Re NCYet's lament, yes. I would go even farther and say that I have always wished that Sophia had stayed in power and Peter permanently exiled from the Russian domains. Whatever her shortcomings, at least the country and culture would have been saved that horrible shock of the damage he did to Russian's self-esteem. That in turn led to so many bad effects, and I have always thought, ultimately to the Russian Revolution, the exact centennial date of which is approaching only 3 weeks from now.
Just think, Peter would NEVER have attempted to build that city in the north which is gloomy and too fake-Italianate.
There is such a Protestant feel to it. I don't see much Catholic influence except in, for example, the building of St Isaac's Cathedral by a brilliant French architect, Auguste de Montferrand, with somewhat Catholic/continental style icons.
Then all those poor people would not have died during the impossible construction of this city, an example of hubris.
Think about the many times the city flooded, causing massive destruction and much loss of life. One such example was told by Chief Manager of Alaska Simeon Ivanovich Yanovsky, who ended his life in the St Tikhon of Kaluga Monastery near Optina as Schemamonk Sergius [ reposed April 1876 ].
Ironically, the date this terrible flood occurred was a signpost for the Bolshevik Revolution. The epic St Petersburg flood occurred on that dread date of November 7, 1824, foreshadowing the date the Reds grabbed power almost a century later.
Did anyone remark upon this coincidence in the years after the Soviet Union replaced the Russian Empire ?
Yanovsky left memoirs of what he witnessed when living on Vasilievsky Island, where St Xenia's shrine is located.
The narrative is too awful for words to hear all that the denizens of the northern capital endured --- all due to the megalomaniac and anti-Orthodox Peter.
Back to this image in the 1st post : that is something !
I had never known that the Guadalupe image was present in Orthodox Churches of Central and South America.
I see also Our Lady of Perpetual Help to the left of the royal doors.