Saint Petersburg (Russian: Санкт-Петербу́рг, tr.

Sankt-Peterburg, IPA: [ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk] ( listen))

is Russia's second-largest city after Moscow, with 5 million inhabitants in 2012,[9] part of the Saint
Petersburg agglomeration with a population of 6.2 million (2015). An important Russian port on the
Baltic Sea, it has a status of a federal subject (a federal city).
Situated on the Neva River, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea, it was founded
by Tsar Peter the Great on 27 May [O.S. 16 May] 1703. During the periods 1713–1728 and 1732–
1918, Saint Petersburg was the capital of Imperial Russia. In 1918, the central government bodies
moved to Moscow,[10] which is about 625 km (388 miles) to the south-east.
Saint Petersburg is often considered Russia's cultural capital.[11] The Historic Centre of Saint
Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments constitute a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Saint
Petersburg is home to the Hermitage, one of the largest art museums in the world.[12] Many foreign
consulates, international corporations, banks and businesses have offices in Saint Petersburg.

Contents

 1Name
 2History
o 2.1Imperial era (1703–1917)
o 2.2Revolution and Soviet era (1917–1941)
o 2.3World War II (1941–1945)
o 2.4Post-war Soviet era (1945–1991)
o 2.5Contemporary era (1991–present)
 3Geography
o 3.1Climate
o 3.2Toponymy
 4Demographics
o 4.1Religion
 5Government
 6Economy
 7Cityscape
 8Tourism
 9Media and communications
 10Culture
o 10.1Museums
o 10.2Music
o 10.3Film
o 10.4Literature
 11Education
 12Sports
o 12.12018 FIFA World Cup
 13Infrastructure
o 13.1Transportation
 13.1.1Roads and public transport
o 13.2Saint Petersburg public transportation statistics
 13.2.1Waterways
 13.2.2Rail
 13.2.3Air
 o 13.3Parks
 14Famous people
 15Crime
 16Twin towns and sister cities
 17See also
 18Notes
 19References
o 19.1Citations
o 19.2Sources
 20External links

Name[edit]
A proponent of westernising Russia, Peter the Great, who established the city, originally named
it Sankt-Peterburg (Russian: Санкт-Петербург;[a] note the Russian name lacks the
letter s between Peter and burg).[13] On 1 September 1914, after the outbreak of World War I, the
Imperial government renamed the
city Petrograd (Russian: Петрогра́д[a], IPA: [pʲɪtrɐˈgrat]),[14] meaning "Peter's city", in order to
expunge the German words Sankt and Burg. On 26 January 1924, shortly after the death of Vladimir
Lenin, it was renamed to Leningrad (Russian: Ленингра́д, IPA: [lʲɪnʲɪnˈgrat]), meaning "Lenin's City".
On 6 September 1991, the original name, Sankt-Peterburg, was returned. Today, in English the city
is known as "Saint Petersburg". Local residents often refer to the city by its shortened
nickname, Piter (Russian: Пи́тер, IPA: [ˈpʲitʲɪr]).
The city's traditional nicknames among Russians are the Window to the West and the Window to
Europe. The northernmost metropolis in the world, St. Petersburg is often called the Venice of the
North or Russian Venice due to its many water corridors, as the city is built on swamp and water.
Furthermore, St. Petersburg has strongly European-inspired architecture and culture, which is
combined with the city's Russian heritage.[15][16][17] Another nickname of St. Petersburg is The City of
White Nights because of a natural phenomenon which arises due to the closeness to the polar
region and ensures that in summer the nights of the city do not get completely dark for a
month.[18][19] Just as Venice is associated with romance, in St. Petersburg the White Nightshave a
high value for love couples.[20]

History[edit]
Main articles: History of Saint Petersburg and Timeline of Saint Petersburg

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Imperial era (1703–1917)[edit]

The Bronze Horseman, monument to Peter the Great

Swedish colonists built Nyenskans, a fortress at the mouth of the Neva River in 1611, in what was
then called Ingermanland, which was inhabited by Finnic tribe of Ingrians. The small town of Nyen
grew up around it.
At the end of the 17th century, Peter the Great, who was interested in seafaring and maritime affairs,
wanted Russia to gain a seaport to trade with the rest of Europe.[21]He needed a better seaport than
the country's main one at the time, Arkhangelsk, which was on the White Sea in the far north and
closed to shipping during the winter.

