Blogs from the field
St Petersburg, Russia
Day 4 – Sunday 16th September 2007
By Cathy Giangrande, Development Consultant
Today we headed for Peterhof and although the wind had picked up and it was feeling a lot colder, everyone was raring to go and keen to see the real highlight of the day – Catherine’s Chinese Palace at Oranienbaum, one of WMF Britain’s flagship projects. But, before these beauties we had another treat in store; a visit to the recently re-opened and rarely visited Tsaritsyn Island. On the way, along the road to Peterhof, we catch glimpses of numerous dachas along the roadside some more elaborate than others, but all overgrown with fruit trees and meandering gardens. These mostly modest retreats are used by Russians to escape the heat and pollution of the city in the summer.
The sun gloriously emerged as we pulled up to view the 1840’s Greek revival imitation Pompeian Villa on Tsaritsyn Island. Designed as a private retreat for the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna in 1839 by Shtakenshneider, the German born Russian architect who also designed the Mariinsky it was the most perfect setting. On all four sides gardens were re-created as close as possible to the originals and glorious they were. Furnishing and decorations were all in the Pompeian style with one room adorned with an antique Roman floor mosaic.
Peterhof was our next stop. Nestled on the shores of the Gulf of Finland, this elaborate park-fountain ensemble is not to everyone’s taste, but there are certain smaller, more refined elements, like some of the fountains and smaller pavilions and palaces which appeal everyone. On arrival with the sun still shinning we made a beeline towards Peter the Great’s favourite palace – Monplaisir.
Sitting right on the sea, it is not elaborate, but has several exquisite rooms including a long picture gallery displaying Peter’s collection of Dutch landscapes and hunting scenes. From his study facing the sea he spent hours examining the ships which sailed across the Gulf. A view we all too enjoyed once we emerged from the palace.
From here we headed to the main Grand Palace with its equally Grand Cascades which work their way down the hill towards the sea. Hard to beat these in terms of grandeur – and the crowds just love it. As we approached the stairs we saw period costumed ladies and men performing dances, posing for photographs and generally entertaining the crowds. Events vary and we learned that they even celebrate the Empress’s Favourite Dog Day, when whippets – Catherine’s most beloved breed - from all over St Petersburg parade around the grounds!
After lunch a ten minute coach ride we found ourselves putting on our felt shoes in great anticipation of seeing the masterpiece of the architect Antonio Rinaldi, the Chinese Palace. Built between 1762- 68 as a private retreat for Catherine it contains some of the most stunning interiors to be found in any palace in Russia. All the interiors are original, having escaped the invading German armies furry as they headed towards St Petersburg, its exceptional interiors and furnishings remain unrestored and unaltered. The Glass Bead Salon, decorated floor to ceiling with glass embroidered tapestries – and originally a glass floor too – had everyone’s jaws dropping. It can only be believed by seeing. The roof and facades are being restored by WMF Britain’s efforts. We have also repaired the drainage system too, as it is imperative that we keep the water from invading and damaging these wonderful spaces.
Home beckoned. Not a single people remained awake on the ride back into the city, but this meant we were all well rested and ready to celebrate the final night together with our excellent guides, Alexei and Elena.
St Petersburg, Russia
Day 3 – Saturday 15th September 2007
By Cathy Giangrande, Development Consultant
The third day is always the most difficult. It’s when jetlag really starts to hit, so hauling yourself out of bed in time to make breakfast in the Davidoff restaurant before the hoards at seven am is certainly no holiday. However, today’s itinerary looked to be full of numerous wonders and I was not proven wrong!
Being a Saturday the traffic was light, so we whizzed along the twenty-nine kilometres to Catherine’s Palace at Tsarskoye in record time. The gigantic aqua coloured central palace is known as Catherine’s Palace because it was built for Peter the Great’s wife, Empress Catherine I. Of course there are also outstanding additions commissioned by Catherine II (the Great). Her architects included Rinaldi, Velten and Quarenghi, but her main man for the job was the Scottish architect, Charles Cameron. A man of mysterious origins, he was inspired by his visits to Rome, and became one of Catherine’s favourite architects. He created the Arcadian world Catherine dreamed of by adding an extension to the Catherine Palace which included the Bath House, Hanging Garden, Cameron Gallery and Agate Pavilion. Unlike the main palace, they all survived the German invasion although not without some damage.
The majestic Cameron Gallery is an arcade adorned with busts of famous philosophers and intended as a place to stroll when it was raining. It can be seen quite well from the park below, however the Agate Room designed as a bath and grand reception rooms is closed to the public. Thanks to assistance from the Kress Foundation, WMF has been involved with the conservation of this unique space, so private access for our guests was arranged. The Great Hall – or grand reception room of the Agate Pavilion really wows, with three floor to ceiling windows, walls covered with large medallions with bas-reliefs, fireplaces in white marble, wall niches housing over-sized vases made of cast-iron and green jasper and red agate. White marble columns and walls decorated in rose-coloured artificial marble make this one of the finest interiors in Russia. No one was anything but gob-smacked.
Lunch followed in the Admiralty Restaurant and was simply delicious. Carafes of vodka poured freely as we ate a delightful dish of wild mushrooms, pickled vegetables followed by ‘golubtsy’ – or cabbage leaves stuffed with a meat filling. The conversation flowed and our illustrious guide, Alexei began to wax lyrical about the ups and downs of being a guide. The conclusion was that every job, including his, entails a degree of prostitution. Certainly a thought worth pondering! We finished the meal with an outstanding warm crepe filled with wild berries and pistachio ice cream – and more vodka – especially for those who opted to take the walk through the six-hundred hectare parkland surrounding the Palace. For as we learned from our most informed guide – vodka is good for walking because is loosens the muscles. In fact, he went on to tell us that it is the only drink ballet dancers from the Kirov are allowed.
