St. Petersburg’s Best Palace

If you ask me if I’ve been to the State Museum of History of St. Petersburg & the Yusupov Palace, the answer is yes and no.

On our last day in St. Petersburg, Russia, Ruth & I walked from our hotel to the Peter & Paul Fortress in cold, season-changing rain.  This complex of defensive buildings, churches, and museums, St. Petersburg’s first settlement, is currently being lovingly restored with a plan to make it a major tourist attraction.  It will be.  The entrance to the Fortress, also called SMOHOSP (see above), is free.  We walked right in and quickly discovered that it was closed on Wednesdays.  It was Wednesday.  We saw just enough of the place to decide there was reason to go back.

We weren’t the only tourists who hadn’t checked.  In fact, several disappointed people were wandering around the warm but closed gift shop. One of them was a lady from England named Diana.

Diana, mother of 5, was in Russia by herself because her husband had Russian ancestry.  He had died in her arms before having the opportunity to go there.   Her journey was a tribute to him as was a 20 mile walk to raise money to combat pancreatic cancer she had completed in his honor.  I admired Diana and delighted in her witty conversation.

Morning plans abandoned, Diana, Ruth & I shared a taxi to her hotel where we had drinks and shared trip experiences.  Diana said that her favorite attraction had been the Yusupov Palace.   Diana raved about its dazzling interiors, especially its over-the-top rococo theater.

Having considered it before deciding on the Fortress, we now had time.  So, despite the worsening weather, we headed there.

Every source I read about St.Petersburg raved about Yusupov, saying it was ornate, spectacular, etc.  But I was interested because the last Yusupov owner, wealthy and eccentric Prince Felix, was into cross-dressing.  Any man who attended balls as a woman, I figured, would live in an interesting palace.  Secondly, this was where Rasputin met his grisly end.  This self-proclaimed mystic, many higher-ups feared, had too much influence on Tsarina Alexandra.  Invited to Yusupov for cake, Rasputin was poisoned, shot, and drowned.   He survived the first 2.

It seemed a short walk, but Ruth & I got lost.  By the time we found Yusupov, we had only 1 hour left to see it and I recalled Lonely Planet‘s warning that it was overpriced for non-Russians.  It would cost us 500 Rbl each, for one hour.  The entry fee was 50-350 Rbl for locals.  Now $15.79 each wasn’t a deal breaker, but we didn’t have 1,000 rubles.  However, an ATM was inches away from the ticket office for the likes of me.

There was a virtual tour of the palace continuously running in the reception area, so Ruth & I decided to watch it before deciding.  As I viewed outrageously overdone rooms rolling by, a scowling woman came over and told me not to touch the pillar I had rested my shoulder on.  But then she smiled like a candidate and said, “Buy ticket and see.  Is very beautiful!” We were out of there.  No reason to go back.

Hank

Vilnius, Lithuania’s Holocaust Museum

Yesterday, I wrote about the determined liquidation of the Jewish quarter of Vilnius, Lithuania, by Nazis and mentioned a “game” called Catches & Snatches.  A reader responded and asked for more information about this activity that Ruth read about in the Vilnius Holocaust Museum’s Chronicles from the Vilna Ghetto.

I pieced together what she wrote, did some further research, and came up with the following information which is admittedly sketchy but the best available.  I kept reminding myself that this was a confusing, terrifying time for the Jewish population of Vilnius, so how can anyone expect clear, detailed reports?

Anyway, here’s what I learned.  Between the arrival of the Nazis in 1941 and the establishment of concentration camps where eventually 4,000,000 human beings were exterminated, occupying Germans were told to chase Jews with mixed results.  What apparently helped the Nazis round up Jews were the actions of groups of Lithuanian youths wearing armbands called hapunes (I also saw the word Khapunes used to identify them).  They, the catchers and snatchers, roamed the streets looking for Jews whom they took either to police stations or prisons.  Some of the hapunes even broke into houses and removed Jewish males.  The price paid for a kidnapped Jew was 10 rubles (roubles?).   Apparently to justify doing this, these snatchers claimed they were under orders.   But Germans in righteous denial reportedly claimed they knew nothing, so they would release at least some of the taken Jews, especially the ones who actively protested.  The “game” continued, causing constant panic in the Jewish community.  One report called the Khapunes special groups of 10 that belonged to the ghetto police. Who knows?  I also found stories about baby kidnappings, people selling belongings for almost nothing, and groups of up to 500 people being lined up along dug pits and shot.  Those who somehow escaped being sent to camps were often victims of “death by slow starvation”, a deliberate Nazi policy.

