Peter and Paul cathedral

    The cathedral is dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul, the patron saints of the fortress (Saint Peter being the patron saint of the city). The current cathedral is the second one on the site. The first, built soon after Peter's founding of the city, was consecrated by Archbishop Iov of Novgorod the Great in April 1704. The current building, the first stone church in St. Petersburg, was designed by Trezzini and built between 1712 and 1733. Its golden spire reaches a height of 404 feet and features at its top an angel holding a cross. This angel is one of the most important symbols of St. Petersburg. The cathedral's architecture also features a unique iconostasis (the screen which separates the nave of the church from the sanctuary). In the Eastern Orthodox Church the iconostasis is normally a flat wall or screen with three doors through it, the central Holy Doors used only for very solemn entrances, and the two side doors, by which the clergy and others enter and leave the sanctuary. However, at St. Peter and Paul, the iconostasis rises to form a sort of tower over the sanctuary. The cathedral was closed in 1919 and turned into a museum in 1924. It is still officially a museum, however, religious services resumed in 2000. The cathedral houses the remains of almost all the Russian Emperors and Empresses from Peter the Great to Nicholas II and his family who were finally laid to rest in July 1998. Also was Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia for 34 years. (Of the post-Petrine rulers, only Peter II and Ivan VI are not buried here. Peter II is in the Cathedral of Michael the Archangel in the Moscow Kremlin. Ivan VI was executed and buried in the fortress of Shlisselburg.) The cathedral has a typical Flemish carillon, a gift of the Flemish city of Mechelen, Flanders. On September 28, 2006, 78 years after her death, Maria Feodorovna, Empress of Russia, was reinterred in the Cathedral of St Peter and Paul. Wife of Tsar Alexander III, and mother of Nicholas II, (the last Russian Tsar), Maria Feodorovna died on 13 October 1928 in exile in her native Denmark. and was buried in Roskilde Cathedral in Denmark. In 2005, the governments of Denmark and Russia agreed that the Empress's remains should be returned to Saint Petersburg in accordance with her wish to be interred next to her husband.

The Palace Square

    St. Petersburg is famous for its architectural ensembles and one of the world's most interesting ones is the ensemble of the Palace square. The oldest building in the square is the Winter Palace. It was built between 1754 and 1762 to the design of Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli – the favourite architect of tsarina Elizabeth. It was built in Russian baroque style. We can easily say this style from the others – it is characterized by a great number of windows, a lot of decorations both outside and inside – columns, mirrors, frescoes and painting on the ceiling, parquet floors, beautiful chandeliers. In St. Petersburg buildings designed by Rastrelli are light blue and white – the Winter Palace, Smolny Cathedral, Stroganov Palace in the Nevsky prospect. For a very long time the Winter Palace was the city’s tallest and largest building. Till 1905 no building in the city could be taller than the Winter Palace. At the beginning of the 19^th century the government bought up all the private houses adjoining the square on the southern side and in1819 commissioned architect Rossi to build in their stead the General Staff building to house the General Headquarters of the Russian Army. This building has the longest façade in the world – 580 meters long. It faces the Winter Palace and is divided into two wings by a triumphal arch. The arch was created to commemorate Russia’s victory over the Napoleonic army in the Patriotic War of 1812. The arch links Palace Square through Bolshaya Morskaya St. to the Nevsky. The arch is unique because it was constructed over the corner of the street. Until the capital was transferred to Moscow in 1918, the building served as the headquarters of the General Staff (western wing), Foreign Ministry and Finance Ministry (eastern wing). The western wing now hosts the headquarters of the Western Military District. The eastern wing was transferred to the Hermitage Museum in 1993.The sculptors S. Pimenov and V. Demut-Malinovsky decorated the arch with compositions of military regalia and figures of glories. The top of the arch is crowned by a group of six horses with a winged Glory holding out a laurel wreath. The arch is about 28 meters high, the sculptural group is 10 meters tall and more than 15 meters wide at the front, the horses are 3 meters high.

    In the center of the square there is a Triumphal (Alexander) Column to commemorate the victory of Russia in the Patriotic War of 1812. It was designed by A. Montferrand and unveiled in 1834. The body of the column was carved from a cliff on the Gulf of Finland and then it was brought to St. Petersburg on a specially built barge. The column was rough-hewn so that it could be set in place with the help of a complex system of pulleys. The weight of the column is 600 tons. It was set in place on its pedestal in 100 minutes by more than 2,000 soldiers –veterans of the Patriotic War of 1812. Then the column was finished and polished. The column is topped by the figure of an angel which is a symbol of the peace in Europe after the victory of Russia over Napoleon. The statue was created by sculptor B. Orlovsky and has a strong resemblance with Alexander I – the tsar who reigned in Russia at that period of time. The pedestal of the column is decorated with bas-reliefs – allegorical representations of Wisdom, Plenty, Victory and Peace. The column is 47,5 meter high.  It was named the Alexander Column in honour of Emperor Alexander I. No support was used to fix the column on its pedestal so nothing holds it onto its pedestal except the force of its own weight. But we can say that it is absolutely safe because it stood all the bombardments of the WWII and did not even decline. In 1840 the panorama of the square was completed by the building of Guards Headquarters on its eastern side. It was designed by the architect A. Bryullov (brother of the famous Russian painter K. Bryullov).