Street leads to St. Nicholas Maritime Cathedral

On 12 May [O.S. 1 May] 1703, during the Great Northern War, Peter the Great captured Nyenskans
and soon replaced the fortress.[22] On 27 May [O.S. 16 May] 1703,[23] closer to the estuary 5 km (3 mi)
inland from the gulf),[clarification needed] on Zayachy (Hare) Island, he laid down the Peter and Paul Fortress,
which became the first brick and stone building of the new city.[24]
The city was built by conscripted peasants from all over Russia; a number of Swedish prisoners of
war were also involved in some years under the supervision of Alexander Menshikov.[25] Tens of
thousands of serfs died building the city.[26] Later, the city became the centre of the Saint Petersburg
Governorate. Peter moved the capital from Moscow to Saint Petersburg in 1712, 9 years before
the Treaty of Nystad of 1721 ended the war; he referred to Saint Petersburg as the capital (or seat of
government) as early as 1704.[21]
Map of Saint Petersburg, 1744

During its first few years, the city developed around Trinity Square on the right bank of the Neva,
near the Peter and Paul Fortress. However, Saint Petersburg soon started to be built out according
to a plan. By 1716 the Swiss Italian Domenico Trezzini had elaborated a project whereby the city
centre would be on Vasilyevsky Island and shaped by a rectangular grid of canals. The project was
not completed but is evident in the layout of the streets. In 1716, Peter the Great appointed
Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Alexandre Le Blond as the chief architect of Saint Petersburg.[27]
The style of Petrine Baroque, developed by Trezzini and other architects and exemplified by such
buildings as the Menshikov Palace, Kunstkamera, Peter and Paul Cathedral, Twelve Collegia,
became prominent in the city architecture of the early 18th century. In 1724 the Academy of
Sciences, University and Academic Gymnasium were established in Saint Petersburg by Peter the
Great.
In 1725, Peter died at age fifty-two. His endeavours to modernize Russia had met with opposition
from the Russian nobility—resulting in several attempts on his life and a treason case involving his
son.[28] In 1728, Peter II of Russia moved his seat back to Moscow. But four years later, in 1732,
under Empress Anna of Russia, Saint Petersburg was again designated as the capital of
the Russian Empire. It remained the seat of the Romanov dynasty and the Imperial Court of
the Russian Tsars, as well as the seat of the Russian government, for another 186 years until
the communist revolution of 1917.
In 1736–1737 the city suffered from catastrophic fires. To rebuild the damaged boroughs, a
committee under Burkhard Christoph von Münnich commissioned a new plan in 1737. The city was
divided into five boroughs, and the city centre was moved to the Admiralty borough, on the east bank
between the Neva and Fontanka.

Palace Square backed by the General staff arch and building, as the main square of the Russian Empire it was
the setting of many events of historic significance

It developed along three radial streets, which meet at the Admiralty building and are now one street
known as Nevsky Prospekt (which is considered the main street of the city), Gorokhovaya
Street and Voznesensky Prospekt. Baroque architecture became dominant in the city during the first
sixty years, culminating in the Elizabethan Baroque, represented most notably by Italian Bartolomeo
Rastrelli with such buildings as the Winter Palace. In the 1760s, Baroque architecture was
succeeded by neoclassical architecture.
Established in 1762, the Commission of Stone Buildings of Moscow and Saint Petersburg ruled no
structure in the city can be higher than the Winter Palace and prohibited spacing between buildings.
During the reign of Catherine the Great in the 1760s–1780s, the banks of the Neva were lined
with granite embankments.
However, it was not until 1850 that the first permanent bridge across the Neva, Blagoveshchensky
Bridge, was allowed to open. Before that, only pontoon bridges were allowed. Obvodny Canal (dug
in 1769–1833) became the southern limit of the city.
The most prominent neoclassical and Empire-style architects in Saint Petersburg included:

 Jean-Baptiste Vallin de la Mothe (Imperial Academy of Arts, Small Hermitage, Gostiny

Dvor, New Holland Arch, Catholic Church of St. Catherine)
 Antonio Rinaldi (Marble Palace)
 Yury Felten (Old Hermitage, Chesme Church)
 Giacomo Quarenghi (Academy of Sciences, Hermitage Theatre, Yusupov Palace)
 Andrey Voronikhin (Mining Institute, Kazan Cathedral)
 Andreyan Zakharov (Admiralty building)
 Jean-François Thomas de Thomon (Spit of Vasilievsky Island)
 Carlo Rossi (Yelagin Palace, Mikhailovsky Palace, Alexandrine Theatre, Senate and Synod
Buildings, General staff Building, design of many streets and squares)
 Vasily Stasov (Moscow Triumphal Gate, Trinity Cathedral)
 Auguste de Montferrand (Saint Isaac's Cathedral, Alexander Column)

Decembrists at the Senate Square, December 26, 1825.

