The Bureaucratic City (1800-1855)

In 1796 after Catherine the Great died, her son Paul I ascended the throne and with it began one of the shortest and colourful reigns in Russian history. Paul I introduced some ultra-conservative policies and took several major steps in turning Russia into a bureaucratic state after curtailing the power of the local administration. Paul I was so paranoid about being assassinated that he ordered the construction of the Mikhailovsky Castle, an impenetrable fortified palace. No sooner had he moved into the castle than he was assassinated in his private bedroom by members of the Royal Guard on 3rd March 1801. Ironically, the coup had been engineered by his son Alexander, who had sworn to continue the policies of his grandmother, Catherine the Great.

Political reform was introduced by Alexander I, which restructured the government and in 1801, created a system of ministries with ministers reporting directly to Alexander I. In 1810, the State Council was founded. St Petersburg rapidly became an ordered and bureaucratic city, which was also reflected in its orderly layout of its street plan.

With the requirement for everything to look orderly and measured, outstanding architects aimed to create openness and organic harmony with city’s layout. St Petersburg gained the stock exchange and Rostral column ensemble on the southern edge of Vasilievsky Island, built y architect Thomas de Thompson. Between 1806 and 1823 architect Andreyan Zakharov remodelled the Admiralty headquarters. The Kazan Cathedral on Nevsky prospect was constructed by architect Andrei Voronikhin. Arts Sqaure and the Mikhailovsky Palace were designed and constructed by the Italian architect Carlo Rossi, and in 1818 construction began on the magnificent St. Isaac Cathedral.

During the reign of Alexander I, Napoleon’s invasion of Russia was stopped by the Russian army under the command of Count Mikhail Kutuzov, and the French driven back to Paris. His remains were buried in Kazan Cathedral in 1813.

Political crisis erupted in December 1825 when Alexander I suddenly died in the town of Taganrog. The indecision in the highest corridors of power concerning the nomination of a successor to the throne, allowed a liberal group of young army officers (later called the “Decembrists”) to start a revolt. They hoped that Nicholas I, Alexander’s younger brother, would have to sign and endorse a National Constitution. On the 14th December 1825, the Decembrists fired the first shot in Senatskaya Square behind the statue of the Bronze Horseman. The uprising was cruelly crushed, with the five leaders being executed on the wall of Peter and Paul Fortress on the 13th July 1826, and the remainder being sent in to exile in Siberia.

Emperor Nicholas I, adopted more conservative policies in response to the Decembrist Uprising, and Russia degenerated into an economically backward bureaucratic state. Military-like orderliness was established throughout the city in all types of institutions.

Somehow culture managed to flourish in St. Petersburg despite the oppressive regime. Alexander Pushkin wrote some of his best poetry during this time, before being killed in a duel in 1837. One of the first great Russian composers, Mikhail Glinka, wrote his best operas and chamber music, and Fyodor Dostoyevsky lived and wrote in St. Petersburg between 1837 and 1844.

Russia suffered a humiliating defeat in the Crimean War in 1853to1856, mainly due to its economic backwardness. Despite this Russia gradually moved down the road of technical progress. In 1837 the first railroad was opened connecting St Petersburg with the royal residence at Pushkin, and in 1851 a second connecting St. Petersburg with Moscow. In 1850, the temporary pontoon bridges across the Neva River were replaced by the first permanent bridge. As industry and transportation required more qualified engineers, the St Petersburg Technological Institute was opened in 1828, followed by the Civilian Engineers’ School four years later.

St Petersburg gradually became more majestic. With the construction of the General Staff building in 1829, the Alexander Column in 1834 and the Royal Guards Staff building in 1843, the Palace Square ensemble was finally completed. Nicholas I commissioned the Mariinsky Palace (today home to City Hall) which was constructed between 1839 and 1844 for his daughter Maria. The St Isaac Cathedral was finally completed in 1858, during the reign of Alexander II having ascended the throne following his father’s death in 1853.

Next: The Road to Capitalism (1840 - 1890)