Victory!

Today is Victory Day. In Russia the end of the Second World War in Europe (what Russians call the Great Patriotic War) is celebrated on May 9^th, not the May 8^th VE Day we know. The Soviet Union, as it then was, was the country that both suffered the most in that war (26.6 million dead) and also did the most to defeat Nazi Germany on the ground.

I’ve seen it suggested that the German surrender to the Allies in the West came late in the evening so that it was one day later in Russia. However that surrender to Eisenhower understandably somewhat miffed the Soviet Union which wanted a surrender of its own, which duly happened the day after, to Marshal Zhukov in Berlin. So May 9^th is Victory Day, ДЕНЬ ПОБЕДЫ (DEN’ POBEDY.)

It is celebrated every year but there were special plans for this year’s 75^th anniversary. As elsewhere, coronavirus put a hold on those.

Just off Nevsky Prospekt, St Petersburg, last year, we found this memorial garden:-

Beyond the tulips in front of the protruding wing of the building the Russian word for VICTORY was picked out in hedging beside a red star. ПОБЕДА:-

Beyond the gates and off to the right was this modern building which was displaying Victory Day banners. My reading of Cyrillic is much too insufficient to decipher what sort of exhibition was taking place inside:-

Московский вокзал, (Moskovsky Vokzal, the Moscow Station, aka St Petersburg-Glavny) would dominate Vosstaniya Square, St Petersburg, if it were not for the Leningrad Hero City Obelisk (see previous posts.)

It’s a pity that woman is in the photo but I was pressed for time:-

Russian railway stations supposedly got their designation, Vokzal, from the visit a Russian official made back in the day to observe the new-fangled railway stations at first hand. He was shown Vauxhall Station in London and said to be mightily impressed by it. It is possible that the name actually comes from Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens as Vauxhall was used in Russian for such attractions and the first railway line in the country terminated near one.

Moskovsky Vokzal is where you catch the trains to Moscow (or alight from if you came the other way):-

Interior:-

I spotted this frieze further into the station but couldn’t get any closer due to the barrier:-

At first I thought the sign in the photo below was for no smoking. But it’s a heart that’s struck through, not a cigarette. Since it says Rapiscan I assume it’s a security scanner and if you have a pacemaker you’d best avoid it:-

There was also a quite impressive set of doors on to Vosstaniya Square:-

Vosstaniya Square, St Petersburg, (Uprising Square) was as far up Nevsky Prospekt as we went. As well as the Leningrad Hero City Monument it has some other fine buildings like the Плóщадь Восстáния (Ploshchad Vosstaniya) Metro Station:-

Victory Day banners agian prominent:-

Interior:-

Ligovsky Avenue (Лиговский проспект, Ligovskiy Prospekt) leads off the central roundabout where the Hero City monument is, and runs alongside the Moscow Station. These buildings were at its head:-

St Petersburg is criss-crossed by waterways, not only the River Neva. Several of them pass under the western portion of Nevsky Prospekt. One of these is the Griboyedov Canal which runs from the Church on Spilled Blood to go under the road and on to link the River Moyka to the River Fontanka.

The Moyka River itself (see previous post) runs from the River Fontanka at the Mihailovsky Castle past the Church on Spilled Blood on under Nevsky Propekt eventually to reach the River Neva.

The Fontanka River makes a big half loop round the city centre and under the Anichkov Bridge at Nevsky Propekt:-

There’s always something pleasing about a river in the middle of a city:-

Eliseyev‘s is a celebrated upmarket grocery on Nevsky Prospekt, built in the Art Nouveau style:-

View up Nevsky Prospekt. Victory Day banner prominent on lamppost:-

The store’s stained glass windows are lovely:-

Fine buildings abound on Nevsky Prospekt:-

Another Victory Day banner here:-

I photographed this one mainly because it now houses a KFC!

Or the Singer Building. It’s the corner building with the cupola and sphere. Also known as Dom Knigi. Note Victory Day banners.

The bookshop lies just by the Griboyedov Canal on the corner of Nevsky Prospekt and the Griboyedov Channel Embankment road.

We went in. It has loads of lovely books. The good lady was most taken by the illustrated children’s ones. She bought a copy of Гуси лебеди (Gusi-lebedi or Geese-swans) and (in English) Pushkin’s Fairy Tales and also The Monarchs of Russia. The shop had a large stock of SF. Unfortunately it was all in Russian!

The light fittings on the Griboyedov Channel Embankment road are something else:-

Nevsky Prospekt, (or Nevsky Avenyue) is St Petersburg’s main street, running more or less east from the Admiralty Building near the Winter Palace at the River Neva end in the west to the Moscow Railway Station and, after veering slightly southwards at Vosstaniya Square, to the Alexander Nevsky Lavra Monastery. (We didn’t go that far.)

This poster/billboard of Vladimir Putin was on a road leading to the General Staff Building:-

General Staff Building arch, Winter Palace behind:-

The Prospekt itself has many fine buildings like this pinkish grey one with great detailing:-

And something calling itself Grand Palace:-

And this church, set back from the street:-

Part of the way up the south side is this set of colonnades with shops:-

Then there’s the Kazan Cathedral:-

With its fountain:-

The fine building across the street and back a bit is almost hidden away:-

Winter Palace Gates. Famously “stormed” in the October Revolution of 1917. Except the film Eisenstein made of it rather overplayed things. There was very little resistance:-

Behind the gates lies a courtyard where there is one of the entrances to the Hermitage Museum:-

Queue for entry to Hermitage Museum:-

Trees in courtyard:-

Looking back to gates:-

The Summer Garden, the oldest garden in St Petersburg, lies over the road from the Field of Mars, between the Palace Embankment of the River Neva and the Mihailovsky Castle.

Palace Embankment, St Petersburg:-

Garden:-

Walkway:-

There are several fountains in the Summer Garden. This one is surrounded by statuary:-

Square Fountain:-

This is the most ornate fountain:-