"Skyline… St. Petersburg panorama of the XVIII-XXI centuries"
from 11 June 2012 to 3 September 2012
The exhibition is devoted to the history of the formation of the “skyline” of St. Petersburg and the development of the genre of architectural panorama view associated with this unique feature of the landscape of St. Petersburg. It presents the best examples of panoramic art in St. Petersburg: large-scale prints of the XVIII-XIX century, photo panoramas of the second half of the XIX-XXI centuries, postcards with views of St. Petersburg and posters.
Peter and Paul Fortress, Neva Curtain Wall, “Neva Panorama”
The exhibition is devoted to the history of the formation of the “skyline” of St. Petersburg and the development of the genre of architectural panorama view associated with this unique feature of the landscape of St. Petersburg. The exhibition, bringing together more than 250 exhibits from the funds of the State Museum of the History of St. Petersburg and private collections, demonstrates the best examples of panoramic art in St. Petersburg: large-scale prints of the XVIII-XIX century, photo panoramas of the second half of the XIX-XXI centuries, postcards with views of St. Petersburg and posters. They allow to trace the changes which happened to the image of St. Petersburg during three centuries of its existence and to assess the condition of the historical appearance of the city which emerged in the XVIII – early XX century in the contemporary context.
“Skyline of the city on the Neva River” - a term introduced by Dmitry Likhachev. This term is the most accurate to reflect the uniqueness of the architectural image of St. Petersburg. According to Dmitry Likhachev “Perhaps the most characteristic feature of Leningrad is the predominance of horizontal lines over vertical ones..." (“Our Heritage”. 1989. № 1).
The holistic architectural landscape of the city was formed during three centuries due to the rigid discipline of urban planning. Numerous imperial decrees and orders operated in the young capital already from the time of Peter the Great strictly regulating the regular district planning, the location of houses along the streets keeping “red lines and one horizon” and a way of building “unified façade”. For several centuries urban planners have paid particular attention to the silhouette of St. Petersburg. The altitude rate and the balance between simple houses and dominant constructions of the city were carefully planned.
The exhibition in the Peter and Paul Fortress demonstrates the process of formation and development of architectural panorama as a special trend of St. Petersburg art. It presents the first large-scale view engraving “View of St. Petersburg” by Alexey Zubov (1716) and images of the Neva embankments by Mikhail Makhaev (1753). Especially interesting are the views of the city from different high points of St. Petersburg: panorama of St. Petersburg from the Kunstkammer Tower by John Atkinson (1805-1807), city view made by Grigory Chernetsov from the scaffolds of the Alexander Column (1836), view from the belfry of SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral by Giuseppe Bernardazzi (1851), as well as the famous “Panorama of the Nevsky prospect” by Vasily Sadovnikov (1835). A model of pinhole camera displayed on the exhibition allows visitors to see how the panorama artists created their works.
In the second half of the XIX century there were already photographs of St. Petersburg. Pictures of masters such as Ivan (Giovanni) Bianchi, Karl Bulla, Nikolay Digo, Alfred Lorens and Pierre-Ambroise Richebourg captured St. Petersburg of the 1870-1900's. The most valuable documentary photographs of that time are unique photo panoramas of the 1930s made by Leonid Andreevsky and works of a military photojournalist Nikolai Khandogin from the period of the siege of Leningrad. Next to the photographs visitors can see cameras of the end of the XIX – early XX century, including a camera for panoramic shooting of the beginning of XX century.
The current state of the “skyline” St. Petersburg is reflected in works of contemporary photographers. They stated numerous mistakes in city planning of the end of XX - early XXI century which have brought some discordance in the customary image of the city on the Neva River. First of all, these are such recent buildings as the building of Commodity and Stock Exchange, “Finansist” complex on the Vasilevsky Island, shopping center “Stockman” in the corner of Nevsky Prospekt and Vosstaniya street, residential complex “Montblanc” on the Bolshoy Sampsonievsky avenue and others.
A 3D model created by the St. Petersburg Institute for Geographic Information System vividly shows the current state of urban development of the city center.
The exhibition is complemented by the materials from the archives of the All-Russian Society for the Preservation of Historical and Cultural Monuments, social movement “Living City” and St. Petersburg interior theater. They are dedicated to the activities of city preservation groups and movements aimed at preserving the unique “skyline” of St. Petersburg.
The exhibition also presents works by contemporary artists, selected through an open competition held by the St Petersburg Charitable Foundation of Culture and Art “Pro Arte”: “Petrogran” (Alexander Terebenin, St. Petersburg), “camera obscura” (Vladimir Grig, St. Petersburg) “Fish voice: Neva bolero” (Yevgeniy Strelkov, Nizhny Novgorod), “City cubes” (Anastasiya Mikhaylova, Yelizaveta Istomina, St. Petersburg).
The exhibition was prepared by the State Museum of the History of St. Petersburg with the support of the Committee for Culture of St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg Branch of the All-Russian Society for the Preservation of Historical and Cultural Monuments, social movement “Living City”, NIKON, Institute of Geographic Information System, Non-profit project “Airpano. Ru”, St. Petersburg Charitable Foundation of Culture and art “Pro Arte”, professional photo center Foto One.
Attention! The exhibition will open on 11 June at 4PM.
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