Wednesday, November 24, 2021 - 5 pm
Room 1G
Venice International University
Alexei Kraikovski
National Research University Higher School of Economics, St. Petersburg, Russia.
University of Padova, Italy.
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The lecture represents the results of a research project based on the comparative consideration of Early Modern urban centers that had established a reputation as maritime metropolises, from Venice to St. Petersburg. Using the materials of the Grand Embassy, the famous European trip of the Russian Tsar Peter I and his entourage, we will discuss the importance of visual impressions in the understanding of the very phenomenon of the maritime metropolis or floating city. Furthermore, the story of the 18th century St. Petersburg, conceptualized as "Another Amsterdam" or "Venice of the North", gives a key to the story of success and failure of the construction of the Maritime Metropolis. How can this phenomenon be imagined and reproduced? Why is a precise copy not the way to replicate the success of the original? Kraikovski will use recent approaches, like the History of Thalassa, New Coastal History, Visual Translation, to invite the audience to embark on this intellectual adventure.
Speaker:
Alexei Kraikovski, Senior Researcher at the Laboratory for Environmental and Technological History at the National Research University Higher School of Economics (ST. Petersburg) and a MSCA Seal of Excellence Research fellow at the University of Padova (Italy).