The Palace Square has has witnessed many historic events including the Bloody Sunday of 1905, the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. Nowadays all the most important parades and celebrations take place in the Palace square. The largest Christmas tree is also erected in the square every year.

Trafalgar Square

    Trafalger square was designed to commemorate Admiral Nelson on his victory in the Battle of Trafalgar (1805). This battle was fought by the British Royal Navy against the combined fleets of the French Navy and Spanish Navy during the Napoleonic Wars (August-December 1803-1815). It was the most decisive British naval victory of the war. 27 British ships led by Admiral Lord Nelson defeated 33 French and Spanish ships near Cape Trafalgar – hence the name of the battle. The Franco-Spanish fleet lost 22 ships without a single British vessel being lost. This victory confirmed the naval supremacy that Britain had established during the previous century. Admiral Nelson died of wounds at the battle.

    The ensemble of the square was designed by Sir Charles Barry. It was completed in 1845. Nelson’s Column in the center of the square was constructed to the design of William Railton in 1840-1843. The column is decorated with four bronze lions at the base and four bronze relief panels on the pedestal cast from captured French guns. There are 2 fountains in the square. At the corners of the square there are 4 plinths – three of them hold statues of George IV (who reigned in the country at the time of the Battle), Henry Havelock and Sir Charles James Napier (Generals). The fourth plinth is used for temporary exhibitions.

The square is a popular site for political demonstrations. It used to be very popular for feeding pigeons, but Mayor of London Ken Livingston decided that it had to be stopped because pigeons destroyed the monuments. So now it is against the law to feed pigeons in the square.

The Tower of London

    The Tower of London is the fortress in the historic centre of London, on the north bank of the river Thames. It is the oldest building in Great Britain. Now Tower is the historical site and museum.The founder of Tower was William the Conqueror, who replaced the wooden fort onto huge stone building in 1078. Later the Tower was whitewashed and since it called as White Tower. The White Tower is 90 feet high and the walls vary from 15 feet thick at the base to almost 11 feet in the upper parts. In the 1190s, King Richard the Lionheart enclosed the White Tower with a curtain wall, and had a moat around it filled with water from the Thames. In the early thirteenth century Henry III transformed the Tower into a major royal residence and had palatial buildings constructed within the Inner Bailey to the south of the White Tower. In 1240 Henry III had the exterior of the building whitewashed. Between 1275 and 1285 Edward I built an outer curtain wall, completely enclosing the inner wall and thus creating a concentric double defence. The first prisoner was confined in the prison in 1190. At that time the Tower-prison was intended for noble and high rank persons. Among the most honorable and high-ranking prisoners there was the kings of Scotland and France and members of their families, and aristocrats and priests, who fell into disgrace by reason of conspiracy charge. Many executions and killings took place inside of Tower walls: Henry VI, twelve-year-old Edward V and his younger brother, Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard, Lady Jane Grey. Elisabeth I had spent in Tower several troubled weeks. The Tower remained a royal residence until the time of Oliver Cromwell, who destroyed some of the old palatial buildings. After that the Tower prison was replenished seldom. The last beheading took place on Tower Hill in 1747. In time of the First World War the eleven German spies was confined in Tower and executed by shooting. In time of the Second World War prisoners of war was temporarily appeared there. The last victim was Josef Jakobs, charged in German espionage and executed inside the Tower walls on 14 August 1941.The treasury is opened for visitors from XVII century. Now the Tower of London is one the main sights of Great Britain. Although it is no longer a royal residence, the Tower officially remains a royal palace and maintains a permanent guard.

Найдите материал и сравните историю создания Александрийской колонны в Санкт –Петербурге и колонны адмирала Нельсона в Лондоне; Петропавловской крепости в Санкт-Петербурге и Тауэра в Лондоне; Собора святого Петра в Лондоне и Исаакиевского собора в Санкт-Петербурге; Зимнего дворца в Санкт-Петербурге и Букингемского дворца в Лондоне. Что сходно и что отличается в истории их создания?