Russia

Abstract

FOOTNOTE: St. Petersburg is situated on the river Neva, near the gulf of Finland, and is built partly upon some islands in the mouth of that river, and partly upon the continent.The ground on which Petersburg stands was only a vast morass, occupied by a few fishermen’s huts, when Peter the Great first began this city in 1703. He built a small hut himself, and some wretched wooden hovels. In 1710 the first house of brick was built, and next year the emperor, with his own hands, laid the foundation of a house of the same material. From these small beginnings rose the imperial city of Petersburg; and, in less than nine years after the wooden hovels were erected, the seat of the Russian Empire was transferred from Moscow to this place. The streets, in general are broad and spacious; and three of the principal ones, which meet in a point at the admiralty, are at least two miles in length. The mansions of the nobles are vast piles of building, furnished with great cost, in the same elegant style as at Paris or London, and situated chiefly on the South side of the Neva...The views upon the banks of the Neva exhibit the grandest and most lively scenes imaginable. That river is in many places as broad as the Themes at London; it is also deep, rapid, and as transparent as crystal; its banks are lined on each side with a continued range of grand buildings. On the North the fortress, the academy of sciences, and the academy of arts, are the most striking objects. On the opposite side are the imperial palace, the admiralty, the mansions of many Russian nobles, and the English line, so called because it is mostly occupied by English merchants. In the front of those buildings, on the South side, is the quay, which extends three miles, except where it is interrupted by the admiralty; and the Neva, during the whole of that space, has been embanked by a wall, parapet, and pavement of hewn granite. The number of inhabitants is supposed to be about 300,000. (c. 1839). Universal Gazette, Phila., 1839. ======================================================================