In 1810, Alexander I established the first engineering Higher learning institution, the Saint
Petersburg Main military engineering School in Saint Petersburg. Many monuments commemorate
the Russian victory over Napoleonic France in the Patriotic War of 1812, including the Alexander
Column by Montferrand, erected in 1834, and the Narva Triumphal Gate.
In 1825, the suppressed Decembrist revolt against Nicholas I took place on the Senate Square in the
city, a day after Nicholas assumed the throne.
By the 1840s, neoclassical architecture had given way to various romanticist styles, which
dominated until the 1890s, represented by such architects as Andrei Stackenschneider (Mariinsky
Palace, Beloselsky-Belozersky Palace, Nicholas Palace, New Michael Palace) and Konstantin
Thon (Moskovsky railway station).
With the emancipation of the serfs undertaken by Alexander II in 1861 and an Industrial Revolution,
the influx of former peasants into the capital increased greatly. Poor boroughs spontaneously
emerged on the outskirts of the city. Saint Petersburg surpassed Moscow in population and
industrial growth; it developed as one of the largest industrial cities in Europe, with a major naval
base (in Kronstadt), river and sea port.
The names of Saints Peter and Paul, bestowed upon original city's citadel and its cathedral (from
1725—a burial vault of Russian emperors) coincidentally were the names of the first two
assassinated Russian Emperors, Peter III (1762, supposedly killed in a conspiracy led by his
wife, Catherine the Great) and Paul I (1801, Nicholas Zubov and other conspirators who brought to
power Alexander I, the son of their victim). The third emperor's assassination took place in Saint
Petersburg in 1881 when Alexander II fell victim to terrorists (see the Church of the Savior on Blood).


Saint Michael's Castle

Kronstadt Naval Cathedral

Fontanka River

Griboyedov Canal
 

Peterhof Palace
The Revolution of 1905 began in Saint Petersburg and spread rapidly into the provinces.
On 1 September 1914, after the outbreak of World War I, the Imperial government renamed the
city Petrograd,[14] meaning "Peter's City", to remove the German words Sankt and Burg.

Revolution and Soviet era (1917–1941)[edit]

In March 1917, during the February Revolution Nicholas II abdicated for himself and on behalf of his
son, ending the Russian monarchy and over three hundred years of Romanov dynastic rule.

Bolsheviks celebrating May 1 near the Winter Palace half a year after taking power, 1918

On 7 November [O.S. 25 October] 1917, the Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, stormed the Winter
Palace in an event known thereafter as the October Revolution, which led to the end of the post-
Tsarist provisional government, the transfer of all political power to the Soviets, and the rise of
the Communist Party.[29] After that the city acquired a new descriptive name, "the city of three
revolutions",[30] referring to the three major developments in the political history of Russia of the early
20th century.
In September and October 1917, German troops invaded the West Estonian archipelago and
threatened Petrograd with bombardment and invasion. On 12 March 1918, the Soviets transferred
the government to Moscow, to keep it away from the state border. During the ensuing Civil War, in
1919 general Yudenich advancing from Estonia repeated the attempt to capture the city, but Leon
Trotsky mobilized the army and forced him to retreat.
On 26 January 1924, five days after Lenin's death, Petrograd was renamed Leningrad. Later some
streets and other toponyms were renamed accordingly. The city has over 230 places associated with
the life and activities of Lenin. Some of them were turned into museums,[31] including
the cruiser Aurora—a symbol of the October Revolution and the oldest ship in the Russian Navy.
In the 1920s and 1930s, the poor outskirts were reconstructed into regularly planned
boroughs. Constructivist architecture flourished around that time. Housing became a government-
provided amenity; many "bourgeois" apartments were so large that numerous families were
assigned to what were called "communal" apartments (kommunalkas). By the 1930s, 68% of the
population lived in such housing. In 1935 a new general plan was outlined, whereby the city should
expand to the south. Constructivism was rejected in favour of a more pompous Stalinist architecture.
Moving the city centre further from the border with Finland, Stalin adopted a plan to build a new city
hall with a huge adjacent square at the southern end of Moskovsky Prospekt, designated as the new
main street of Leningrad. After the Winter (Soviet-Finnish) war in 1939–1940, the Soviet–Finnish
border moved northwards. Nevsky Prospekt with Palace Square maintained the functions and the
role of a city centre.
In December 1931, Leningrad was administratively separated from Leningrad Oblast. At that time it
included the Leningrad Suburban District, some parts of which were transferred back to Leningrad
Oblast in 1936 and turned into Vsevolozhsky District, Krasnoselsky District, Pargolovsky District and
Slutsky District (renamed Pavlovsky District in 1944).[32]
On 1 December 1934, Sergey Kirov, the popular communist leader of Leningrad, was assassinated,
which became the pretext for the Great Purge.[33] In Leningrad, approximately 40,000 were executed
during Stalin's purges.[34]