Word: peterburg
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Actually, that should be Sankt-Peterburg, which is the Dutch name Peter the Great gave the city when he founded it in 1703 on a swamp on the shore of the Gulf of Finland. Choosing a European version of his patron saint's name to underscore his cosmopolitan ambitions, Peter built the elegant port as a window to the West, intending to yank his fusty country toward the future. When the Russians went to war against Germany in 1914, the city's Teutonic appellation suddenly became politically incorrect. Emperor Nicholas II's solution was to Russify the name, making...
Sense of History. That he was, and with a Gallic vengeance. In Leningrad, De Gaulle attended Mass in the city's only remaining Catholic church, Notre Dame de Lourdes, and received Communion while 500 Leningrad Catholics sang in Latin. In impeccable Russian, he quoted Pushkin on Sankt-Peterburg: "So stand in glory, Peter's city, and stand as invincible as Russia." He plunged into the Leningrad crowds-estimated as high as 1,000,000-shaking hands and dragging a reluctant Kosygin behind him. He swept through the Hermitage, gazing judiciously at Rembrandts and Murillos but discreetly skipping...
...Inspector General is the classic case of mistaken identity. The officials of an unnamed village learn that an inspector from St. Peterburg will soon visit their town, and may be travelling incognito. When they hear that a well-dressed stranger from Petersburg has arrived at the inn, they assume that he is their dreaded visitor. Actually, the young man is just a penniless fop who had lost all his money at cards and is stuck at the inn because he can't pay his bill. The mayor and his subordinates proceed to stuff their inspector with food, drink, and money...
...most valuable items in the exhibit is a copy of Pushkin's "Gabrielide," as printed in the first definitive edition at Peterburg in 1922. A blasphemous poem, this work was not printed during the poet's lifetime; but the verses fell into the hands of the police and Pushkin was forced to deny authorship in order to avoid severe punishment...
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