In pursuing our course towards St. Petersburg, Russia, from Stockholm,
we cross the Baltic,--that Mediterranean of the North, but which is in
reality a remote branch of the Atlantic Ocean, with which it is
connected by two gulfs, the Kattegat and the Skagger Rack. It reaches
from the southern extremity of the Danish Archipelago up to the latitude
of Stockholm, where it extends a right and left arm,--each of great
size,--the former being the Gulf of Finland, and the latter the Gulf of
Bothnia, the whole forming the most remarkable basin of navigable inland
water in the world. The Finnish Gulf is two hundred miles long by an
average width of sixty miles, and that of Bothnia is four hundred miles
long, averaging a hundred in width.
The peninsula of Denmark, known under the name of Jutland, stands like a
barrier between the two extremes of the western formation of the
continent of Europe. We have called the Baltic the Mediterranean of the
North, but it has no such depth as that classic inland sea, which finds
its bed in a cleft of marvellous depression between Europe and Africa.
One thousand fathoms of sounding-line off Gibraltar will not reach the
bottom, and two thousand fathoms fail to find it a few miles east of
Malta. The greatest depth of the Baltic, on the contrary, is only a
hundred and fifty fathoms.
It is a curious, though not unfamiliar fact, that the Baltic, or rather
the bottom of the basin in which it lies, is rich in amber, which the
agitated waters cast upon the shores in large quantities annually,--a
process which has been going on for three or four centuries. We all know
that amber is a hardened fossil resin produced by an extinct species of
pine; so that it is evident that where these waters now ebb and flow
there were once flourishing forests of amber-producing pines. These were
doubtless gradually submerged by the encroachment of the sea, or
suddenly engulfed by some grand volcanic action of nature. Pieces of the
bark and of the cones of the pine-trees are often found adhering to the
amber, and insects of a kind unknown to our day are also found embedded
in it. The largest piece of amber extant is preserved in the British
Museum in London, and is about the size of a year-old infant's head.
It is known that the peninsula of Scandinavia is gradually becoming
elevated above the surrounding waters at the north, and depressed in an
equal ratio in the extreme south,--a fact of great interest to
geologists. The total change in the level has been carefully observed
and recorded by scientific commissions, the aggregate certified to being
a trifle over three feet, brought about in a period of a hundred and
eighteen years.
We take passage on a coasting steamer which plies between Stockholm and
St. Petersburg by way of Åbo and Helsingfors, a distance of about six
hundred miles. By this route, after crossing the open sea we pass
through an almost endless labyrinth of beautiful islands in the Gulf of
Finland, including the archipelago, known as the Aland Islands, besides
many isolated ones quite near the Finnish coast. This forms a delightful
sail, the passage being almost always smooth, except during a few hours
of exposure in the open Gulf. By and by we enter the fjord which leads
up to Åbo, which is also dotted here and there by charming garden-like
islands, upon which are built many pretty cottages, forming the summer
homes of the citizens of Finmark's former capital.
The town of Åbo has a population of about twenty-five thousand, who are
mostly of Swedish descent. It is thrifty, cleanly, and wears an aspect
of quiet prosperity. The place is venerable in years, having a record
reaching back for over seven centuries. Here the Russian flag--red,
blue, and white--first begins to greet us from all appropriate points.
The most prominent building to catch the stranger's eye on entering the
harbor is the long barrack-like prison upon a hillside. In front of us
looms up the famous old castle of Åbo, awkward and irregular in its
shape, and snow-white in texture. Here, in the olden time, Gustavus
Vasa, Eric XIV. and John III. held royal court. The streets are few but
very broad, causing the town to cover an area quite out of proportion to
the number of its inhabitants.
Helsingfors is situated still further up the Gulf, facing the ancient
town of Revel on the Esthonian coast, and is reached from Åbo in about
twelve hours' sail, also through a labyrinth of islands so numerous as
to be quite confusing, but whose picturesque beauty will not easily be
forgotten. This is the present capital of Finland, and it contains a
little over fifty thousand inhabitants; it has been several times
partially destroyed by plague, famine, and fire. It was founded by
Gustavus Vasa of Sweden, in the sixteenth century. The university is
represented to be of a high standard of excellence, and contains a
library of about two hundred thousand volumes. The most striking
feature of Helsingfors, as one approaches it from the sea, is the large
Greek church, with its fifteen domes and minarets, each capped by a
glittering cross and crescent, with pendant chains in gilt metal; and as
it is built upon high ground, the whole is very effective. The Lutheran
church is also picturesque and notable, with its five domes sparkling
with gilded stars upon a dark green ground.
