The exhibition “FROM
SWEDISH TOWN TO RUSSIAN CAPITAL (What the maps and plans of XVII-XVIII
centuries talk about)” is dedicated to the most interesting pages of
Russo-Scandinavian history of the
It is no coincidence
that Saint-Petersburg came into existence on these lands. Here the Old Russian
statehood was born. Ladoga (IX c.) –
The largest nations striving
for these territories were Scandinavians and Finns. The Swedish presence here
meant the Varangians (Vikings), who lived in the
ancient towns of Ladoga and Novgorod, in the watch settlements on the trade
routs; it is the construction of Landskrona Fortress
(1300) to keep watch on the Neva, it is expansion of Swedish Kingdom’s
territory to Sister River (by the 1323 Oreshek-Nöteborg
peace treaty between Novgorod and Sweden), it’s capture of Neva lands from
1580s and foundation of the Swedish Province Ingermanland
and construction of Swedish trade town of Nyen and Nyenskans
Fortress.
Two waves of settling form the Finnish population of
the
The XVII century brought in new changes. Unique in
its speed and large-scale construction of the new Russian capital had attached
these territories to
In spite of the peripeteia of the political and military struggle the
development of the
This unity and centuries-old continuity (in the XV-
first half of the XX centuries at least) showed in different ways. For example,
in XVIII c. while lotting the lands and tracing the
roads Russian builders used XVII Swedish land-surveying. The mapping of
St-Petersburg and
Many documents that
fix this centuries-old unity were found in collections in different countries.
Manuscript origins are most frequent documents among them. But of no less importance are the graphic
materials- geodetic and hydrographic maps, plans of
towns, settlements, fortresses and buildings, projects of fortification and
architectural structures.
The maps, drawings
and projects of Swedish time (XVII c.) have been kept in
But many projects
and drawings of St-Petersburg were found in
The exhibition and
catalogue include six parts: Nyen and Nyenskans (16
plans of XVII- XVIII centuries), Swedish and Russian Ingermanland
(11 maps of XVII-XVIII centuries), military actions of 1703-1705 (3 maps),
Saint-Petersburg (13 plans of the first half of XVIII c.), Kronstadt (4 plans
of XVIII c.), Ladoga canal (3 maps of the early XVIII c.).
Made by the
up-to-date technologies the copies of unique XVII and XVIII centuries documents
from the Krigsarkivet and Kungliga
Biblioteket (Stockholm), from the Russian State Naval
Archives (Saint-Petersburg), from the Library of the Russian Academy of
Sciences (Saint-Petersburg), allow to interpret in a new fashion the history of
the region.
The exhibition and
catalogue were realized on initiative and financing of the Swedish Institute,
The authors thank
all the organizations for taking part in the exhibition and hope that it will
be another page in comprehension of the unity of the historical development of
the