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Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), is the second-largest city in
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
. It is situated on the
Neva The Neva (russian: Нева́, ) is a river in northwestern Russia flowing from Lake Ladoga through the western part of Leningrad Oblast (historical region of Ingria) to the Neva Bay of the Gulf of Finland. Despite its modest length of , it ...
River, at the head of the
Gulf of Finland The Gulf of Finland ( fi, Suomenlahti; et, Soome laht; rus, Фи́нский зали́в, r=Finskiy zaliv, p=ˈfʲinskʲɪj zɐˈlʲif; sv, Finska viken) is the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea. It extends between Finland to the north and E ...
on the
Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...
, with a population of roughly 5.4 million residents. Saint Petersburg is the fourth-most populous city in Europe after Istanbul, Moscow and London, the
most populous city The United Nations uses three definitions for what constitutes a city, as not all cities in all jurisdictions are classified using the same criteria. Cities may be defined as the city proper, cities proper, the extent of their urban area, or th ...
on the Baltic Sea, and the world's northernmost city of more than 1 million residents. As Russia's Imperial capital, and a historically strategic port, it is governed as a
federal city The term federal city is a title for certain cities in Germany, Switzerland, and Russia. Germany In Germany, the former West German capital Bonn has been designated with the unique title of federal city (''Bundesstadt''). Since 28 April 1994, it ...
. The city was founded by Tsar
Peter the Great Peter I ( – ), most commonly known as Peter the Great,) or Pyotr Alekséyevich ( rus, Пётр Алексе́евич, p=ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ, , group=pron was a Russian monarch who ruled the Tsardom of Russia from t ...
on 27 May 1703 on the site of a captured Swedish fortress, and was named after apostle
Saint Peter Saint Peter; he, שמעון בר יונה, Šimʿōn bar Yōnāh; ar, سِمعَان بُطرُس, translit=Simʿa̅n Buṭrus; grc-gre, Πέτρος, Petros; cop, Ⲡⲉⲧⲣⲟⲥ, Petros; lat, Petrus; ar, شمعون الصفـا, Sham'un ...
. In Russia, Saint Petersburg is historically and culturally associated with the birth of the
Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
and Russia's entry into modern history as a European
great power A great power is a sovereign state that is recognized as having the ability and expertise to exert its influence on a global scale. Great powers characteristically possess military and economic strength, as well as diplomatic and soft power inf ...
. It served as a capital of the
Tsardom of Russia The Tsardom of Russia or Tsardom of Rus' also externally referenced as the Tsardom of Muscovy, was the centralized Russian state from the assumption of the title of Tsar by Ivan IV in 1547 until the foundation of the Russian Empire by Peter I i ...
, and the subsequent Russian Empire, from 1713 to 1918 (being replaced by Moscow for a short period of time between 1728 and 1730). After the
October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key moment ...
in 1917, the
Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...
moved their government to Moscow. As Russia's cultural center, Saint Petersburg received over 15 million tourists in 2018. It is considered an important economic, scientific, and tourism centre of Russia and Europe. In modern times, the city has the nickname of being "the Northern Capital of Russia" and is home to notable
federal government A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...
bodies such as the
Constitutional Court of Russia A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princip ...
and the
Heraldic Council of the President of the Russian Federation The Heraldic Council of the President of the Russian Federation (translated various ways), Russian: ''Геральдический совет при Президенте Российской Федерации'', is a part of the Russian Presidenti ...
. It is also a seat for the
National Library of Russia The National Library of Russia (NLR, russian: Российская национальная библиотека}), located in Saint Petersburg, is the first, and one of three national public libraries in Russia. The NLR is currently ranked amo ...
and a planned location for the
Supreme Court of Russia The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation (russian: links=no, Верховный суд Российской Федерации, Verkhovny sud Rossiyskoy Federatsii) is a court within the judiciary of Russia and the court of last resort in ...
, as well as the home to the headquarters of the Russian Navy, and the
Western Military District The Western Military District (russian: Западный военный округ, Zapadnyy voyennyy okrug) is a Military districts of Russia, military district of Russia. It is one of the five military districts of the Russian Armed Forces, ...
of the
Russian Armed Forces The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (, ), commonly referred to as the Russian Armed Forces, are the military forces of Russia. In terms of active-duty personnel, they are the world's fifth-largest military force, with at least two m ...
. The
Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments is the name used by UNESCO when it collectively designated the historic core of the Russian city of St. Petersburg, as well as buildings and ensembles located in the immediate vic ...
constitute a
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
. Saint Petersburg is home to the Hermitage, one of the largest
art museum An art museum or art gallery is a building or space for the display of art, usually from the museum's own Collection (artwork), collection. It might be in public or private ownership and may be accessible to all or have restrictions in place. A ...
s in the world, the
Lakhta Center The Lakhta Center () is an 87-story skyscraper built in the northwestern neighbourhood of Lakhta, Saint Petersburg, Lakhta in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Standing tall, it is the List of tallest buildings in Russia, tallest building in Russia, t ...
, the tallest skyscraper in Europe, and was one of the host cities of the
2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national Association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awa ...
and the
UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2020) or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...
.


Toponymy

A proponent of westernising Russia,
Peter the Great Peter I ( – ), most commonly known as Peter the Great,) or Pyotr Alekséyevich ( rus, Пётр Алексе́евич, p=ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ, , group=pron was a Russian monarch who ruled the Tsardom of Russia from t ...
, the then
Tsar Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East Slavs, East and South Slavs, South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''Caesar (title), caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" i ...
, who established the city, originally named it () in Dutch manner and later its spelling was standardised as Sankt-Peterburg () under German influence. On 1 September 1914, after the outbreak of
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, the Imperial government renamed the city ''Petrograd'' ( rus, links=no, Петроград, p=pʲɪtrɐˈgrat), meaning 'Peter's city', in order to expunge the German words and . On 26 January 1924, shortly after the death of
Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 19 ...
, it was renamed to ''Leningrad'' ( rus, links=no, Ленинград, p=lʲɪnʲɪnˈgrat), meaning 'Lenin's City'. On 6 September 1991, the original name, ''Sankt-Peterburg'', was returned by citywide referendum. Today, in English the city is known as ''Saint Petersburg''. Local residents often refer to the city by its shortened nickname, ''Piter'' ( rus, links=no, Питер, p=ˈpʲitʲɪr). A former spelling of the city's name in English was ''Saint Petersburgh'', under the influence of ''burgh''. This spelling survives in the name of a street in the
Bayswater Bayswater is an area within the City of Westminster in West London. It is a built-up district with a population density of 17,500 per square kilometre, and is located between Kensington Gardens to the south, Paddington to the north-east, and ...
district of London, near St Sophia's Cathedral, named after a visit by the Tsar to London in 1814. Saint Petersburg has been traditionally called the "Window to Europe" and the "Window to the West" by the Russians. The city is the northernmost metropolis in the world, and is also often described as the "
Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400  ...
of the North" or the "Russian Venice" due to its many water corridors, as the city is built on swamp and water. Furthermore, it has strongly Western European-inspired architecture and culture, which is combined with the city's Russian heritage. Another nickname of Saint Petersburg is "The City of the White Nights" because of a natural phenomenon which arises due to the closeness to the
polar region The polar regions, also called the frigid geographical zone, zones or polar zones, of Earth are the regions of the planet that surround its geographical poles (the North Pole, North and South Poles), lying within the polar circles. These high l ...
and ensures that in summer the night skies of the city do not get completely dark for a month. The city is also often called the "Northern
Palmyra Palmyra (; Palmyrene: () ''Tadmor''; ar, تَدْمُر ''Tadmur'') is an ancient city in present-day Homs Governorate, Syria. Archaeological finds date back to the Neolithic period, and documents first mention the city in the early second ...
", due to its extravagant architecture.


History


Imperial era (1703–1917)