Though Finland is a dependency of Russia, still it is nearly as
independent as is Norway of Sweden. It is ruled by a governor-general
assisted by the Imperial Senate, over which a representative of the
Emperor of Russia presides. The country pays no pecuniary tribute to
Russia, but imposes its own taxes, and frames its own code of laws. When
the country was joined to Russia, Alexander I. assured the people that
the integrity of their constitution and religion should be protected,
and this promise has thus far been honestly kept by the dominant power.
The port of Helsingfors is defended by the large and remarkable fortress
of Sweaborg, which repelled the English and French fleets during the
Crimean War. It was constructed by the Swedish General Ehrenswärd, who
was a poet as well as an excellent military engineer. This fort is
considered to be one of the strongest ever built, and is situated upon
seven islands, each being connected with the main fortress by tunnels
under the water of the harbor, constructed at great labor and cost.
After leaving Helsingfors we next come to Cronstadt, being a series of
low islands, about five miles long by one broad, all fortified, and
forming the key to St. Petersburg, as well as being the chief naval
station of the Empire. The two fortifications of Sweaborg and Cronstadt
insure to Russia the possession of the Gulf of Finland, no matter what
force is brought against them. The arsenals and docks are here very
extensive and unsurpassed in completeness. The best machinists in the
world find employment in them, and the latest inventions a sure and
profitable market. In all facilities for marine armament Russia is fully
abreast of, if it does not surpass, the rest of Europe.
The sail up the Neva, queen of northern rivers, affords the greatest
pleasure. Passenger steamers are seen flitting about with well-filled
decks, noisy tug-boats puff and whistle while towing heavily laden
barges, naval cutters propelled by dozens of white-clad oarsmen and
steered by officers in dazzling uniforms, small sailing-yachts
containing merry parties of both sexes glance hither and thither, all
giving animation to the scene. Here and there on the river's course long
reaches of sandy shoals appear, covered by myriads of sea-gulls, scores
of which occasionally rise, hover over our steamer, and settle in the
water. As we approach nearer to St. Petersburg, hundreds of gilded domes
and towers flashing in the warm sunlight come swiftly into view. Some of
the spires are of such great height in proportion to their diameter as
to appear needle-like. Among those reaching so far heavenward are the
slender spire of the Cathedral of Peter and Paul, nearly four hundred
feet in height, and the lofty pinnacle of the Admiralty Building.
Notwithstanding its giddy towers and looming palaces rising above the
level of the capital, the want of a little diversity in the grade of the
low-lying city is keenly felt. Like Berlin and Havana, it is built upon
a perfect level, which is the most trying of positions as to general
aspect.
St. Petersburg is the grandest city of Northern Europe. By ascending
the tower of the Admiralty, a superb and comprehensive view of the
capital is obtained. The streets are broad, the open squares vast in
size, the avenues interminable, the river wide and rapid; while the
lines of grand architecture are seemingly endless. The view from this
elevation is indeed superb, studded with azure domes decked with stars
of silver and gilded minarets. A grand city of palaces and spacious
boulevards lies spread out before the eye. The quays of the Neva above
and below the bridges are seen to present as animated a prospect as the
busy thoroughfares. A portion of this Admiralty Building is devoted to
schoolrooms for the education of naval cadets. The rest is occupied by
the offices of the civil department of this service, and a marine
museum.
[Illustration: THE CATHEDRAL OF ST. ISAACS AT ST. PETERSBURG.]
There are over two hundred churches and chapels in the city, most of
which are crowned with four or five fantastic cupolas each, and whose
interiors are rich in gold, silver, and precious stones, together with a
large array of priestly vestments elaborately embroidered with gold and
ornamented with a profusion of gems. It is, indeed, a city of churches
and palaces. Peter the Great and Catharine II., who has been called the
female Peter the Great, made this brilliant capital what it is.
Everything that meets the eye is colossal. The superb Alexander Column,
erected about fifty years ago, is a solid shaft of red granite, and the
loftiest single-stone column in the world. On its pedestal is inscribed
this simple line: "To Alexander I.--Grateful Russia." It is surmounted
by an angelic figure, the whole structure being one hundred and
fifty-four feet high, and the column itself fourteen feet in diameter at
the base; but so large is the square in which it stands that the shaft
loses much of its colossal effect. Opposite the Alexander Column, on
the same wide area, are situated the Winter Palace, with the Hermitage
on one side as a sort of annex, and on the other side in half-moon shape
are the State buildings containing the bureaus of the several ministers,
whose quarters are each a palace in itself. There is not one of the many
spacious squares of the city which is not ornamented with bronze statues
of more or less merit, embracing monuments to Peter the Great,
Catharine, Nicholas, Alexander I., and others.
