Petersburg Monasteries and Peter Paul Fortress

Description

This subcollection from the William C. Brumfield Collection -- Photographs of Russian Architecture contains photographs of the Peter and Paul Fortress as well as the city's major monastic institutions. Located at the heart of St. Petersburg, the Peter-Paul Fortress served as the original defensive compound of the city and was built in the first half of the 18th century to a design by the master architect Domenico Trezzini. Its history is long and harrowing but its walls and the spire of the Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul have been an enduring symbol of the elegance and power of the Petrine Baroque. Of similar architectural importance is the Smolnii Resurrection Convent. Its style reflects the shift in imperial tastes as its original Baroque constructions, including the cathedral, were soon neighbored by Neoclassical buildings under the reign of Catherine II. The fortress and convent are equaled in architectural and symbolic importance by the monastery of Alexander Nevsky Lavra, which was similarly established at the behest of Peter the Great to commemorate the 13th-century Battle on the Neva with Baroque architecture in the style of Trezzini. Its grand Trinity Cathedral, however, reflects the neoclassicism of Catherine the Great's reign.