Russia in 1839 -Empire of the Czar: A Journey Through Eternal Russia

128APPROACH TO PETERSBURG

APPROACH TO PETERSBURG BY THE NEVA.INCONGRUITY BETWEEN

THE CLIMATE AND ASPECT OF THE COUNTRY AND THE STYLE OF

ARCHITECTURE.ABSURD IMITATION OF THE MONUMENTS OF

GREECE. — THE CUSTOM-HOUSE AND POLICE. INQUISITORIAL

EXAMINATION. DIFFICULTIES OF LANDING. APPEARANCE OF

THE STREETS. STATUE OF PETER THE GREAT. THE WINTER

PALACE REBUILT IN ONE YEARTHE MEANS EMPLOYED.

RUSSIAN DESPOTISM. CITATION FROM HERBERSTEIN. KA-

RAMSIN.— THE CHARACTER OF THE PEOPLE ACCORDS WITH THAT OF THE GOVERNMENT.

The streets of Petersburg present a strange appearance to the eyes of a Frenchman. I will endeavour to describe them; but I must first notice the approach to the city by the Neva. It is much celebrated, and the Russians are justly proud of it, though I did not find it equal to its reputation. When, at a considerable distance, the steeples begin to appear, the effect produced is more singular than imposing. The hazy outline of land, which may be perceived far off between the sky and the sea, becomes, as you advance, a little more unequal at some points than at others: these scarcely perceptible irregularities are found on nearer approach to be the gigantic architectural monuments of the new capital of Russia. We first begin to recognise the Greek steeples and the gilded cupolas of convents ; then some modern public buildings — the front of the Exchange, and the white colonnades of the colleges, museums, barracks, and palaces which border the quays of granite, become discernible. On