If the version with the falsification of the history of the city is correct, then one must understand that the tsarist state machine did everything possible so that the deception was not noticed. So were all the inhabitants of the city involved in this monstrous conspiracy? Of course not. Residents (those who are not supposed to) did not even suspect that a grandiose construction of the city was taking place before their eyes, they simply lived in peace. Restoration work, repairs were really carried out. There was also some new construction. In general, everything is as it is now.
The main method of falsification is to keep silent about the events taking place with the subsequent publication of the necessary materials. Substitution of some materials for others. In particular, who can prove the authenticity of all numbers of newspapers in libraries?
They were distributed in a limited way by subscription, and not through the stalls of the Soyuzpechat. All instances are monitored. After checking the absence of certain numbers of newspapers among subscribers, after a certain time, individual copies of newspapers can be replaced with the necessary reprints and transferred to the library funds.
And, you can reprint it in full, providing the pages with an end-to-end annual numbering, as they did in the "St. Petersburg Vedomosti". Delay in the release of literature on the history of the city. For example, the book by A. I. Bogdanov's "Description of St. Petersburg 1749-1751" went on sale only in 1799, edited by V. G. Ruban.
Only the fourth edition of I. G. Georgi "Description of the Russian-imperial capital city of St. Petersburg and the sights in its vicinity, with a plan" appeared in Russian with significant corrections and abbreviations in 1794. Many copies of drawings of various projects of the 18th century were created in the thirties of the 19th century, moreover, the originals disappear at the same time …
But all the work of falsification was done by people. And they tend to make mistakes sometimes. These various flaws of censors, writers, architects, builders, etc. allow to expose lies in the history of the city.
For example, drawings by various artists, willy-nilly, capture the flaws of the censorship.
Vasily Sadovnikov. View of Palace Square from Millionnaya Street. 1830s
Promotional video:
The windows are ALREADY ingrown. And Isaac is already standing !!! But it was officially completed only after almost 30 years! (1819-1858), i.e. at this time it must be UNFINISHED and, at least, stand in the woods!
Isaac is standing, but there is no Alexander Column, although from this point it should be visible.
Officially, it was installed in 1830-1834, so the unfinished one had to be present.
Or here's another drawing by V. Sadovnikov in 1841: Departure of the stagecoach from St. Isaac's Square. And here St. Isaac's Cathedral was built long ago.
There are still albums of Montferrand, but they were released in piece copies, and access to them was closed to the uninitiated. Even now, in our seemingly uncensored time, we can only get acquainted with excerpts from these albums. The text of these albums was translated in Soviet times with the stamp "For official use" and is not yet available to mere mortals, except for the statements given in the book by O. A. Chekanova, A. L. Rotach "Auguste Montferrand". Leningrad, Stroyizdat, Leningrad branch, 1990.
In the book of Rotach and Chekanova, on the very first pages, a very curious thought is revealed:
It can be assumed that Montferrand, like all those who devoted themselves to architecture, traveled a lot around Italy and was engaged in measuring the monuments of antiquity.
If we take this thought for truth, everything falls into place - this is the most logical explanation for the unthinkable fruitfulness and fantastic talent of Monsieur Montferrand.
Curiously, the French-speaking Wikipedia writes about this in plain text:
La reconstruction de Saint-Isaac. Reconstruction of the cathedral, not building. About St. Isaac's Cathedral this is openly said in Vigel's Notes.
The column, as well as the monument to Peter I (the head was replaced, the hand was corrected, and the spear was removed, and the image of the former monument remained only on pennies) may have been inside the temples. The temples were dismantled and the monuments were opened. Therefore, everywhere it was written about the opening of monuments, and not about their installation. After all, contemporaries of events cannot be fooled. And all descriptions of construction were written for future generations in limited editions. Artists and censorship in these times had a hard time.
Which temples are not important. The important thing is that they contained and preserved shrines or that which is dear to the heart of the people.
Now let's consider the watercolor drawing by G. G. Gagarin's "Alexander Column in the Woods" 1832-1833.
For reference: G. G. Gagarin (1832-1833) is a famous artist, architect, vice president of the Academy of Arts.
Gagarin's figure shows:
I - window openings
II - wall thickness
III - edge of crumbling plaster
IV - plaster mesh
V - painting the window opening
And since the work will continue for two more years, there is no point in destroying the stone foundation. And the picture shows exactly the destroyed building with forests installed on its remains.
So, what do we see in Gagarin's drawing? Scaffolding, which are very flimsy for lifting a 600-ton column, installed on the ruins of a building. In the picture, it is not difficult to see the openings of two windows near this building, the thickness of the walls in the opening and the break, crumbling plaster made from shingles, a mountain of dismantled bricks, traces of paint …
Gagarin's drawing is interesting because it was kept in the tsar's library and, of course, was not intended for the eyes of the uninitiated. On the other hand, it reflects the actual state of affairs. After all, Gagarin has no drawings with the installation of the column. And there it would be something more interesting to draw than just a column in the woods …
And here is another example of Monsieur Montferrand's ideas:
“The French envoy at the St. Petersburg court - Baron P. de Burgoen, who was in the Russian capital from 1828 to 1832, reports interesting information about this monument (about the Alexandrian pillar - Triv).
"Regarding this column," he writes, "one can recall the proposal made to Emperor Nicholas by the skillful French architect Montferrand, who was present at its excision, transportation and staging, namely:
he offered the emperor to drill a spiral staircase inside the column and required only two workers for this - a man and a boy with a hammer, a chisel and a basket, in which the boy would carry out the fragments of granite as it was drilled; finally, two lanterns to illuminate the workers in their difficult work.
In 10 years, he argued, the worker and the boy (the latter, of course, would grow a little) would have finished their spiral staircase;
but the emperor, justly proud of the construction of this one-of-a-kind monument, feared, and perhaps thoroughly, that this drilling would not pierce the outer sides of the column, and therefore refused this proposal. Now this column is made of solid granite, and it is impossible to climb onto the upper platform, like on our Trojan in Paris."
Archimandrite Augustine (Nikitin), Orthodox Petersburg in the notes of foreigners. - SPb.; LLP "Journal NEVA", 1905, pp. 105-107.
(Memoirs of Baron Burgoen, French envoy at the St. Petersburg court from 1828 to 1832 // Otechestvennye zapiski, 1864. T. 157 No. 11-12. P. 219-220.)
This bold proposal of Montferrand makes it possible to make a timid assumption about the presence of a spiral staircase in the column.