Mikhail Piotrovsky: A city where all religions live

In the post-Soviet period, the sky above Petersburg changed. It became noticeable that flags had appeared on the flagstaffs of buildings and crosses on the churches.

There had always been a cross above the Winter Palace church, both during the revolution and during the siege. Now a flag flies above the Hermitage. Unexpectedly, a discussion arose over what right we had to do that. Under the law passed by the Duma in the year 2000, all organizations can display the flag of the Russian Federation and not just institutions of state power.

That is not the thing here. It is important that the country’s flag evokes in people a sense of their own historical dignity, that it fosters respect for traditions.

When we are speaking of traditions, we should remember that Petersburg is a city with places of worship for all religions.

A few days ago, a ceremony took place in the Hermitage to present a bust of Catherine the Great to the Buddhist community. 255 years ago, Catherine issued a decree that laid the foundations for the influence and role of the Russian Empire in the Far East. It legitimized the existence of a Buddhist community on the territory of the country. One of the results was the appearance of a Buddhist temple in our city. It is amazingly beautiful. Daniil Kharms liked to visit it and be recharged with inspiration.

From the windows of the Datsan you can see the Hermitage’s Repository in Staraya Derevnya, where there is a Buddhist display. The Hermitage has a fabulous collection of items relating to Buddhism. The Datsan is an important part of Petersburg’s cultural life and heritage.

Another component of Petersburg’s religious life is the mosque. It is the most beautiful in Europe because it combines two traditions – the Central Asian and the Northern Moderne [Art Nouveau]. That fusion makes it an amazing edifice. Its location is also amazing. The mosque stands on the same line as the main cathedral of the city of Saints Peter and Paul in the Peter and Paul Fortress. Only in Petersburg are such things possible. That’s part of the city’s cultural aura.

One more important building in our city that is a bearer of eastern traditions is the Choral Synagogue. It was built in the style of eastern synagogues and lives its own special architectural existence. When they demolished the Palace of Culture of the First Five-Year Plan and the second stage of the Mariinsky Theatre had not yet appeared, it seemed as if it had been done for the sake of the synagogue, to make it better visible.

The Orthodox churches in our city are distinctive, they have a European monumentality about them. They were built by Rinaldi, Trezzini, Montferrand. St Isaac’s can be a museum and a place of worship at the same time because it is European in spirit. The Kazan Cathedral is a powerful quotation from Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome. It was a museum of religion and has again become a church. A Petersburg Orthodoxy, European, open to the world.

The Saviour on the Spilt Blood, seeming to belong to a different faith, is in the style of St Basil’s. I am not very fond of it, although it does teach religious architectural tolerance.

People sometimes say that fewer churches were destroyed in our city than in Moscow because they are not Russian. To some degree that might perhaps be true. In Petersburg’s cathedrals one senses a universal sweep and an orientation on world culture. It is no coincidence that they contain paintings by European artists that serve as icons. A canvas by Jordaens hangs in the cathedral of the Alexander Nevsky Monastery; we featured it in an exhibition in the Hermitage. It is beautiful in the museum and in the church. In the museums there are many things that came from churches. They unite the museum-city and the temple-city, are not being transferred anywhere and appear in exhibitions.

Nevsky Prospekt occupies a special place. It is the location of the Lutheran Petrikirche, the Catholic Church of St Catherine and the Armenian Church. Petersburg is a city of different places of worship. Together they form its face and the image of a place where all religions live.

It is a known fact that some churches were destroyed. Their former sites are marked in various ways. On Vosstaniya Square there was a monument to Alexander III and the Church of the Sign. Their “heirs” are the Metro station and an obelisk. A different ensemble appeared.

The Oktyabrsky Concert Hall stands on the site of the Greek Church. There are still living witnesses to it being blown up. A public building appeared that the city needed, but there is a sense of a certain awkwardness. The church is not forgotten. Perhaps it would be worth erecting a chapel.

Sennaya Square is another memorial place. In place of the lost Church of the Saviour on the Haymarket – a late Baroque building – a shopping centre and Metro station have been built there. This is Dostoyevsky’s Petersburg; a place like that should live differently. There is a need to bring the church back. It has not been replaced by the shopping centre. There should be discussions on that score.

The conversation about whether it is worth recreating what has been destroyed is a serious and sensitive one. The experience of post-war Leningrad shows that there are situations when recreation is necessary. Peterhof and Tsarskoye Selo were restored in conditions of terrible devastation. People had nothing to eat, but they built and gilded…

I shall allow myself to say that Petersburg’s churches are more in tune with the look and history of the city than Moscow’s. In Moscow the churches are keynote elements, while in Petersburg they are a part of an ensemble. It is no coincidence that Nevsky Prospekt begins from the Alexander Nevsky Monastery and ends with the Admiralty. Peter moved holy relics to the monastery, while on the Neva he built a navy.

Today religious wars are being fought in the world. In Petersburg religions get along with each other and teach peace.

The city made up of places of worship creates the basis of the special Petersburg character and a foundation for discussion: what is the role of religion in culture; religion on its own and as a part of the culture.

In the Hermitage paintings by the great masters conduct a constant dialogue on highly complex religious topics.

The Museum of the History of Religion has a special niche. It is a venue for meetings and interaction between people of different religious beliefs. In the displays, exhibitions and events, religions engage in a discussion.

In Petersburg a model has been created for the relationship between religions and religious organizations in conditions that are new for Russia. I won’t say that many people go to places of worship, but we are experiencing a powerful emotional upsurge of religious feeling. It could develop into fanaticism, or else perhaps into the recipe that our city offers.