We’re excited to show you the details of in-game Petrograd, along with a few historical facts about 19th-century Russia.
Since Steam doesn’t support vertical videos in posts, we’ve adapted ours to a horizontal format. Want to see more details of in-game Petrograd? Let us know in the comments!
The first telephones appeared in the 19th century and were very different from modern ones. Instead of the familiar handheld receiver, they had two separate parts: an “ear” for listening, shaped like a funnel or lantern, and a “mouth” for speaking into. At first, people often mixed them up. In the first telephone booth, opened at 26 Nevsky Prospect, there was even a sign with a reminder: “Do not listen with the mouth and do not speak into the ear.”
Residential buildings in St. Petersburg were heated mostly with firewood. It was delivered via the Neva River and unloaded into courtyards, where it was stored in special wood sheds that took up quite a lot of space and sometimes reached as high as the second floor.
The firewood was then chopped and carried to the apartments by the yard keepers, who received separate payment for this work.
Kerosene and oil lamps were used everywhere in the 19th century — from city streets to writing desks. A single lamp could match the brightness of ten candles, and its flame was steadier and didn’t flicker. These lamps were also safer in terms of fire risk and could burn for 4 to 8 hours.