The Nevsky Prospect is the most fashionable thoroughfare, and the one
devoted to the best shops. It is over a hundred feet in width, and
extends for a distance of three miles in a nearly straight line to the
Alexander Nevsky Monastery, forming a most magnificent avenue. On this
street may be seen the churches of several sects of different faiths,
such as Roman Catholics, Protestants, Armenians, and a Mahometan mosque.
Here also are the Imperial Library, the Alexander Theatre, and the
Foreign Office. The cosmopolitan character of the population of St.
Petersburg is indicated by the fact that preaching occurs weekly in
twelve different languages. The Nevsky Prospect is a street of
alternating shops, palaces, and churches. Four canals cross but do not
intercept this boulevard. These water-ways are lined their whole lengths
by substantial granite quays, and are gay with the life imparted to them
by pleasure and small freighting boats constantly furrowing their
surface. Large barges are seen containing cut wood, piled fifteen feet
high above their decks, delivering the winter's important supply of fuel
all along the banks of the canals. Others, with their hulls quite hidden
from sight, appear like great floating haystacks moving mysteriously to
their destination with horse-fodder for the city stables. From one
o'clock to five in the afternoon the Nevsky Prospect, with the tide of
humanity pouring in either direction through its broad road-way, is like
the Rue Rivoli, Paris, on a holiday.
The Imperial Library of St. Petersburg is justly entitled to more than a
mere mention; for it is one of the richest collections of books in all
Europe, both in quality and quantity. The bound volumes number a little
over one million, while it is especially rich in most interesting and
important manuscripts. In a room devoted to the purpose there is a
collection of books printed previous to the year 1500, which is
considered unique. The Alexander Theatre and the library both look down
upon a broad square which contains a fine statue of Catharine II. in
bronze. This composition seems to breathe the very spirit of the
profligate and cruel original, whose ambitious plans were ever in
conflict with her enslaving passions. History is compelled to admit her
great ability, while it causes us to blush for her infamy.
St. Petersburg is the fifth city in point of population in Europe, but
its very existence seems to be constantly threatened on account of its
low situation between two vast bodies of water. A westerly gale and high
tide in the Gulf of Finland occurring at the time of the annual breaking
up of the ice in the Neva would surely submerge this beautiful capital,
and cause an enormous loss of life. The Neva, which comes sweeping
through the city with such resistless force, is fed by that large body
of water, Lake Ladoga, which covers an area of over six thousand square
miles at a level of about sixty feet above that of the sea. However, St.
Petersburg has existed in security for nearly two centuries, and it may
possibly exist as much longer, independent of possible floods. What the
Gotha Canal is to Sweden, the Neva and its joining waters are to Russia.
Through Lake Ladoga and its ramifications of connecting canals and
rivers, it opens communication with an almost unlimited region of inland
territory, while the mouth of this river receives through the gulf the
commerce of the world.
As regards popular amusements, Sunday is the favorite day of the seven
at the public gardens, on which occasion, day and evening, theatrical
performances take place. The Greek churches, like the Roman Catholic,
are always open through the entire week, so that the devoutly inclined
can turn aside at any hour and bow before the altar, which to him
typifies all that is holy. Sunday is therefore regarded here, as in
Rome, Paris, or Seville, in the light of a holiday as well as a
holy-day. After having attended early morning service, a member of
either church unhesitatingly seeks his favorite amusement. The
horse-races of Paris, the bull-fights of Madrid, and the grand military
parades of St. Petersburg, all take place on Sunday. Few European
communities find that repose and calmness in the day which best accords
with American sentiment.
The one vehicle of Russian cities is the drosky, the most uncomfortable
and inconvenient vehicle ever constructed for the use of man, but of
which there are, nevertheless, over fifteen thousand in the streets of
the imperial city. It has very low wheels, a heavy, awkward body, and is
as noisy as a hard-running Concord coach. Some one describes it as being
a cross between a cab and an instrument of torture. There is no rest for
the occupant's back; and while the seat is more than large enough for
one, it is not large enough for two persons. It is a sort of sledge on
wheels. The noise made by these low-running conveyances as they are
hurried over the uneven pavements is almost deafening.
The winter season, which sets in about the first of November, changes
the aspect of everything in the Russian capital, and lasts until the end
of April, when the ice generally breaks up. In the meantime the Neva
freezes to a depth of six feet. But keen as is the winter cold, the
Russians do not suffer much from it, being universally clad in furs.
