The famous Baroque achitecture of the Smolny Cathedral
(Large jpg - 55K)
Lenin lives! Or at least his ghost must, roaming around the halls of the former Smolny Institute which once groomed young debutantes for high society life.
It later gained fame as the building where the Soviet government first held power after the revolution.
Although not regularly included in city tours, the institute, which now houses the offices of the mayor and other city officials, makes for an enjoyable trip into various facets of the city's past.
Although Lenin spent far more time in his study at the Kremlin in Moscow, those rooms are still off-limits for tourists, so this is the closest glimpse you can catch of the Soviet leader's life and work. Besides, how often can tourists say they've been to city hall?
Founded in 1760, the institute was the first women's school in Russia, providing a well-rounded education for the daughters of the nobility. According to its founder, Catherine the Great, "the girls should grow up to be neither nuns nor pampered coquettes, but rather capable mothers and wives." Classes were first held in the sky blue Smolny Cathedral, but it was soon decided that the building was not appropriate for classes. The neoclassical yellow institute building next door was designed by Giacomo Quarenghi and completed in 1808.
During the 19th century, the institute catered to the elite of young Russian women. After the defeat of Napoleon, daughters of noblemen who died in the battle for the motherland were invited to study there. Russia's first female architect and physicist, as well as a host of other talented girls called "Smolyanki", passed through the arched hallways and flew up and down the grand staircase in the center of the building.
The institute's history as a place of education came to an end in February (March) 1917, when it was closed by the Provisional Government as an institution of the monarchy. Most of the girls were on Easter vacation at the time, but a group who had gone to Novocherkasska on the Don River continued to meet in the name of the institute for another year.
During the summer of 1917, the building became the headquarters of the Petrograd Soviet, where all the factions of revolutionaries and democrats discussed their next step. That decision was made by Lenin and his Bolsheviks in October (November) 1918 right in the very halls of the institute.
Tours must be arranged ahead of time and take one-and-a-half to two hours, depending on your own time frame. The excursion begins in the grand hall (Aktovy Zal), where once, among the white columns and beneath the original alabaster lamps, the institute held all its ceremonial events. Here, the young girls would attend balls and receive their diplomas. During its years as a cultural center, the hall saw performances by European masters like Schumann and Liszt.
Perhaps the most significant event to take place in this hall, however, was Lenin's appearance before the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets in 1917, shortly after the Bolsheviks had seized power. Standing on the podium, Lenin announced to his followers, "We shall now proceed to construct the Socialist Order!" In that room, decrees such as the abolition of privately-owned land were issued, and the first Council of People's Commissars, a Soviet-style cabinet, was elected.
A copy of the first Soviet Constitution, gold letters engraved in marble, prominently frames the doorway in the rear of the hall.
For the next several months, Smolny served as the seat of Soviet power. Moving up to the third floor, which was once the dormitory section, the tour offers the curious a peek into Lenin's daily life. Here, in the room that once served as the office of the Class Mistress, first Trotsky, and then Lenin, set up shop, complete with a view of the Neva. Lenin's desk, set simply with a lamp, telephone and inkwell, sits quietly next to the window. A photograph next to the outside doorway shows the guards that once stood on either side -- perhaps like the metal detectors that now flank the building's main entrance below.
On the other end of the hall is the room that Lenin shared with his wife Krupskaya during his first four months in power. The first room in the apartment is currently filed with memorabilia from the school years of the institute -- handicrafts made by students, photographs of them working in the kitchen and studying.
Lenin's modest office in the Bolshevik Party Headquarters in the Smolny
(Large jpg - 25K)
The inner two rooms, however, recreate Lenin's living quarters, which, like his study, were sparse and modest. Peeking inside the tiny room that served as the couple's bedroom one finds only two narrow cots and a corner fireplace. Despite the excesses of the Soviets, Lenin seemed true to his ideals at least when it came to his own lifestyle.
A particularly interesting part of the tour is a temporary exhibition set up in honor of the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II. During the war, Smolny served as the nerve center of city defense. The building was covered by camouflage -- green in the summer, white in the winter -- and survived the entire blockade without being hit once. A fragment of the camouflage hangs above the room. The exhibition continues through the end of the year.