10 Moments That Defined St Petersburg

When Russia was engaged in the Northern War with Sweden, the tsar at the time, Peter the Great, decided to build a city on the banks of the Gulf of Finland. The future city would serve as a port and become a ‘window into Europe’, serving as a point of trade with other countries as well as becoming a naval base. In the founding years, the first buildings of the city were built, namely the Cabin of Peter the Great – a very modest abode for the ruler of a vast country.

Peter and Paul Fortress | © alexxx-malev / Flickr

St Petersburg had always boasted being a progressive city, open to new ideas and forward thinking. Under the reign of Catherine the Great, the idea of equal education for both sexes was first proposed. Soon after the Smolny Institute became the home of Institute for Noble Maids, becoming the first female-only education institution in St Petersburg. The Institute was a boarding school and allowed for girls of noble birth to receive an education unaffected by outside ideas or influences.

Smolny Cathedral | © alexxx-malev / Flickr

December 1825 witnessed one of the most memorable revolts in Russia’s history. Army officers and 3,000 soldiers of the Imperial Russian Army marched onto Senate Square, right next to the Bronze Horseman, to protest against the ascent to the throne of Nicholas I. They were demanding the abolishment of absolute monarchy and the freedom of all serfs, who were in practice slaves of their owners. As a result the leaders of the revolt were arrested and sent to Siberia as punishment.

The Tsar Alexander II was considered to be liberal-minded. The Emperor of Russia took the bold move of abolishing serfdom in the country, freeing land serfs from their masters’ ownership. There were several attempts on his life, and the one in 1881 was successful. Attacked by the terrorist organisation ‘People’s Will’, the tsar’s carriage was bombed and the tsar himself fatally wounded. A church has been erected on the place of his murder, the Church of the Saviour of Spilled Blood, to commemorate the life of an exceptional ruler, whose time was unexpectedly short.

At the turn of the century, Russia faced a challenging time. The popularity of the monarchy was fading and workers were flooding into cities looking for employment. The general discontent grew stronger and later manifested in a workers’ demonstration marching towards the Winter Palace (the modern-day Hermitage Museum) to present the tsar with a petition. The reaction of the government to the peaceful march was unpredictable. The guards opened fire on the crowd, bringing the death toll up to 4,000 people, according to some sources. Naturally the incident caused an outrage from the public and further diminished the popularity of the government.

Inside the Hermitage Museum | © brento / Flickr

In 1991 Leningrad and the whole of Russia took once again another transition into a new political regime. Leading to the fall of the Soviet Union, the then-president Mikhail Gorbachev resigned. At the end of the year the ‘hammer and sickle’ flag was replaced by the Russian tricolour on the Kremlin. Marking these changes, Leningrad was renamed back to its original name of St Petersburg and the first mayor of the city was elected.