Tourist Boat, Neva River, St. Petersburg, Russia Poster

"Tourist Boat on Neva River, St. Petersburg, Russia" by Catherine Sherman. 12x8 ratio A tourist boat nears the Troitskiy Bridge on the Neva River in St. Petersburg, Russia. On the left is the Palace Embankment, which passes by the Hermitage Museum, former Palace of Russian rulers. Empress Catherine the Great founded the museum in 1764. It is the second largest museum in the world. Towering in the background is St. Isaac's Cathedral, the largest orthodox basilica and the fourth largest (by the volume under the cupola) cathedral in the world. The neoclassical exterior expresses the traditional Russian-Byzantine formula of a Greek-cross ground plan with a large central dome and four subsidiary domes. The design of the cathedral and particularly the dome influenced the design of the United States Capitol dome, Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison, Wisconsin, and the Lutheran Cathedral in Helsinki. The dome is plated in pure gold. During World War II, the dome was painted gray to avoid attracting attention from enemy aircraft. Troitskiy Bridge takes its name from the Old Trinity Cathedral which used to stand at its northern end. In the 20th century it was known as Equality Bridge. It is 582 meters (1,909 ft) long and 23.6 meters (77 ft) wide. Construction began in1897. Félix Faure, the president of France was present at the ceremony. In the same political spirit, Nicholas II of Russia laid the foundation stone for the Pont Alexandre III in Paris, another memorial to the Franco-Russian Alliance. The bridge was completed in 1903, in time for the 200-year anniversary of Saint Petersburg.