Loznitsa, Sergei, dir., Blockade, using footage found in Soviet archives, Federal Agency for Culture and Cinematography and St Petersburg Documentary Film Studios, 2005.
______Revue, using footage found in Soviet archives mainly from the Krushchev era, Federal Agency for Culture and Cinematography & St Petersburg Documentary Film Studios, 2008.
Nevzorov, Alexander, dir., 600 Seconds, Leningrad Chanel/St Petersburg Television.
Polsky, Gabe, dir., Red Army, documentary, Weintraub and Herzog, 2014.
van den Berg, Rob, dir., ‘Catching Up with Music’ with Valery Gergiev, bonus feature on Glinka, Ruslan and Lyudmila, conducted by Valery Gergiev, Kirov Opera and Chorus, Decca, 1996.
Weinstein, Larry, dir., Shostakovich Against Stalin – The War Symphonies, documentary, Rhombus Films, 1997.
OPERAS, MUSICALS AND DANCE
Borodin, Alexander, Prince Igor, conducted by Gianandrea Noseda, DVD Deutsche Grammophon, 2014.
Glinka, Mikhail, A Life for the Tsar, conducted by Alexander Lazarev, DVD NVC ARTS, 1992.
______Ruslan and Lyudmila, conducted by Valery Gergiev, DVD Decca, 1995.
Paris Dances Diaghilev, Paris Opera Ballet; VHS NVC ARTS, 1991.
Prokofiev, Sergei, War and Peace, conducted by Valery Gergiev, Kirov/ Opera Bastille, 1991, Arthaus Musik, 2015.
Rimsky-Korsakov, Le Coq d’Or, conducted by Kent Nagano, DVD Arthaus Musil, 2011.
Shostakovich, Dmitri, Cheryomushki, dir. Paul Rappaport, Lenfilm, 1963; DVD Decca 2007.
Tchaikovsky, Peter Ilyich, Eugene Onegin, conducted by Sir Georg Solti, dir. Petr Weigl, DVD Decca, 1990.
DISCS
Meader, Vaughn et al., The First Family, LP, New York: Cadence Records, November 1962.
ILLUSTRATIONS
The Menshikov Palace in 1717.
Map of St Petersburg, c. 1718–20. The gridding of Vasilevksy Island was, at that stage, a mere projection.
The evolution from the residual influences of a highly decorative baroque architecture through the early, vigorous phase of neoclassicism and on into more sophisticated variations on the style.
St. John the Baptist Church at Chesme – now absorbed by southern St Petersburg; the stark Tuscan Doric columns of New Holland Arch; the tower over the central arch of the Admiralty; the Palace of Pavlovsk; the Mikhailovsky Palace’s main staircase.
The Bronze Horseman in Senate Square, unveiled in 1782. A print by K. Ludwig after Benjamin Paterssen.
A fair in St Petersburg, c. 1803, from A Picturesque Representation of the Manners, Customs and Amusements of the Russians in One Hundred Coloured Plates by John Atkinson and James Walker.
The Nevsky Prospekts Police Bridge over the Moika with Wolff & Béranger café on the left.
The Mikhailovsky Palace, now the Russian Museum.
A. P. Bogolubov’s Sledging on the Neva, 1854.
Postcard of the Mariinsky Theatre, which opened in 1860.
Pyotr Vereshchagin, The Alexandrinsky Theatre, 1870s.
Postcard of the Eliseev building, which went up on the Nevsky Prospekt between 1902 and 1903.
The almost palatial Stil moderne interior of Vitebsk Station, created between 1902 and 1904.
Postcard of the Nevsky Prospekt, c. 1909.
That these three items appeared within a year of each other reveals the gulf between the tsarist assertion of the past and the desire of Russia’s performers and painters for a revolutionary future.
menu for the banquet to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the Romanov Dynasty in 1913.
Auguste Rodin’s maquette for a sculpture of Nijinsky, The Dancer, 1912.
Kasimir Malevich’s design for the Chorister costume in Victory Over the Sun, which premiered in 1913.
International Women’s Day, February 1917: women workers demonstrate on the Nevsky Prospekt.
Lenin speaking in Petrograd, July 1920.
Anna Ostroumova-Lebedeva, First Snow, 1917 – a view of Senate Square from the University Embankment.
Nikolai Terpsikhorov, The First Slogan, 1924 – turning their backs on antiquity, artists worked for the revolution.