Swedish colonists built Nyenskans, a fortress at the mouth of the
Neva The Neva (russian: Нева́, ) is a river in northwestern Russia flowing from Lake Ladoga through the western part of Leningrad Oblast (historical region of Ingria) to the Neva Bay of the Gulf of Finland. Despite its modest length of , it ...
River in 1611, which was later called
Ingermanland Ingria is a historical region in what is now northwestern European Russia. It lies along the southeastern shore of the Gulf of Finland, bordered by Lake Ladoga on the Karelian Isthmus in the north and by the River Narva on the border with ...
. This area was inhabited by a Finnic tribe of
Ingrians The Ingrians ( fi, inkeriläiset, ; russian: Ингерманландцы, translit=Ingermanlandts'i), sometimes called Ingrian Finns, are the Finnish people, Finnish population of Ingria (now the central part of Leningrad Oblast in Russia), des ...
. The small town of Nyen grew up around the fort. 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. He needed a better seaport than the country's main one at the time,
Arkhangelsk Arkhangelsk (, ; rus, Арха́нгельск, p=ɐrˈxanɡʲɪlʲsk), also known in English as Archangel and Archangelsk, is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. It lies o ...
, which was on the
White Sea The White Sea (russian: Белое море, ''Béloye móre''; Karelian and fi, Vienanmeri, lit. Dvina Sea; yrk, Сэрако ямʼ, ''Serako yam'') is a southern inlet of the Barents Sea located on the northwest coast of Russia. It is su ...
in the far north and closed to shipping during the winter. On , during the
Great Northern War The Great Northern War (1700–1721) was a conflict in which a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the anti-Swedi ...
,
Peter the Great Peter I ( – ), most commonly known as Peter the Great,) or Pyotr Alekséyevich ( rus, Пётр Алексе́евич, p=ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ, , group=pron was a Russian monarch who ruled the Tsardom of Russia from t ...
captured Nyenskans and soon replaced the fortress. On , closer to the
estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environment ...
( inland from the
gulf A gulf is a large inlet from the ocean into the landmass, typically with a narrower opening than a bay, but that is not observable in all geographic areas so named. The term gulf was traditionally used for large highly-indented navigable bodie ...
), on Zayachy (Hare) Island, he laid down the
Peter and Paul Fortress The Peter and Paul Fortress is the original citadel of St. Petersburg, Russia, founded by Peter the Great in 1703 and built to Domenico Trezzini's designs from 1706 to 1740 as a star fortress. Between the first half of the 1700s and early 1920s i ...
, which became the first brick and stone building of the new city. The city was built by conscripted peasants from all over Russia; in some years several Swedish
prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold priso ...
were also involved under the supervision of
Alexander Menshikov Alexander Menshikov may refer to: * Alexander Danilovich Menshikov (1673–1729), Russian statesman * Alexander Sergeyevich Menshikov Prince Alexander Sergeyevich Menshikov (russian: Князь Алекса́ндр Серге́евич Ме́н ...
. Tens of thousands of serfs died while building the city. Later, the city became the centre of the
Saint Petersburg Governorate Saint Petersburg Governorate (russian: Санкт-Петербу́ргская губе́рния, ''Sankt-Peterburgskaya guberniya''), or Government of Saint Petersburg, was an administrative division (a '' guberniya'') of the Tsardom of Russia ...
. Peter moved the capital from Moscow to Saint Petersburg in 1712, 9 years before the
Treaty of Nystad The Treaty of Nystad (russian: Ништадтский мир; fi, Uudenkaupungin rauha; sv, Freden i Nystad; et, Uusikaupunki rahu) was the last peace treaty of the Great Northern War of 1700–1721. It was concluded between the Tsardom of ...
of 1721 ended the war. He referred to Saint Petersburg as the capital (or seat of government) as early as 1704. While the city was being built, Peter lived in a three-room log cabin with his wife Catherine and their children. 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 The Italian language in Switzerland or Swiss Italian ( it, italiano svizzero) is the variety of the Italian language taught in the Italian-speaking area of Switzerland. Italian is spoken natively by about 700,000 people in the canton of Ticino ...
Domenico Trezzini Domenico Trezzini (Russian Андрей Якимович Трезин, ''Andrey Yakimovich Trezin''; c. 1670 – 1734) was a Swiss architect who elaborated the Petrine Baroque style of Russian architecture. Domenico was born in Astano, L ...
had elaborated a project whereby the city centre would be on
Vasilyevsky Island Vasilyevsky Island (russian: Васи́льевский о́стров, Vasilyevsky Ostrov, V.O.) is an island in St. Petersburg, Russia, bordered by the Bolshaya Neva and Malaya Neva Rivers (in the delta of the Neva River) in the south a ...
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 Jean-Baptiste Alexandre Le Blond (1679 – 10 March 1719) was a French architect and garden designer who became the chief architect of Saint Petersburg in 1716. Career in France He was the son of Jean Le Blond, painter in ordinary to the king, a ...
as the chief architect of Saint Petersburg. The style of
Petrine Baroque Petrine Baroque (Russian: Петровское барокко) is a style of 17th and 18th century Baroque architecture and decoration favoured by Peter the Great and employed to design buildings in the newly founded Russian capital, Saint Petersbu ...
, developed by Trezzini and other architects and exemplified by such buildings as the
Menshikov Palace The Menshikov Palace (russian: Меншиковский дворец) is a Petrine Baroque edifice in Saint Petersburg, situated on Universitetskaya Embankment of the Bolshaya Neva on Vasilyevsky Island.It is not to be confused with the Menshikov ...
,
Kunstkamera The Kunstkamera (russian: Кунсткамера) or Kunstkammer (German for "Culture Room" (literally) or "Art Chamber", typically used for a " cabinet of curiosities") is a public museum located on the Universitetskaya Embankment in Saint Pete ...
, Peter and Paul Cathedral,
Twelve Collegia The Twelve Collegia, or Twelve Colleges (russian: Двeнaдцaть Коллегий), is the largest edifice from the Petrine era remaining in Saint Petersburg. It was designed by Domenico Trezzini and Theodor Schwertfeger and built from 1722 ...
, became prominent in the city architecture of the early 18th century. In 1724 the
Academy of Sciences An academy of sciences is a type of learned society or academy (as special scientific institution) dedicated to sciences that may or may not be state funded. Some state funded academies are tuned into national or royal (in case of the Unite ...
,
University A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...
and Academic Gymnasium were established in Saint Petersburg by Peter the Great. In 1725, Peter died at age fifty-two. His endeavors to modernize Russia had been opposed by the
Russian nobility The Russian nobility (russian: дворянство ''dvoryanstvo'') originated in the 14th century. In 1914 it consisted of approximately 1,900,000 members (about 1.1% of the population) in the Russian Empire. Up until the February Revolution ...
. There were several attempts on his life and a treason case involving his son. In 1728,
Peter II of Russia Peter II Alexeyevich (russian: Пётр II, Пётр Алексеевич, ''Pyotr Vtoroy'', ''Pyotr Alekseyevich'', – ) reigned as Emperor of Russia from 1727 until his untimely death at the age of 14. He was the only son of Tsarevich Alexei ...
moved his seat back to Moscow. But four years later, in 1732, under Empress
Anna of Russia Anna Ioannovna (russian: Анна Иоанновна; ), also russified as Anna Ivanovna and sometimes anglicized as Anne, served as regent of the duchy of Courland from 1711 until 1730 and then ruled as Empress of Russia from 1730 to 1740. Much ...
, Saint Petersburg was again designated as the capital of the
Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
. It remained the seat of the
Romanov dynasty The House of Romanov (also transcribed Romanoff; rus, Романовы, Románovy, rɐˈmanəvɨ) was the reigning imperial house of Russia from 1613 to 1917. They achieved prominence after the Tsarina, Anastasia Romanova, was married to ...
and the Imperial Court of the
Russian tsars This is a list of all reigning monarchs in the history of Russia. It includes the princes of medieval Rus′ state (both centralised, known as Kievan Rus′ and feudal, when the political center moved northeast to Vladimir and finally to Mosco ...
, 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 Burkhard Christoph Graf von Münnich (, tr. ; – ) was a German-born army officer who became a field marshal and political figure in the Russian Empire. He carried out major reforms in the Russian Army and founded several elite militar ...
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 The Fontanka (russian: Фонтанка), a left branch of the river Neva, flows through the whole of Central Saint Petersburg, Russia – from the Summer Garden to . It is long, with a width up to , and a depth up to . The Moyka River for ...
. It developed along three radial streets, which meet at the Admiralty building and are now known as
Nevsky Prospect Nevsky Prospect ( rus, Не́вский проспе́кт, r=Nevsky Prospekt, p=ˈnʲɛfskʲɪj prɐˈspʲɛkt) is the main street (high street) in the federal city of St. Petersburg in Russia. It takes its name from the Alexander Nevsky La ...
(which is considered the main street of the city),
Gorokhovaya Street Gorokhovaya Street (russian: link=no, Гороховая улица) is a north-south thoroughfare in the Central Business District of Saint Petersburg. Gorokhovaya Street is one of central Saint Petersburg's major thoroughfares, extending from t ...
and
Voznesensky Avenue Voznesensky Prospekt (russian: Вознесенский проспект) is a 1.8 km long street in Admiralteysky District of Saint Petersburg, Russia. Crossing Saint Isaac's Square, the Moika (Blue Bridge (Saint Petersburg), Blue Bridge) a ...
.
Baroque architecture Baroque architecture is a highly decorative and theatrical style which appeared in Italy in the early 17th century and gradually spread across Europe. It was originally introduced by the Catholic Church, particularly by the Jesuits, as a means t ...
became dominant in the city during the first sixty years, culminating in the Elizabethan Baroque, represented most notably by Italian
Bartolomeo Rastrelli Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli (russian: Франче́ско Бартоломе́о (Варфоломе́й Варфоломе́евич) Растре́лли; 1700 in Paris, Kingdom of France – 29 April 1771 in Saint Petersburg, Russian Emp ...
with such buildings as the
Winter Palace The Winter Palace ( rus, Зимний дворец, Zimnij dvorets, p=ˈzʲimnʲɪj dvɐˈrʲɛts) is a palace in Saint Petersburg that served as the official residence of the Emperor of all the Russias, Russian Emperor from 1732 to 1917. The p ...
. In the 1760s, Baroque architecture was succeeded by
neoclassical architecture Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy and France. It became one of the most prominent architectural styles in the Western world. The prevailing style ...
. Established in 1762, the Commission of Stone Buildings of Moscow and Saint Petersburg ruled that no structure in the city could be higher than the Winter Palace and prohibited spacing between buildings. During the reign of
Catherine the Great , en, Catherine Alexeievna Romanova, link=yes , house = , father = Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst , mother = Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp , birth_date = , birth_name = Princess Sophie of Anhal ...
in the 1760s–1780s, the banks of the Neva were lined with
granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...
embankments. However, it was not until 1850 that the first permanent bridge across the Neva,
Annunciation Bridge The Annunciation Bridge ( - ''Blagoveshchensky most''; from 1855 to 1918 Nikolaevsky Bridge, ; from 1918 to 2007 called Lieutenant Schmidt Bridge, ) is the first permanent bridge built across the Neva River in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It conne ...
, was allowed to open. Before that, only
pontoon bridge A pontoon bridge (or ponton bridge), also known as a floating bridge, uses float (nautical), floats or shallow-draft (hull), draft boats to support a continuous deck for pedestrian and vehicle travel. The buoyancy of the supports limits the maxi ...
s were allowed.
Obvodny Canal Obvodny Canal (russian: Обводный канал, lit. Bypass Canal) is the longest canal in Saint Petersburg, Russia, which in the 19th century served as the southern limit of the city. It is long and flows from the Neva River near Al ...
(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 Jean-Baptiste Michel Vallin de la Mothe (1729 – 7 May 1800) was a French architect whose major career was spent in St. Petersburg, where he became court architect to Catherine II. His students were Ivan Starov and Vasily Bazhenov. Biography ...
(
Imperial Academy of Arts The Russian Academy of Arts, informally known as the Saint Petersburg Academy of Arts, was an art academy in Saint Petersburg, founded in 1757 by the founder of the Imperial Moscow University Ivan Shuvalov under the name ''Academy of the Thre ...
, Small Hermitage, Gostiny Dvor,
New Holland Arch New Holland Island (russian: Но́вая Голла́ндия) is a historic triangular artificial island in central Saint Petersburg, Russia, dating from the 18th century. It is also known as Admiralty Island. Construction The island was c ...
, Catholic Church of St. Catherine) * Antonio Rinaldi (
Marble Palace Marble Palace (Мраморный дворец) is one of the first Neoclassical palaces in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is situated between the Field of Mars and Palace Quay, slightly to the east from New Michael Palace. Design and pre-1917 ...
) *
Yury Felten Yury Matveyevich Felten (russian: Ю́рий Матве́евич Фе́льтен, german: Georg Friedrich Veldten) (1730–1801) was a Russian Imperial architect who served at the Empress's Catherine the Great court. Yury Felten was born Georg ...
( Old Hermitage,
Chesme Church The Chesme Church (russian: Чесменская церковь; full name ''Church of Saint John the Baptist at Chesme Palace'', also called the ''Church of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist'', russian: це́рковь Рождества́ И ...
) *
Giacomo Quarenghi Giacomo Quarenghi (; rus, Джа́комо Кваре́нги, Džákomo Kvaréngi, ˈdʐakəmə kvɐˈrʲenʲɡʲɪ; 20 or 21 September 1744) was an Italian architect who was the foremost and most prolific practitioner of neoclassical architectu ...
(Academy of Sciences,
Hermitage Theatre The Hermitage Theatre ( rus, Эрмитажный Театр, Èrmitážnyj Teátr, ɪrʲmʲɪˈtaʐnɨj tʲɪˈatər) in Saint Petersburg, Russia is one of five Hermitage Museum, Hermitage buildings lining the Palace Embankment of the Neva Riv ...
, Yusupov Palace) *
Andrey Voronikhin Andrey (Andrei) Nikiforovich Voronikhin (russian: Андрей Никифорович Воронихин) (28 October 1759, Novoe Usolye, Perm Oblast – 21 February 1814, Saint Petersburg) was a Russian architect and painter. As a representativ ...
( Mining Institute, Kazan Cathedral) *
Andreyan Zakharov Andreyan Zakharov (russian: Андрея́н Дми́триевич Заха́ров; 19 August 1761 – 8 September 1811) was a Russian Imperial architect and representative of the Empire style. His designs also alternated neoclassicism with ecle ...
( Admiralty building) *
Jean-François Thomas de Thomon Jean-François Thomas de Thomon ( – ) was a French neoclassical architect who worked in Eastern Europe in 1791–1813. Thomas de Thomon was the author of Old Saint Petersburg Stock Exchange and Rostral Columns on the spit of Vasilievsky Island in ...
( Spit of Vasilievsky Island) * Carlo Rossi (
Yelagin Palace Yelagin Palace (Елагин дворец; also ''Yelaginsky'' or ''Yelaginoostrovsky Dvorets'') is a Palladian villa on Yelagin Island in Saint Petersburg, which served as a royal summer palace during the reign of Alexander I. The villa was desi ...
,
Mikhailovsky Palace The Mikhailovsky Palace (russian: Михайловский дворец, tr=Mikhailovskiy dvorets) is a grand ducal palace in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is located on Arts Square and is an example of Empire style neoclassicism. The palace cu ...
, Alexandrine Theatre, Senate and Synod Buildings,
General staff Building The General Staff Building (russian: Здание Главного штаба, ''Zdanie Glavnogo Shtaba'') is an edifice with a 580 m long bow-shaped facade, situated on Palace Square in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in front of the Winter Palace. T ...
, design of many streets and squares) *
Vasily Stasov Vasily Petrovich Stasov (Russian: Васи́лий Петро́вич Ста́сов; 4 August 1769 – 5 September 1848) was a famous Russian architect, born into a wealthy noble family: his father, Pyotr Fyodorovich Stasov, came from one ...
(
Moscow Triumphal Gate The Moscow Triumphal Gate (russian: Моско́вские Триумфа́льные воро́та, ''Moskovskiye Triumfalnye vorota'') is a Neoclassical triumphal arch in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The monument, built mainly in cast iron, was e ...
, Trinity Cathedral) *
Auguste de Montferrand Auguste de Montferrand (; January 23, 1786 – July 10, 1858) was a French classicist architect who worked primarily in Russia. His two best known works are the Saint Isaac's Cathedral and the Alexander Column in St. Petersburg. Early ...
(
Saint Isaac's Cathedral Saint Isaac's Cathedral or Isaakievskiy Sobor (russian: Исаа́киевский Собо́р) is a large architectural landmark cathedral that currently functions as a museum with occasional church services in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is ...
,
Alexander Column The Alexander Column (russian: Алекса́ндровская коло́нна, ''Aleksandrovskaya kolonna'') also known as Alexandrian Column (russian: Александри́йская коло́нна, ''Aleksandriyskaya kolonna''), is the f ...
) In 1810,
Alexander I Alexander I may refer to: * Alexander I of Macedon, king of Macedon 495–454 BC * Alexander I of Epirus (370–331 BC), king of Epirus * Pope Alexander I (died 115), early bishop of Rome * Pope Alexander I of Alexandria (died 320s), patriarch of ...
established the first engineering
Higher education Higher education is tertiary education leading to award of an academic degree. Higher education, also called post-secondary education, third-level or tertiary education, is an optional final stage of formal learning that occurs after completi ...
, the Saint Petersburg Main military engineering School in Saint Petersburg. Many monuments commemorate the Russian victory over
Napoleonic France The First French Empire, officially the French Republic, then the French Empire (; Latin: ) after 1809, also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental Eur ...
in the
Patriotic War of 1812 The French invasion of Russia, also known as the Russian campaign, the Second Polish War, the Army of Twenty nations, and the Patriotic War of 1812 was launched by Napoleon Bonaparte to force the Russian Empire back into the continental block ...
, including the
Alexander Column The Alexander Column (russian: Алекса́ндровская коло́нна, ''Aleksandrovskaya kolonna'') also known as Alexandrian Column (russian: Александри́йская коло́нна, ''Aleksandriyskaya kolonna''), is the f ...
by Montferrand, erected in 1834, and the
Narva Triumphal Arch The Narva Triumphal Arch (russian: На́рвские триумфа́льные ворота, lit. ''Narvskie Triumfal'nyye vorota'') was erected in the vast Stachek Square (prior to 1923 also known as the Narva Square), Saint Petersburg, in 1814 ...
. In 1825, the suppressed
Decembrist revolt The Decembrist Revolt ( ru , Восстание декабристов, translit = Vosstaniye dekabristov , translation = Uprising of the Decembrists) took place in Russia on , during the interregnum following the sudden death of Emperor Al ...
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 Andrei Ivanovich Stakenschneider (russian: Андрей Иванович Штакеншнейдер) (March 6 regorian 1802 – August 20 regorian 1865), also spelled ''Stackenschneider'' and ''Stuckenschneider'', was a Russian architect. His ecle ...
(
Mariinsky Palace Mariinsky Palace (), also known as Marie Palace, was the last neoclassical Imperial residence to be constructed in Saint Petersburg. It was built between 1839 and 1844, designed by the court architect Andrei Stackenschneider. It houses the cit ...
,
Beloselsky-Belozersky Palace Beloselsky Belozersky Palace (Russian: Дворе́ц Белосе́льских-Белозе́рских; also known before the Revolution as the Palace of the Grand Duchess Elizabeth Fyodorovna, the Sergei Palace, and the Dmitry Palace) is a Ne ...
,
Nicholas Palace Nicholas Palace (Russian: Николаевский дворец, ''Nikolayevsky dvorets'') was one of several St Petersburg palaces designed by Andreas Stackensneider (1802–65) for the children of Nicholas I of Russia. The palace of Grand Duke Ni ...
,
New Michael Palace The New Michael Palace (Ново-Михайловский дворец, ''Novo-Mikhailovsky Dvorets'') was the third Saint Petersburg palace designed by Andrei Stackenschneider for Nicholas I's children. It was built between 1857 and 1862 on the ...
) and
Konstantin Thon Konstantin Andreyevich Thon, also spelled Ton (russian: Константи́н Андре́евич Тон; October 26, 1794 – January 25, 1881) was an official architect of Imperial Russia during the reign of Nicholas I. His major works includ ...
( Moskovsky railway station). With the
emancipation of the serfs Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism, and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery, which developed ...
undertaken by Alexander II in 1861 and an
Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...
, the influx of former peasants into the capital increased greatly. Poor boroughs spontaneously developed on the outskirts of the city. Saint Petersburg surpassed Moscow in population and industrial growth; it became one of the largest industrial cities in Europe, with a major naval base (in
Kronstadt Kronstadt (russian: Кроншта́дт, Kronshtadt ), also spelled Kronshtadt, Cronstadt or Kronštádt (from german: link=no, Krone for "crown" and ''Stadt'' for "city") is a Russian port city in Kronshtadtsky District of the federal city of ...
), the Neva River, and a seaport on the Baltic. The names of Saints
Peter Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...
and
Paul Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chris ...
, bestowed upon the original city's citadel and its
cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...
(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 , en, Catherine Alexeievna Romanova, link=yes , house = , father = Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst , mother = Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp , birth_date = , birth_name = Princess Sophie of Anhal ...
) and Paul I (1801,
Nikolay Alexandrovich Zubov Count Nikolay Alexandrovich Zubov (russian: Николай Александрович Зубов; 24 April 1763 – 9 August 1805) was the eldest of the Zubov brothers who, together with Count Pahlen, masterminded the conspiracy to assassinate ...
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 was murdered by
terrorists Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
(see the
Church of the Savior on Blood The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood (russian: Церковь Спаса на Крови, ''Tserkovʹ Spasa na Krovi'') is a Russian Orthodox church in Saint Petersburg, Russia which currently functions as a secular museum and church at the ...
). The
Revolution of 1905 The Russian Revolution of 1905,. also known as the First Russian Revolution,. occurred on 22 January 1905, and was a wave of mass political and social unrest that spread through vast areas of the Russian Empire. The mass unrest was directed again ...
began in Saint Petersburg and spread rapidly into the provinces. On 1 September 1914, after the outbreak of
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, the Imperial government renamed the city ''Petrograd'', meaning "Peter's City", to remove the German words '' Sankt'' and ''
Burg The German word Burg means castle. Burg or Bürg may refer to: Places Placename element * '' -burg'', a combining form in Dutch, German and English placenames * Burg, a variant of burh, the fortified towns of Saxon England Settlements * Burg, Aa ...
''.


