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.

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 discuss how the growing population required a lot of food and fish was significant part of the city dwellers’ diets. Social stratification led to the clear division between fish commodities for the wealthy and those for poor citizens, though some kinds of fish could be popular among all dwellers, regardless of social differences.