Alexander Rodchenko’s colourful revolutionary library was never more than an installation at the 1925 Exhibition of Decorative Arts in Paris; Vavara Stepanova’s design for unisex sportswear, 1920s: function and simplicity above all; women and men fight for the revolution in Alexander Deineka’s The Defence of Petrograd, 1928.
Alexander Deineka, Construction of New Workshops, 1926.
During the Siege. The poster reads, ‘Death to the Child Murderers’.
‘We Defended Leningrad! We Will Restore It!’
Intourist buses parked in front of the Headquarters of the General Staff, 1979.
Alexei Sundukov, Queue, 1986.
Private enterprise on the Nevsky during the White Nights, 1993.
Desperate selling, early 1990s.
The pop art city. The Nevsky Prospekt, 2016.
Temporary city heating pipes on Vasilevsky Island making way for pedestrians and traffic.
The Nevsky Prospekt is full of surprises. Kazan Cathedral in the background.
A glut of traffic, tourists and cables obscuring the city.
A statue of Trezzini looks proudly out on all the might and the mess – on what has become of the city that Peter-the-Great engaged him to build.
The Bronze Horseman.
INDEX
Page numbers listed correspond to the print edition of this book. You can use your device’s search function to locate particular terms in the text.
Places and institutions in St Petersburg are indexed under themselves and not under the city. References in italics are to illustrations.
Ablenovsky, Count, 197–8
abortion, 395, 446
Abramovich, Roman, 474
Academy of Arts, 147–8, 148, 206, 235–6, 438
Academy of Fine Arts, 372
Academy of Sciences, 61, 74, 75, 156, 454
Acosta, Jan d’, 96
Adam, Adolfe, 244
Adams, John Quincy, 193, 194, 195–6, 200, 203, 205
administration: city, 130, 140; opaqueness under Nicholas I, 234–5; zemstvo introduced, 261; first mayor, 458–9
Admiralty, 5, 34, 35, 73, 197, 198–9
Admiralty Embankment structure, 280
advertising, 333, 396
agriculture, 388, 443
Akakievich, Ivan, 10
Akhmatova, Anna, 25, 373, 388, 404, 433, 454
Aksakov, Ivan, 249
Alaska, 74, 280
alcohol: Peter I’s habits, 16–17, 19, 33, 38, 53, 64, 70; Catherine I’s habits, 25, 72–3, 75, 76; taphouses, 46–7; common people’s drinking habits in eighteenth century, 87, 129; Elizabeth’s habits, 110, 124; Peter III’s habits, 124; nineteenth-century servants and drinking, 191; Alexander I’s attitude, 195; fashionable drinks in nineteenth century, 255–6; epidemic of drunkenness under Alexander II, 268–9; state promotes weaker kinds in mid-twentieth century, 444; Seventies violence from alcoholism, 445, 450; Gorbachev campaigns against, 453; rationed in 1990, 455; average male daily vodka consumption, 462
Aleksandrinsky Theatre, 209–10
Alekseev, Fedor, 162
Alembert, Jean de Rond d’, 143
Alexander I, Emperor of Russia: birth, 153; variolated against smallpox, 168; Catherine II dies just before proclaiming him her successor, 179; agrees to coup deposing father, 189; reign, 190–213; attitude to alcohol, 195; St Petersburg building schemes, 196–7, 198–9, 206–10; childhood and upbringing, 200–1; marriage, 201; policies, 201–2; and Napoleonic Wars, 202, 203, 204, 205–6; expands Hermitage Collection, 210–11; resistance to political change, 211–12; plot against, 212–13; death, 213; monument to celebrate victory over Napoleon, 227, 228, 411–12, 470
Alexander II, Emperor of Russia: buys back pieces of Cameo Service, 237; reign, 257–86; St Petersburg building schemes, 260, 280; pressures for reform under, 261–7, 271–3; issues Emancipation of Serfs Edict, 26
1–2; 1866 attempt on life, 269–70; 1879 attempt on life, 275; more threats to life, 276–8; foreign policy, 280; court corruption, 281; philandering and second marriage, 281–2; death, 282–6, 284
Alexander III, Emperor of Russia: Narodnaya Volya disagree about plan to assassinate, 285; Narodnaya Volya petition him about father’s assassination, 285–6; reign, 286–98; character, 286; anti-Semitism under, 287–8; expansion of industry, 289–90; attempt on his life and backlash, 290–1; death, 298
