Potpourri

Another Saturday and another missed chance to go to Novgorod. I've officially decided to forget it. Next time I come to Russia I'll go to Novgorod. For now it seems to require a certain amount of planning and money that I'm not capable of mustering. Instead I had another full day around St. Petersburg, and in the end there are enough things still to do here in the city that I don't think I necessarily need to take another trip out. I'm sure most of you don't care one way or the other whether or not I go to Novgorod, but it's something I'VE been thinking about a lot, so I thought I'd let you know I had made a decision.

Saturday was really devoted to hitting some odds and ends kinds of sites. Places scattered around the city that I'd intended to visit and hadn't made it too. I have a "Top 25 Things to Do in St. Petersburg" list, that I copied down from the front of a Rough Guide in a bookstore, so I'm also using that list to make sure I've hit the top spots.

What better way to start your day than with a little Lenin? This wasn't actually a planned destination, but I came out of the subway by this square (Lenin Square), and had to take a little time to admire the statue. In the Baltics all the Lenin statues are gone, but not so in Russia (or Ukraine, for that matter). So here he is, in his classic pose, with an exceptionally Soviet looking train station in the background.



From there I hopped on a tram to go to the Cruiser Aurora.


This site had the added bonus of being free, which I always appreciate. The cruiser was built in the early 20th century for service in the Russo-Japanese War, but the boat's real significance is tied to the October Revolution. On October 25, 1917, the crew of the Cruiser (most of whom had joined the Bolsheviks) refused to follow an order to head out to sea, which sparked the October Revolution, and a blank shot from the forecastle gun signaled the beginning of the assault on the Winter Palace, which was the concluding episode of the October Revolution. During WWII the boat's guns were removed and used in the defense of Leningrad during the siege, and the boat was heavily shelled and sank. At the end of the war it was pulled up, restored, anchored, and has been a museum ever since.

The gun the signaled the assault on the Winter Palace


A flag in the ship's museum, which was in the hold of the boat. The writing on the left part of the flag says "October Revolution" and the writing in the center says "Proletariat of all countries, unite!"


From the Cruiser I got back on a tram to go to a museum, and on the way saw this mosque. I got off to take some pictures and look around. It was an unexpected site, though when I stopped to think about the size of the city and how many Central Asians live here, it's not actually so surprising that there's a good-sized mosque.


I really like the tile-work.



From the mosque I got BACK on the tram and went to the Kunstkamera, which was the first museum established in Russia.


It was opened by Peter the Great in 1727 to display his collection of preserved human and animal fetuses that have weird deformities (extra heads, two heads and three arms, cyclops, siamese twins, etc.). This is still the centerpiece of the museum and it was super creepy. It's a room full of glass cases with things floating in jars. Apparently Peter issued an order requiring all malformed, still-born infants be sent to him to be made part of the collection. His goal was to debunk superstitious fears in monsters by displaying deformities that are a result of nature. Hmm. Most of the museum is now a collection of anthropological and ethnographical stuff. Less gross, but also less interesting.

Finally, I got on a bus and went to the Aleksander Nevskiy Lavra-Monastery. Lavras are the largest, most important monasteries in the Orthodox Church, so they are usually pilgrimage sites. There are only two lavras in the Russian Orthodox Church - this one and the Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra, not far from Moscow. I visited the Kiev Pechersk Lavra when I was in Ukraine, which is one of three lavras in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, so this was lavra number two. I've been meaning to stop in here for weeks, because I change trains in the subway station under this square every Sunday, but I'm always tired, hot, and hungry on Sunday afternoons, so I decided to quit putting it off.

The monastery is named for one of the great Russian heroes, Alexander Nevsky, and his remains are in the Lavra's main cathedral. Alexander Nevsky was the Grand Duke of Novgorod and Vladimir in the 13th century, making him Russia's supreme ruler at that time. He is credited with important defeats over the Swedes and Livonian Knights, holding the early Russian state together, and at a critical time choosing to befriend the leaders of the Golden Horde, preventing continuous attacks on Russia's outlying territories.

This is the entrance to the monastery, with a statute of Alexander Nevsky in the middle of the roundabout.


Once you go through the outer arch, you enter a cobble-stoned street with walled cemeteries on either side.


Another view of the main monastery buildings.


The cemeteries are some of the more famous spots in the monastery, as many of Russia's elite artists, composers, authors, and architects are buried here, so I took a little detour before heading into the main monastery complex.


Rimsky-Korsakov

Tchaikovsky

Dostoevsky

I also saw Glinka, Mussorgsky, Borodin, and others whose names I recognized, but that I'm not remembering at the moment.

From the cemeteries you continue down the path, cross a canal, and enter the main grounds of the monastery. It was very pretty and peaceful, though there were a lot of people around. Most of the people there, however, seemed to be pilgrims, not tourists.


As I got there the bells were ringing, signaling the beginning of the service. I looked up into the bell tower, and there was a monk up there, dancing around and making the bells ring. It looked like he had wires attached to his arms and legs, and as he moved in particular ways he made certain bells ring. I assumed they were controlled electronically or something, but not so. What made it especially impressive is that he was up there for at least twenty minutes. It seemed like it would be pretty good exercise.


The bells in the church across from my apartment ring everyday from 9:40 until 10:00 and from 5:40 until 6:00, so the other day as I was leaving and the bells were ringing I looked up, and sure enough, there was a guy up in the tower at the church by my house too. Kind of a fun, but really loud, job.


In front of the cathedral, and taking up most of the grounds of that part of the monastery, there is a communist/atheist cemetery, which I assume was put there by the government during the Soviet era. While it seems clear that nobody is going to disturb the graves, nobody seems to be taking special care of that area either, so it was pretty overgrown. Interesting. Note the hammer and sickle on this headstone.


Another shot of some of the monastery buildings.


Since there was a service going on I wasn't able to really explore the church, but I went in and listened to the music for a little while. They had a really good men's choir singing the service. I love the music at Orthodox services, though the services themselves don't make sense to me at all. Most people just seem to be doing their own thing. I'd be curious to go to a service sometime with someone who can explain what's going on to me.

Changing topics. The most bizarre assortment of bands comes on tour in Russia.