The Founding of St. Petersburg

In Notes from Underground, the narrator talks about how he disdains St. Petersburg, which he sees as an unnatural, premeditated city with no soul (that also has expensive rent). In class we discussed how St. Petersburg was a planned city built by Peter the Great in order to compete with the great cities of western Europe. I was looking up some more information about the history of the city and found some interesting stuff. The city was founded in 1703 and was strategically planned at the mouth of the Neva river on the Baltic Sea. Peter had traveled around Europe and wanted to found a capital that would rival the greatest cities in the world at the time. Peter made the new city the capital of Russia, moving away from the traditional cultural center of Moscow (which was later reinstated as capital during the Soviet period). In its earliest stages, the city was planned with the goal of establishing a new Russian capital and cultural center. The earliest buildings included the cabin of Peter the Great, which is considered the first building that marked the founding of the city, and the Peter and Paul Fortress, which was used as a prison years later and is where Dostoyevsky was held after being arrested for his involvement in the Petrachevsky Circle. While Dostoyevsky apparently disliked the city for pandering to Western values and lacking spirit, St. Petersburg has become an important cultural center, with institutions like the Hermitage art museum and the Mariinsky Theater. Below are some pictures related to St. Petersburg and some of the things mentioned here.

Cabin of Peter the Great:


Peter and Paul Fortress:



Early map of the city:

Mariinsky Theater: