User:WavesOfAmur/St Petersburg Second Edit

Overview
St. Petersburg is a city built of many historical, culturally affluent sites. It is oftentimes described as the 'Venice of the North' for its grandiose architecture, art, and history. Upon its founding by Peter the Great in 1703, the city's vision was meant to adapt European Renaissance urbanism to shape a "European-like identity" in Russia. The Tsar believed that this would allow the opportunity for Russia to be brought closer to Europe and the West economically, politically, and culturally. In the mid-18th century, the city began to adopt the baroque style, as well as implementing parts of rococo style into its architecture. By the 19th century, as with the rest of European cities at the time, it had adapted to classicism, as well. Nevsky Prospect, generally considered to be the main street of the city, has many architectural wonders containing these styles. Nikolai Gogol was alleged to have once said that "Earth has nothing finer to show than this street," due to the amount of architectural ingenuity, as well as the bustling number of people, that persists along this street. In the 19th Century, Tsar Alexander I built a number of different churches, palaces, and columns in celebrating the Russian victory over Napoleon. Conversely, in 1880's, the Church of the Saviour on Blood was built on the spot of where Tsar Alexander II was killed. Many other architectural features of grandiose styles had been erected during the 17-18th centuries by renowned architects such as Carlo Rossi, among others. In contemporary times, the city holds one of the largest collections of neoclassical centers, with many of them belonging to the UNESCO World Heritage Site list since 1990. Despite its rich cultural centers, the city is continuously adapting to a model of development that involves modernization, and accompanying with it, constructions of high rises, skyscrapers and more. This has caused some controversy among the population and on the world stage, in regards to preserving the cultural centers. Moreover, with the new development model, the geological aspects of the city are purported to be disturbed by the introduction of additional housing and industrial sectors. Potential increase of environmental risks could be posed in the future by the continuation of this development model.

Concerns over cultural preservation
St. Petersburg is a UNESCO World Heritage City, denoted as such by its architectural diversity. Preservation of important cultural works has long been a policy of several governing bodies of Russia. Even in the Soviet era, exquisite palaces, national parks, and other forms of architectural splendor built in Imperial Russia, that had been destroyed during the Siege of Leningrad, had been restored by the Soviet authorities, so as to preserve "expressions of Russian culture and craftsmanship". Due to its status as a Heritage City, one of the many causes concerning architecture and development in post-Soviet St. Petersburg is homogenization of the city's landscape architecture, posed by the opening of the city's borders to Western ideal and architectural planning. A study by Jacky Bowring et al (2009), however, believes that the concern is "superficial" and that St. Petersburg had always been borrowing architectural innovations from other cities and cultures. Gavin Stamp (2010) believes that the "ruination" of St. Petersburg's architectural greatness is brought on by contemporary Russian nationalism in the name of modernization. Stamp also contends that the status of the city as a Heritage Site is being disturbed by the persistent construction of skyscrapers and high-rises that he believes are "wholly alien to the character of the city". With the opening of the city to foreign investors and contractors, new forms of buildings had begun to show up in the city. Megan L. Dixon (2013) discusses a project ("The Baltic Pearl") for expansion of urban space in the city, a multiplex designed by Russian planners and intended to be built by Chinese developers. A controversy had arisen over the multiplex during that time, debating over the issue of "architectural style", "cultural norms" and "local autonomy", as imposed by Chinese contractors.

Literature
The St. Petersburg Academy of Arts provided an extensive program for studying art and art literature. In the Soviet period, the Academy of Arts (then known as Ilya Repin Leningrad Institute for Painting, Sculpture and Architecture) offered many different subjects and outside art forms, including art forms from "prehistoric, Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, Hittite, Indian, Chinese, Egyptian, Ancient Greek and Roman cultures". Before the Estonian state's desire to integrate more into Europe and detach from Soviet Russia's influence, the Academy served as a significant place for Estonian graduates, both before and during the Soviet period.

Architectural issues in the Post-Soviet period
In contemporary times, St. Petersburg is known to be undergoing various different building projects and renovations, as an attempt at modernization from the leftovers of the Soviet period. Western architectural influence had again become accessible to the city's development. After Soviet collapse of the early 1990s, Cooper and Morpeth (1998) asserted that St. Petersburg had begun to look for development opportunities from foreign businesses, and into prospects of tourism, with modernization and "modern architectural solutions" being the watchwords. Many renowned architects had participated in international competitions, particularly in St. Petersburg but also in Russia as a whole, to be able to receive contracts to build in the city. Despite the international acclaim from architects' desire to build in the city, very little success had been achieved in that regard, with many proposals simply not being realized in St. Petersburg despite the authorities' approval of them. The failure of such projects could partially be attributed to the ineffectiveness of the city's bureaucratic establishment.

Some of the proposals that had been given an approval were interpreted as dangerous to the surroundings of the city, due to the height of the project exceeding the limit imposed by the city, both traditionally and by law. In 2006, the Governor of St. Petersburg approved a design for construction of a headquarters for the Gazprom corporation, which included building a skyscraper. The proposed height of the skyscraper, 396 meters, was seen as overtly high for standard traditional 'low skyline' height present among other buildings in the city. Its placement, just across the Neva River from the Smolny Cathedral, a popular tourist attraction and a heritage site, stirred significant controversy that resulted in protests within the city.