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A window lets in light from both sides. But in damp northern climes, it’s often through a glass darkly, be it during the foggy days and White Nights of mid-summer or on snowy evenings surrounding the Winter Solstice when window-panes are frosted and folks darken the chandelier or blow out the candles and crawl early into feather-beds.

Peter the Great’s Sankt Pieter Burkh, founded 300 years ago this year as his “Window on the West,” tempted Europe and the West, much like The Little Match Girl on the coldest night of the year, to come in spiritual and intellectual hunger and in hopes of feeling the warmth and seeing the light-in-the-East they could make out through the almost opaque Petersburg crystal.

In our exhibition you will see just a small sample of what western eyes have seen of St. Petersburg. We’ve cleared the snow off the glass, so put the matches back in your pocket, come in and get just a taste of the sumptuous spread of delectables to be found here. Needless to say, we hope you’ll go away with an evengreater appetite for exploring our considerable holdings on Peter’s glorious city and on Russia itself.

Some of the great strengths of our collections here are in the literature of voyages and travels; of natural history; of geography and cartography; it also happens that our Russian materials are strongest in these areas as well. In fact a whole exhibition – or term paper – or book – could be written here on the connections between European science and the Russian Academy of Sciences; another on the economic, social, and political history of European/Russian relations, especially from the English perspective of the 18th and – using the Novikoff correspondence – the 19th centuries; one can study maps of Russia; or travelers’ accounts. Or find an old recipe for borshcht.

Readers from all points on the compass are welcome to use the Spencer’s collections, and best of all, you can study these wonders hands-on.