New Holland Island (russian: Но́вая Голла́ндия) is a historic triangular artificial island in

central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, dating from the 18th century. It is also known as Admiralty Island.

Construction

The island was created in 1719, when the newly built

Kryukov Canal Kryukov Canal (russian: link=no, Крюков канал) is one of the Canals in central Saint Petersburg, Russia. Name In 1738, the canal was named after the contractor Semyon Kryukov. History The Kryukov Canal runs from the Admiralteysk ...

and Admiralty Canal connected the

Moika River The Moyka (russian: Мо́йка /MOY-ka/, also latinised as Moika) is a secondary, in comparison with the Neva River in Saint Petersburg that encircles the central portion of the city, effectively making it an island or a group of islands ...

with the

Neva The Neva (russian: Нева́, ) is a river in northwestern Russia flowing from Lake Ladoga through the western part of Leningrad Oblast (historical region of Ingria) to the Neva Bay of the Gulf of Finland. Despite its modest length of , it ...

. The triangular island took its name after a number of canals and shipbuilding facilities that rendered its appearance similar to

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

. The island was originally built for timber storage.

Peter the Great Peter I ( – ), most commonly known as Peter the Great,) or Pyotr Alekséyevich ( rus, Пётр Алексе́евич, p=ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ, , group=pron was a Russian monarch who ruled the Tsardom of Russia from t ...

took the opportunity to create a naval port, including a wooden palace for his own use. In 1721, it became the country's first military port.

Military property

For almost two centuries the island belonged to the

Russian Admiralty Board of Admiralties (russian: Адмиралтейств-коллегия, ''Admiralteystv-kollegiya'') was a supreme body for the administration of the Imperial Russian Navy and admiralty shipyards in the Russian Empire, established by Peter the ...

, which adapted the area for its various needs. Originally, there was a minor

shipyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance a ...

for

rowing boat Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically atta ...

s. In 1732 the Admiralty engaged architect to construct a network of basins and wooden warehouses along the island's perimeter in order to store lumber for shipbuilding. In 1765

Savva Chevakinsky Savva Ivanovich Chevakinsky (russian: Савва Иванович Чевакинский; 1709 – aft. 1774) was a Russian architect of the Baroque school. He worked in Saint Petersburg and Tsarskoye Selo. Chevakinsky was born into a noble famil ...

was ordered to rebuild the warehouses in brick, but without the customary

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and a ...

decoration. By 1788, when the project halted,

Jean-Baptiste Vallin de la Mothe Jean-Baptiste Michel Vallin de la Mothe (1729 – 7 May 1800) was a French architect whose major career was spent in St. Petersburg, where he became court architect to Catherine II. His students were Ivan Starov and Vasily Bazhenov. Biography ...

had designed and supervised the construction of a highly pitched Neoclassical

arch An arch is a vertical curved structure that spans an elevated space and may or may not support the weight above it, or in case of a horizontal arch like an arch dam, the hydrostatic pressure against it. Arches may be synonymous with vaul ...

over the canal connecting the Moika with the inner basin (the "Kovsh", ru , Ковш). This magnificent red-brick gateway to the island, known as the New Holland Arch, is flanked by massive

Tuscan column The Tuscan order (Latin ''Ordo Tuscanicus'' or ''Ordo Tuscanus'', with the meaning of Etruscan order) is one of the two classical orders developed by the Romans, the other being the composite order. It is influenced by the Doric order, but with u ...

s of red granite. New Holland did not achieve its present appearance until the building of a naval

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correc ...

in 1828–29 and a basin for naval architects in 1893.

