New Holland Island () is a historic triangular artificial island in
central Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
,
Russia
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
, 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 and
Admiralty Canal connected the
Moika River with the
Neva. The triangular island took its name after a number of canals and shipbuilding facilities that rendered its appearance similar to
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
. The island was originally built for timber storage.
Peter the Great
Peter I (, ;
– ), better known as Peter the Great, was the Sovereign, Tsar and Grand Prince of all Russia, Tsar of all Russia from 1682 and the first Emperor of Russia, Emperor of all Russia from 1721 until his death in 1725. He reigned j ...
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, 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 shipbuilding, built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Compared to shipyards, which are sometimes m ...
for
rowing boats. 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 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 ...
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.
Biogra ...
had designed and supervised the construction of a highly pitched
Neoclassical arch
An arch is a curved vertical structure spanning an open space underneath it. Arches may support the load above them, or they may perform a purely decorative role. As a decorative element, the arch dates back to the 4th millennium BC, but stru ...
over the canal connecting the Moika with the inner basin (the "Kovsh", ). 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 wit ...
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, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where Prisoner, people are Imprisonment, imprisoned under the authority of the State (polity), state ...
in 1828–29 and a
basin for naval architects in 1893.
Aleksei Krylov 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 the broadcasting 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 rad ...
in
Imperial Russia
Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor/empress, or imperialism.
Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to:
Places
United States
* Imperial, California
* Imperial, Missouri
* Imperial, Nebraska
* Imperial, Pennsylvania
* ...
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, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...
and the
Russian Ground Forces
The Russian Ground Forces (), also known as the Russian Army in English, are the Army, land forces of the Russian Armed Forces.
The primary responsibilities of the Russian Ground Forces are the protection of the state borders, combat on land, ...
used the island as a mixed-use facility.
2000s revival
On
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 against the Spanish fleet in the action of 14 ...
in 2000, New Holland was opened to the public for the emplacements project (1997–2000), an art project created by artists
Françoise Dupré and
Roxane Permar 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 Robert Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank (born 1 June 1935) is an English architect. Closely associated with the development of high-tech architecture, Lord Foster is recognised as a key figure in British modernist architecture. Hi ...
,
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 (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
.
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 (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.
References
Bibliography
*{{cite book, first=William C. , last=Brumfield , title=Landmarks of Russian Architecture , publisher=
Routledge
Routledge ( ) is a British multinational corporation, multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, academic journals, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanit ...
, location=UK , date=1997 , isbn=90-5699-537-5
External links
Official websiteNew 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
Art gallery districts
Proposed art museums and galleries
Artificial islands of Russia
River islands of Russia
Cultural heritage monuments of federal significance in Saint Petersburg