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10/26/2003 10:28:15 AM · #1 |
St. Petersburg Pbase Photo Gallery by Azrifel
Wonderful, insane, dirty, clean, beatiful, love, hate, rich, poor...... Some words that describe St. Petersburg in the Northwest of Russia.
St. Petersburg is heaven for culture enthousiast and photographers. I wish I could have stayed longer, because the photo's I took are best described as "scouting".
The palaces are insane! They are huge and contain loads of old and present art. Take the Hermitage (Winter Palace) in the heart of St. Petersburg; They've got it all. One moment you stand in a room with 25 Rembrandt's, the other moment you are surrounded by Rubens, Italian Masters, huge amounts of statues, incredible authentic room decorations. The decorations of all the rooms are worth a visit on their own, those damn paintings keep drawing the attention away!
Catharina's (Pushkin) palace is over the top. The showing off of wealth just is too much. It ain't stylish and nice anymore, too much gold, too much decoration.
Pavlovsk is a breath of fresh air in comparisson. It is a lot smaller, but build and decorated with much more style. You could say that Pushkin is a rich girls doll house, while Pavlovsk is build to live a nice live in.
There was no time to visit the parks and gardens. It would have required to extent my stay by three to four days. :)
With the celebration of 300 years St. Petersburg this year, the city centre has been renovated. Most buildings look great again, but when you look into side alley's or the outskirts of the town you can see what years of neglect do to a city. The contrast between rich and poor is considerable. Yeah, you see new BMW's, cell phone's, etc, but when you hear about the salaries and pensions of the majority of the people...... The people are strong, proud and survivors though. I think that the people will grow towards better lives with rapid progression. When you look at the youth, that's the generation that will probably overtake the West Europeans that are stuck in rules and too much rights (read: don't work for their money).
St. Petersburg Women are the finest I've seen in a long time. Man, there are a lot of beautiful women there. Yeah, of course a lot of typical fat old ladies as well, but my eye is focussed on young (I am 26) beauty. :) I was so stunned by their beauty that I haven't made portraits (lame excuse for me being too shy).
I also went to a house concert. We were first shown a fine selection of paintings and after that we could enjoy a private concert by four members of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra (Three violins and Cello). It was great, they played beautiful, but difficult music from St. Petersburg composers who had a kind of DPchallenge of classical music. Who composes the best music, let's check it out on Friday nights. :) Stuff like that is well recommended. The private collection of paintings was great too.
Food in big hotels is lousy, travel is easy. Getting into the country is a bit more difficult (visa) but in the end it is all paperwork. In reality it is easier then getting into the USA nowadays.
St. Petersburg? Highly Recommended. Love it!
I would appreciate if you let me know what you think about the photo's. If you've got any questions about St. Petersburg, I will try to answer them from my tourist perspective.
This is my favourite photo from the trip. Ironically enough it could have been taken anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere:
edit: minor corrections
Message edited by author 2003-10-26 10:42:07.
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10/26/2003 10:40:39 AM · #2 |
WOW,you did some awesome photos of an awesome subject,I'm jealous!!
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10/26/2003 10:45:36 AM · #3 |
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10/26/2003 12:09:09 PM · #4 |
Super job! Tons of great photos. I really like the Pavilion Hall pictures.
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10/26/2003 12:22:59 PM · #5 |
| Absolutely beautiful. I was particularly interested in the Alexander Nevsky museum, as I've sung the oratorio by the same name written by Prokofiev. Just.. wow. I would love to visit St. Petersburg one day. *adds it to her list* |
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10/26/2003 12:34:01 PM · #6 |
I was in St. Petersburg (Leningrad at the time) in 1990, and I am delighted to see how much better everything looks in your pictures. There is much less scaffolding, much more restoration. It's really heartening. The Isaac cathedral and the inside of the Peter & Paul tower were both covered in netting and "temporary" shoring-up, which we were told had been there since the 1940s.
I have a 1990 shot from Pushkin taken from almost the same spot as your "Facade 3" picture //www.pbase.com/image/22643045, and in mine about a third of the facade is under scaffolding. //www.kostia.net/places/photography/russia/pushkin.html
This only makes me want more to go back. Thanks for posting the pictures!