Aleksei Krylov , birth_date = O.S. (August 15, 1863 N.S.) , death_date = , image = Alexey Krylov 1910s.JPG , image_size = 200px , caption = Official portrait (1910) , birth_place = Alatyrsky uezd of Simbirsk Gubernia, Russian ...

used this basin for testing new models of ships between 1900 and 1908. The General Staff of the Navy constructed the most powerful

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

Imperial Russia The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the List of Russian monarchs, Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended th ...

there in 1915. After the 1917 Russian Revolution, the 18th-century buildings of New Holland Island fell into neglect. From 1918 to 2004 the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...

and the

Russian Ground Forces The Russian Ground Forces (russian: Сухопутные войска �ВSukhoputnyye voyska V}), also known as the Russian Army (, ), are the land forces of the Russian Armed Forces. The primary responsibilities of the Russian Ground Forces ...

used the island as a mixed-use facility.

2000s revival

Navy Day Several nations observe or have observed a Navy Day to recognize their navy. By country Argentina The Argentine Navy day is celebrated on May 17, anniversary of the victory achieved in 1814 in the Battle of Montevideo. Bahrain The R ...

in 2000, New Holland was opened to the public for the emplacements project (1997–2000), an art project created by artists

Françoise Dupré Françoise () is a French feminine given name (equivalent to the Italian Francesca) and may refer to: * Anne Françoise Elizabeth Lange (1772–1816), French actress * Claudine Françoise Mignot (1624–1711), French adventuress * Françoise Adn ...

and

Roxane Permar Roxane Permar is an artist who has worked in the field of public art and socially engaged practice. Her career has been based in the UK, where she lived and worked in London before moving to Scotland in 1998. Her practice is situated locally, nat ...

with support from Russian artists, including Lyudmila Belova and Tatyana Nikolaenko, involving over two dozen artists altogether. In 2004, the Ministry of Defense evacuated the buildings, which were to be refurbished for hotels and clubs to a design by

Norman Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

, until the consortium running the project ran into difficulties. Since 2010, the island is owned by the Iris Foundation ( Daria Zhukova's art foundation). A new project was established with space for galleries and a museum, possibly to house Abramovich's art collection. The $12-billion-dollar redevelopment project was awarded to NY-based architecture firm WORKac. The island opened to the public in 2011. The planned £256m complex is intended to combine commercial and residential properties with the restoration of monuments that are protected by

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

. While very similar to the plans made by Fosters + Partners in 2006, the firm WORKac designed the new island as a microcosm of St-Petersburg, a concept of "city within the city". A branch of the

Centre of Contemporary Art Centre of Contemporary Art (CoCA, formerly the Canterbury Society of Arts) is a curated art gallery in the central city of Christchurch, New Zealand. The gallery is administered by the Canterbury Society of Arts (CSA) Charitable Trust. Quarter ...

(based in Moscow) is also planned. In 2016, the restoration of the former blacksmith building (the foundry), the administrative building (the commandant’s house) and the old naval prison was launched. A playground and a communal herb garden were also planned. An ice skating rink was planned to be installed during winters on the central lawn. Those new additions are to be completed by 2025. New Holland Island Gates.jpg, New Holland Island Arch in Saint Petersburg Arch of New Holland.jpg, New Holland Arch New Holland SPB (img6).jpg, New Holland SPB Commandant House.jpg, The Commandant's House New Holland SPB The Bottle (img1).jpg, The Bottle House – former military prison Санкт-Петербург. "Новая Голландия". Морская тюрьма. 2011г..jpg, The former naval prison

References

Bibliography

*{{cite book, first=William C. , last=Brumfield , title=Landmarks of Russian Architecture , publisher=

Routledge Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law, and ...

, location=UK , date=1997 , isbn=90-5699-537-5

External links

Official website

New Holland Island Cultural Center Masterplan
1720 establishments in Russia Islands of Saint Petersburg Buildings and structures in Saint Petersburg Neoclassical architecture in Russia Foster and Partners buildings Defunct prisons in Russia Warehouse districts Shipyards of Russia Art gallery districts Planned new art museums and galleries Artificial islands of Russia River islands of Russia Cultural heritage monuments of federal significance in Saint Petersburg