Revolution and Soviet era (1917–1941)

In March 1917, during the
February Revolution The February Revolution ( rus, Февра́льская револю́ция, r=Fevral'skaya revolyutsiya, p=fʲɪvˈralʲskəjə rʲɪvɐˈlʲutsɨjə), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and somet ...
Nicholas II abdicated for himself and on behalf of his son, ending the Russian monarchy and over three hundred years of
Romanov The House of Romanov (also transcribed Romanoff; rus, Романовы, Románovy, rɐˈmanəvɨ) was the reigning imperial house of Russia from 1613 to 1917. They achieved prominence after the Tsarina, Anastasia Romanova, was married to th ...
dynastic rule A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family,''Oxford English Dictionary'', "dynasty, ''n''." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1897. usually in the context of a monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A d ...
. On , the
Bolshevik The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...
s, led by
Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 19 ...
, stormed the
Winter Palace The Winter Palace ( rus, Зимний дворец, Zimnij dvorets, p=ˈzʲimnʲɪj dvɐˈrʲɛts) is a palace in Saint Petersburg that served as the official residence of the Emperor of all the Russias, Russian Emperor from 1732 to 1917. The p ...
in an event known thereafter as the
October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key moment ...
, which led to the end of the post-Tsarist
provisional government A provisional government, also called an interim government, an emergency government, or a transitional government, is an emergency governmental authority set up to manage a political transition generally in the cases of a newly formed state or f ...
, the transfer of all political power to the
Soviets Soviet people ( rus, сове́тский наро́д, r=sovyétsky naród), or citizens of the USSR ( rus, гра́ждане СССР, grázhdanye SSSR), was an umbrella demonym for the population of the Soviet Union. Nationality policy in th ...
, and the rise of the
Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...
. After that the city acquired a new descriptive name, "the city of three revolutions", 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 An invasion is a military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitical entity aggressively enter territory owned by another such entity, generally with the objective of either: conquering; liberating or re-establishing con ...
the
West Estonian archipelago West Estonian archipelago ( et, Lääne-Eesti saarestik, also Moonsund archipelago) is a group of Estonian islands located in the Baltic Sea around Väinameri. The total area is about . The archipelago is composed of the islands Saaremaa, Hiium ...
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
Russian Civil War , date = October Revolution, 7 November 1917 – Yakut revolt, 16 June 1923{{Efn, The main phase ended on 25 October 1922. Revolt against the Bolsheviks continued Basmachi movement, in Central Asia and Tungus Republic, the Far East th ...
, in mid-1919 Russian anti-communist forces with the help of
Estonians Estonians or Estonian people ( et, eestlased) are a Finnic ethnic group native to Estonia who speak the Estonian language. The Estonian language is spoken as the first language by the vast majority of Estonians; it is closely related to other ...
attempted to capture the city, but
Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian ...
mobilized the army and forced them to retreat back to
Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...
. On 26 January 1924, five days after Lenin's death, Petrograd was renamed ''Leningrad''. Later some streets and other
toponyms Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...
were renamed accordingly. The city has over 230 places associated with the life and activities of Lenin. Some of them were turned into museums, 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 Constructivist architecture was a constructivist style of modern architecture that flourished in the Soviet Union in the 1920s and early 1930s. Abstract and austere, the movement aimed to reflect modern industrial society and urban space, while ...
flourished around that time. Housing became a government-provided
amenity In property and land use planning, amenity (lat. ''amoenitās'' “pleasantness, delightfulness”) is something considered to benefit a location, contribute to its enjoyment, and thereby increase its value. Tangible amenities can include the ...
; 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 Stalinist architecture, mostly known in the former Eastern Bloc as Stalinist style () or Socialist Classicism, is the architecture of the Soviet Union under the leadership of Joseph Stalin, between 1933 (when Boris Iofan's draft for the Palace ...
. Moving the city centre further from the border with Finland,
Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...
adopted a plan to build a new city hall with a huge adjacent square at the southern end of
Moskovsky Prospekt Moskovsky Prospekt (russian: Моско́вский проспе́кт, ''Moskovsky Avenue'') is a 10 km-long prospekt in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It runs from Sennaya Square and Sadovaya Street, to Victory Square, where it splits into ...
, 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 Leningrad Oblast ( rus, Ленинградская область, Leningradskaya oblast’, lʲɪnʲɪnˈgratskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ, , ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). It was established on 1 August 1927, a ...
. 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 Vsevolozhsky District (russian: Все́воложский райо́н) is an administrativeOblast Law #32-oz and municipalLaw #17-oz district (raion), one of the seventeen in Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It is located in the central northwestern p ...
,
Krasnoselsky District Krasnoselsky District is the name of several administrative and municipal districts in Russia. *Krasnoselsky District, Moscow, a district in Central Administrative Okrug of the federal cities of Russia, federal city of Moscow *Krasnoselsky Distr ...
, Pargolovsky District and Slutsky District (renamed Pavlovsky District in 1944). On 1 December 1934,
Sergey Kirov Sergei Mironovich Kirov (né Kostrikov; 27 March 1886 – 1 December 1934) was a Soviet politician and Bolshevik revolutionary whose assassination led to the first Great Purge. Kirov was an early revolutionary in the Russian Empire and membe ...
, the popular communist leader of Leningrad, was assassinated, which became the pretext for the
Great Purge The Great Purge or the Great Terror (russian: Большой террор), also known as the Year of '37 (russian: 37-й год, translit=Tridtsat sedmoi god, label=none) and the Yezhovshchina ('period of Nikolay Yezhov, Yezhov'), was General ...
. In Leningrad, approximately 40,000 were executed during Stalin's purges.


World War II (1941–1945)

During
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, German forces besieged Leningrad following the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941.Siege of Leningrad

The siege lasted 872 days, or almost two and a half years, from 8 September 1941 to 27 January 1944. The
Siege of Leningrad The siege of Leningrad (russian: links=no, translit=Blokada Leningrada, Блокада Ленинграда; german: links=no, Leningrader Blockade; ) was a prolonged military blockade undertaken by the Axis powers against the Soviet city of L ...
proved one of the longest, most destructive, and most lethal sieges of a major city in
modern history The term modern period or modern era (sometimes also called modern history or modern times) is the period of history that succeeds the Middle Ages (which ended approximately 1500 AD). This terminology is a historical periodization that is applie ...
. It isolated the city from food supplies except those provided through the
Road of Life The Road of Life () was the set of ice road transport routes across Lake Ladoga to Leningrad during the Second World War. They were the only Soviet winter surface routes into the city while it was besieged by the German Army Group North under ...
across
Lake Ladoga Lake Ladoga (; rus, Ла́дожское о́зеро, r=Ladozhskoye ozero, p=ˈladəʂskəjə ˈozʲɪrə or rus, Ла́дога, r=Ladoga, p=ˈladəɡə, fi, Laatokka arlier in Finnish ''Nevajärvi'' ; vep, Ladog, Ladoganjärv) is a fresh ...
, which could not make it through until the lake froze. More than one million civilians were killed, mainly from starvation. Many others escaped or were evacuated, so the city became largely depopulated. On 1 May 1945
Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...
, in his Supreme Commander Order No. 20, named Leningrad, alongside
Stalingrad Volgograd ( rus, Волгогра́д, a=ru-Volgograd.ogg, p=vəɫɡɐˈɡrat), geographical renaming, formerly Tsaritsyn (russian: Цари́цын, Tsarítsyn, label=none; ) (1589–1925), and Stalingrad (russian: Сталингра́д, Stal ...
,
Sevastopol Sevastopol (; uk, Севасто́поль, Sevastópolʹ, ; gkm, Σεβαστούπολις, Sevastoúpolis, ; crh, Акъя́р, Aqyár, ), sometimes written Sebastopol, is the largest city in Crimea, and a major port on the Black Sea ...
, and
Odessa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrativ ...
, hero cities of the war. A law acknowledging the honorary title of "Hero City" passed on 8 May 1965 (the 20th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War), during the
Brezhnev era Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev; uk, links= no, Леонід Ілліч Брежнєв, . (19 December 1906– 10 November 1982) was a Soviet politician who served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union between 1964 and 1 ...
. The
Presidium of the Supreme Soviet The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet (russian: Президиум Верховного Совета, Prezidium Verkhovnogo Soveta) was a body of state power in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (russian: Орден Ленина, Orden Lenina, ), named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was established by the Central Executive Committee on April 6, 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration b ...
and the
Gold Star medal The title Hero of the Soviet Union (russian: Герой Советского Союза, translit=Geroy Sovietskogo Soyuza) was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded together with the Order of Lenin personally or collectively for ...
"for the heroic resistance of the city and tenacity of the survivors of the Siege". The
Hero-City Obelisk Leningrad Hero City Obelisk (russian: Обелиск «Городу-герою Ленинграду») is a monument in the shape of an obelisk located in Vosstaniya Square in Saint Petersburg, Russia, which was known as Leningrad from 1924 to 19 ...
bearing the Gold Star sign was installed in April 1985.


Post-war Soviet era (1945–1991)

In October 1946 some territories along the northern coast of the
Gulf of Finland The Gulf of Finland ( fi, Suomenlahti; et, Soome laht; rus, Фи́нский зали́в, r=Finskiy zaliv, p=ˈfʲinskʲɪj zɐˈlʲif; sv, Finska viken) is the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea. It extends between Finland to the north and E ...
, which had passed to the USSR from Finland in 1940 under the
peace treaty A peace treaty is an agreement between two or more hostile parties, usually countries or governments, which formally ends a state of war between the parties. It is different from an armistice An armistice is a formal agreement of warring ...
following the
Winter War The Winter War,, sv, Vinterkriget, rus, Зи́мняя война́, r=Zimnyaya voyna. The names Soviet–Finnish War 1939–1940 (russian: link=no, Сове́тско-финская война́ 1939–1940) and Soviet–Finland War 1 ...
, were transferred from Leningrad Oblast to Leningrad and divided into Sestroretsky District and
Kurortny District Kurortny District (russian: Куро́ртный райо́н) is a district of the federal city of St. Petersburg, Russia, located on the Karelian Isthmus along the northern shore of the Gulf of Finland. As of the 2010 Census, its populatio ...
. These included the town of Terijoki (renamed
Zelenogorsk Zelenogorsk (russian: Зеленогорск) is the name of several inhabited localities in Russia. ;Urban localities *Zelenogorsk, Krasnoyarsk Krai, a closed town in Krasnoyarsk Krai *Zelenogorsk, Saint Petersburg, a municipal town in Kurortny ...
in 1948). Leningrad and many of its suburbs were rebuilt over the post-war decades, partially according to pre-war plans. The 1948 general plan for Leningrad featured radial
urban development Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to: * Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas * Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities Urban may also refer to: General * Urban (name), a list of people ...
in the north as well as in the south. In 1953 Pavlovsky District in Leningrad Oblast was abolished, and parts of its territory, including Pavlovsk, merged with Leningrad. In 1954 the settlements Levashovo,
Pargolovo Pargolovo (russian: Па́рголово, fi, Parkala, german: Pargola) is a municipal settlement in the Vyborgsky District of Saint Petersburg, Russia. Until the late 20th century, it was the city's northern suburb. The name derives from ''Parko ...
and Pesochny merged with Leningrad. Leningrad gave its name to the Leningrad Affair (1949–1952), a notable event in the postwar political struggle in the
USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
. It was a product of rivalry between Stalin's potential successors where one side was represented by the leaders of the city
Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...
organization—the second most significant one in the country after Moscow. The entire elite leadership of Leningrad was destroyed, including the former mayor
Kuznetsov Kuznetsov, Kuznyetsov, Kuznetsoff, or Kouznetsov (masculine, russian: Кузнецов) or Kuznetsova (feminine, russian: Кузнецова) is the third most common Russian surname, an equivalent of the English "Smith" (derived from a Russian word ...
, the acting mayor Pyotr Sergeevich Popkov, and all their deputies; overall 23 leaders were sentenced to the death penalty, 181 to prison or exile (exonerated in 1954). About 2,000 ranking officials across the USSR were expelled from the party and the Komsomol and removed from leadership positions. They were accused of Russian
nationalism Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...
. The Leningrad Metro underground
rapid transit system Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT), also known as heavy rail or metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport generally found in urban areas. A rapid transit system that primarily or traditionally runs below the surface may be c ...
, designed before the war, opened in 1955 with its first eight stations decorated with
marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite. Marble is typically not Foliation (geology), foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the ...
and
bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...
. However, after Stalin's death in 1953, the perceived ornamental excesses of the Stalinist architecture were abandoned. From the 1960s to the 1980s many new residential boroughs were built on the outskirts; while the functionalist apartment blocks were nearly identical to each other, many families moved there from ''kommunalkas'' in the city centre to live in separate apartments.


