Alexander I didn't have any children since his two legitimate daughters died in childhood. When he died in 1825 because of typhus, none of his brothers wanted to become the emperor, and each one of them wanted the other to succeed the throne. When everyone thought that Constantine, brother of Alexander I, would ascend the throne, and many even pledged loyalty to him, Constantine withdrew his inheritance so that his other brother Nicholas I would claim the throne. That happened at a time when many commanders had made a pact of allegiance with Constantine. After that event, they urged others not to make a pact with Nicholas I. Following all these events, a mass uprising of nearly 3,000 Russian troops took place in the Senate Square. Because the uprising took place in December, they called the rebels the Decembrists. Of course, this revolt was crushed with the arrival of Nicholas I, and he claimed the throne after that. However, this revolt on the first day of his reign darkened Nicholas I's view of reforms, social freedom, and ruling. That is why Nicholas, who was a soldier himself, is considered one of the most reactionary of all Russian rulers in the history of the Russian Empire. During the reign of Nicholas I, Russia participated in many wars. Nicholas greatly contributed to the formation of the independent state of Greece. He also resumed the Russian conquest of the Caucasus. He was able to occupy parts of eastern Turkey, the region of present-day Armenia, and Azerbaijan in the Russo-Persia War. He also won the Russo-Turkish War of 1828-1829. But after all these victories, Russia under Nicholas I suffered a heavy defeat in the Crimean War at the end of his reign, which many historians believed was one of the causes of his failure in domestic and foreign policy. Although the Russian Empire reached its geographical zenith with more than 20 million square kilometers of land at the time of Nicholas I's death, there was a need for several immediate and fundamental reforms.
Despite all the repression and censorship in the reign of Nicholas I, it is interesting to note that the reign of Nicholas I is known as the golden age of Russian literature and culture. The leader and inspiration of this golden age is the city of St. Petersburg. Most travel agencies owed their cultural tour to St. Petersburg to this period. During this golden age, St. Petersburg witnessed the rise of Alexander Pushkin and listened to the tales of Nikolai Gogol. Each of these artists has played a positive role in the founding and establishment of St. Petersburg's literary city. A similar thing happened in St. Petersburg's music history when Mikhail Glinka introduced himself as one of the most prominent composers in Russian history. In addition to all this, the reign of Nicholas I had seen the flourishing of the Royal Theater and Russian Ballet in St. Petersburg. That is why this period was undoubtedly the golden age of culture and literature in St. Petersburg, which later attracted many tourists to St. Petersburg on tour to Russia. Besides culture and literature, the Industrial Revolution also came to Russia in earnest during the reign of Nicholas I. During the reign of Nicholas I, the first railway in the country connected St. Petersburg to the imperial estate in Tsarskoye Selo (Pushkin). By the early 1850s, the railway line connecting St. Petersburg and Moscow were completed. During this period, the first permanent bridge was also built on the Neva River. This era was essential for both cultural and industrial development in St. Petersburg's history.
During the reign of Nicholas, several ongoing architectural projects in St. Petersburg had completed. Auguste de Montferrand had finished constructing the Alexander Column on Palace Square, and Carlo Rossi completed the construction of the General Staff Building. These two structures had completed the magnificent look of Palace Square. You can visit them during your tour to St. Petersburg during your travel to Russia. Later, the building of Guards Corps Headquarters had also joined the complex. However, it doesn't play a role in the St. Petersburg tour program. Carlo Rossi also finished reconstructing the Senate and Synod building on Senate Square, which created an amazing atmosphere for placing the Bronze Horseman in the middle of the square. If you have enough time during your travel to Russia, you should not miss the chance to visit Senate Square. The architecture of the building is worth your time, and the Bronze Horseman is one of the major attractions among the monumental statues in the St. Petersburg tour.
Carlo Rossi had also started another magnificent project in St. Petersburg and was able to complete it during the reign of Nicholas I; the Ostrovsky Square, which included Alexandrinsky Theatre, one of the major cultural centers in St. Petersburg on Russia tour; the Imperial Public Library, and its main street, which was named the Theatre Street, but it later changed to Carlo Rossi Street to honor his contribution to St. Petersburg.
In addition to all this, St. Petersburg, during the reign of Nicholas I witnessed many other constructions such as the Marinsky and Nikolovsky palaces, the Moskovsky railway station, and the new Hermitage building in the museum complex. The railway building is still in use, and the New Hermitage building led the general public to visit the Hermitage Gallery for the first time in St. Petersburg's history so that we may owe the Hermitage Museum, one of the major attractions of St. Petersburg in Russia tour to that event.
If you want to see one of the most majestic monuments to Nicholas I during your travel to St. Petersburg, you can visit St. Isaac's Square, in which Auguste de Montferrand, who have constructed the neighboring St. Isaac's Cathedral, created a magnificent equestrian monument to Nicholas I. If you want to learn about each place mentioned in the article you can check weblog. We also give multiple useful information about how to travel to Russia so our travelers can experience a better trip to Russia. If you want to learn about other eras of St. Petersburg's history, for example, the Alexander I era, you should check our Travel to Russia's guide.
