St. Petersburg: What’s in a Name? - The Wise World Traveler: Becoming a Part of All that You Meet - page 143

10. St. Petersburg: What's in a Name?
I love you, Peter's creation, I love your stern
Harmonious look, the Neva's majestic flow,
Her granite banks, the iron tracery
Of your railings, the transparent twilight
And the moonless glitter of your pensive nights…
— Aleksandr Pushkin, “The Bronze Horseman”, 1833
St. Petersburg is a royal city, built from the ground up according to a monarch's whim. Like
Washington, Brasilia, and Canberra, St. Petersburg is a blueprint set in stone. All four of
these cities were designed as national capitals, but only three remain as such. St. Petersburg
was knocked from its first-city perch in 1918 after having served as Russia's capital for over
200 years. But as a result of its centuries as Russia's preeminent city, St. Petersburg radi-
ates an imperial grandeur, a style far different from Washington, Brasilia, or Canberra. In the
decades of Soviet rule, St. Petersburg became decrepit; but beneath its grime and neglect, a
once-beautiful city now stirs back to life. [133]
WHO BUILT ST. PETERSBURG AND WHY?
St. Petersburg was summoned into existence by Tsar Peter (Peter the Great), ruler of Russia
from 1682 to 1725. He was a giant of a man: in stature (seven feet tall), in ambition (to trans-
form insular, backward Russia into a powerful European nation), and in ruthlessness and
irascibility. He killed a friend and advisor with blows from the steel-headed staff he always
carried; he ordered the death of his son, Alexi, for treason, torturing him with his own hands;
not to mention the nameless thousands who died paving the swamp so that a city could be
built on the pavement.