Contemporary era (1991–present)

On 12 June 1991, simultaneously with the first Russian presidential elections, the city authorities arranged for the mayoral elections and a referendum upon the city's name, when the name reverted to Saint Petersburg. The turnout was 65%; 66.13% of the total count of votes went to
Anatoly Sobchak Anatoly Aleksandrovich Sobchak ( rus, Анатолий Александрович Собчак, p=ɐnɐˈtolʲɪj ɐlʲɪˈksandrəvʲɪtɕ sɐpˈtɕak; 10 August 1937 – 19 February 2000) was a Soviet and Russian politician, a co-author of the ...
, who became the first directly elected mayor of the city. Meanwhile, economic conditions started to deteriorate as the country tried to adapt to major changes. For the first time since the 1940s, food
rationing Rationing is the controlled distribution of scarce resources, goods, services, or an artificial restriction of demand. Rationing controls the size of the ration, which is one's allowed portion of the resources being distributed on a particular ...
was introduced, and the city received humanitarian
food aid In international relations, aid (also known as international aid, overseas aid, foreign aid, economic aid or foreign assistance) is – from the perspective of governments – a voluntary transfer of resources from one country to another. Ai ...
from abroad. This dramatic time was depicted in photographic series of Russian photographer
Alexey Titarenko Alexey (Aleksey, Alexis, Alexei) Viktorovich Titarenko (born November 25, 1962; russian: link=no, Алексей Викторович Титаренко) is a Soviet Union-born American photographer and artist. He lives and works in New York City. ...
. Economic conditions began to improve only at the beginning of the 21st century. In 1995 a northern section of the
Kirovsko-Vyborgskaya Line Line 1 of the Saint Petersburg Metro, also known as ''Kirovsko-Vyborgskaya Line'' (russian: Ки́ровско-Вы́боргская ли́ния) or ''Red Line'', is the oldest rapid transit line in Saint Petersburg, Russia, opened in 1955, wh ...
of the
Saint Petersburg Metro The Saint Petersburg Metro (russian: links=no, Петербургский метрополитен, Peterburgskiy metropoliten) is a rapid transit system in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Construction began in early 1941, but was put on hold due to Wor ...
was cut off by underground flooding, creating a major obstacle to the city development for almost ten years. On 13 June 1996 Saint Petersburg, alongside Leningrad Oblast and
Tver Oblast Tver Oblast (russian: Тверска́я о́бласть, ''Tverskaya oblast'', ), from 1935 to 1990 known as Kalinin Oblast (), is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Tver. It was named after Mikhai ...
, signed a power-sharing agreement with the federal government, granting it autonomy. This agreement was abolished on 4 April 2002. In 1996, Vladimir Yakovlev defeated
Anatoly Sobchak Anatoly Aleksandrovich Sobchak ( rus, Анатолий Александрович Собчак, p=ɐnɐˈtolʲɪj ɐlʲɪˈksandrəvʲɪtɕ sɐpˈtɕak; 10 August 1937 – 19 February 2000) was a Soviet and Russian politician, a co-author of the ...
in the elections for the head of the
city administration A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
. The title of the city head was changed from "mayor" to "governor". In 2000 Yakovlev won re-election. His second term expired in 2004; the long-awaited restoration of the broken subway connection was expected to finish by that time. But in 2003 Yakovlev suddenly resigned, leaving the governor's office to
Valentina Matviyenko Valentina Ivanovna Matviyenko (russian: Валентина Ивановна Матвиенко, p=vəlʲɪnˈtʲinə ɪˈvanəvnə mətvʲɪˈjɛnkə, ukr, Валентина Іванівна Матвієнко; née Tyutina (Тютина; , ...
. The law on election of the City Governor was changed, breaking the tradition of democratic election by universal suffrage. In 2006 the city legislature re-approved Matviyenko as governor. Residential building had intensified again; real-estate prices inflated greatly, which caused many new problems for the preservation of the historical part of the city. Although the central part of the city has a
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
designation (there are about 8,000 architectural monuments in Petersburg), the preservation of its historical and architectural environment became controversial. After 2005, the demolition of older buildings in the historical centre was permitted. In 2006
Gazprom PJSC Gazprom ( rus, Газпром, , ɡɐzˈprom) is a Russian majority state-owned multinational energy corporation headquartered in the Lakhta Center in Saint Petersburg. As of 2019, with sales over $120 billion, it was ranked as the larges ...
announced an ambitious project to erect a skyscraper (the
Okhta Center Okhta Center or phonetically Oḱhta-Tseńtr (Russian: О́хта-це́нтр), known before March 2007 as Gazprom City (Russian:Газпро́м-си́ти), was a construction project of a business centre in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It was supp ...
) opposite to Smolny, which could result in the loss of the unique line of Petersburg landscape. Urgent protests by citizens and prominent public figures of Russia against this project were not considered by Governor
Valentina Matviyenko Valentina Ivanovna Matviyenko (russian: Валентина Ивановна Матвиенко, p=vəlʲɪnˈtʲinə ɪˈvanəvnə mətvʲɪˈjɛnkə, ukr, Валентина Іванівна Матвієнко; née Tyutina (Тютина; , ...
and the city authorities until December 2010, when after the statement of President
Dmitry Medvedev Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev ( rus, links=no, Дмитрий Анатольевич Медведев, p=ˈdmʲitrʲɪj ɐnɐˈtolʲjɪvʲɪtɕ mʲɪdˈvʲedʲɪf; born 14 September 1965) is a Russian politician who has been serving as the dep ...
, the city decided to find a more appropriate location for this project. In the same year, the new location for the project was relocated to Lakhta, a historical area northwest of the city centre, and the new project would be named
Lakhta Center The Lakhta Center () is an 87-story skyscraper built in the northwestern neighbourhood of Lakhta, Saint Petersburg, Lakhta in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Standing tall, it is the List of tallest buildings in Russia, tallest building in Russia, t ...
. Construction was approved by Gazprom and the city administration and commenced in 2012. The high Lakhta Center has become the first tallest skyscraper in Russia and
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
outside of Moscow.


Geography

The area of Saint Petersburg city proper is . The area of the federal subject is , which contains Saint Petersburg proper (consisting of eighty-one municipal ''
okrug An ''okrug, ; russian: о́круг, ókrug; sr, округ, okrug, ; uk, о́круг, о́kruh; be, акруга, akruha; pl, okręg; ab, оқрҿс; mhr, йырвел, '' is a type of administrative division in some Slavic states. The ...
s''), nine municipal towns – (
Kolpino Kolpino (russian: Ко́лпино; fi, Kolpina, ') is a administrative divisions of Saint Petersburg, municipal city in Kolpinsky District of the federal cities of Russia, federal city of Saint Petersburg, St. Petersburg, Russia, loc ...
,
Krasnoye Selo Krasnoye Selo (russian: Кра́сное Село́, lit. ''Red village''). Г. П.  Смолицкая. "Топонимический словарь Центральной России". "Армада-Пресс", 2002 is a munic ...
,
Kronstadt Kronstadt (russian: Кроншта́дт, Kronshtadt ), also spelled Kronshtadt, Cronstadt or Kronštádt (from german: link=no, Krone for "crown" and ''Stadt'' for "city") is a Russian port city in Kronshtadtsky District of the federal city of ...
,
Lomonosov Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov (; russian: Михаил (Михайло) Васильевич Ломоносов, p=mʲɪxɐˈil vɐˈsʲilʲjɪvʲɪtɕ , a=Ru-Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov.ogg; – ) was a Russian Empire, Russian polymath, s ...
, Pavlovsk,
Petergof Petergof (russian: Петерго́ф), known as Petrodvorets () from 1944 to 1997, is a municipal town in Petrodvortsovy District of the federal city of St. Petersburg, located on the southern shore of the Gulf of Finland. The town hosts ...
,
Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (; rus, links=no, Александр Сергеевич ПушкинIn pre-Revolutionary script, his name was written ., r=Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈpuʂkʲɪn, ...
,
Sestroretsk Sestroretsk (russian: Сестроре́цк; fi, Siestarjoki; sv, Systerbäck) is a municipal town in Kurortny District of the federal city of St. Petersburg, Russia, located on the shores of the Gulf of Finland, the Sestra River an ...
,
Zelenogorsk Zelenogorsk (russian: Зеленогорск) is the name of several inhabited localities in Russia. ;Urban localities *Zelenogorsk, Krasnoyarsk Krai, a closed town in Krasnoyarsk Krai *Zelenogorsk, Saint Petersburg, a municipal town in Kurortny ...
) – and twenty-one municipal settlements. Petersburg is on the middle
taiga Taiga (; rus, тайга́, p=tɐjˈɡa; relates to Mongolic and Turkic languages), generally referred to in North America as a boreal forest or snow forest, is a biome characterized by coniferous forests consisting mostly of pines, spruce ...
lowlands along the shores of the
Neva Bay The Neva Bay (Russian: Не́вская губа́, ''Névskaya Gubá''), also known as the Gulf of Kronstadt, is the easternmost part of the Gulf of Finland between Kotlin Island and the Neva River estuary where Saint Petersburg city centre is lo ...
of the
Gulf of Finland The Gulf of Finland ( fi, Suomenlahti; et, Soome laht; rus, Фи́нский зали́в, r=Finskiy zaliv, p=ˈfʲinskʲɪj zɐˈlʲif; sv, Finska viken) is the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea. It extends between Finland to the north and E ...
, and islands of the river delta. The largest are
Vasilyevsky Island Vasilyevsky Island (russian: Васи́льевский о́стров, Vasilyevsky Ostrov, V.O.) is an island in St. Petersburg, Russia, bordered by the Bolshaya Neva and Malaya Neva Rivers (in the delta of the Neva River) in the south a ...
(besides the
artificial island An artificial island is an island that has been constructed by people rather than formed by natural means. Artificial islands may vary in size from small islets reclaimed solely to support a single pillar of a building or structure to those tha ...
between Obvodny canal and
Fontanka The Fontanka (russian: Фонтанка), a left branch of the river Neva, flows through the whole of Central Saint Petersburg, Russia – from the Summer Garden to . It is long, with a width up to , and a depth up to . The Moyka River for ...
, and Kotlin in the
Neva Bay The Neva Bay (Russian: Не́вская губа́, ''Névskaya Gubá''), also known as the Gulf of Kronstadt, is the easternmost part of the Gulf of Finland between Kotlin Island and the Neva River estuary where Saint Petersburg city centre is lo ...
), Petrogradsky, Dekabristov and Krestovsky. The latter together with Yelagin and
Kamenny Island Kamenny Islands (russian: Каменные острова, ''Kamenny Ostrova'', meaning 'Stony Islands') are a group of three islands in the Neva delta, in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Geography The three islands are flat. They are divided by chann ...
are covered mostly by parks. The
Karelian Isthmus The Karelian Isthmus (russian: Карельский перешеек, Karelsky peresheyek; fi, Karjalankannas; sv, Karelska näset) is the approximately stretch of land, situated between the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga in northwestern ...
, North of the city, is a popular
resort area A tourist attraction is a place of interest that tourists visit, typically for its inherent or an exhibited natural or cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, offering leisure and amusement. Types Places of natural b ...
. In the south, Saint Petersburg crosses the Baltic-Ladoga Klint and meets the
Izhora Plateau The Izhora Plateau (russian: Ижорская возвышенность) is an elevated landform on Ordovician limestone bedrock in the southwestern part of Leningrad Oblast, between the Gulf of Finland in the north and the Luga River in the so ...
. The elevation of Saint Petersburg ranges from the sea level to its highest point of at the Orekhovaya Hill in the
Duderhof Heights Duderhof Heights or Duderhof Hills (russian: Дудергофские высоты; german: Duderhofer Höhen) is a small highland area in the southwestern part of Saint Petersburg (Krasnoselsky District). The nearest railway station, Mozhayskaya ...
in the south. Part of the city's territory west of
Liteyny Prospekt Liteyny Avenue (russian: Лите́йный проспе́кт, ''Liteyny Prospekt'') is a wide avenue in the Central District of Saint Petersburg, Russia. The avenue runs from Liteyny Bridge to Nevsky Avenue. The avenue originated in 1738 whe ...
is no higher than
above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The comb ...
, and has suffered from numerous floods.
Floods in Saint Petersburg Floods in Saint Petersburg refer to a rise of water on the territory of St. Petersburg, a major city in Russia and its former capital. They are usually caused by the overflow of the delta of Neva River and surging water in the eastern part of Neva ...
are triggered by a long wave in the
Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...
, caused by meteorological conditions, winds and shallowness of the
Neva Bay The Neva Bay (Russian: Не́вская губа́, ''Névskaya Gubá''), also known as the Gulf of Kronstadt, is the easternmost part of the Gulf of Finland between Kotlin Island and the Neva River estuary where Saint Petersburg city centre is lo ...
. The five most disastrous floods occurred in 1824 ( above sea level, during which over 300 buildings were destroyed); 1924 (); 1777 (); 1955 (); and 1975 (). To prevent floods, the
Saint Petersburg Dam The Saint Petersburg Flood Prevention Facility Complex ( rus, Ко́мплекс защи́тных сооруже́ний Санкт-Петербу́рга от наводне́ний, kómpleks zashchítnykh sooruzhéniy Sankt-Peterbúrga ot ...
has been constructed. Since the 18th century, the city's terrain has been raised artificially, at some places by more than , making mergers of several islands, and changing the hydrology of the city. Besides the Neva and its tributaries, other important rivers of the federal subject of Saint Petersburg are Sestra,
Okhta The Okhta () is a river in Vsevolozhsky District of Leningrad Oblast and the eastern part of the city of Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is the largest right tributary of the river Neva. It joins the Neva upstream of the Neva's mouth, within the c ...
and
Izhora The Izhora (, ), also known as the Inger, is a left tributary of the Neva on its run through Ingria in northwestern Russia from Lake Ladoga to Gulf of Finland. The Izhora flows through Gatchinsky District, Gatchinsky and Tosnensky Districts of Len ...
. The largest lake is Sestroretsky Razliv in the north, followed by Lakhtinsky Razliv, Suzdal Lakes, and other smaller lakes. Due to its northerly location at c. 60° N
latitude In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north– south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north pol ...
the
day length Daytime as observed on Earth is the period of the day during which a given location experiences natural illumination from direct sunlight. Daytime occurs when the Sun appears above the local horizon, that is, anywhere on the globe's hem ...
in Petersburg varies across seasons, ranging from 5 hours 53 minutes to 18 hours 50 minutes. A period from mid-May to mid-July during which twilight may last all night is called ''the
white nights White night, White Night, or White Nights may refer to: * White night (astronomy), a night in which it never gets completely dark, at high latitudes outside the Arctic and Antarctic Circles * White Night festivals, all-night arts festivals held in ...
''. Saint Petersburg is about from the border with Finland, connected to it via the M10 highway ( E18), along which there is also a connection to the historic city of
Vyborg Vyborg (; rus, Вы́борг, links=1, r=Výborg, p=ˈvɨbərk; fi, Viipuri ; sv, Viborg ; german: Wiborg ) is a town in, and the administrative center of, Vyborgsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It lies on the Karelian Isthmus ne ...
.


