This chapter of the “Wilderness Babel” exhibition, written by historian Mikko Saikku, explores central concepts for understanding the traditional Finnish relationship with nature and use of natural resources.

This exhibition shows some of the many links between the Neva River in St. Petersburg and the Viennese Danube discovered during the joint Russian-Austrian research project “The Long-Term Dynamics of Fish Populations and Ecosystems of European Rivers.”

“‘Commanding, sovereign stream’: The Neva and the Viennese Danube in the History of Imperial Metropolitan Centers” was created by Gertrud Haidvogl, Alexei Kraikovski, and Julia Lajus (2019) under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. This refers only to the text and does not include image rights. Please click on an image to view its individual rights status. Thumbnails of the following images appear on the exhibition landing page:

The idea for this virtual exhibition came out of the joint Russian-Austrian research project “The Long-Term Dynamics of Fish Populations and Ecosystems of European Rivers.” Analyzing the history of fish populations in the Neva and Viennese Danube, the Russian-Austrian research group discovered numerous links between the great cities and their great rivers, including the fish populations. The project has been supported by the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society.

In this chapter of their virtual exhibition “‘Commanding, Sovereign Stream’: The Neva and the Viennese Danube in the History of Imperial Metropolitan Centers,” the authors examine the dynamic landscapes of the Neva and Danube Rivers, the ways they determine people’s lives and are also modified to secure people’s needs and protect them from flooding.

In this chapter of their virtual exhibition “‘Commanding, Sovereign Stream’: The Neva and the Viennese Danube in the History of Imperial Metropolitan Centers,” the authors describe fish resources in St. Petersburg and Vienna and their role in urban life from different perspectives. Fisheries constituted an important part of local economic activities and fishers—both poor professionals and wealthy leisure anglers—were very visible in the cities’ crowds, at their markets, and on the banks of their rivers and canals.

Analyzing the history of fish populations in the Neva and Viennese Danube, the Russian-Austrian research group discovered numerous links between the great cities and their great rivers, including the fish populations. This introduction to the virtual exhibition “‘Commanding, Sovereign Stream’: The Neva and the Viennese Danube in the History of Imperial Metropolitan Centers” explains how the exhibition visualizes these links and reveal some hidden (or at least not immediately evident) sides of urban life.