Events
This event has passed.
“The Décor of an Opera Built Yesterday” St. Petersburg’s Panorama
11.20.14
6:15pm
Meyerson Hall, Lower Level, B3
210 S. 34th Street
Philadelphia, PA
Meyerson Hall, Lower Level, B3
210 S. 34th Street
Philadelphia, PA
Founded in 1703 on the Neva river delta to provide Russia with a port to serve its Baltic ambitions, Saint-Petersburg was aggressive in its bid to be read as a modern, European capital. The first prints representing the city adopted a panoramic format that focused on the Neva, its sublime width, and the magnificent new façades erected along its shores. Visitors understood the river landscape, however, as an insurmountable obstacle to proper urban development. For them, the Neva conveyed the hostility of nature, while the buildings, forever to be seen from too great a distance, appeared unreal, ready to vanish into the flat horizon.