Climate

Under the
Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...
, Saint Petersburg is classified as ''Dfb'', a
humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freezing ...
. The distinct moderating influence of
Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...
cyclones results in warm, humid, and short summers and long, moderately cold wet winters. The climate of Saint Petersburg is close to that of
Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...
, although colder in winter and warmer in summer because of its more eastern location. The average maximum temperature in July is , and the average minimum temperature in February is ; an extreme temperature of occurred during the 2010 Northern Hemisphere summer heat wave. A winter minimum of was recorded in 1883. The average annual temperature is . The Neva River within the city limits usually freezes up in November–December and break-up occurs in April. From December to March there are 118 days on average with snow cover, which reaches an average snow depth of by February. The frost-free period in the city lasts on average for about 135 days. Despite St. Petersburg's northern location, its winters are warmer than Moscow's due to the
Gulf of Finland The Gulf of Finland ( fi, Suomenlahti; et, Soome laht; rus, Фи́нский зали́в, r=Finskiy zaliv, p=ˈfʲinskʲɪj zɐˈlʲif; sv, Finska viken) is the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea. It extends between Finland to the north and E ...
and some
Gulf Stream The Gulf Stream, together with its northern extension the North Atlantic Current, North Atlantic Drift, is a warm and swift Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic ocean current that originates in the Gulf of Mexico and flows through the Straits of Florida a ...
influence from Scandinavian winds that can bring temperature slightly above freezing. The city also has a slightly warmer climate than its suburbs. Weather conditions are quite variable all year round. Average annual
precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...
varies across the city, averaging per year and reaching maximum in late summer. Due to the cool climate, soil moisture is almost always high because of lower
evapotranspiration Evapotranspiration (ET) is the combined processes by which water moves from the earth’s surface into the atmosphere. It covers both water evaporation (movement of water to the air directly from soil, canopies, and water bodies) and transpi ...
.
Air humidity Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air. Water vapor, the gaseous state of water, is generally invisible to the human eye. Humidity indicates the likelihood for precipitation, dew, or fog to be present. Humidity depe ...
is 78% on average, and there are, on average, 165
overcast Overcast or overcast weather, as defined by the World Meteorological Organization, is the meteorological condition of clouds obscuring at least 95% of the sky. However, the total cloud cover must not be entirely due to obscuring phenomena near t ...
days per year.


Toponymy

The first and fairly rich chapter of the history of the local
toponymy Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...
is the story of the city's name. The
name day In Christianity, a name day is a tradition in many countries of Europe and the Americas, among other parts of Christendom. It consists of celebrating a day of the year that is associated with one's baptismal name, which is normatively that of a ...
of
Peter I Peter I may refer to: Religious hierarchs * Saint Peter (c. 1 AD – c. 64–88 AD), a.k.a. Simon Peter, Simeon, or Simon, apostle of Jesus * Pope Peter I of Alexandria (died 311), revered as a saint * Peter I of Armenia (died 1058), Catholico ...
falls on 29 June, when the
Russian Orthodox Church , native_name_lang = ru , image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg , imagewidth = , alt = , caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia , abbreviation = ROC , type ...
observes the memory of saint apostles
Peter Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...
and
Paul Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chris ...
. The consecration of the small wooden church in their names (its construction began at the same time as the citadel) made them the heavenly patrons of the
Peter and Paul Fortress The Peter and Paul Fortress is the original citadel of St. Petersburg, Russia, founded by Peter the Great in 1703 and built to Domenico Trezzini's designs from 1706 to 1740 as a star fortress. Between the first half of the 1700s and early 1920s i ...
, while Saint Peter at the same time became the
eponym An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...
of the whole city. When in June 1703
Peter the Great Peter I ( – ), most commonly known as Peter the Great,) or Pyotr Alekséyevich ( rus, Пётр Алексе́евич, p=ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ, , group=pron was a Russian monarch who ruled the Tsardom of Russia from t ...
gave the site a new name after Saint Peter, he did not issue a naming act that established an official spelling; even in his own letters he used diverse spellings, such as Санктьпетерсьбурк (''Sanktpetersburk''), emulating German ''Sankt Petersburg'', and Сантпитербурх (''Santpiterburkh''), emulating Dutch ''Sint-Pietersburgh'', as Peter was multilingual and a Neerlandophile. The name was later normalized and
russified Russification (russian: русификация, rusifikatsiya), or Russianization, is a form of cultural assimilation in which non-Russians, whether involuntarily or voluntarily, give up their culture and language in favor of the Russian cultur ...
to Санкт-Петербург. A 14- to 15-letter-long name, composed of the three
roots A root is the part of a plant, generally underground, that anchors the plant body, and absorbs and stores water and nutrients. Root or roots may also refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''The Root'' (magazine), an online magazine focusing ...
proved too cumbersome, and many shortened versions were used. The first General Governor of the city Menshikov is maybe also the author of the first nickname of Petersburg which he called Петри (''Petri''). It took some years until the known Russian spelling of this name finally settled. In 1740s
Mikhail Lomonosov Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov (; russian: Михаил (Михайло) Васильевич Ломоносов, p=mʲɪxɐˈil vɐˈsʲilʲjɪvʲɪtɕ , a=Ru-Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov.ogg; – ) was a Russian Empire, Russian polymath, s ...
uses a derivative of el, link=no, Πετρόπολις (Петрополис, ''Petropolis'') in a Russified form ''Petropol'' (Петрополь). A combo ''Piterpol'' (Питерпол) also appears at this time.Nesterov, V. ''Знаешь ли ты свой город'' ("Do you know your city?"). Leningrad, 1958, p. 58. In any case, eventually the usage of prefix "''Sankt-''" ceased except for the formal official documents, where a three-letter abbreviation "СПб" (''SPB'') was very widely used as well. In the 1830s
Alexander Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (; rus, links=no, Александр Сергеевич ПушкинIn pre-Revolutionary script, his name was written ., r=Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈpuʂkʲɪn, ...
translated the "foreign" city name of "Saint Petersburg" to the more Russian ''Petrograd'' in one of his poems. However, it was only on , after the war with Germany had begun, that Tsar
Nicholas II Nicholas II or Nikolai II Alexandrovich Romanov; spelled in pre-revolutionary script. ( 186817 July 1918), known in the Russian Orthodox Church as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer,. was the last Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Pola ...
renamed the capital to Petrograd. Since the prefix "Saint" was omitted, this act also changed the
eponym An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...
and the "patron" of the city from Saint Peter to Peter the Great, its founder. After the
October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key moment ...
the name ''Red Petrograd'' (Красный Петроград, ''Krasny Petrograd'') was often used in newspapers and other prints until the city was renamed ''Leningrad'' in January 1924. A referendum on reversing the renaming of ''Leningrad'' was held on 12 June 1991, with 54.86% of voters (with a turnout of 65%) supporting "''Saint Petersburg''". Renaming the city ''Petrograd'' was not an option. This change officially took effect on 6 September 1991. Meanwhile, the oblast whose administrative center is also in Saint Petersburg is still named
Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
. Having passed the role of capital to Petersburg, Moscow never relinquished the title of "capital", being called ''pervoprestolnaya'' ("first-throned") for 200 years. An equivalent name for Petersburg, the "Northern Capital", has re-entered usage today since several federal institutions were recently moved from Moscow to Saint Petersburg. Solemn descriptive names like "the city of three revolutions" and "the cradle of the
October revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key moment ...
" used in the Soviet era are reminders of the pivotal events in national history that occurred here. ''Petropolis'' is a translation of a city name to Greek, and is also a kind of descriptive name: Πέτρ- is a Greek root for "stone", so the "city from stone" emphasizes the material that had been forcibly made obligatory for construction from the first years of the city. (The proper Greek translation is Αγία Πετρούπολη, ''Agia Petroupoli''.)


Demographics

Saint Petersburg is the second largest city in Russia. As of the 2017
Rosstat The Federal State Statistics Service (russian: Федеральная служба государственной статистики (Росстат), ''Federal'naya sluzhba gosudarstvennoi statistiki (Rosstat)'') is the governmental statistics ...
, the federal subject's population is 5,281,579 or 3.6% of the total population of Russia; up from 4,879,566 (3.4%) recorded in the 2010 Census, and up from 5,023,506 recorded in the 1989 Census. ;Vital statistics for 2016 * Births: 72 879 (13.9 per 1000) * Deaths: 61 459 (11.7 per 1000) ; Ethnic composition of Saint Petersburg During the 20th century, the city experienced dramatic population changes. From 2.4 million residents in 1916, its population dropped to less than 740,000 by 1920 during the
Russian Revolution of 1917 The Russian Revolution was a period of political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and adopt a socialist form of government ...
and
Russian Civil War , date = October Revolution, 7 November 1917 – Yakut revolt, 16 June 1923{{Efn, The main phase ended on 25 October 1922. Revolt against the Bolsheviks continued Basmachi movement, in Central Asia and Tungus Republic, the Far East th ...
. The minorities of Germans, Poles, Finns, Estonians and Latvians were almost completely transferred from Leningrad during the 1930s. From 1941 to the end of 1943, population dropped from 3 million to less than 600,000, as people died in battles, starved to death or were evacuated during the
Siege of Leningrad The siege of Leningrad (russian: links=no, translit=Blokada Leningrada, Блокада Ленинграда; german: links=no, Leningrader Blockade; ) was a prolonged military blockade undertaken by the Axis powers against the Soviet city of L ...
. Some evacuees returned after the siege, but most influx was due to migration from other parts of the Soviet Union. The city absorbed about 3 million people in the 1950s and grew to over 5 million in the 1980s. From 1991 to 2006 the city's population decreased to 4.6 million, while the suburban population increased due to privatization of land and massive move to suburbs. Based on the 2010 census results the population is over 4.8 million.Chistyakova, N
Третье сокращение численности населения... и последнее?
''Demoscope Weekly'' 163 – 164, 1–15 August 2004.
For the first half of 2007, the birth rate was 9.1 per 1000 and remained lower than the
death rate Mortality rate, or death rate, is a measure of the number of deaths (in general, or due to a specific cause) in a particular population, scaled to the size of that population, per unit of time. Mortality rate is typically expressed in units of de ...
(until 2012); people over 65 constitute more than twenty percent of the population; and the median age is about 40 years. Since 2012 the
birth rate The birth rate for a given period is the total number of live human births per 1,000 population divided by the length of the period in years. The number of live births is normally taken from a universal registration system for births; populati ...
became higher than the
death rate Mortality rate, or death rate, is a measure of the number of deaths (in general, or due to a specific cause) in a particular population, scaled to the size of that population, per unit of time. Mortality rate is typically expressed in units of de ...
. But in 2020 the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
caused a drop in birth rate, and the city population decreased to 5,395,000 people. ;Religion According to various opinion polls, more than half of the residents of Saint Petersburg "believe in
God In monotheism, monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator deity, creator, and principal object of Faith#Religious views, faith.Richard Swinburne, Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Ted Honderich, Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Ox ...
" (up to 67% according to
VTsIOM Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM or VCIOM) ( rus, Всероссийский центр изучения общественного мнения – ВЦИОМ, Vserossiysky tsentr izucheniya obshchestvennogo mneniya) is a state-ow ...
data for 2002). Among the believers, the overwhelming majority of the residents of the city are
Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...
(57.5%), followed by small minority communities of
Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abraha ...
(0.7%),
Protestants Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
(0.6%), and
Catholics The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
(0.5%), and
Buddhists Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
(0.1%). In total, roughly 59% of the population of the city is
Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
, of which over 90% are Orthodox. Non-Abrahamic religions and other faiths are represented by only 1.2% of the total population. There are 268 communities of confessions and religious associations in the city: the
Russian Orthodox Church , native_name_lang = ru , image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg , imagewidth = , alt = , caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia , abbreviation = ROC , type ...
(130 associations),
Pentecostalism Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement
(23 associations), the
Lutheranism Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...
(19 associations),
Baptism Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost inv ...
(13 associations), as well as
Old Believers Old Believers or Old Ritualists, ''starovery'' or ''staroobryadtsy'' are Eastern Orthodox Christians who maintain the liturgical and ritual practices of the Russian Orthodox Church as they were before the reforms of Patriarch Nikon of Moscow bet ...
, Roman Catholic Church,
Armenian Apostolic Church , native_name_lang = hy , icon = Armenian Apostolic Church logo.svg , icon_width = 100px , icon_alt = , image = Էջմիածնի_Մայր_Տաճար.jpg , imagewidth = 250px , a ...
,
Georgian Orthodox Church The Apostolic Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Georgia ( ka, საქართველოს სამოციქულო ავტოკეფალური მართლმადიდებელი ეკლესია, tr), commonly ...
,
Seventh-day Adventist Church The Seventh-day Adventist Church is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sabbath, and ...
,
Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the ...
, Buddhist, Muslim, Bahá'í and others. 229 religious buildings in the city are owned or run by religious associations. Among them are architectural monuments of federal significance. The oldest cathedral in the city is the Peter and Paul Cathedral, built between 1712–1733, and the largest is the Kazan Cathedral, completed in 1811.


