The "Silver Age", Turn of the Century

This period of St Petersburg history was the most brilliant, but also the most troublesome. It all began in 1896, with the splendid coronation of Nicholas II taking place in Moscow, but 5 days later as part of the celebration 1389 people were killed in the Khodynka disaster, when mass panic took hold. This period ended with the most horrific of wars, World War I. St Petersburg became obsessed with celebration during the early 1900’s.

1902 saw the celebrations commemorating 100 years of the government reforms of Alexander I and his establishment of the ministries.

May 1903 brought the 200th anniversary of St Petersburg. The new Trinity Bridge was officially opened in the presence of Nicholas II, and a church service took place next to the Bronze Horseman in Senatskaya Square to commemorate Peter the Great.

The defeat suffered by Russia in the war against Japan (1904 – 1905) accelerated the troubles of Russia. On 2nd January 1905, the workers of St Petersburg’s Putilovsky Works went on strike. This grew into a general strike by the 8th January. On the 9th January a peaceful worker’s demonstration was fired upon by troops in Palace Square. This event became known as “Bloody Sunday”, and triggered public outrage and marked the start of the 1905-1907 Revolution. On the 17th October 1905, Nicholas II was forced to issue a manifesto proclaiming a number of civil rights and instituting a new parliament, consisting of the Duma and the reformed State Council.

However during the period following the Revolution, art flourished and this became known as the “Silver Age”. 1897 saw the opening of The Russian Museum bringing the creative approach to the artistic heritage into the centre of public attention. Plays by Anton Chekov, Maxim Gorky and Leonid Andreev enjoyed immense popularity. The stage of the Mariinsky Theatre was graced by Fyodor Shaliapin and Leonid Sobinov, Anna Pavlova and Matilda Ksenshiskaya, Russian music was enriched by works of Alexander Glazounov, Alexander Scriabin and Sergei Rachmaninov.

Hope was brought to thousands of liberals in the intelligentsia with the opening of the Duma in 1906. The district around the Duma became the most popular residential area in the city. The liberal hope was short lived, when the government curtailed many freedoms and blocked many of the Duma’s initiatives.

With a population of 2 million people, St Petersburg was to face many horrors in the coming war.

Next: World War I and the Revolution