572 



THE STANDARD DICTIONARY OF FACTS 



built on the legendary site of St. Peter's martyr- is covered by the poorer parts of the city, but 

 dom; the foundation stone was laid on the 18th contains some public buildings and a great num- 

 of April, 1506. Michael An^elo was appointed ber of factories. Numerous islands, separated 

 architect in 1546. He nearly completed the from each other by small branches into which 

 dome and a large portion of the building before both Nevas subdivide, and connected together 

 his>decease (1564). The nave was finished in j by a great number of wooden bridges, are cov- 

 1612, the facade and portico in 1614, and the | ered with beautiful parks and summer houses, 

 church was dedicated by Urban VIII., November I to which most of the wealthier and middle-, lass 

 is. it .26. The interior diameter of the dome is ! population repair in the summer. The main 



139 feet, the exterior diameter 195A feet : its 

 height from the pavement to the base of the 

 lantern, 405 feet; to the top of the cross out- 

 side, 448 feet. The length of the cathedral 

 within the walls is 613* feet; the height of the 

 nave near the door, 152$ feet; the width, 87^ 

 feet. The width of the side aisles is 33$ feet; 

 the entire width of the nave and side aisles, in- 

 cluding the piers that separate them, 197$ feet. 

 The circumference of the piers which support 

 the dome is 253 feet. The floor of the cathedral 

 covers nearly five acres. Its cost is estimated 

 to have exceeded $50,000,000. 



St. Petersburg, the capital of the Russian 

 Empire, at the head of the Gulf of Finland and 

 the mouth of the Neva. When a strong wind is 

 blowing from the sea its level rises by several 

 feet, and the poorer parts of St. Petersburg are 

 inundated every year; but when the overflow 

 exceeds ten feet nearly the whole of the city is 

 inundated. Peter I. laid the foundations of his 

 capital in 1702 on one of the islands of the delta, 

 and dreamed to make of it a new Amsterdam. 

 The actual connection between Russia and its 

 capital was established through the Neva, which 

 since it was connected by canals with the upper 

 Volga, became the real mouth of the immense 

 basin of the chief river of Russia and its num- 

 berless tributaries. Foreign trade and the cen- 

 tralization of all administration in the residence 

 of the emperor have made of St. Petersburg a 

 populous city covering forty-two square miles. 

 The Great Neva, the chief branch of the river, 

 which has within the city itself a width of from 

 400 to 700 yards, is so deep that large ships can 

 lie alongside its granite embankments. Cron- 

 stadt, built on an island sixteen miles to the 

 west of St. Petersburg, is both the fortress and 

 the port of the capital. Two-thirds of the for- 

 eign vessels unload within the city itself. The 

 main body of the city, containing more than 

 one-half of its inhabitants as well as all the chief 

 streets, stands on the mainland, on the left bank 

 of the Neva; and a beautiful granite quay, with 

 a long series of palaces and mansions, stretches 

 for two and one-half miles. Only two perma- 

 nent bridges cross the Neva; the other two, 

 built on boats, are removed in autumn and 

 spring. The island Vasilievsky, between the 

 Great and Little Nevas, has at its head the 

 Stock Exchange, surrounded by spacious store- 

 houses, and a row of scientific institutions, all 

 facing the Neva. On the Peterburgsky Island, 

 between the Little Neva and the Great Neva, 

 stands the old fortress of St. Peter and St. Paul, 

 facing the Winter Palace, and containing the 

 mint and the cathedral. It has behind it the 

 arsenal, and a series of wide streets bordered by 

 small, mostly wooden houses, chiefly occupied 

 by the poorer civil service functionaries. Farther 



part of St. Pefersburg has for its center the Old 

 Admiralty. Near the Admiralty are the chief 

 public buildings of the city. The principal 

 churches (which are generally distinguished by 

 prominent cupolas) are St. Isaac's Cathedral, 

 the most costly of all, and one of the largest 

 churches of Europe, modeled on St. Peter's. 

 Rome, built of granite and Finland marble, and 

 with a profusely decorated interior; the cathe- 

 dral of St. Peter and St. Paul, the resting-place 

 of the emperors, with a conspicuous pyramidal 

 spire (302 feet); the cathedral of Our Lady of 

 Kazan, with an image of the Virgin enriched 

 with precious stones and pearls; the Smolni 

 Cathedral, a white marble edifice; and the 

 Memorial Church, built on the spot where the 

 Czar, Alexander II., was assassinated, one of the 

 most splendid of the many sacred edifices in the 

 city. Among the many palaces are the AY inter 

 Palace, now used only for ceremonial purposes, 

 one of the largest and most luxurious in Europe ; 

 the Marble Palace, so-called; the Michael Pal- 

 ace, now used as the School of Military Engi- 

 neers; and the Hermitage Palace, containing a 

 fine library and one of the richest collections of 

 French, Flemish, Dutch. Italian, Spanish, Rus- 

 sian, and other paintings, the private property 

 of the czars, besides engravings, coins, gems, 

 antiquities, etc. The cottage in which Peter the 

 Great lived while superintending the construc- 

 tion of St. Petersburg is still preserved. Other 

 buildings of importance are: the Admiralty, a 

 vast parallelogram of brick, with a naval and 

 natural history museum and library; the arse- 

 nal, containing a museum of artillery; the pal- 

 aces of the general staff and of the senate; the 

 custom-house, the exchange, and imperial bank; 

 the fortress of Petropavlovsk (the Russian bas- 

 tile); the Academy of Sciences, with extensive 

 museum and library; and the imperial library, 

 with over a million volumes and large collections 

 of manuscripts and engravings. There are nu- 

 merous hospitals and charitable institutions, a 

 university, founded in 1819, many special acad- 

 emies, and four theaters maintained by the 

 state. - Of the monuments, the colossal eques- 

 trian statue of Peter the Great, erected by 

 Catharine II. (1782), and the monolithic Doric 

 column of granite, eighty feet high, erected by 

 Nicholas to the memory of Alexander I., take 

 first rank. 



St. Petersburg was founded by Peter the 

 Great in 1703, when he had just wrested its 

 site from the Swedes. The forced construction 

 of a city in a site apparently forbidden by nature, 

 cost the lives, according to various accounts, of 

 from 100,000 to 200,000 peasants, collected from 

 all parts of the Russian Empire. It was at first 

 built entirely of wood, and without a proper 

 street system, but the extensive fires of 1736 



up the mainland on the right bank of the Neva | and 1737 facilitated the reconstruction on an 



