Marble lion's head from the 1840's.
Photo: Alexander Blelenky. (Large jpg - 45K)
Peter the Great knew what it would take to create his Venice of the North. He believed, and perhaps rightly, that St Petersburg would be nothing if it was not built in stone by master craftsmen fit to realize his monumental vision.
So he summoned famous architects from all over Europe, from France, Italy and even Scotland, and put their skills to the test using locally available stone. Despite that, another 15 years were to pass before the rest of St Petersburg caught on and the city's residents began building their houses out of stone.
The different types of stones used in the building of St Petersburg are the subject of a new exhibition at the Peter and Paul Fortress. Among the types of stone on display are various colored granites, limestones, white Italian marble, malachite, lazurite and porphyry.
Catherine the Great followed Peter's example and by the end of her reign St Petersburg was truly "music set in stone." Despite the important part stone has played in the city's buildings, the study of masonry has been lacking throughout most of St Petersburg's history.
However, history destroys the myth that St Petersburg was a swamp before the coming of Peter the Great. The study of masonry shows that Swedish and Russian towns existed along the Neva delta centuries before St Petersburg was constructed.
Two years ago, following the publication of Andrei Bolokh's book "Leningrad City Stone Collection," the Peter and Paul Museum of History came up with the idea to stage an exhibition of natural stones used in the city's buildings.
"City In Stone" opened on June 6 at the Peter and Paul Fortress. The exhibition, which will continue until August 30, shows us the beauty of the different types of stones used in St Petersburg as well as the history of the use of natural stones, and explains where they came from.
Visiting the exhibition, you'll find out a lot about the different stones used to construct the city's buildings and fashion the city sculptures, monuments and decorations.
The specific architectural ornaments, decorations and types of stones used to shape monuments and statues at Palace Square, St Isaac's Square and Senate Square are also on show. With them are various collections of different types of stones used for building mausoleums and tombs. The red Shaksinsky-stone, for example, was used to build Lenin's Mausoleum and Napoleon's tomb.
About 150 types of stones are on display, although many of them don't have Latin nomenclature because they have only recently been discovered in Russia.
The International Commission for New Minerals is responsible for giving names to new mineral discoveries depending on their chemical components. One such recent geological discovery was "Charoite" stone, named after the river Chara in Yakutia. It was used for the first time in the construction of the Aeroflot building in Paris.