Dutch Saint-Petersburg. Diversity connects - by students from Russia

A monument to Peter the Great ‘Tsar-the carpenter’

The New Holland

Peter the Great

Kunstkamera

Dutch Saint-Petersburg

The connection between the Netherlands and Russia has a very long history. These two countries have much in common: rivers, poor soil, and severe climate.
In the XVII century many Dutch people lived in Moscow and some of them were very close friends of the young tsar Peter I.
Peter I made two trips to the Netherlands. The motto of the first trip was “I am a pupil and am looking for teachers”. In Holland Peter the Great learnt shipbuilding, studied the anatomic collections and saw the paintings of the Dutch and Flemish artists. He made a decision to make “another Amsterdam” of St.Petersburg.
A lot of famous Dutchmen lived in St.Petersburg during the reign of Peter I. The first manager of Kunstkamara was J.D. Schumacher. Many Dutch architects brought their native motive to the Northern capital. Among them Stephen van Zviten, Frantz de Vaal, Ottomar Eliger, Christophor Marcellius.
In 1717 there were about 36 parishioners in the Dutch church in St.Petersburg. A lot of Dutch merchants moved from Moscow and Archangelsk in the XVIII century.

New Holland
New Holland is an artificial triangular island created in 1717. This is the only island out of 42 of St.Peterstburg that is manmade. Its area is 59 000 sq.m. At first the island was used to store and to dry timber according to the new Dutch technology – that is how the place got its name. Later under the architect J.B. Vallen-Delamot several buildings in classical style were erected including the famous arch which is 23 meters high.
Today the island is under renovation. The old buildings will be used for new museums, hotels, offices and a concert hall.

A monument “Tsar – the carpenter”.
In the Duch city of Zaandam on the 15th January 1698 a young Russian tsar Peter I got a license of a ship-carpenter. To commemorate this event on the bank of the river Neva on the 27 June 1910 a monument to Peter the Great by Leopold Bernshtam was opened. A copy of this sculpture was presented to the Netherlands and put on the main square in Zaandam. After the October revolution of 1917 the monument was destroyed but its copy was in the Summer Garden. With the support of the Consulate of the Netherlands in 1996 when it was celebrated 300-years of the Russian Fleet this monument was put on its place again.