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10/26/2003 01:56:54 PM · #7 |
Originally posted by kostia:
I was in St. Petersburg (Leningrad at the time) in 1990, ............. (text snipped away)
This only makes me want more to go back. Thanks for posting the pictures! |
The outside of Pushkin is almost ready. When I was there they were finishing up the very last part of the roof decoration on the right wing. The inside is another story. I think that 20% has been restored. I've seen the pictures of how it was right after the war. It is amazing that they even decided to rebuild it. What a destruction. :(
The Inside of the Peter & Paul Cathedral is almost finished as well. Only the huge gold coated sacred area is still in need of restoration. It is now supported by a wooden substructure at the back. The dome above it still misses some windows, but they are working on it.
The remains of the last Tsar family (the ones killed by the Soviets) have also been brought there. They now have their own chamber.
At Pavlovsk they were still working on the outside walls, but almost ready. Here too were photo's of the destruction by the German army. It looks great now.
All these places are well worht a new visit. ;)
Your site has a really cool setup (drawings, navigation, type). Just needs some filling in I guess. About the Neill Gaiman book, is it full of clever jokes / dark humor? I've only read "Good Omens" that he wrote with Terry Prachett (own all 28 Discworld books) and that one was really great.
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10/26/2003 02:00:19 PM · #8 |
Az those are amazing. Some real masterpeices there. I was in St. Petersburg 4 weeks ago but didn't really have enough time to take many pics as it was only a stopover. I recognise many of the sites in your photos though. I didn't have time to go to the Hermitage Museum, but I was told there are over 40 kilometers of corridors there. And I was also told that if you stand in front of each picture in the museum for one minute, it'll take you 10 years to see the lot!!
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10/26/2003 05:31:43 PM · #9 |
Thanks Gary.
Yeah, 10 years, that's about right. Fortunately we had a guide who showed us the most popular galleries and rooms and "of course" the Dutch masters -we rule, we rule, we like to tell everyone we Dutch are the best (we are also the best lying bastards in the world)-. When I had to search for a way out of the museum it took me 15 minutes to find the stairway down again. :)
The Hermitage is now buying up space from the naval administration at the other side of the square, so that they can even extend their floor space.........
BTW, when I mentioned insane in the first post? That was mostly about the traffic. Italians are sissy angel babies compared to St Petersburg drivers. :)
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10/26/2003 06:47:04 PM · #10 |
| Bravo. Wonderful shots. How lucky you are to go there and see those beautiful buildings. Love all the shots. Great trip. |
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10/27/2003 05:14:56 PM · #11 |
Well since you guys - wanna go to St. Pete - let me just tell you that -I have been living here for the last 5 years.
It is actually a wonderfull city, and as all great cities - it has its ups and downs.
The buildings, memorials, and parks are breath taking.
As described by Azrifel places like the Hermitage and pushkin - are rich in culture and art.
If you are thinking of going to the Hermitage - for a quick visit - forget it - its so big - you cannot consume all that art in one day.
And do not miss Petrodvaritz - it has wonderfull fountains and many other things to enjoy.
And if you are lucky enough to come here in autumn - you should go to the various parks - such as the Summer gardens - it is really beautifull in autumn - the leaves on trees ablaze in a fiery colours.
Unfortunately for me - I had a few exams which i had to attend to - so i missed this autumn.... Waaaaahhhh!!!!!!
Summer is a great time to be in St. pete - variety of people walking here and there - all lazy and laid back trying to beat the heat.
The only thing i hate is the bloody winter, coming from a country where we have summer all year throught(Sri Lanka) - except for the monsoon season ;) .
Anyhoo I will be going back home next year - never to return.
Well anyways - S. pete is really worth a visit there is so much to explore. |
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10/27/2003 07:23:51 PM · #12 |
Living in Europe is lot of fun,everywhere you go you find history,museums and beautiful landscape!
From the Greek Islands and Macedonia Churches and monastery's all the way to St.Petersburg and Stockholm Architecture and museums,and to the South Spanish beaches and Alhambra! |
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