Page 6

St. Petersburg: Ethnic Heritage and Diversity under the Romanovs

How this all relates to today

Scholars have often referred to city of St. Petersburg as a “Hundred Language Dictionary.” This title clearly represents the way Diversity is the one characteristic that sets it apart from the rest of Russia. Viatcheslav Morozov, in his paper titled “The Discourses of St. Petersburg and the Shaping of a Wider Europe: Territory, Space and Post-Sovereign Politics”, quoted Sergei Smirnov writing of the city “…St. Petersburg […] immediately became encrusted with the epithets characteristic of a city uncertain of its own identity and young- ‘the Northern Venice’, ‘the Northern Palmira’, ‘the Northern Amsterdam’ etc…” This amplifies the image of a city so culturally active that it appears to lack a unique identity. However, this abundance of diversity is the very mark of St. Petersburg’s matchlessness.


Promotion of St. Petersburg 300th birthday celebration

From http://www.stpetersburg_russia.com/

Just about a month shy of her 300th birthday, St. Petersburg has certainly come a long way. From the log cabin that Peter built in the beginning, to the bustling traffic on the Nevsky Prospect today, the city has seen the rise and fall of an imperial dynasty, the rise and fall of communism, and the rise and shakiness of democracy. However, with all these changes over time, the one thing that has remained steadfast since 1703 has been the aura of diversity there. It doesn’t seem to matter whose reign it was, or what influences existed at the time, the cultural pressure seemed always to tend towards diversity. The city uncannily always seems to draw foreigners, as if it seeks to preserve its old diverse identity.

Bibliography

John Slatter* Russian history before 1800. University of Durham Russian history homepage. http://www.dur.ac.uk/~dml0www/Russhist.HTML

Electronic sources

  1. 1.Morozov, Viatcheslav. (2002, March). The Discourses of St. Petersburg and the Shaping of a Wider Europe: Territory, Space and Post-Sovereign Politics. Retrieved March 31, 2003, from http://www.ciaonet.org/wps/mov02/
  2. 2.Moscow Hotels, JSC.(© 2001-2002). The Pre-History of St. Petersburg. Retrieved March 27, 2003, from http://www.cityvision2000.com/history/prehistory.htm
  3. 3.Werth, Paul. (2001, April 24).St. Petersburg, Russia. IARO 2001 Research Report [Online]. Available: http://www.irex.org/programs/iaro/research/werth.pdf
  4. 4.Norwegian Institute of International affairs.(1995). Ethnic Groups. Centre for Russian Studies database, [Online]. Available at http://www.nupi.no/russland/database/start.htm [March 26, 2003]
  5. 5.Levykin, K. Alexei. (©Copyright 1999). The Romanov Czars. St. Petersburg Times **& Moscow Kremlin Museums. Retrieved March 27, 2003, from http://www2.sptimes.com/Treasures/TC.2.3.2.html
  6. 6. Slatter, John. (©Copyright 2003). Russian history before 1800. University of Durham Russian history homepage. Retrieved April 7, 2003 from http://www.dur.ac.uk/~dml0www/Russhist.HTML
  7. 7. Beard, Robert(©1996). Russian Art and Architecture. Bucknell University. Retrieved April 20, 2003 from http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/russian/art.html Last updated December 8, 1999.
  8. 8. Boguslawski, Alexander (© 1998-2000). Introduction to 19th Century Russian Art. Rollins College Foreign Languages Department. Retrieved April 23, 2003. http://www.rollins.edu/Foreign_Lang/Russian/19intro.html

Printed Sources

  1. 1.Beizer, M. Mihhail. (1936).The Jews of St. Petersburg: excursions through a noble past Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society.
  2. 2.Volkov, Solomon. (1995). St. Petersburg: A Cultural History. New York: Free Press.
  3. 3.Lincoln, W.Bruce. (2000) Sunlight at Midnight: St. Petersburg and the Modern Russia. New York: Basic Books.
  4. 4.Dixon- Kennedy, Mike. (1958). Encyclopedia of Russian & Slavic myth and legend. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO.
  5. 5.Fitzhugh, W. William and Chaussonnet, Valérie, "Crossroads of Continents--Cultures of Siberia and Alaska" Symposium. (1988: National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution). Anthropology of the North Pacific Rim. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press

    Home, Beginning to mid 1700's, mid 1700's to 19th century, 1800-1850, Last Romanov decades