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VIEWS FROM A TRIP AROUND THE WORLD
#3 - ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA
Size: 3" x 5"
Copyrighted: 1891
Lithographer: Joseph P. Knapp
  
Illustrations: Russian Sleigh; A Hack Driver; The Winter Palace; A Russian
Bride; A Russian Country Town; The Admiralty
| Reverse - Text |
Left section:
GRIND
YOUR COFFEE AT HOME
Right section: |
| ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA. |
| This remarkable city,
founded by Peter I in 1703, on
the marshy islands of the Neva,
at the head of the Gulf of
Finland--then the site of only
two huts--has an area of 21,195
acres, 1330 of which lie under
water, and a vast wilderness
stretches beyond. Owing to its
location, the city has risen to
its present importance in the
world of commerce, science and
art. Its best portion is on the
main land of the left bank of the
Neva, which is crossed by two
permanent bridges--the Liteinyi
and that of Nicholas I; others,
made of boats, are removed when
winter sets in. The
Admiralty--the centre of the
capital, its site the wharf on
which Peter I had his first
Baltic ship built in 1704--has
now the Marine and the
Hydrograhic Departments. The
Winter Palace, built in 1764, is
of mixed style--its immensity
hidden by its perfect
proportions. A bronze statue by
Falonet represents the city's
founder ascending a rock on
horseback, and pointing to the
Neva. Its pedestal is a granite
monolith 44 feet long, 22 wide
and 27 high. The column of
Alexander I, a monolith 84 feet
high, is of red granite that
disintegrates so rapidly as to
require massive iron rings
(concealed by painting). The
Great Bazaar is said to have ten
thousand merchants. |
| Educational
advantages are very great.
Literary and scientific
institutions abound and are of
access to the common people.
Classical music is prominently
honored in St. Petersburg, but
the drama stands better in
Moscow. The current saying calls
St. Petersburg the
"head" of Russia,
Moscow its "heart." The
populace is larely cosmopolitan.
Cultured Russians have the
suavity and finesse of the
French, with the greater warmth
of the Italian character; yet
there is also a bluntness of
manner that often passes the
bounds of civility. |
| Population, 956,226. |
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