St. Petersburg archaeologists come across the foundations of ancient buildings here and there. How can such global structures be tied to the building possibilities of the 18th century? I would say nothing, but all this is reasoned, in their opinion, it does not just fit, but is hammered into the existing version of the historical development of the city, without documents, evidence, the development plan itself.
In St. Petersburg, archaeologists came to the conclusion that in the middle of the 18th century in Russia they were trying to build a building comparable to the tallest modern skyscrapers. It was supposed to stand in the center of the city, opposite the Smolny Cathedral. The project was not implemented due to lack of money, the technical part was developed flawlessly.
The foundation of the building, which could become the largest in the Russian Empire, was discovered by scientists at a depth of 4 meters. The bell tower of the Smolny Cathedral, according to the plan of the architect Rastrelli, was supposed to soar into the sky 150 meters. She would have crowned the entrance to the monastery and would have been located right in front of the temple.
The height of the cathedral is 93 meters. Thus, the bell tower could be 1.5 times higher than it. It surpassed Isaac's Cathedral in height by 49 meters. And the highest spire of St. Petersburg - the spire of Peter and Paul - at 28 meters. Even now, the bell tower would be higher than all structures in St. Petersburg, with the exception of the TV tower.
Scientists have known for a long time that the architects of the 18th century tried to build a grandiose skyscraper. Archival documents testified to this. The discovery of the foundation has confirmed the assumption of archaeologists. (When there is a huge foundation of a destroyed building, they will always try to attach it somewhere).
Natalya Solovieva, head of the group for protective archeology at the Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences: “Last year we checked. We laid 2 so-called exploration pits and saw: yes, there is masonry, which most likely corresponds to the structure of the structure that we wanted to find here."
Now measurements of the found object are underway. This is the base of a huge structure. There are 10 thousand bog oak piles under it. Archaeologists were surprised that even the invisible part of the building was made very skillfully.
Igor Garbuz, senior researcher at the Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences: “They did not just lay them with torn stones, I mean granite, boulders, but also processed them. Imagine how much labor you need to invest. Especially at the beginning of the 18th century, to make a rectangular granite slab out of a boulder."
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The layout of the entire ensemble has been preserved at the Academy of Arts. The construction was personally supervised by Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. But the architect Rastrelli did not manage to take the planned height. The treasury simply did not have enough money for a super project of its time. War began with Prussia, and soon the queen herself died.
Subsequent emperors lost interest in the structure. The base of the bell tower was filled up with soil. The construction of the monastery was completed only under Nicholas I. Thus, this is the most famous long-term construction in St. Petersburg. The monastery was built for 87 years.
For a long time it housed the Institute of Noble Maidens. Smolyanka, maidens of marriageable age lived in it. This place was popular with metropolitan gentlemen. Therefore, during excavations, archaeologists have found so many broken bottles of champagne, the favorite hussar drink.
Soon the excavation site should be covered up again. This is a sad moment for archaeologists. They would like to keep the foundation open so that not only specialists can see it, but also everyone interested. (That's right, out of sight, out of mind! And no questions, it's easier, more convenient and calmer for …).
Olga Sukhova