Even the peasant class necessarily wear warm sheep-skins with the fleece
on, otherwise they would often freeze to death on a very brief exposure
to the low temperature which prevails in winter. Doubtless there must be
poverty and wretchedness existing here, but it certainly is not obvious
to the stranger. There is no street-begging, and no half-clad,
half-starved women or children obstruct the way as is so often the case
in London or Naples.
The five islands of the city, separated by the Nevka and Neva, are
called the "Garden Islands," and they form the pleasure-drive of the
town, having quite a country aspect, forming a series of parks where
fine roads wind through shady woods, cross green meadows, and skirt
transparent lakes. Here every variety of villa is seen embowered in
attractive verdure, and a highly rural effect is obtained within city
limits.
St. Petersburg is the most spacious capital ever built by the hand of
man, and one cannot but feel that many of its grand squares, presided
over by some famous monument, are yet dismally empty. As we look upon it
to-day, it probably bears little resemblance to the city left by the
great Peter, its founder, except in its general plan, and yet it extends
so little way into the past as to have comparatively no root in history.
The magnificent granite quays, the gorgeous palaces, the costly churches
and monuments do not date previous to the reign of Catharine II. The
choice of the locality, and the building of the capital upon it, is
naturally a wonder to those who have not thought carefully about it,
since it seems to have been contrary to all reason, and to have been
steadily pursued in the face of difficulties which would have
discouraged and defeated most similar enterprises. Ten thousand lives
and more were sacrificed among the laborers annually, while the work was
going on, owing to its unhealthy nature, but still the autocratic
designer held to his purpose, until finally a respectable but not
unobjectionable foundation may be said to have been obtained upon this
Finland marsh. Yet there are those who believe that all was foreseen by
the energetic founder, that he had a grand and definite object in view
of which he never lost sight, and moreover that the object which he
aimed at has been fully consummated.
The Winter Palace is grand in every respect. Its size may be divined
when we realize that it accommodates six thousand persons connected with
the royal household. With the exception of the Vatican at Rome, and
Versailles near Paris, it is the largest habitable palace in existence,
and is made up of suits of splendid apartments, reception saloons,
drawing-rooms, throne rooms, banqueting-halls, etc. The gem of them all
is the Salle Blanche, or White Hall, so called because the fittings and
decorations are all in white and gold, by means of which an aerial
lightness and fascination of effect is produced which is difficult to
describe. It is in this apartment that the court festivals take place,
and there are probably no royal entertainments in Europe which quite
equal in splendor those given in the Winter Palace. One becomes almost
dazed by the glare of gilt and bronze, the number of polished columns of
marble and porphyry, the gorgeous hangings, the mosaics, mirrors, and
candelabra. Many of the painted ceilings are wonderfully perfect in
design and execution, while choice works of art are so abundant on all
sides as to lose effect. The famous banqueting-hall measures two hundred
feet in length by one hundred in breadth. As we come forth from the
palace through the grand entrance upon the square, it is natural to turn
and scan the magnificent front as a whole, and to remember that from the
gate of this palace Catharine II. went forth on horseback with a drawn
sword in her hand, to put herself at the head of her army.
The Hermitage, of which the world has read so much, is a spacious
building adjoining the Winter Palace, with which it is connected by a
covered gallery, and is five hundred feet long where it fronts upon the
square containing the Alexander Column. It is not, as its name might
indicate, a solitude, but a grand and elaborate palace in itself, built
by Catharine II. for a picture gallery, a museum, and a resort of
pleasure. It contains to-day one of the largest as well as the most
precious collections of paintings in the world, not forgetting those of
Rome, Florence, Paris, and Madrid. The catalogue shows twenty original
pictures by Murillo, six by Velasquez, sixty by Rubens, thirty-three by
Vandyke, forty by Teniers, the same number by Rembrandt, six by Raphael,
and many other invaluable examples by famous masters.
Here are also preserved the private libraries that once belonged to
Zimmermann, Voltaire, and Diderot, besides those of several other
remarkable men of letters. There is a royal theatre under the same roof,
where plays used to be performed by amateurs from the court circles for
the gratification of the empress, the text of the plays being sometimes
written by herself. This royal lady indulged her fancy to the fullest
extent. On the roof of the Hermitage was created a marvellous garden
planted with choicest flowers, shrubs, and even trees of considerable
size, all together forming a grand floral conservatory which was heated
by subterranean fires in winter, and sheltered by a complete covering of
glass.