North Venice

The Church of the Saviour on Blood is located near the embankment of the Griboyedov Canal. The whole centre of Saint Petersburg is a solid river and canals; therefore, it is called the North Venice. It is interesting to see this city from the water taking advantage of numerous excursions. One of them sails directly from the Church of the Saviour on Blood. We went on it. A small boat rushed us along the waterways of a beautiful city.

Only on the water you understand what a tremendous work was done by the people who built Saint Petersburg. By all the laws of nature, the city could not be here. The climate on the Neva is not suitable for human habitation, since it is too cold, humid, and windy here. For the year in Saint Petersburg, there is an average of only 62 sunny days. The city is literally built on swamps.

Saint Petersburg was built in the delta of the Neva River, at its confluence with the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea. This is the place of the Neva spill; it is swampy, low-lying, and very wet. In this place, the Neva consisted of 48 rivers and tributaries forming 101 islands. To build a city here, it was necessary to dry the swamps, build canals, and create embankments of millions of tons of land. Just think what a gigantic work it was necessary to accomplish in order to build a city (with a population of more than 5 million people) in this place!

People tried to settle down in the delta of the Neva since the dawn of time; however, before the advent of Saint Petersburg, there was never a major city. It could not be because the floods periodically washed away all the buildings; there has not been even a single century without a catastrophic flood.

In the most significant flood in the history of Saint Petersburg — November 1824, hundreds of people drowned. Almost the entire city was flooded with ice water. And the next day, there was a severe frost, which turned the lower floors of houses into icebergs unsuitable for life. On that day, nearly five hundred houses were destroyed in Saint Petersburg and almost four thousand were seriously damaged.

Floods recurred in the 20th and 21st centuries. However, just before our first visit to Saint Petersburg, a dam (which in 2011 saved the city from powerful flooding) was built. In general, it is clear that such natural conditions are not suitable for human habitation. Nevertheless, Saint Petersburg remains alive and well, being a monument to human stubbornness and vitality.