Dearest Group 12

No, not Venice, Russia!

Visas into Russia are expensive and difficult to procure. The easiest way to see St. Petersburg on a cruise is to go on an excursion arranged by the cruise itself with a visa included in the arrangements. So for my trip into St. Petersburg I chose a canal tour and then a stop at the beautiful and amazing Church of the Spilled Blood.

Our tour had a truly charming guide who addressed us consistently as “Dearest Group 12.” Elena probably said this to remind us of our tour number in the midst of swirling crowds, but it was still very effective.

St. Petersburg is an important port for Russia but has few natural resources. When Peter the Great won the land back from Sweden in 1703 and wanted to complete the city of his vision, he had to import every stone, every artist from another country. He used an Italian designer to create the plan for the city, using the rivers and canals to create the “Venice of Russia.”

As a result there is (for me) a feeling of two cities: the expected Russian grey and bleak outer city and then a very colorful, Italian-type city along the main rivers of St. Petersburg. Each member of the royal Romanav family produced their own large family and each child needed their own palace when they became an adult…and it appears, that palace needed to be better than their cousin’s or uncle’s. Thus, as Elena told us, there are 300 palaces (and one castle).

A "coffee house" for the ladies of Tzarina Catherine in the midst of her park.

The Church of the Spilled Blood

The Church of the Spilled Blood was built to honor Tsar Alexander II after his assassination. A small shrine in the church marks the spot where a grenade was thrown at him in 1881. His son Alexander III built the church to honor his memory. It was begun in 1883 but was not completed until 1907.  Among all of the Italian architecture of the city, the church stands out for its more traditional…and even medieval…Russian architecture. While the outside of the church is striking, it’s the interior and its over 25,000 square feet of mosaics that is breathtaking. The main pillars are biblical figures, but I was equally entranced with the floral borders designed to depict the Garden of Eden. Not one border is repeated throughout the entire church!

Wikipedia has a concise version of the church’s history after the Revolution of 1917: “In the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, the church was ransacked and looted, badly damaging its interior. The Soviet government closed the church in the early 1930s. During the Second World War when many people were starving due to the Siege of Leningrad by Nazi German military forces, the church was used as a temporary morgue for those who died in combat and from starvation and illness. The church suffered significant damage. After the war, it was used as a warehouse for vegetables, leading to the sardonic name of ‘Savior on Potatoes.’”

Elena told us about her own experience of the long process of restoration of the Church. Begun in 1970, the church was covered in scaffolding and concealed from the public for 27 years. Coming up out of the Metro every day, she never gave it a second glance. After all that time, no one even thought about what was under the exterior coverings. She told us that “no one can believe it” on the day that it was completely revealed again in 1997.

If you’d like to read more, the link to the Church is here: http://eng.cathedral.ru/saviour

-- Mary