History of 20th century St Petersburg
St Petersburg University and its Representative Office in Barcelona invite you to the third online meeting. During the meeting, we will talk about the main historical events of the 20th century in Russia that influenced the culture and architecture of St Petersburg.
On 31 August 1914, St Petersburg was renamed Petrograd due to the anti-German sentiment that prevailed in society at the time. Additionally, after Finland achieved sovereignty, the capital, so decisively relocated by Peter the Great to the city on the Neva River, returned to Moscow due to territorial disputes with Finland. Petrograd, on the other hand, remained the most important cultural and scientific centre of Soviet Russia.
In the architecture of St Petersburg in the early 20th century, Northern Art Nouveau was the most developed. Its uniqueness lay in its reference to the past through new artistic means. Northern Art Nouveau is remarkable for its use of natural materials, plant and animal themes; this style is easily recognisable by its colourful stained glass windows, mosaics and majolica. Northern Art Nouveau is also characterised by flowing lines, asymmetry, decorative elements, and a synthesis of architecture, sculpture, painting and applied arts. Among the most important architects of Northern Art Nouveau were Fyodor Lidvall and Aleksei Bubyr, who made a significant contribution to changing the image of what was then Petrograd.
However, the most terrible period in the history of St Petersburg − then already renamed Leningrad − was marked by the years of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. During the 900-day siege, the city was completely cut off from the outside world. In 1945, there was not a single building in Leningrad that had not been damaged by shells and shrapnel, and the once magnificent palaces in the suburbs were reduced to ruins. In spite of everything, Leningrad survived. The city’s resurrection after the bombing can be considered as much of a miracle as its construction in the early 18th century.
It took just ten years to recover, and by the mid-1950s Leningrad could once again be considered a pearl of world culture and architecture. In 1991, the city reverted to its original name of St Petersburg. Today, it is Russia’s second most important economic, scientific and cultural centre and one of the most beautiful cities in the world.
Lecturer
The lecture will be delivered by Olga Armenkova, Assistant Professor in the Department of Foreign Languages for Students in Mathematics and Information Technology at St Petersburg University, an escort interpreter around St Petersburg and the Leningrad Region, and a teacher of foreign languages and foreign literature.
The lecture will be held as part of the events to mark the 300th anniversary of St Petersburg University, the oldest university in Russia. The meeting will be held online in Russian with simultaneous interpreting into Spanish.