A man named Herman Kruk survived the Vilna ghetto and concentration camps for 5 years, 1939-1944.  During that time he recorded his experiences. He made a final entry on September 17, 1944, and managed to bury his loose-page diary, a day-to-day account of his experiences, before he was shot and his body burned.  Miraculously, his account was recovered and published in Yiddish in 1961.  An English version appeared later with the title The Last Days of the Jerusalem of Lithuania.   I have no idea where this book might be found, but I’d be interested to read it if anyone knows.

Hank

ps.  I mentioned how hard it was to find this Holocaust Museum.  Above is a picture of it in case you have the opportunity to visit.

Vilnius’ Real Diamond

 

The green building is a bit hard to find because it’s not exactly on Pamenkalnio Street.  No. 12, we finally learned, is up an incline and looks like a hillside house instead of a museum.  Ruth & I are glad we persisted.   Vilnius’ Holocaust Museum was a 5-Compass find.

It was a rainy Monday afternoon and almost everything was closed.  After we checked out the Ciurlionis House, we ducked into the Visitors Center and asked about the only other opened attractions we knew about–The Diamond & Holocaust Museums.  “Which of the 2 would you choose?” I asked the man behind the desk.  “Well,” he said, “Vilnius really isn’t known as a diamond center.”

Thanks to him, I now know that Vilnius was a Jewish center of scholarship & culture second to none.  In fact, before World War II it was called Jerusalem of the North and contained 100 synagogues.

A visit to any Holocaust Museum is difficult but worthwhile, and Vilnius’ was no less so.  It’s one of those places that I thought I’ll give it an hour, and 3 hours later I left, dazed.  For such an emotionally charged subject, this Holocaust Museum unfolded with a surprising amount of calm objectivity.

Right away I read that during the initial Nazi occupation of Vilnius, 11,000 Jews were confined in a ghetto centered around Stikliu Street.  The Nazis liquidated it in 1941, killing all who resided there.  About 220,000 Jews lived in Lithuania at that time.

Ruth & I wandered through a series of small, connected rooms that began with the big picture but became more intimate and heart-rending as we proceeded.  Displays were packed with photos, information, & statistics. “Nazi Germany’s leadership was not satisfied with the results of their actions, which were 600,000 people murdered from June until December 1941.  Thus, in late 1941 and early 1942 they began creating a more “perfect” system of mass extermination–that of concentration camps with gas chambers.”

I didn’t know that the internationally famous violinist Jascha Heifetz was born and studied in Vilnius.

I had forgotten that Nazis didn’t just encamp and eliminate Jews.  Jehovah Witnesses and the chronically sick were targeted.  250,000 gypsies were murdered.

Ruth became fascinated by Chronicles from the Vilna Ghetto, read many accounts, and asked for my notebook where she wrote the entire story of an inhuman Nazi game called Catches & Snatches.

When Ruth was ready to leave, I was in the last room reading a story of hope and valor.  A woman named Sofija, pictured here, rescued Jews.  She took them into her home while documents were forged and safe houses were found.

The sculpture above, Shameful Silence, dates from 1991. It’s in the same room as the Chronicles.

Hank

Helsinki’s New Music Centre

At the age of 17, Fanny Söderström started her own orchestra.

Finns are music lovers.  Says Lonely Planet, “Finland’s music scene is one of the world’s richest and the output of quality musicians per capita is amazingly high.”   In my experience, it may be the world’s richest.  I posted previously about Fennica.

Consider this.  According to the World Bank, the population of Finland in 2011 was 5,387,000, and in the fall of that year the Helsinki Music Centre opened.  Centrally located across the street from Parliament, it cost $240,000,000.  HMC is now home to 2 symphony orchestras, Fuga Oy, a family owned (since 1960) CD, DVD, book, Blu-ray, etc. store, a cafe, a restaurant, the Sibelius Academy Library, and a full range of events.

With perfect acoustics by Yasuhisa Toyota, the main concert hall accommodates 1,704.  There are 5 smaller venues ranging from 140 to 400 seats for eclectic performances, like jazz.  Finns are huge jazz fans.

