“…Part 2: This program traces the growth of Russian architecture from the Eastern-inspired onion domes and tent roofs of the early wooden churches to the sprawling palaces and vertical spires of secular St. Petersburg. Viewers visit baroque palaces such as Peterhof, with fountains and classical statuary that echo the elegant parks of Italy and France; Rastrelli’s famed Winter Palace in St. …”

“…In this first episode, viewers see how the purely religious tradition of the icon soared toward abstraction in Russia, influencing the birth of modern art in the early 1900s, and then helped legitimize secular political power in the Soviet era. Audiences witness the rededication of a monastery that had been used as a military barracks. …”