Palais du duc de Leüctemberg

Title

Palais du duc de Leüctemberg

Description

View of the Leuchtenberg Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia.

ca. 1830

Artist

Lemercier / Levasseur (1838-1875)

Huge Parisian firm of lithographic printers founded by Joseph Rose Lemercier (1803-1887), who began as the foreman for Langlumé in 1825. Working on his own account from 1827, 1829-36 in partnership with Bénard association formed in 1837 according to IFF catalogue for Joseph Lemercier. The firm was still active in 1841.

Historical Description

In the area of St. Petersburg since the 10th century representatives of various Finno-Ugric peoples lived mostly on agriculture. At the beginning of the 14th century, Sweden and Novgorod quarreled over the area. A Swedish settlement at this place, handed down as Landskrona, was allegedly destroyed in 1301. After that, it was agreed that the region should be considered as a buffer zone between the spheres of influence, where no fortresses could be built. In the following centuries, the area was used at least as a landing place for ships sailing on the Neva River, and possibly as a trading center. The latter certainly applies to the period of renewed Swedish dominance in the region after the construction of the Nyenschanz fortress in 1611 and the Nyen settlement that soon surrounded it. Both were located in the urban area of present-day Saint Petersburg on the northern (or right) bank of the Neva River. There is evidence of major urban development ambitions of the Swedes for Nyen in the 17th century. However, these suffered a severe setback when the settlement and fortress were destroyed by Russian troops in 1656 during the Second Northern War. Reconstruction was soon followed by the final conquest of Nyenschanz on May 1, 1703, during the Great Northern War, by the Russians under Sheremetev, who were advancing down the Neva. Nyen had already been preemptively cleared and partially destroyed by the Swedes themselves by this time. The end of Nyen and Nyenschanz simultaneously marked the beginning of the city history of Saint Petersburg in 1703, the year in which the foundation stone for the Peter and Paul Fortress, named after the Tsar's namesake, was laid on an island opposite Nyenschanz in the Neva Delta.