Moscow and St. Petersburg

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Note: You can click on each image below to view a larger version. I visited Moscow and Leningrad (now restored to its original name of St. Petersburg) in the summer of 1991, a few months before the attempted coup against Gorbachev and the collapse of the Soviet Union. It certainly felt more like a state in terminal decay than a superpower. There were black market traders everywhere, although neither city felt dangerous to be in. They were openly selling everything from postcards to army shirts (in one case, complete with an officer's epaulettes!) and navy watches. Many of the cars on the roads looked quite old, and the Eastern bloc designs seemed very old-fashioned compared to what I was used to seeing on the roads of Britain. Although the underground railways were fast and efficient, above ground there were ramshackle old trams and potholes in the roads. Both cities were full of very large buildings, some of them the mansions of the rich in Tsarist times, and some of them the brutal concrete tower blocks of the Soviet era. However as a Westerner I was used to seeing lots of colour and detail at eye level - shop signs, window displays, advertising, etc. - and in Moscow and Leningrad there was hardly any of this. It therefore felt as if there was nothing on a human scale, which combined with the generally old-fashioned look and feel of the place to remind me strongly of New York as it appeared in the old silent movies. Harold Lloyd wouldn't have looked out of place hanging off a clock there. RIGHT: The famous domes of St. Basil's Cathedral. Although built in 1555-1560, it only gained its present colour scheme in the late 17th century. Prior to that it was painted white with gold domes, like the Cathedral of the Annunciation (see below). ABOVE LEFT: The Ivan the Great bell tower in the Kremlin. ABOVE CENTER: The Spasskaya (Saviour's) Tower on the walls of the Kremlin. ABOVE RIGHT: Another view of St. Basil's. The statue in front of the cathedral is a monument to Minin and Pozharsky, who led an army that liberated Moscow from a Polish occupation in the early 17th century. LEFT: The Cathedral of the Annunciation in the Kremlin. Despite being the centre of government of what was then a superpower, the Kremlin is also a major tourist attraction, containing a variety of churches and museums. ABOVE LEFT: GUM, the State Universal Store, which stands opposite the Kremlin on Red Square. ABOVE RIGHT: Lenin's tomb in front of the walls of the Kremlin. There was a long queue to get in, but once inside the line is kept moving rapidly, down the stairs, past the sarcophagus, and out again. Inside it was cool and dark with some kind of dark stone lining the walls, which was actually very refreshing after a long wait in the midsummer sun. Lenin was lying on his back in a glass case like a museum exhibit, brightly-lit and rather waxy looking, and despite the official atheism of the Soviet Union it was very reminiscent of the way the relics of a saint might be displayed. However, as an American tourist loudly remarked on the way out, "he looks real good for a dead guy." LEFT: Inside GUM. Despite its size, it was not particularly impressive, and many of the shops didn't have much to offer. It also has an unfortunate resemblance to the interior of a British prison - I could almost hear a voiceover saying "Norman Stanley Fletcher, you have pleaded guilty to the charges brought by this court..." ABOVE LEFT: The State Historical Museum, opposite St. Basil's Cathedral on Red Square. ABOVE RIGHT: The Kremlin seen from the River Moskva. ABOVE LEFT: A typical street scene, near the Arbat district. ABOVE RIGHT: I don't know what this building was, but it is a good example of the many large and ornate buildings from Tsarist times that are still to be seen. LEFT: The 18th century Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul, in the Peter and Paul fortress in Leningrad (St. Petersburg). Originally built to protect against attack from Sweden, the fortress became a political prison where revolutionaries and other enemies of the Tsar were held. ABOVE LEFT: A room inside the Hermitage in Leningrad (St. Petersburg), one of the world's major art galleries. Like the Louvre in Paris it would take weeks to explore and appreciate fully, and if you only have a day to see it then it's easy to end up worn out with art fatigue. It was originally the Tsar's Winter Palace, and seen from the outside the mile-long facade looks like a skyscraper lying on its side. ABOVE CENTER: The Novodevichy Convent in Moscow, founded in 1524, where at one time many of the nuns were daughters of the nobility. ABOVE RIGHT: A small private chapel, although I can't remember exactly where. RIGHT: The Catherine Palace at Pushkin, about 15 miles from Leningrad (St. Petersburg). Built in the 1750s, it was severely damaged during the Second World War, and afterwards painstakingly restored to its original state. I picked up some postcards which showed the building in 1944, and many of the most beautiful rooms were absolutely gutted. This creates a problem of authenticity. If a building has been burnt and shelled and then put back together again, is it still "genuine"? I suppose it all depends on just how much of the original material can actually be salvaged, which decides whether it is fundamentally a restoration or the construction of a replica. However, even if a palace has been significantly rebuilt it can still retain the aesthetic value of the original, and still be historically valuable as a snapshot of the tastes and styles of a particular time and place. ABOVE LEFT: The cruiser Aurora, famous for its role in the revolution of 1917 when it fired a shot towards the Winter Palace as a signal for the revolutionaries to storm it. It is also notable as one of the few Russian ships to survive the battle of Tsushima Straits in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05, which first marked Japan's emergence as a significant naval power. ABOVE RIGHT: Another view of the Catherine Palace from its grounds.

		Last Updated: 1 Oct 07