will never overtake St. Petersburg. That legend led government officials to protect the statue during World War II with sandbags and a wooden structure surrounding it. It came through the tumultuous war with barely a scratch.
This is a shot of the Peter and Paul Fortress
In 1703, when Peter the Great reclaimed the lands along the Neva River, he made a decision to build a fort to protect the projected capital city from attack by the Swedish army or navy. He chose tiny Hare Island in the Neva Delta for the fortress's location, and the citadel, with six bastions in earth and timber, was completed in less than a year. From 1706 to 1740, the fort was rebuilt in stone and less than 30 years later it was completely clad with granite.
The fortress never really saw any action because the Russians had defeated the Swedes before its completion. So, instead, it was used as a garrison and a jail for political prisoners and there was also a torture-chamber. From 1721 onward, it housed a number of notable personalities, including Peter the Great's son, Alexei, who was executed here after being tortured. Other well-known individuals jailed there through the centuries have included Tadeusz Kosciuszko, Maxim Gorky, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Leon Trotsky, and Alexander Lenin, brother of Vladimir.
The fortress was, however, attacked during the February Revolution of 1917 and later that same year fell into the hands of the Bolsheviks. By 1924, most of the fortress was converted into a museum but much of it was heavily damaged during World War II. It was restored after the war.
We get off the shuttle in front of the The Kempinski Hotel Moika 22; it has what must be the most impressive location of any hotel in St. Petersburg, facing Palace Square and the Winter Palace across the charming Moika River. Opened in 2005, the Kempinski Moika 22 combines historic elegance with modern luxury, its comfortable accommodation and excellent amenities lying behind a beautiful mid-19th century facade. The Kempisnki Moika 22 has garnered glowing reviews for its sophisticated, welcoming atmosphere and impeccable friendly service.
from here we walk to the Moika River and board a river boat for sight seeing from the river.
This is the underside of the same bridge we just crossed over...
This bridge is connecting two portions of the Hermitage Museum
enjoying the ride!
