Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments
Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments
The 'Venice of the North', with its numerous canals and more than 400 bridges, is the result of a vast urban project begun in 1703 under Peter the Great. Later known as Leningrad (in the former USSR), the city is closely associated with the October Revolution. Its architectural heritage reconciles the very different Baroque and pure neoclassical styles, as can be seen in the Admiralty, the Winter Palace, the Marble Palace and the Hermitage.
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Brief synthesis
The unique urban landscape of the port and capital city of Saint Petersburg, rising out of the Neva estuary where it meets the Gulf of Finland, was the greatest urban creation of the 18th century.
Saint Petersburg was built at the beginning of the 18th century in an astonishingly short period of time, according to an orderly plan based on many of Peter the Great's own ideas. The city was constructed under difficult conditions on lowlands unprotected from floodwaters, and in the face of severe shortages of materials and workers.
Within the first decades of its history, Saint Petersburg became a grandiose agglomeration consisting of the historical city core surrounded by ceremonial country residences, an advanced fortification system, estates and dachas, settlements and small towns linked by radial routes. It occupied the shore on both sides of the Gulf of Finland as well as the Kronstadt fortress-town on Kotlin Island, while moving up the Neva towards its source in Sсhlisselburg. This Russian-European city, surrounded by suburban ensembles, became a socio-cultural phenomenon with an incomparable historic urban landscape, characterized by an absolute hierarchy of structures.
A network of canals, streets and quays was built gradually, beginning in the reign of Peter the Great (1682-1725). The Nevski perspective did not become the city's major east-west axis until 1738. Similarly, under the Empresses Anna Ioannovna (1730-1740), Elisabeth Petrovna (1741-1762) and Catherine II the Great (1762- 1796), the urban landscape of Saint Petersburg took on the monumental splendour that assured the world-renowned of the "Venice of the North". An array of foreign architects (Rastrelli, Rinaldi, Quarenghi, Cameron and Vallin de la Mothe) rivaled one another with audaciousness and splendour in the capital's huge palaces and convents and in imperial and princely suburban residences, amongst which one numbers Peterhof (Petrodvorets), Lomonosov, Tsarskoуe Selo (Pushkin), Pavlovsk and Gatchina.
The greatness of Russia's northern capital, with its horizontal silhouette coupled with vertical landmarks and its ensembles of embankments and squares, lies in the heart of the city's “imperial” spirit, its genius loci. The main feature and attraction of Saint Petersburg's historical centre is characterized by a perfect harmony of architecture and waterscapes.
Lake Baikal
Lake Baikal
Situated in south-east Siberia, the 3.15-million-ha Lake Baikal is the oldest (25 million years) and deepest (1,700 m) lake in the world. It contains 20% of the world's total unfrozen freshwater reserve. Known as the 'Galapagos of Russia', its age and isolation have produced one of the world's richest and most unusual freshwater faunas, which is of exceptional value to evolutionary science.
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Justification for Inscription
The Committee inscribed Lake Baikal as the most outstanding example of a freshwater ecosystem on the basis of natural criteria (vii), (viii), (ix) and (x). It is the oldest and deepest of the world´s lakes containing nearly 20% of the world´s unfrozen freshwater reserve. The lake contains an outstanding variety of endemic flora and fauna, which is of exceptional value to evolutionary science. It is also surrounded by a system of protected areas that have high scenic and other natural values.
The Committee took note of the confirmation of the revised boundaries of the site, which correspond to the core areas defined in the Baikal Law (excluding the five urban developed areas). It also noted that the special Lake Baikal Law is now in its second reading in the Duma. Finally, it noted concern over a number of integrity issues including pollution, which should be brought to the attention of the Russian authorities.
Now, that unifying change took place in the Pliocene Epoch (about 5.3 to 2.5 million years ago), but this lake is hardly finished growing. It's expanding at a rate of 0.7 inches (2 centimeters) every year — the same speed at which Africa and South America are drifting apart. At this speed, some scientists believe Lake Baikal is actually an ocean in the making.
Of Lake Baikal's 27 islands, the largest is Olkhon, at 280 square miles (725 square kilometers). Olkhon has its own lake, mountains and a population of 1,500 residents. Locals connected to power via an underwater cable in 2005, and were connected to the internet shortly after.
These rich minerals are the reason for some of Lake Baikals' most unusual species, including the Baikal omul fish, the Baikal oil fish, and the star of the show: the Nerpa seal species. Like Lake Baikal, the Nerpa seal is itself a natural phenomenon. It's the only exclusively freshwater seal species in the world, and its evolution — given other seals are found in the ocean — is mysterious. Some scientists believe it arrived via a prehistoric river from the Arctic.
Beyond seals and fish, other common animals found in the forests and mountains surrounding Lake Baikal include bears, elk, reindeer, lynx, wild boar and of course, the lake's frequently reported "Water Dragon Master."