Alexander, Prince, of Battenberg, 277
Alexander Column, 227, 228, 411–12, 470
Alexander Nevsky, St, 79, 96–7 Alexander Nevsky (film), 408, 424
Alexander Nevsky Monastery, 85, 96–7, 155
Alexandra Feodorovna, Empress of Russia (Nicholas I’s wife), 236, 240, 245
Alexandra Feodorovna, Empress of Russia (Nicholas II’s wife): background, 300; character, 300; taste in interior design, 307, 350–1; children, 336; relationship with Rasputin, 336–8, 346; interest in paranormal, 342, opens hospital in Winter Palace, 350–1; growing unpopularity, 352; reaction to Rasputin’s death, 354; family put under guard, 357; moved with family to Tobolsk, 361; death, 375
Alexandra Theatre, 240
Alexandrova (ballerina), 293
Alexei I, Tsar of Russia, 10–11, 20
Alexei, Prince (Peter I’s son), 13, 38, 44, 58–60, 70–1
Alexei, Tsarcvich (Nicholas II’s son), 336–8, 375
Alexei, Metropolitan, 422
Algarotti, Francesco, 42, 82–3
Alisa, 465
‘All-Mad, All-Jesting, All-Drunken Assembly’, 16, 30, 43, 56, 64, 75–6
Almedingen, Marta, 307, 332, 367, 376
Altman, Nathan, 374
America: Russia annexes Alaska and Pacific Northwest, 74; see also USA ’
Amsterdam, 15–16, 22, 50
Andronnikov, Mikhail, 346–7
Andropov, Yuri, 453
Angleterre hotel, 454
Anichkov Palace, 105–6, 123, 199, 214, 287, 431
Anna (Catherine II’s daughter), 117
Anna Ivanovna, Empress of Russia: marries Duke of Courland, 37–8; succeeds to throne, 80; reign, 80–101; retinue, 83–4; appearance and character, 84; influential figures at court, 87–8; lifestyle and interest in the arts, 88–95; persecution under, 98–9
Anna Leopoldovna, Regent of Russia, 93–4, 99, 100
Anna Pavlovna, Grand Duchess (Paul’s daughter), 212, 225, 244
Anna Petrovna (Peter I’s daughter), 39, 72
Anne, Princess (future Queen Anne), 19
Annenkov, Yuri, 369–70
anti-Semitism see Jews appliances, household, 450
Apraksin, Count Fedor, 122
Apraksin, Admiral Fyodor, 34
Apraksin, Field Marshal, 108
Araja, Francesco, 93, 116
Arkhangelsk, 14, 24, 25, 371
arms industry, 271, 331, 349–50
art: Peter I’s interest, 50, 62; Imperial Academy founded, 121; Catherine II’s interest, 142, 147; she assembles Hermitage Collection, 157–62; topographical painting and engraving, 163; Paul’s purchases, 180–1; collections evacuated in preparation for Napoleon’s invasion, 205; Alexander I expands Hermitage Collection, 210–11; painters in Nicholas I’s reign, 235–6; New Hermitage built to house imperial collection, 238–9; New Hermitage acquisitions under Alexander II, 260; students of history painting request a more contemporary title for their exam, 260–1; Wanderers movement, 273–4; Alexander III funds what will be Russian Museum, 291; he also expands Hermitage Collection, 291; Nevsky Pickwickians and Mir Istkusstva, 301–4; Russian works exhibited at 1906 Paris Salon, 327; 1909 modern art exhibition at Menshikov Palace, 340; Der Blaue Reiter group, 340; Union of Youth movement, 340–1; other avant-garde art under Nicholas II, 341–2; in early days of Soviet government, 371–2, 374; appropriation of private collections and antique smuggling, 373, 378; Hermitage reopens, 378; in Soviet era, 381–2, 389–91, 394, 437–8; some Hermitage works sold and remaining ones recontextualised, 402–3; treasures moved out of St Petersburg so as not to fall into German hands, 412; Hermitage tours for soldiers during Second World War, 426–7; Hermitage paintings returned after war, 431; Russia takes many artworks from Germany in recompense for invasion, 431; exhibitions from abroad grow in number, 449
art nouveau, 305–7, 306
Artamonov, Mikhail, 437–8
Artillery and Engineers’ schools, 121
Artillery Laboratory, 61
Asafiev, Boris, 393
assemblées, 55
Astrakhan, 32
Aurora (ship), 362
Austerlitz, Battle of (1805), 202
Austria, 111, 202, 349
aviation, 331, 341
Aved, Jacques, 158
Azeff, Evno, 311
