The 1907 Tiflis bank robbery, also known as the Yerevan Square expropriation,[1] was an armed robbery on 26 June 1907[a] in the city of Tiflis (now Georgia's capital, Tbilisi). A bank cash shipment was stolen by Bolsheviks to fund their revolutionary activities. The robbers attacked a bank stagecoach and surrounding police and military using bombs and guns while the stagecoach was transporting money through Yerevan Square (now Freedom Square) between the post office and the Tiflis branch of the State Bank of the Russian Empire. The attack killed forty people and injured fifty others, according to official archive documents. The robbers escaped with 341,000 rubles (equivalent to around US 3.4 million in 2008).
The robbery was organized by a number of top-level Bolsheviks, including Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Maxim Litvinov, Leonid Krasin, and Alexander Bogdanov, and executed by a gang of revolutionaries led by Stalin's early associate Ter-Petrosian (Kamo).
Soldiers of the Presidential Regiment parade in Red Square.
By SOPHIA KISHOVSKY Published: June 29, 2006
Russia exhumes the remains of the last Tsar Nicholas II and his wife to relaunch a criminal probe into his murder
Dramatic: Russia has reopened a criminal probe into the death of last Tsar Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra (both left) and exhumed their remains. Pictured right are the Tsar's remains before they were reburied in 1998
Russia's Romanov dynasty were massacred by the Bolsheviks in 1918. Remains of tsar, empress and three children were thrown into a mineshaft but were analysed and reburied in 1998
The remains of two other children (one of which is pictured here) were found in 2007. Russia now wants to convince the Russian Orthodox Church to let the children be buried alongside their parents
Previous burial: Scientists are certain that the correct bones were buried in a military ceremony in 1998
As sad as we were to leave Moscow, we were pumped for the four nights in St. Petersburg—the cultural capital of Russia—we had ahead of us. And with a spontaneous business class upgrade on S7 Airlines (we ended up taking a quick flight rather than the train between the two cities) and free champagne and dessert upon arrival at the Radisson Royal Hotel St. Petersburg, we were off to a great start.
Although it is very young as far as major European cities go, St. Petersburg has had a fascinating history. It was founded by Tsar Peter the Great in 1703 and named the city in St. Peter’s honor. Peter the Great traveled extensively across Europe and sought to make his city in the image of great European capitals. People often call St. Petersburg the “Venice of the North,” but we learned on our walking tour that Peter the Great had never actually been to Venice but instead tried to emulate Amsterdam’s patterns of streets and canals.
St. Petersburg is canals and colored buildingsRussian nesting dolls are the go-to souvenirThe Singer Building (the American sewing machine company), now headquarters of VK, Russia’s FacebookNewlyweds in front of St. Isaac’s CathedralFind the little bird along the Fontanka River, get a coin to stay on its perch, have good luckWe heard a performance of classical Russian romances in the gorgeous Smolny CathedralBridges are raised for an extended period in the middle of the night to let boats through┅ we were cautioned not to be on the wrong side when that time camePeter and Paul Fortress, the site of the original city founding, along the Neva River
St. Petersburg was the imperial capital of Russia for roughly two centuries, ending in 1917 with the February and October (Bolshevik) Revolutions and the overthrow (and eventual execution) of the royal family. Remember the cartoon movie Anastasia? Well that little princess and her family were the last in the Romanov line to live here in the Winter Palace.
The Winter Palace, by day and by nightThe Alexander Column stands in front of the Winter Palace
Signs of unrest leading up to the 1917 overthrow can be seen in the city still today. In 1881, a revolutionist threw a bomb under the carriage of then-Tsar Alexander II. Because this was not the first attempt on the tsar’s life, the carriage was bulletproof and the tsar emerged rattled but unharmed to confront his attacker. It was then that another conspirator threw a second bomb at his feet, mortally injuring the tsar who died a few hours later. Alexander II’s son, Alexander III (the Romanovs were very original, I know), subsequently built a church on the site where his father was attacked. Ironically for the revolutionists, Alexander III was actually much more conservative than his father, and the ensuing decades resulted in a great setback for civil reform (that ultimately helped pave the way for Bolsheviks down the road).
The church is named Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood and was built—over 300 years later—in the medieval Russian style of St. Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow. Inside, the church is decorated with intricate mosaics of biblical scenes and figures.
Church of the Savior on Spilled BloodThe place marking where Alexander II was attackedBrilliant mosaicsThe colors shine best at night
Back to the city itself, the communists officially moved the capital to Moscow in 1918, but that wasn’t the end of the excitement for St. Petersburg. In 1924, three days after Lenin’s death, it would be renamed Leningrad, which it would remain until 1991. And Leningrad would prove to be an unlucky name for the town. During World War II, Leningrad was besieged by the Germans for a total of 29 months. The city was constantly bombed and shelled on Hilter’s orders to destroy the city (all but the Astoria Hotel, which he intended to have his victory party), and its citizens were starved to death. 1.2 million of the city’s 3 million inhabitants lost their lives during the siege (and many more that were unregistered), but Hilter’s army was never able to enter the main part of the city. Our walking tour guide told us how the residents would paint the tops of buildings on wood planks over the city’s rivers to trick German pilots and how they even covered this famous statue of Peter the Great in trash to protect it from bombs.
The statue of Peter the Great survived the Siege of Leningrad
The Winter Palace was used as a bomb shelter during the siege, and many of its treasures were evacuated right before the German army closed the siege ring. Today, the Winter Palace contains one of the most famous museums in the world, the Hermitage. Originally founded by Catherine the Great in 1764, it was intended to be a place of retreat and seclusion (hence the name). We toured the museum during our time in St. Petersburg and took in the palace’s ornate rooms and famous art works, including pieces by Michelangelo, da Vinci, Rembrandt, Rubens, Monet, van Gogh, Matisse, and Picasso.
The ornate rooms of the Hermitage make it one of the most beautiful museums in the worldThe Peacock Clock (click here to watch it in action around 1:45, though the whole clip is cool)
We weren’t finished with St. Petersburg’s spectacular sights yet. In addition to founding the city, Peter the Great also laid out orders to build a massive palace in the countryside modeled after Versailles. Chris and I hopped a ride aboard a hydrofoil and spent an afternoon wandering the gardens and admiring all the unique foundations surrounding the palace. Hilter’s army looted Peterhof during the Siege of Leningrad, but it has since been rebuilt to its former glory.
Peterhof Palace and its gilded fountains, all powered by gravity alone