Government

Saint Petersburg is a
federal subject The federal subjects of Russia, also referred to as the subjects of the Russian Federation (russian: субъекты Российской Федерации, subyekty Rossiyskoy Federatsii) or simply as the subjects of the federation (russian ...
of Russia (a
federal city The term federal city is a title for certain cities in Germany, Switzerland, and Russia. Germany In Germany, the former West German capital Bonn has been designated with the unique title of federal city (''Bundesstadt''). Since 28 April 1994, it ...
). The political life of Saint Petersburg is regulated by the
Charter of Saint Petersburg Charter of Saint Petersburg (russian: Устав Санкт-Петербурга) is the basic law of the federal city of Saint Petersburg. It was adopted by the Legislative Assembly of Saint Petersburg, the city's unicameral parliament, on January ...
adopted by the city legislature in 1998. The superior executive body is the
Saint Petersburg City Administration Saint Petersburg City Administration (Администрация Санкт-Петербурга) is the superior executive body of Saint Petersburg (formerly Leningrad), Russian Federation. It is located in a historic building, Smolny and known a ...
, led by the city governor (mayor before 1996). Saint Petersburg has a single-chamber legislature, the
Saint Petersburg Legislative Assembly The Legislative Assembly of Saint Petersburg (russian: Законода́тельное собра́ние Санкт-Петербу́рга, ЗакС) is the regional parliament of Saint Petersburg, a federal subject (federal city) of Russia ...
, which is the city's regional parliament. According to the federal law passed in 2004, heads of federal subjects, including the governor of Saint Petersburg, were nominated by the
President of Russia The president of the Russian Federation ( rus, Президент Российской Федерации, Prezident Rossiyskoy Federatsii) is the head of state of the Russian Federation. The president leads the executive branch of the federal ...
and approved by local legislatures. Should the legislature disapprove the nominee, the President could dissolve it. The former governor,
Valentina Matviyenko Valentina Ivanovna Matviyenko (russian: Валентина Ивановна Матвиенко, p=vəlʲɪnˈtʲinə ɪˈvanəvnə mətvʲɪˈjɛnkə, ukr, Валентина Іванівна Матвієнко; née Tyutina (Тютина; , ...
, was approved according to the new system in December 2006. She was the only woman governor in the whole of Russia until her resignation on 22 August 2011. Matviyenko stood for elections as member of the Regional Council of Saint Petersburg and won comprehensively with allegations of rigging and ballot stuffing by the opposition. Russian President
Dmitry Medvedev Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev ( rus, links=no, Дмитрий Анатольевич Медведев, p=ˈdmʲitrʲɪj ɐnɐˈtolʲjɪvʲɪtɕ mʲɪdˈvʲedʲɪf; born 14 September 1965) is a Russian politician who has been serving as the dep ...
has already backed her for the position of Speaker to the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation and her election qualifies her for that job. After her resignation,
Georgy Poltavchenko Georgy Sergeyevich Poltavchenko ( rus, Гео́ргий Серге́евич Полта́вченко, p=ɡʲɪˈorɡʲɪj sʲɪrˈɡʲejɪvʲɪtɕ pɐlˈtaftɕɪnkə; born on 24 February 1953) is a Russian politician. He became Governor of Sai ...
was appointed as the new acting governor the same day. In 2012, following passage of a new federal law, restoring direct elections of heads of federal subjects, the city charter was again amended to provide for direct elections of governor. On 3 October 2018, Poltavchenko resigned, and
Alexander Beglov Alexander Dmitryevich Beglov ( rus, Алекса́ндр Дми́триевич Бегло́в, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr ˈdmʲitrʲɪjɪvʲɪdʑ bʲɪˈɡlof; born 19 May 1956) is a Russian politician. He was appointed acting Governor of Saint Petersb ...
was appointed acting governor. Saint Petersburg is also the unofficial but ''de facto'' administrative centre of
Leningrad Oblast Leningrad Oblast ( rus, Ленинградская область, Leningradskaya oblast’, lʲɪnʲɪnˈgratskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ, , ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). It was established on 1 August 1927, a ...
, and of the
Northwestern Federal District Northwestern Federal District,, ''Severo-Zapadny federalny okrug'' is one of the federal districts of Russia, eight federal districts of Russia. It covers most of Northwest Russia. Its population was 13.6 million, of which 83.5% was urban, livi ...
. The
Constitutional Court of Russia A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princip ...
moved to Saint Petersburg from Moscow in May 2008. Saint Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast, being two different federal subjects, share a number of local departments of federal executive agencies and courts, such as court of arbitration, police, FSB, postal service, drug enforcement administration, penitentiary service, federal registration service, and other federal services.


Administrative divisions


Economy

Saint Petersburg is a major trade gateway, serving as the financial and industrial centre of Russia, with specializations in oil and gas trade; shipbuilding yards;
aerospace industry Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astr ...
; technology, including radio, electronics, software, and computers; machine building, heavy machinery and transport, including tanks and other
military equipment A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...
; mining; instrument manufacture; ferrous and nonferrous
metallurgy Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the sc ...
(production of aluminium alloys); chemicals,
pharmaceuticals A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy (pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field and rel ...
, and
medical equipment A medical device is any device intended to be used for medical purposes. Significant potential for hazards are inherent when using a device for medical purposes and thus medical devices must be proved safe and effective with reasonable assura ...
; publishing and printing; food and catering; wholesale and retail; textile and
apparel Clothing (also known as clothes, apparel, and attire) are items worn on the body. Typically, clothing is made of fabrics or textiles, but over time it has included garments made from animal skin and other thin sheets of materials and natural ...
industries; and many other businesses. It was also home to Lessner, one of Russia's two pioneering automobile manufacturers (along with Russo-Baltic); it was founded by machine tool and boilermaker G.A. Lessner in 1904, with designs by Boris Loutsky, and it survived until 1910. Ten per cent of the world's power
turbine A turbine ( or ) (from the Greek , ''tyrbē'', or Latin ''turbo'', meaning vortex) is a rotary mechanical device that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful work. The work produced by a turbine can be used for generating e ...
s are made there at the LMZ, which built over two thousand turbines for
power plants A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid. Many pow ...
across the world. Major local industries are
Admiralty Shipyard The JSC Admiralty Shipyards (russian: link=no, Адмиралтейские верфи) (''formerly Soviet Shipyard No. 194'') is one of the oldest and largest shipyards in Russia, located in Saint Petersburg. The shipyard's building ways can ac ...
,
Baltic Shipyard The OJSC Baltic Shipyard (''Baltiysky Zavod'', formerly Shipyard 189 named after Grigoriy Ordzhonikidze) (russian: Балтийский завод имени С. Орджоникидзе) is one of the oldest shipyards in Russia and is part of ...
,
LOMO LOMO (russian: Ленинградское Oптико-Mеханическое Oбъединение, Leningradskoye Optiko-Mekhanicheskoye Obyedinenie, Leningrad Optical Mechanical Association) is a manufacturer of medical and motion-picture lens ...
,
Kirov Plant The Kirov Plant, Kirov Factory or Leningrad Kirov Plant (LKZ) ( rus, Кировский завод, Kirovskiy zavod) is a major Russian mechanical engineering and agricultural machinery manufacturing plant in St. Petersburg, Russia. It was establ ...
,
Elektrosila Joint-stock company, OJSC Power Machines (transliteration, translit. Siloviye Mashiny abbreviated as Silmash, russian: ОАО «Силовы́е маши́ны») is a Russian energy systems machine-building company founded in 2000. It is headqua ...
,
Izhorskiye Zavody Izhorskiye Zavody or Izhora Plants (russian: Ижо́рские заво́ды) is a Russian machine building joint stock company (OAO) belonging to the OMZ Group. It operates a major manufacturing plant in Kolpino, Saint Petersburg. History ...
; also registered in Saint Petersburg are
Sovkomflot Sovcomflot (russian: ПАО «Совкомфлот», ПАО «Современный коммерческий флот», , Modern Commercial Fleet). Sovcomflot is Russia's largest shipping company, and one of the global leaders in the maritime ...
,
Petersburg Fuel Company The Petersburg Fuel Company (PTK, in Russian: Петербургская топливная компания, ПТК) is an open joint-stock company of Saint Petersburg, Russia, founded in September 1994, after a fuel supply crisis had hit the cit ...
and
SIBUR SIBUR (PJSC SIBUR Holding) is a Russian petrochemicals company founded in 1995 and headquartered in Moscow. SIBUR is the largest integrated petrochemicals company in Russia and one of the fastest-growing companies in the global petrochemicals ...
among other major Russian and international companies. The
Port of Saint Petersburg The Great Port of St. Petersburg or Port of St. Petersburg is a major seaport serving the city of St. Petersburg in northwest Russia. The port's water area is 164.6 km2 (630,000 square meters). The mooring line is 31 km long and the water is ...
has three large cargo terminals, Bolshoi Port Saint Petersburg,
Kronstadt Kronstadt (russian: Кроншта́дт, Kronshtadt ), also spelled Kronshtadt, Cronstadt or Kronštádt (from german: link=no, Krone for "crown" and ''Stadt'' for "city") is a Russian port city in Kronshtadtsky District of the federal city of ...
, and Lomonosov terminal. International
cruise liners Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports-of-call, where passengers may go on tours known as "sho ...
have been served at the passenger port at Morskoy Vokzal on the south-west of
Vasilyevsky Island Vasilyevsky Island (russian: Васи́льевский о́стров, Vasilyevsky Ostrov, V.O.) is an island in St. Petersburg, Russia, bordered by the Bolshaya Neva and Malaya Neva Rivers (in the delta of the Neva River) in the south a ...
. In 2008 the first two berths opened at the New Passenger Port on the west of the island. The new passenger terminal is part of the city's "Marine Facade" development project and was due to have seven berths in operation by 2010. A complex system of riverports on both banks of the
Neva River The Neva (russian: Нева́, ) is a river in northwestern Russia flowing from Lake Ladoga through the western part of Leningrad Oblast (historical region of Ingria) to the Neva Bay of the Gulf of Finland. Despite its modest length of , it i ...
are interconnected with the system of seaports, thus making Saint Petersburg the main link between the
Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...
and the rest of Russia through the Volga-Baltic Waterway. The
Saint Petersburg Mint Saint Petersburg Mint (russian: Санкт-Петербу́ргский моне́тный двор) is one of the world's largest mints. It was founded by Peter the Great in 1724 on the territory of Peter and Paul Fortress, so it is one of the ...
(Monetny Dvor), founded in 1724, is one of the largest
mints A mint or breath mint is a food item often consumed as an after-meal refreshment or before business and social engagements to improve breath odor. Mints are commonly believed to soothe the stomach given their association with natural byproducts ...
in the world, it mints Russian coins, medals and badges. Saint Petersburg is also home to the oldest and largest Russian foundry, Monumentskulptura, which made thousands of sculptures and statues that now grace the public parks of Saint Petersburg and many other cities. Monuments and
bronze statues Bronze is the most popular metal for cast metal sculptures; a cast bronze sculpture is often called simply "a bronze". It can be used for statues, singly or in groups, reliefs, and small statuettes and figurines, as well as bronze elements ...
of the Tsars, as well as other important historic figures and dignitaries, and other world-famous monuments, such as the sculptures by
Peter Clodt von Jürgensburg Peter Jakob Freiherr Clodt von Jürgensburg, known in Russian as Pyotr Karlovich Klodt (russian: Пётр Карлович Клодт; 5 June 1805, Saint Petersburg – 25 November 1867, Klevenoye, Vyborg Governorate), was a favourite sculpto ...
,
Paolo Troubetzkoy Prince Paolo Petrovich Troubetzkoy (also known as Pavel or Paul; russian: Павел Петрович Трубецкой, translit=Pavel Petrovich Trubetskoy; Intra, Italy, 15 February 1866 — Pallanza, 12 February 1938) was an artist and a sc ...
,
Mark Antokolsky Mark Matveyevich Antokolsky (russian: Марк Матве́евич Антоко́льский; 2 November 18409 July 1902) was a Russian Imperial sculptor of Lithuanian Jewish descent. Biography Mordukh Matysovich Antokolsky''Boris Schatz: The ...
, and others, were made there. In 2007,
Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...
opened a
Camry The Toyota Camry (; Japanese: トヨタ・カムリ ''Toyota Kamuri'') is an automobile sold internationally by the Japanese auto manufacturer Toyota since 1982, spanning multiple generations. Originally compact in size (narrow-body), the Camry ...
plant after investing 5 billion roubles (approx. 200 mln dollars) in Shushary, one of the southern suburbs of Saint Petersburg.
Opel Opel Automobile GmbH (), usually shortened to Opel, is a German automobile manufacturer which has been a subsidiary of Stellantis since 16 January 2021. It was owned by the American automaker General Motors from 1929 until 2017 and the PSA Grou ...
,
Hyundai Hyundai is a South Korean industrial conglomerate ("chaebol"), which was restructured into the following groups: * Hyundai Group, parts of the former conglomerate which have not been divested ** Hyundai Mobis, Korean car parts company ** Hyundai ...
and Nissan have also signed deals with the
Russian government The Government of Russia exercises executive power in the Russian Federation. The members of the government are the prime minister, the deputy prime ministers, and the federal ministers. It has its legal basis in the Constitution of the Russia ...
to build their automotive plants in Saint Petersburg. The automotive and auto-parts industry is on the rise there during the last decade. Saint Petersburg has a large brewery and distillery industry. Known as Russia's "beer capital" due to the supply and quality of local water, its five large breweries account for over 30% of the country's domestic beer production. They include Europe's second-largest brewery
Baltika Baltika Brewery (russian: link=no, Пивоваренная компания "Балтика") is the second largest brewing company in Europe and the leader of the Russian beer market with over 38% market share. It is headquartered in St. Pet ...
, Vena (both operated by BBH), Heineken Brewery,
Stepan Razin Stepan Timofeyevich Razin (russian: Степа́н Тимофе́евич Ра́зин, ; 1630 – ), known as Stenka Razin ( ), was a Cossack leader who led a major uprising against the nobility and tsarist bureaucracy in southern Russia in 16 ...
(both by
Heineken Heineken Lager Beer ( nl, Heineken Pilsener), or simply Heineken () is a pale lager beer with 5% alcohol by volume produced by the Dutch brewing company Heineken N.V. Heineken beer is sold in a green bottle with a red star. History On 15 Febr ...
) and Tinkoff brewery (SUN-
InBev InBev () is a brewing company that resulted from the merger between Belgium-based company Interbrew and Brazilian brewer AmBev which took place in 2004. It existed independently until the acquisition of Anheuser-Busch in 2008, which formed Anheu ...
). The city's many local
distilleries Distillation, or classical distillation, is the process of separating the components or substances from a liquid mixture by using selective boiling and condensation, usually inside an apparatus known as a still. Dry distillation is the heating ...
produce a broad range of
vodka Vodka ( pl, wódka , russian: водка , sv, vodka ) is a clear distilled alcoholic beverage. Different varieties originated in Poland, Russia, and Sweden. Vodka is composed mainly of water and ethanol but sometimes with traces of impuritie ...
brands. The oldest ones is LIVIZ (founded in 1897). Among the youngest is
Russian Standard Vodka Russian Standard ( rus, Ру́сский Станда́рт, r=Rússkу Standárt, p=ˈrusːkʲɪj stɐnˈdart) is a major Russian company producing the vodka brand of the same name. The brand was founded by Roustam Tariko in 1998. History The ...
introduced in Moscow in 1998, which opened in 2006 a new $60 million distillery in Petersburg (an area of , production rate of 22,500 bottles per hour). In 2007, this brand was exported to over 70 countries. Saint Petersburg has the second-largest
construction industry Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and come ...
in Russia, including commercial, housing, and road construction. In 2006, Saint Petersburg's city budget was 180 billion rubles (about 7 billion US$ at 2006 exchange rates),. The federal subject's
Gross Regional Product Gross regional product (GRP) is a monetary measure of the market value of all final goods and services produced in a region or subdivision of a country in a period (quarterly or yearly) of time. A metropolitan area's GRP (gross metropolitan prod ...
was 3.7 trillion
Russian ruble ''hum''; cv, тенкĕ ''tenke''; kv, шайт ''shayt''; Lak: къуруш ''k'urush''; Mari: теҥге ''tenge''; os, сом ''som''; tt-Cyrl, сум ''sum''; udm, манет ''manet''; sah, солкуобай ''solkuobay'' , name_ab ...
s (or around
US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
70 billion), ranked 2nd in Russia, after Moscow and per capita of
US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
13,000, ranked 12th among Russia's federal subjects, contributed mostly by wholesale and
retail trade Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and t ...
and repair services (24.7%) as well as processing industry (20.9%) and transportation and telecommunications (15.1%). Budget revenues of the city in 2009 amounted to 294.3 billion rubles (about 10.044 billion US$ at 2009 exchange rates), expenses – 336.3 billion rubles (about 11.477 billion US$ at 2009 exchange rates). The budget deficit amounted to about 42 billion rubles. (about 1.433 billion US$ at 2009 exchange rates) In 2015, St. Petersburg was ranked in 4th place economically amongst all federal subjects of the Russian Federation, surpassed only by Moscow, the Tyumen and Moscow Region.


