{"id":16076,"date":"2019-04-16T01:15:53","date_gmt":"2019-04-16T01:15:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=16076"},"modified":"2019-04-17T05:31:21","modified_gmt":"2019-04-17T05:31:21","slug":"in-notre-dame-fire-echoes-of-the-1837-blaze-that-destroyed-russias-winter-palac","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/in-notre-dame-fire-echoes-of-the-1837-blaze-that-destroyed-russias-winter-palac\/","title":{"rendered":"In Notre Dame fire, echoes of the 1837 blaze that destroyed Russia’s Winter Palac"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paul W. Werth<\/a>, University of Nevada, Las Vegas<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

In a city graced with remarkable architecture, the cathedral of Notre Dame may be Paris\u2019 most striking edifice. So when it was engulfed by a fire<\/a> that toppled its spire, it seemed as if more than a building had been scorched; the nation had lost a piece of its soul. <\/p>\n

How can a country respond to witnessing the devastation of its most magnificent structure? <\/p>\n

As I watched the images, I couldn\u2019t help but think of a similar tragedy that took place in 19th-century Russia \u2013 a story I tell in a forthcoming book about how the year 1837 played a pivotal role in Russian history.<\/p>\n

Like the people of France who are mourning the damage to Notre Dame, the Russians were rocked by the destruction of an iconic building. Their rebuilding effort might offer some inspiration for a French populace looking to pick up the pieces of their beloved cathedral.<\/p>\n

A palace that symbolizes \u2018all that is Russian\u2019<\/h2>\n

On Dec. 17, 1837, a fire broke out at the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg. Now the site of the famous State Hermitage Museum, back then it served as the primary residence of the czar and his family. <\/p>\n

Standing in the heart of the Russian capital, with 60,000 square meters of floor space and 1,500 rooms, the Winter Palace was among the world\u2019s grandest buildings<\/a>. The Russian poet Vasilii Zhukovskii<\/a> wrote that the palace was \u201cthe representation of all that is Russian, all that is ours, all that relates to the Fatherland.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally completed in 1762, the palace had undergone a renovation just prior to the fire. Historians aren\u2019t precisely sure how the fire started, but they do know that defects from the renovation allowed the flames to spread quickly through the palace\u2019s attics. By evening the structure was completely ablaze, a spectacle visible from miles away.<\/p>\n

Informed of the fire while at St. Petersburg\u2019s Bolshoi Theatre<\/a>, Czar Nicholas I rushed to the palace, only to learn that the building couldn\u2019t be saved. The best the monarch and his personnel could do was salvage prized possessions and prevent the fire\u2019s spread to the Hermitage, where the emperor\u2019s art collection was housed.<\/p>\n

By the morning of Dec. 19, only the structure\u2019s skeleton remained and an unknown number of people had died. The ruined palace \u201cstood sullenly like a warrior,\u201d one witness observed, \u201cpowerful but covered with wounds and blackened by the smoke of unprecedented battle.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThe northern capital has lost her greatest ornament,\u201d a local newspaper lamented<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A blow to the ruling regime<\/h2>\n

For the czar and his regime, the fire presented a political challenge. <\/p>\n

The palace \u2013 a symbol of autocratic monarchy in an age of revolution \u2013 was now in ruins. Might the swift destruction of the palace reflect the fragility of the czarist order?<\/p>\n

\n \"\"<\/a>
\n An 1852 portrait of Czar Nicholas I by Franz Kr\u00fcger.<\/span>
\n Hermitage Museum<\/a><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As with Paris in 2019, people expressed disbelief. How was it possible that this magnificent edifice, this national symbol, could be consigned to such destruction? Nicholas himself fell into depression<\/a>, haunted by even the whiff of smoke. There were murmurs that the conflagration was God\u2019s punishment for the impieties of a secularizing age.<\/p>\n

Fearing that Russia\u2019s detractors would cast the fire as a blow to the regime\u2019s clout, Nicholas\u2019 allies quickly mobilized to shape the narrative in Russia and abroad. They wanted the country to appear united. And they certainly didn\u2019t want despondency to become the story.<\/p>\n

Shaped by these imperatives and especially concerns about the international response, the first full account of the fire<\/a> was written in French by the poet Petr Viazemskii<\/a> and published in Paris. A Russian translation appeared two months later.<\/p>\n

That text and others painted a highly idealized picture of the response to the tragedy. The accounts noted that the emperor forcefully directed the fire\u2019s containment, submitting finally and humbly to God\u2019s will. The empress Alexandra exhibited pious fortitude. Soldiers were selfless in their fervor to save the imperial family\u2019s possessions. The Russian people, viewing the palace as their \u201cnational patrimony,\u201d felt the loss just as keenly as the czar. (An assault on his wine cellar, and the disappearance of 215 bottles, was glossed over.)<\/p>\n

\u2018Zeal overcomes all\u2019<\/h2>\n

To reverse the humiliation of the blaze, Nicholas set a nearly impossible goal<\/a>: rebuild the palace within 15 months. And to erase any memory of the conflagration, he ordered that the restored palace look exactly as it had before. <\/p>\n

Thousands of workers labored on an enormous construction site, blowing hot air from immense furnaces to speed the drying of interiors. Occasionally spurred by sips of vodka<\/a>, they made rapid progress.<\/p>\n

On the fire\u2019s first anniversary, portions of the restored palace were illuminated from within to showcase the progress. And on Easter Night, March 25, 1839, Nicholas celebrated the resurrection not only of Jesus Christ, but of the Winter Palace. <\/p>\n

Some 200,000 people visited the building that Easter Day, and 6,000 laborers received a medal inscribed with the words \u201cZeal overcomes all<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Outwardly identical to the old version, the new palace featured more iron, brick and ceramic in its structures \u2013 and less wood. It now had central heating and running water. It was far less fire-prone than the original.<\/p>\n

\n \"\"
\n Joseph Ivanovich Charlemagne\u2019s 1853 painting of the north facade of the restored Winter Palace.<\/span>
\n Wikimedia Commons<\/a><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

1837 and 2019<\/h2>\n

From what we know so far, Notre Dame hasn\u2019t experienced the same level of destruction as the Winter Palace. Mercifully, nobody died. Nor has the blaze of 2019 produced the loss of culture sustained in last year\u2019s fire at Brazil\u2019s National Museum<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Still, the scope of the damage has been vast<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Only time will tell what\u2019s in store for the cathedral. The challenges of reconstruction are great. But like Nicholas, French President Emmanuel Macron has promised swift repairs<\/a>. Millions in donations<\/a> have already poured in. <\/p>\n

And if the Russian phoenix of 1839 is any indication, there is hope that a renewed Notre Dame will once again grace the banks of the Seine.\"The<\/p>\n

Paul W. Werth<\/a>, Professor of History, University of Nevada, Las Vegas<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Paul W. Werth, University of Nevada, Las Vegas In a city graced with remarkable architecture, the cathedral of Notre Dame may be Paris\u2019 most striking edifice. So when it was engulfed by a fire that toppled its spire, it seemed as if more than a building had been scorched; the nation had lost a piece […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":16074,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[293],"tags":[223,1743,6183,6182,6186,234,6185,6184],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16076"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16076"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16076\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16078,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16076\/revisions\/16078"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}