City Breaks

St Petersburg Episode 17 Finding Leningrad in Literature

For the final episode in the series, we are 'leaving' St Petersburg to discover Soviet era Leningrad through the work of three very different authors. First, the poet Anna Akhmatova, whose writing was largely banned, but whose very Russian, free-spirited poetry made her a symbol of opposition to the state. Then Helen Dunmore, whose two novels The Siege and Betrayal are set in 1940s and 50s Leningrad, with heart-rending plots showing the difficulties of life in Soviet times. And finally, Sergei Dovlatov, whose short story collection The Suitcase casts a wry, critical, yet amusing look at the trials of being a Leningrad citizen in the 1960s.

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St Petersburg Episode 16 Gogol, Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky

A look at 19th century St Petersburg through the eyes of 3 authors: Gogol, Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky. Hear how a long-desired new overcoat caused the demise of the humble clerk Akaky Akakievich, then wander the streets of the city following an escaped body part in another Gogol story, the absurdist The Nose. Learn of St Petersburg's glittering social life, described in War and Peace, and find out why the author preferred Moscow. And finally, experience the seamy side of the city in the company of Raskolnikov, the student-murderer 'hero' of Crime and Punishment. To round off the episode, a visit to the Dostoyevsky Museum in the heart of the Sennaya Ploshchad district.

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St Petersburg Episode 15 Pushkin

The Father of Russian Literature, Alexander Pushkin, led a colourful life of semi-debauchery in St Petersburg, and set some of his best-loved works there. Biographical details, including  his schooldays at the city’s elite Lycée and his dramatic demise in a duel at the age of only 37, are followed by a review of two of his best known poems, which focus closely on St Petersburg. Then we look at his short story ‘The Shot’, a tale of pride, revenge and pistols which eerily previews his own death a few years later. Finally, we outline four places in the city today where you can go in search of Pushkin.

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St Petersburg Episode 14 Art and Architecture

Art lovers flock to St Petersburg's wonderful and extensive collections in the Hermitage and of course we will look at some of the highlights to be found there. But first, a nod to the architectural styles to be found in the city, from the glorious baroque palaces of 18th century St Petersburg, via the much more Russian-influenced design of the Church on the Spilled Blood, to the designs favoured in the Stalinist era. Also, a visit to the Russian Museum, where thousands of exhibits tell the story of Russian art from the earliest icons to the twentieth century and lastly, some pointers for those wanting to see modern art Russian-style.

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St Petersburg Episode 13 World Capital of Ballet

Surely ballet is one of the first things you think of when it comes to St Petersburg. Hear a brief history, beginning with the 'twelve little girls' invited in 1738 by the Empress Anna to join the city's first ballet school, held in the Winter Palace attic. Find out more about the 19th and early 20th centuries, when many of the great Russian ballets were first seen and dancers like Vaslav Nijinsky and Anna Pavlova graced the stage. Hear too what happened to ballet in the Soviet era and how Rudolf Nureyev brought such exciting new techniques from Leningrad to the west, then find out what it's like to see a ballet at the Mariinsky Theatre in the city today.

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St Petersburg Episode 12 Music and Theatre

Hear about some of St Petersburg's many musical connections, with potted biographies of composers from Glinka, often known as the father of Russian music, to Shostakovich, via, of course, Tchaikovsky. And not forgetting Rubinstein, whose Russian Musical Society did so much to put St Petersburg on the musical map or Stravinsky, whose 'Rite of Spring' delighted and outraged audiences in equal measure. Find out too about some of the city's best-known musical and theatrical venues, from the jewel-like little theatres built for the Empresses Elizabeth and Catherine the Great to the ever-popular Mariinsky Theatre and the Shostakovich Philharmonia Halls. Learn which museums and cemeteries have most to tell you about the city's musical heritage.

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St Petersburg Episode 11 The Siege of Leningrad

St Petersburg's haunting Memorial to the Defenders of Leningrad recalls the dreadful 900 day long blockade of the city by German troops during the Second World War. Supplies to the city were so ruthlessly cut off that the population was starved and 800,000 people lost their lives. This episode provides a little history, some extracts from the diary of teenager Lena Mukhina who lived through it and – against all odds - survived, and an account of the day in August 1942 when the defiant remaining musicians from what had been the Leningrad Radio Orchestra staged an outdoor concert which was broadcast across the city. Finally, there are some details about the monument itself.

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St Petersburg Episode 10 The Soviet Era

What happened in St Petersburg after the 1917 Revolution and where can you find traces of the Soviet era in the city today?  After a little history, we visit three sites with much to tell: the terrifying Trubetskoy Bastion Prison, the State Museum of Political History and the former home of the dissident poet Anna Akhmatova.  After a look at metro stations designed in the 1950s as ‘Palaces of the People’, find out where you can experience Soviet culture today, whether you wish to play 1970s arcade games like Morskoi Boi (battleships!), dine in a Soviet-style restaurant on, say, borscht or draniki (beetroot soup or potato pancakes) or seek out the Donut Café where the atmosphere today still feels like ‘Stalin-era Russia.’

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St Petersburg Episode 09 Revolutions

First, some ideas on the increasing demands for reform which played out through the 18th and 19th centuries in St Petersburg, including the Decembrist revolt of 1825 and the assassination of Emperor Alexander II in 1881. Then, a look at end-of-an-era St Petersburg in the early years of the 20th century, especially the Bloody Sunday massacre of 1905 and the uprising in February 2017, which led to the abdication and, ultimately, the death of the last Romanov, Tsar Nicholas II. And finally, of course, the revolution of October 2017. A mix of facts and eye-witness accounts will leave you understanding these turbulent times – and therefore St Petersburg itself - a little better.

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St Petersburg Episode 08 Faberge and Rasputin

The two city-centre palaces featured in this episode both tell us more about the end of the Romanov dynasty, albeit in very different ways. The Shuvalov Palace, a former glittering hub for St Petersburg's aristocracy, is today the home of a museum housing many artistic treasures, including a collection of Fabergé eggs, which remind the visitor of the luxury enjoyed by the last imperial Romanov family. By contrast, an exhibition at the Yusupov Palace tells the story of Rasputin, the spiritual adviser, or 'mad monk', who exerted such an influence on Nicholas and Alexandra that he was eventually lured here by Prince Felix Yusupov and his accomplices and murdered.

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