Visiting (some) locations from Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment".
Dostoevsky was born in Moscow but most of his life he lived here, in St Petersburg and used it as the setting for most of his novels.
- He gives abbreviated street names in the book (e.g. K-n Bridge). K-n Bridge is - Kokushkin Bridge (Photos 2, 3, 4).
- 5, 6, 7 Rodion Raskolnikov's house. Located at the corner of Stolyarny Lane. (My heart, my heart, I won't even start describing how I love this fictional character. I'm afraid it will only sound pathetic, if it hasn't already. I'm trying to stay professional here.) "At the beginning of July, during an extremely hot spell, towards evening, a young man left the closet he rented from tenants in S-y Lane, walked out to the street, and slowly, as if indecisively, headed for the K-n Bridge." I love this character and the novel. And the ending in the book, IN THE BOOK. Very sad that in several adaptations that I've seen the Epilogue - was COMPLETELY cut out. It is one of the most important part of the book. It is like taking the hope away from the people. Even worse. The whole idea of the book is lost without the ending. Very cruel and I don't understand why it was done this way.
- 8 The home of the old pawnbroker. "He did not have far to go; he even knew how many steps it was from the gate of his house: exactly 730. " I walked from the house of pawnbroker to his gates and counted my own steps. Turned out around 790 or so (I am absolutely not tall, quite the opposite, so it took me more steps to get there. Raskolnikov is descibed as "taller than average").
- 9 Bakaleev's house, where his sister and mother stayed.
- 10 The Nikolaevsky Bridge (Now Blagoveshchenskiy). "...and turned his face to the Neva, in the direction of the palace.... The dome of the cathedral, which is not outlined so well from any other spot as when looked at from here, on the bridge, about twenty paces from the chapel, was simply shining, and through the clear air one could even make out each of its ornaments distinctly." I tried to capture the right direction. You can see the Winter Palace far away on the right, and the dome.
- 11 - Pigeon
- 12 - Behind this pigeon (no idea, what I was thinking about photographing this place like this) is the bridge where Raskolnikov stopped and "gazed mechanically at the last pink gleams of the sunset" and then saw a women who tried to drown herself.
There are a lot more places mentioned in the novel. It it is better to see them during the summer "At the beginning of July". I actually did took photos during the summer, but had a technical incident and they were spoiled.