Cityscape

Saint Petersburg has three skyscrapers: Leader Tower (140 m), Alexander Nevsky (124 m) and Atlantic City (105 m) all far from the historical centre. Regulations forbid the construction of tall buildings in the city centre. The tall
Saint Petersburg TV Tower Saint Petersburg Television Tower is a Russian steel lattice television tower in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Being the first dedicated television tower in the Soviet Union, the Saint Petersburg TV Tower is utilized for transmitting for FM-/ TV-br ...
is the tallest completed structure in the city. However, there was a controversial project endorsed by the city authorities, and known as the
Okhta Center Okhta Center or phonetically Oḱhta-Tseńtr (Russian: О́хта-це́нтр), known before March 2007 as Gazprom City (Russian:Газпро́м-си́ти), was a construction project of a business centre in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It was supp ...
, to build a
supertall A supertall building is an occupied "supertall" structure higher than and beneath . A form of skyscraper, it falls midway between a common minimum definition of "skyscraper" (a building taller ) and a " megatall" building (taller than ). Diff ...
skyscraper. In 2008, the
World Monuments Fund World Monuments Fund (WMF) is a private, international, non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of historic architecture and cultural heritage sites around the world through fieldwork, advocacy, grantmaking, education, and trainin ...
included the Saint Petersburg historic skyline on the watch list of the 100 most endangered sites due to the expected construction, which threatens to alter it drastically. The Okhta Center project was cancelled at the end of 2010 and the
Lakhta Center The Lakhta Center () is an 87-story skyscraper built in the northwestern neighbourhood of Lakhta, Saint Petersburg, Lakhta in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Standing tall, it is the List of tallest buildings in Russia, tallest building in Russia, t ...
project began in the city's outskirts. The complex includes office skyscraper and several low rise mixed-use buildings. The Lakhta Center project has caused much less controversy. Unlike the previous unbuilt project, it is not seen by
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
as a potential threat to the city's cultural heritage because it is far from the historical centre. The skyscraper was completed in 2019, and at 462.5 metres, it is currently the tallest in Russia and Europe. Unlike in Moscow, the historic architecture of Saint Petersburg's city centre, mostly
Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
and Neoclassical buildings of the 18th and 19th centuries, has been largely preserved; although a number of buildings were demolished after the Bolsheviks' seizure of power, during the
Siege of Leningrad The siege of Leningrad (russian: links=no, translit=Blokada Leningrada, Блокада Ленинграда; german: links=no, Leningrader Blockade; ) was a prolonged military blockade undertaken by the Axis powers against the Soviet city of L ...
and in recent years. The oldest of the remaining building is a wooden house built for
Peter I Peter I may refer to: Religious hierarchs * Saint Peter (c. 1 AD – c. 64–88 AD), a.k.a. Simon Peter, Simeon, or Simon, apostle of Jesus * Pope Peter I of Alexandria (died 311), revered as a saint * Peter I of Armenia (died 1058), Catholico ...
in 1703 on the shore of the
Neva The Neva (russian: Нева́, ) is a river in northwestern Russia flowing from Lake Ladoga through the western part of Leningrad Oblast (historical region of Ingria) to the Neva Bay of the Gulf of Finland. Despite its modest length of , it ...
near Trinity Square. Since 1991 the
Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments is the name used by UNESCO when it collectively designated the historic core of the Russian city of St. Petersburg, as well as buildings and ensembles located in the immediate vic ...
in Saint Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast have been listed by
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
as a
World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
. The ensemble of
Peter and Paul Fortress The Peter and Paul Fortress is the original citadel of St. Petersburg, Russia, founded by Peter the Great in 1703 and built to Domenico Trezzini's designs from 1706 to 1740 as a star fortress. Between the first half of the 1700s and early 1920s i ...
with the Peter and Paul Cathedral takes a dominant position on
Zayachy Island Zayachy Island (Russian Заячий остров, literally ''Hare Island'') is an island in the Neva River in St. Petersburg, Russia. It is separated by the Kronverksky Strait from Petrogradsky Island to the north, to which it is connected ...
along the right bank of the
Neva River The Neva (russian: Нева́, ) is a river in northwestern Russia flowing from Lake Ladoga through the western part of Leningrad Oblast (historical region of Ingria) to the Neva Bay of the Gulf of Finland. Despite its modest length of , it i ...
. Each noon a cannon fires a blank shot from the fortress. The
Saint Petersburg Mosque The Saint Petersburg Mosque (russian: Санкт-Петербу́ргская мече́ть), when opened in 1913, was the largest mosque in Europe outside Turkey, its minarets 49 meters in height and the dome is 39 meters high. The mosque is situ ...
, the largest mosque in Europe when opened in 1913, is on the right bank nearby. The Spit of Vasilievsky Island, which splits the river into two largest armlets, the
Bolshaya Neva The Great Neva or Bolshaya Neva () is the largest armlet of the river Neva. It starts near the Spit of Vasilievsky Island (easternmost tip of the island). The Great Neva is long; the width is from and the depth up to . Its tributaries are Font ...
and
Malaya Neva The Little Neva or Malaya Neva (russian: Ма́лая Нева́) is the second largest distributary of the river Neva. The Neva splits into Great Neva (the southern armlet) and Little Neva (the northern armlet) near the Spit of Vasilievsky I ...
, is connected to the northern bank (
Petrogradsky Island Petrogradsky Island or Petrograd Island (Russian: Петроградский остров) is the third largest island in the Neva River delta in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Along with Zayachy Island, Aptekarsky Island, and Petrovsky Island, it co ...
) via the
Exchange Bridge Exchange Bridge (russian: Биржево́й мост, ''Birzhevoy most'') is a bascule bridge in Saint Petersburg, opened in 1894. The bridge crosses the Little Neva River (distributary of Neva River) close to the Exchange Square Exchange may ...
and occupied by the
Old Saint Petersburg Stock Exchange and Rostral Columns The Old Saint Petersburg Stock Exchange (also '' Bourse'') and Rostral Columns, located in Saint Petersburg in the Russian Federation, are significant examples of Greek Revival architecture. Designed by French architect Thomas de Thomon, and in ...
. The southern coast of
Vasilyevsky Island Vasilyevsky Island (russian: Васи́льевский о́стров, Vasilyevsky Ostrov, V.O.) is an island in St. Petersburg, Russia, bordered by the Bolshaya Neva and Malaya Neva Rivers (in the delta of the Neva River) in the south a ...
along the Bolshaya Neva features some of the city's oldest buildings, dating from the 18th century, including the
Kunstkamera The Kunstkamera (russian: Кунсткамера) or Kunstkammer (German for "Culture Room" (literally) or "Art Chamber", typically used for a " cabinet of curiosities") is a public museum located on the Universitetskaya Embankment in Saint Pete ...
,
Twelve Collegia The Twelve Collegia, or Twelve Colleges (russian: Двeнaдцaть Коллегий), is the largest edifice from the Petrine era remaining in Saint Petersburg. It was designed by Domenico Trezzini and Theodor Schwertfeger and built from 1722 ...
,
Menshikov Palace The Menshikov Palace (russian: Меншиковский дворец) is a Petrine Baroque edifice in Saint Petersburg, situated on Universitetskaya Embankment of the Bolshaya Neva on Vasilyevsky Island.It is not to be confused with the Menshikov ...
and
Imperial Academy of Arts The Russian Academy of Arts, informally known as the Saint Petersburg Academy of Arts, was an art academy in Saint Petersburg, founded in 1757 by the founder of the Imperial Moscow University Ivan Shuvalov under the name ''Academy of the Thre ...
. It hosts one of two campuses of
Saint Petersburg State University Saint Petersburg State University (SPBU; russian: Санкт-Петербургский государственный университет) is a public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter the G ...
. On the southern, left bank of the Neva, connected to the spit of Vasilyevsky Island via the
Palace Bridge Palace Bridge (, ''Dvortsoviy Most''), a road- and foot-traffic bascule bridge, spans the Neva River in Saint Petersburg between Palace Square and Vasilievsky Island. Like every other Neva bridge (except for Big Obukhovsky Bridge), it is drawn ...
, lie the Admiralty building, the vast
Hermitage Museum The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is the list of ...
complex stretching along the
Palace Embankment The Palace Embankment or Palace Quay (Russian: Дворцовая набережная, Dvortsovaya naberezhnaya) is a street along the Neva River in Central Saint Petersburg which contains the complex of the Hermitage Museum buildings (including ...
, which includes the Baroque
Winter Palace The Winter Palace ( rus, Зимний дворец, Zimnij dvorets, p=ˈzʲimnʲɪj dvɐˈrʲɛts) is a palace in Saint Petersburg that served as the official residence of the Emperor of all the Russias, Russian Emperor from 1732 to 1917. The p ...
, former official residence of Russian emperors, as well as the neoclassical
Marble Palace Marble Palace (Мраморный дворец) is one of the first Neoclassical palaces in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is situated between the Field of Mars and Palace Quay, slightly to the east from New Michael Palace. Design and pre-1917 ...
. The Winter Palace faces
Palace Square Palace Square ( rus, Дворцо́вая пло́щадь, r=Dvortsovaya Ploshchad, p=dvɐˈrtsovəjə ˈploɕːɪtʲ), connecting Nevsky Prospekt with Palace Bridge leading to Vasilievsky Island, is the central city square of St Petersburg a ...
, the city's main square with the
Alexander Column The Alexander Column (russian: Алекса́ндровская коло́нна, ''Aleksandrovskaya kolonna'') also known as Alexandrian Column (russian: Александри́йская коло́нна, ''Aleksandriyskaya kolonna''), is the f ...
.
Nevsky Prospekt Nevsky Prospect ( rus, Не́вский проспе́кт, r=Nevsky Prospekt (street), Prospekt, p=ˈnʲɛfskʲɪj prɐˈspʲɛkt) is the main street (high street) in the federal city of Saint Petersburg, St. Petersburg in Russian Federation, ...
, also on the left bank of the
Neva The Neva (russian: Нева́, ) is a river in northwestern Russia flowing from Lake Ladoga through the western part of Leningrad Oblast (historical region of Ingria) to the Neva Bay of the Gulf of Finland. Despite its modest length of , it ...
, is the city's main avenue. It starts at the Admiralty and runs eastwards next to Palace Square. Nevsky Prospekt crosses the
Moika The Moyka (russian: Мо́йка /MOY-ka/, also latinised as Moika) is a secondary, in comparison with the Neva River in Saint Petersburg that encircles the central portion of the city, effectively making it an island or a group of islands ...
( Green Bridge),
Griboyedov Canal The Griboyedov Canal or Kanal Griboyedova () is a canal in Saint Petersburg, constructed in 1739 along the existing ''Krivusha'' river. In 1764–90, the canal was deepened and the banks were reinforced and covered with granite. The Griboyedo ...
(
Kazansky Bridge Kazansky Bridge () is a bridge across Griboyedov Canal in Saint Petersburg, Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the ...
),
Garden Street Sadovaya Street or Garden Street is a major thoroughfare in Saint Petersburg, Russia, passing through the historic city center. From east to west, it begins near the Field of Mars, crosses the Moika River at the First Sadovy Bridge, then pas ...
, the
Fontanka The Fontanka (russian: Фонтанка), a left branch of the river Neva, flows through the whole of Central Saint Petersburg, Russia – from the Summer Garden to . It is long, with a width up to , and a depth up to . The Moyka River for ...
(