Azov-Don Bank, 332–3
Bakst, Léon, 293, 302, 304, 308, 340
Bakunin, Mikhail, 248, 250, 271
Balabanov, Alexei, 333–4, 465
Balakirev, Mily, 242, 279–80, 287
Balatri, Filippo, 13–14, 24
ballet: St Petersburg Classical Dance and Ballet School (later Imperial Ballet School) founded, 83; Anna’s attitude to, 93; under Alexander I, 210; under Nicholas I, 242–4; early nineteenth-century changes; under Alexander III, 293–8, 296; imperial ballet strikes in 1905, 299, 321–2; some intellectual discontent with, 317; under Nicholas II, 328–30, 338–40, 343, 351–2; during Kerensky’s Provisional Government, 358–9; in Soviet era, 378, 389, 404–5, 424–5, 427, 438–9, 440–1, 450–1; in twenty-first century, 475
Ballets Russes, 329–30, 351, 359
ballooning, 194
balls: under Catherine I, 72; under Anna, 92; under Elizabeth, 117; under Catherine II, 137; under Alexander I, 192–3; under Nicholas I, 244–5; under Alexander III, 286–7; under Nicholas II, 300–1, 345
banks and banking, 166, 289
banya see baths
Baranovsky, Gavriil, 343
barbers, 132
Baring, Maurice, 325, 326–7
Barkhin, Grigory, 390–1
baroque, 31, 46, 52, 103, 104–5, 106, 149
Basilewski Collection, 291
baths (banya), 56, 169–70, 169, 380 The Battleship Potempkin (film), 319, 392
Beardsley, Aubrey, 302–3
The Beatles, 448
beggars, 327
Behrens, Peter, 349
Belinskaya, Stanislava, 296
Belinsky, Vissarion: on St Petersburg, 227, 371; on the court, 228–9; on popular drinks and dances, 230; on St Petersburg’s citizens, 232.; as revolutionary thinker and writer, 248, 249; on Bulgarin, 252
Bell, John, 28, 41, 60
Belsky, Igor, 438–9
Benckendorff, General Alexander von, 216
Bennigsen, General von, 189
Benois, Alexandre: on Tsarskoe Selo, 106–7; frontispiece to Pushkin book, 224; catalogues works at Russian Museum, 291; background and relationship with Nevsky Pickwickians, 301–2; on Nicholas II and art, 304; on ballet, 317; on Nijinsky, 329; Petrushka, 338–9; paintings exhibited at Menshikov Palace, 340; visits Winter Palace hospital, 350–1
Benois, Nicholas, 302
Berggolts, Olga, 416, 419
Bergholtz, Friedrich Wilhelm von, 63–4
Beria, Lavrenti, 434
Bering, Captain Vitus, 74
Berlatskaya, Chionya, 336
Berlin, 51
Berlioz, Hector, 241, 278
Bestuzhev-Ryumin, Lieutenant, 213, 215–16, 220
Betskoy, Ivan, 144
Biely, Andrei: and Bronze Horseman statue, 147; Petersburg, 233–4, 314, 320–1; on Duncan, 299; on St Petersburg’s workers, 304; prose symphony, 343; appearance in immediate aftermath of 1917 Revolution, 373
‘Big House’, 400, 401
Biron, Count Ernst Johann von, 81, 87–8, 98, 99, 100
Black Hundred gangs, 323, 326
black markets, 385
Blackford, Henrietta, 281
Bl
anc, Louis, 250
Der Blaue Reiter group, 340
Blok, Alexander, 288, 299
Bloody Sunday (1903), 309–17, 315
Boeing-Boeing (farce), 475
Bogdanov, Andrei, 120
Bogrov, Mordko, 337
Bokova, Mariya, 266
Bolsheviks: origins, 325–6; Duma delegates arrested, 330; membership decreases between 1907 and 1911, 331; begin to take control of St Petersburg, 348; promises to the people, 355; seize power, 359–62; early days of government, 365–83; consolidate power brutally, 370
books and publishing: in seventeenth-century Amsterdam, 15; Peter I’s library, 50; under Catherine II, 141–2; Imperial Russian Public Library built, 157; formal censorship introduced, 175; Paul bans foreign imports, 184; Alexander I’s policies, 201; Third Section receives copies of all printed matter, 220; writings begin to circulate without being printed, 221; censorship tightens and government propaganda increases, 252–4, 256; censorship eased under Alexander II, 261; tightened again, 263; growth in desire for sensationalism in early twentieth century, 333; under Stalin, 388–9; censorship continues under Khrushchev, 437; see also literature and learning
Borisov-Musatov, Viktor, 303
Borodin, Alexander, 272, 278, 279, 292
Borodino, Battle of (1812), 204
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