Saint Petersburg is Russia's second-largest city after Moscow, with 5.3 million inhabitants. It is one of the modern cities of Russia, as well as its cultural capital. Because of the Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments, it was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1991. Many foreign consulates, international corporations, banks and businesses have offices in Saint Petersburg.
Saint Isaac's Cathedral is the largest Russian Orthodox cathedral in the city. The church on St Isaac's Square was ordered by Tsar Alexander I and took 40 years to construct (1818-1858). Under the Soviet government in 1931, the building was stripped of religious trappings and then turned into the Museum of the History of Religion and Atheism. With the fall of communism, the museum was removed, and regular worship activity has resumed in the cathedral.
The interior was originally decorated with scores of paintings by Russian masters of the day. When these paintings began to deteriorate due to the cold, damp conditions inside the cathedral, they were painstakingly reproduced as mosaics.
The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood was built between 1883 and 1907 on the site where Emperor Alexander II was fatally wounded by political nihilists in March 1881.
Within the church, there is a canopy over the spot where Alexander II was mortally wounded.
The walls and ceilings inside the church are completely covered in intricately detailed mosaics, more than any other church in the world, except for the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis.
Our next adventure was an hour long canal cruise on the Neva, Fontanka and Moika Rivers. This enterprising young fellow ran to each bridge along the way to greet us.
At the conclusion of our ride, he waited for us and received the hoped- for tips.
The Lakhta Center is an 87-story skyscraper currently under construction in the outskirts of St. Petersburg and is in full view of our ship. Standing 1,516 ft. high, it is the tallest building in Europe and the 13th-tallest building in the world. Construction began on October 30, 2012; it was topped out on January 29, 2018. The center is designed for large-scale mixed-use of public facilities and offices and is intended to become the new headquarters of Russian energy company, Gazprom. The center has received recognition for its use of environmentally- sustainable technologies.
As the photos indicated, we had a day of mixed sun and clouds, but never a drop of rain. Tomorrow we spend another day exploring the history and culture of St. Petersburg.
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