History of Vasilyevsky Island and of St. Petersburg



Anna Akhmatova, Verses About Petersburg
I
Once more St. Isaac's wears robes
Of cast silver.
And frozen in fierce impatience
Stands the horse of Peter the Great.

A harsh and stifling wind
Sweeps soot from the black chimneys. . .
Ah! His new capital
Displeases the sovereign.

II
My heart beats calmly, steadily,
What are the long years to me!
Under the Galernaya arch
Our shadows, for eternity.

Through lowered eyelids
I see, I see, you with me,
And held forever in your hand,
My unopened fan.

Because we were standing side by side
In that blissful miraculous moment,
The monument of the resurrection of the rose-colored moon
Over the Summer Garden--

I don't need the waiting
At some hateful window,
Or the agonizing meetings--
All my love is satisfied.

You are free, I am free,
Tomorrow will be better than yesterday--
Over the Neva's dark waters,
Under the cold smile
Of Emperor Peter.

III
I know, I know--the skis
Will crunch on snow again.
There's a ginger moon in the dark blue sky
And the meadow slopes so delightfully.

The palace's little windows glow,
Remote in the stillness.
There are neither paths nor roads,
Only dark ice holes.

Willow, tree of water nymphs,
Don't block my way!
Shelter the black daws in your snowy branches,
The black daws.



St. Petersburg, Peter the Great's window to the West. Built from nothing, on a swamp, by the Neva River. There were many reasons for Peter the Great to move Russia's capital from Moscow to St. Petersburg... personal reasons, political reasons, but whatever his reasons, St. Petersburg stands as a testimony to Tsar Peter's greatness and power of will. After all, it takes a strong man indeed to build a city out of nothing.

And out of nothing, came quite a something indeed. From the completion of a wooden fortress named Sankt-Piter-Bourkh in September of 1703 to March of 1918 when Moscow once again became capital of Russia, St. Petersburg has been the center of Russian culture, society and power for over 200 years (Knopf 30).

Vasilyevsky Island is the largest island among the various islands in the Neva Delta. It is shaped somewhat like a plug, at the mouth of the Neva River. Its street plan was developed by the architect Jean-Baptiste Leblond, who had the idea to create also a network of canals to service the island. Leblond's plan was to create a broad navigable canal, whose path follows that of present day Bolshoy Prospekt, and a series of streets running at right angles to this main canal. Each of those streets lining the canal was called a 'line' and each given a number, these names are still in use today. Shortly after Peter I's death, the island was assigned to a secondary position in the development of St. Petersburg due to excessive flooding.




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