The walk took us past various follies dotted around a landscape designed by the English master gardener, John Busch – among the best are the Rastrelli’s Hermitage Pavilion of 1756 and the colonnaded Palladian Marble Bridge. The walk took us towards one of Quarenghi’s masterpieces the Alexander Palace, the favourite residence of Tsar Nicholas II and his family. It was here they spent their last months before the Bolshevik Revolution and their final journey to Ekaterinburg in 1918 where they were shot. Several of the wings of this enormous palace are now a museum and display their possessions, including uniforms, children’s toys, photographs and furniture. Once again, WMF with the help of AMEX and funds from the Robert W Wilson Challenge Fund to Conserve our Heritage have replaced the once-leaking roof.
The day had been full, but was not yet over as we hurried home to change before some of the group set off to the magnificent St Nicholas Cathedral to hear the evening choir while others headed out to dinner or the Little Philharmonic Hall to be treated to an evening of Haydn. Bed beckoned after a late night snack of fruit and finger sandwiches in the Astoria bar, but for some the night was still young.
St Petersburg, Russia
Day 2 – Friday 14th September 2007
By Colin Amery, Special Adviser, Consultant
We were taken this morning to the city founder’s house - Peter the Great’s Summer Palace. It was good to see this little Dutch-style palace empty of other visitors and amusing to see our group struggle to look elegant in their plastic overshoes to protect the parquet floors. Peter lived relatively modestly but not exactly soberly and his guests were seldom without alcohol. The little Dutch palace was in fact designed for Peter by Domenico Trezzini and built around 1712. Our great guide Alexei Leporc (by now we had decided to call him by his familiar name, Alyosha) explained how the gardens once contained a harbour for boats to sail up to the palace decorated with baroque parterres and statues. All this is to be restored.
One of our party was mightily unimpressed by the scale of Peter’s palace – and in a way he was right. Today it is hard to imagine in this perfect, almost miniature Dutch interior, that it was the home of a man who tyrannised a whole country, murdered his own son and created a great city out of a swamp.
After lunch we took the private entrance into The State Hermitage Museum - missing the magnificent Jordan Staircase but avoiding the crowds. We had a rare visit to the Drawings Collections to see a magnificent display of Rubens pencil and chalk studies laid out for us to examine. It is daunting to see at such close quarters the quality of this artist’s initial thoughts.
We had time to see 500-year-old icons being gently cleaned and restored. This new facility has been funded by Coca-Cola, amazing that such a good thing can come out of the international trade in junk drinks. The face of the Madonna painted in Tuscany some 500 years ago almost smiled at the thought of all the hyperactive children in the world helping to preserve her calm image.
There was time to wander through some of the palatial rooms of the museum – many of them now beautifully restored. It is hard not to weep in front of Rembrandt’s ‘Return of the Prodigal Son’, surely a wonder of the world.
This evening we came back to The Hermitage to see a production of ‘Giselle’ in Catherine’s Theatre, designed for her and her guests by Giacomo Quarenghi. Catherine insisted that once her guests were inside her palace they were all equal – this continues today with no seats being reserved in the theatre. We could see perfectly and the vigorous orchestra made up for the charming inexperience of some of the ballerinas. Giselle certainly died dramatically…. The lovely drop curtain that has been restored with Catherine’s coat of arms and the double-headed eagle divided us and the fantasy world of the ballet.
Cathy Giangrande and Colin Amery write to us from St Petersburg and describe highlights from the WMF tour there in their blog.
St Petersburg, Russia
Day 1 - Thursday 13th September 2007
By Colin Amery, Special Adviser, Consultant
St Petersburg seems psychologically further away from London than it really is.
The flight over the apparently empty Baltic regions seemed to the group of WMF International Council members, supporters, connoisseurs and enthusiasts for Russian culture to emphasise the remoteness of Russia as we flew from the crowded Heathrow shopping malls to the small airport that serves Russia's second city.
The first thing that struck our well-travelled group was the intensity of the traffic on the only road from the airport to the city. The traffic is St Petersburg's newest serious problem and the jams were the only thing that irritated us throughout the short visit. There is a massive ring road under construction and ample evidence of new prosperity on building sites throughout the environs of the city. Big signs to IKEA are initially more prominent that any sign of the subject of WMF Britain’s trip, "Empress Catherine the Great's architectural Legacy".
But the straight boulevard took us directly to the Astoria Hotel right by the golden dome of St Isaac's Cathedral. Our varied guests had come from Helsinki, London, Dorset, New York and Ireland and for many it was a first visit to the city. The hotel was full of signs of the new Russia - a conference weekend was taking place for Schroder Investments Limited and there was the usual collection of broad-shouldered bodyguards and slim blondes on very high heels.
Then we met our wonderful guide, friend and academic genius Professor Alexei Leporc from the State Hermitage. He gave his first lecture (after our first vodkas) on the city and the Empress Catherine the Great while revealing his intense knowledge of architectural history and love of England and its culture. We could not have had a better cicerone and Elena from Travel Russia supported him (and us) with elegance and style. From the lecture to our first dinner in the Davidoff Restaurant where the first Russian meal was, of course, Beef Stroganoff. In fact it was preparation for much good Russian fare to come. The group began to bond over vodka and wine.
This was our first night and some of the party walked to pay homage to Falconet’s statue of Peter the Great , immortalised by Pushkin as the ‘Bronze Horseman’. Fireworks exploded over the River Neva to welcome us to this wonderful city.”