You won’t find much about the Music Centre in tourist literature partially because it’s so new, but it’s a 5 Compass attraction.  Different from most big city concert halls that are only opened for performances, HMC is a lively community center opened from 8 am to 10 pm Monday-Friday and 9 am to 10 pm on weekends.   Teens on skateboards abound outside.  As HMC says, “We are a venue of rendezvous.”  Indeed.

Ruth and I attended 3 performances, 2 in the main hall.  The first was the unspooling of a 1922 silent film , Amor Omnia, for which composer Lotta Wennäkoski has written a new score.  The 2nd was a concert by the Tampere Symphony.  Finland’s 2nd largest city with a population slightly over 200,000, Tampere, the Manchester of Finland, supports a fine orchestra.

The third performance was by the Oma Orchestra (In English: Our Own Orchestra) with Fanny playing the piano.  A very serious and competent group of student musicians ranging from 15 to 25 years, Oma performed Sibelius and Stravinsky as well as any professional adult orchestra.

Fanny’s Dad, Eric-Olaf Söderström, conducted.  A very accomplished, modest man, he conducts the city of Mikkeli’s orchestra and is chorus master of the Finnish National Opera and Savonlinna, a wonderful summer opera festival in a real castle.  I only learned this when he sent me a brief history of Oma.  Many of Oma’s musicians have been seriously studying music in an academic setting since the age of 7.  “The youngsters,” Eric-Olaf wrote to me, “have selected the programs and the people playing in the orchestra. They also do everything else concerning the management themselves.”

At the performance Ruth & I attended, Eetu Ranta-Aho played a piece he wrote for trombone.   It was sensational.  Eetu celebrated his 20th birthday in 2012.  No wonder the future of music is in Finland.

Hank

Helsinki Design Scene

Impacting the design of a house and everything in it has become a way of life in Finland. Elegant, functional design is the key driver of its national, creative impulse, so Helsinki has become both a national & a design capital.

It began with Fiskars.  Founded in 1649, Fiskars in now Finland’s oldest company.  Since this century began, it has gained control of Iittala, the glass and kitchen ware experts, and its holdings now also include Arabia.

Since 1951 Marimekko–Finnish apparel, accessories, bedding, home decor, etc.–has gained international  renown and, just in the past few years, traction in the United States as a brand name.   In partnership with Crate & Barrel, Marimekko products are available in both C & B shops and in stores from Boston to Seattle.

Angry Birds.  They’re scowling everywhere.  Often called the largest mobile app success the world has yet seen, Rovio Entertainment’s Angry Birds is probably the most recognizable design triumph of the 21st century.

Helsinki’s main tourist attraction is now its design scene, and there are 4 must-sees–Arabia, Stockmann’s, Design Forum, and Design District Helsinki.

Since 1873, Arabia has been making fine kitchen ware, decorative pottery, etc. on the northern outskirts of Helsinki.  Arabia still employs about 300 and operates a couple of 282-feet-long kilns that create cups, bowls, etc. Offering pre-arranged tours, the Arabia factory outlet, according to Lonely Planet, is “worth the trip”.  They mean the trip on tram 6 0r 8 from city center, but, in Ruth’s opinion, this means the trip to Finland.  She loves Arabia. However, Ruth wants me to warn you that outlet here at its factory doesn’t necessarily mean cheaper.  The outstanding Finlayson, Pentik, Artebia, Arabia, and Iitalla stuff for sale in the beautifully updated factory are expensive compared to, say, Stockmann’s.  Recognizing its tourist potential, Arabia offers upscale retailing and a museum on its top floor (the source of the pictures above).

Ah, Stockmann’s!   This historic emporium is a complete department store in Helsinki’s’s very center.   It’s the way department stores used to be before Macy’s and the like decided they could only sell clothes, accessories, and kitchen ware.   You can find everything somewhere in Stockmann’s.

The Design Forum Shop run by the Finnish Society of Crafts and Design at Erottajankatu 7 is rather hard to find but worth the effort.  It features the creative output of lots of young designers with big futures.  Entering DF is like going into a museum where everything is both appealing and for sale.

The Forum is in Design District Helsinki, an entire neighborhood devoted to Finnish creativity.  There currently are 53 interior design shops, more than 50 clothing stores, etc.

Helsinki may be coming to the end of its Design Capital year and more than 130 events featuring Finnish design genius, but its international recognition and leadership is just beginning, especially if the Karma reaches the Finnish line.

Hank