Sankt-Petersburg Europejczyka – markiza De Custine’a i rosyjskiego Europejczyka – Aleksandra Hercena
Sankt-Petersburg in the eyes of marquis de Custine, a European, and Alexander Hercen, a Russian European

Summary/Abstract: This article is an attempt at reflecting on the history of a legendary Sankt-Petersburg – a symbolof Russia’s power and potential. Built by Peter I, the new capital – antithesis to an old and woodenMoscow – identified with antichristian Europeanization became an object of deliberations fora traveller and a writer, European marquis de Custine, author of letters from his journey throughoutNicholas I’s Russia, collected as Russia in 1839,and an open-minded representative of Russian Europeans, a thinker Alexander Hercen, who happened to live in that “empire of facades”. Thesimilarity of many of their observations and assessments, especially with regard to Petersburg of Nicholas I’s period, seems surprising.

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