Ok I am back to the history now, but this is technically school related too because it is the history of the buildings which make up the Smolny Insitute. Our part of the school is just one wing of a larger building which is part of the Smolny Insitute, is called the Centre of Russian Language and Culture, and it serves as a centre for internationals from all across the world to come to learn Russian. The building was built between 1806 and 1808 and was initially a convent as well as a school for young aristocratic girls. However, in 1917 it became the first headquarters for the Bolshevik Central Committee. This is the building from which Lenin and Trotsky executed the Revolution, and afterwards ran the Soviet government. It was also where, in 1934 Sergei Kirov (who was essentially Stalin’s right hand man) the Leningrad Party Chief was assassinated. This didn’t actually occur in the building where we study, but one of the other buildings which makes up the institute. Today, the St. Petersburg Governor uses that part of the campus as their main office. It is so fascinating to me to be going to school every day in a building which I have heard about in my Soviet History classes at UVic, and to be wandering the same halls as some very famous Soviet leaders.
In the centre courtyard of the Smolny campus, and right outside the doors of our wing of the school, is the Smolny Cathedral. This baroque style cathedral is a beautiful sky blue colour and has golden-onion domes typical of Russian churches. We have not been inside yet, because lately there has seemed to have been a lot of construction going on inside, but we intend to go in someday soon to see the interior. As a final note, this cathedral, like many of the other historic churches in St. Petersburg, is not regularly used. It no longer has a congregation and regular services, but special events and services can be held their occasionally because it has been properly blessed, etc.