Anichkov Bridge The Anichkov Bridge (Russian: ''Аничков мост'', ''Anichkov Most'') is the oldest and most famous bridge across the Fontanka River in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The current bridge, built in 1841-42 and reconstructed in 1906-08, combines ...
), meets
Liteyny Prospekt Liteyny Avenue (russian: Лите́йный проспе́кт, ''Liteyny Prospekt'') is a wide avenue in the Central District of Saint Petersburg, Russia. The avenue runs from Liteyny Bridge to Nevsky Avenue. The avenue originated in 1738 whe ...
and proceeds to Uprising Square near the Moskovsky railway station, where it meets Ligovsky Prospekt and turns to the
Alexander Nevsky Lavra Saint Alexander Nevsky Lavra or Saint Alexander Nevsky Monastery was founded by Peter I of Russia in 1710 at the eastern end of the Nevsky Prospekt in Saint Petersburg, in the belief that this was the site of the Neva Battle in 1240 when Ale ...
.
The Passage Passage, The Passage or Le Passage may refer to: Arts and entertainment Films * ''Passage'' (2008 film), a documentary about Arctic explorers * ''Passage'' (2009 film), a short movie about three sisters * ''The Passage'' (1979 film), starring ...
, Catholic Church of St. Catherine, Book House (former
Singer Manufacturing Company Singer Corporation is an American manufacturer of consumer sewing machines, first established as I. M. Singer & Co. in 1851 by Isaac M. Singer with New York lawyer Edward C. Clark. Best known for its sewing machines, it was renamed Singer Ma ...
Building in the
Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...
style),
Grand Hotel Europe The Grand Hotel Europe, A Belmond Hotel (russian: Гранд Отель Европа) is a historic Hotel rating, five-star luxury hotel on Nevsky Prospect in Saint Petersburg, Russia. History One of the great hotels of 19th-century Europe, ...
,
Lutheran Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul The Lutheran Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul (in russian: Лютеранская церковь Святых Петра и Павла or in German: Lutherische Kirche der Heiligen Peter und Paul) is a Lutheran church located in Saint Petersb ...
,
Great Gostiny Dvor Great Gostiny Dvor (russian: Большой Гостиный Двор) is a vast department store on Nevsky Avenue in St Petersburg. This '' Gostiny Dvor'' is not only the city's oldest shopping centre, but also one of the first shopping arcad ...
,
Russian National Library The National Library of Russia (NLR, russian: Российская национальная библиотека}), located in Saint Petersburg, is the first, and one of three national public libraries in Russia. The NLR is currently ranked amo ...
, Alexandrine Theatre behind Mikeshin's statue of
Catherine the Great , en, Catherine Alexeievna Romanova, link=yes , house = , father = Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst , mother = Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp , birth_date = , birth_name = Princess Sophie of Anhal ...
, Kazan Cathedral,
Stroganov Palace The Stroganov Palace (Russian: Строгановский дворец) is a Late Baroque palace at the intersection of the Moika River and Nevsky Prospect in St. Petersburg, Russia. The palace was built to Bartolomeo Rastrelli's designs for Baro ...
,
Anichkov Palace The Anichkov Palace, a former imperial palace in Saint Petersburg, stands at the intersection of Nevsky Avenue and the Fontanka River. History 18th century The palace, situated on the plot formerly owned by Antonio de Vieira (1682?-1745), ta ...
and
Beloselsky-Belozersky Palace Beloselsky Belozersky Palace (Russian: Дворе́ц Белосе́льских-Белозе́рских; also known before the Revolution as the Palace of the Grand Duchess Elizabeth Fyodorovna, the Sergei Palace, and the Dmitry Palace) is a Ne ...
are all along that avenue. The
Alexander Nevsky Lavra Saint Alexander Nevsky Lavra or Saint Alexander Nevsky Monastery was founded by Peter I of Russia in 1710 at the eastern end of the Nevsky Prospekt in Saint Petersburg, in the belief that this was the site of the Neva Battle in 1240 when Ale ...
, intended to house the relics of
St. Alexander Nevsky Alexander Yaroslavich Nevsky (russian: Александр Ярославич Невский; ; 13 May 1221 – 14 November 1263) served as Prince of Novgorod (1236–40, 1241–56 and 1258–1259), Grand Prince of Kiev (1236–52) and Grand P ...
, is an important centre of
Christian education Catechesis (; from Greek: , "instruction by word of mouth", generally "instruction") is basic Christian religious education of children and adults, often from a catechism book. It started as education of converts to Christianity, but as the ...
in Russia. It also contains the
Tikhvin Cemetery Tikhvin Cemetery (russian: Тихвинское кладбище) is a historic cemetery in the centre of Saint Petersburg. It is part of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, and is one of four cemeteries in the complex. Since 1932 it has been part of the ...
with graves of many notable Petersburgers. On the territory between the Neva and Nevsky Prospekt the
Church of the Savior on Blood The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood (russian: Церковь Спаса на Крови, ''Tserkovʹ Spasa na Krovi'') is a Russian Orthodox church in Saint Petersburg, Russia which currently functions as a secular museum and church at the ...
, Mikhailovsky Palace housing the
Russian Museum The State Russian Museum (russian: Государственный Русский музей), formerly the Russian Museum of His Imperial Majesty Alexander III (russian: Русский Музей Императора Александра III), on ...
, Field of Mars,
St. Michael's Castle Saint Michael's Castle (russian: Миха́йловский за́мок, ''Mikhailovsky zamok''), also called the Mikhailovsky Castle or the Engineers' Castle (russian: Инженерный замок, ''Inzhenerny zamok''), is a former royal ...
,
Summer Garden The Summer Garden (russian: Ле́тний сад, ''Letniy sad'') is a historic public garden that occupies an eponymous island between the Neva, Fontanka, Moika, and the Swan Canal in downtown Saint Petersburg, Russia and shares its name w ...
,
Tauride Palace Tauride Palace (russian: Таврический дворец, translit=Tavrichesky dvorets) is one of the largest and most historically important palaces in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Construction and early use Prince Grigory Potemkin of Tauride ...
,
Smolny Institute The Smolny Institute (russian: Смольный институт, ''Smol'niy institut'') is a Palladian edifice in Saint Petersburg that has played a major part in the history of Russia. History The building was commissioned from Giacomo Quar ...
and
Smolny Convent Smolny Convent or Smolny Convent of the Resurrection (''Voskresensky'', Russian: Воскресенский новодевичий Смольный монастырь), located on Ploschad Rastrelli (Rastrelli Square), on the left bank of the Riv ...
are located. Many notable landmarks are to the west and south of the Admiralty Building, including the Trinity Cathedral,
Mariinsky Palace Mariinsky Palace (), also known as Marie Palace, was the last neoclassical Imperial residence to be constructed in Saint Petersburg. It was built between 1839 and 1844, designed by the court architect Andrei Stackenschneider. It houses the cit ...
, Hotel Astoria, famous
Mariinsky Theatre The Mariinsky Theatre ( rus, Мариинский театр, Mariinskiy teatr, also transcribed as Maryinsky or Mariyinsky) is a historic theatre of opera and ballet in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Opened in 1860, it became the preeminent music th ...
,
New Holland Island New Holland Island (russian: Но́вая Голла́ндия) is a historic triangular artificial island in central Saint Petersburg, Russia, dating from the 18th century. It is also known as Admiralty Island. Construction The island was c ...
,
Saint Isaac's Cathedral Saint Isaac's Cathedral or Isaakievskiy Sobor (russian: Исаа́киевский Собо́р) is a large architectural landmark cathedral that currently functions as a museum with occasional church services in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is ...
, the largest in the city, and Senate Square, with the
Bronze Horseman The ''Bronze Horseman'' (russian: link=no, Медный всадник, literally "copper horseman") is an equestrian statue of Peter I of Russia, Peter the Great in the Senate Square (Saint Petersburg), Senate Square in Saint Petersburg, Ru ...
, 18th-century equestrian monument to
Peter the Great Peter I ( – ), most commonly known as Peter the Great,) or Pyotr Alekséyevich ( rus, Пётр Алексе́евич, p=ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ, , group=pron was a Russian monarch who ruled the Tsardom of Russia from t ...
, which is considered among the city's most recognisable symbols. Other symbols of Saint Petersburg include the
weather vane A wind vane, weather vane, or weathercock is an instrument used for showing the direction of the wind. It is typically used as an architectural ornament to the highest point of a building. The word ''vane'' comes from the Old English word , m ...
in the shape of a small ship on top of the Admiralty's golden spire and the golden angel on top of the Peter and Paul Cathedral. The Palace Bridge drawn at night is yet another symbol of the city. From April to November, 22 bridges across the Neva and main canals are drawn to let ships pass in and out of the Baltic Sea according to a schedule. It was not until 2004 that the first high bridge across the Neva, which does not need to be drawn,
Big Obukhovsky Bridge The Big Obukhovo Bridge (russian: Большо́й Обу́ховский мост, ''Boĺšoj obuhovskij most'') is the newest (not taking into account the Blagoveshchensky Bridge rebuilt in 2007) bridge across the Neva River in Saint Petersbur ...
, was opened. The most remarkable bridges of our days are Korabelny and Petrovsky cable-stayed bridges, which form the most spectacular part of the city toll road,
Western High-Speed Diameter The Western High-Speed Diameter (ЗСД, ZSD, russian: Западный скоростной диаметр) is a toll motorway in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The first section of the road open to traffic was an eight-lane motorway connecting the so ...
. There are hundreds of smaller
bridges in Saint Petersburg There are more than 342 bridges in the city limits of Saint Petersburg, Russia. This is a partial list of the most famous ones. Peter the Great was designing the city as another Amsterdam and Venice, with canals instead of streets and citizens sk ...
spanning numerous canals and distributaries of the Neva, some of the most important of which are the
Moika The Moyka (russian: Мо́йка /MOY-ka/, also latinised as Moika) is a secondary, in comparison with the Neva River in Saint Petersburg that encircles the central portion of the city, effectively making it an island or a group of islands ...
,
Fontanka The Fontanka (russian: Фонтанка), a left branch of the river Neva, flows through the whole of Central Saint Petersburg, Russia – from the Summer Garden to . It is long, with a width up to , and a depth up to . The Moyka River for ...
,
Griboyedov Canal The Griboyedov Canal or Kanal Griboyedova () is a canal in Saint Petersburg, constructed in 1739 along the existing ''Krivusha'' river. In 1764–90, the canal was deepened and the banks were reinforced and covered with granite. The Griboyedo ...
,
Obvodny Canal Obvodny Canal (russian: Обводный канал, lit. Bypass Canal) is the longest canal in Saint Petersburg, Russia, which in the 19th century served as the southern limit of the city. It is long and flows from the Neva River near Al ...
,
Karpovka The Karpovka (russian: Ка́рповка) is a small river of the Neva basin in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It separates Aptekarsky Island (right bank) from Petrogradsky Island (left bank). The Karpovka flows from the Bolshaya Nevka to the Malaya ...
and Smolenka. Due to the intricate web of canals, Saint Petersburg is often called ''
Venice of the North The following is an incomplete list of settlements nicknamed Venice of the North. The term ''Venice of the North'' refers to various cities in Northern Europe that contain canals, comparing them to Venice, Italy, which is renowned for its canals (s ...
''. The rivers and canals in the city centre are lined with granite embankments. The embankments and bridges are separated from rivers and canals by
granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...
or
cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuriti ...
parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). Whe ...
s. Southern suburbs of the city feature former imperial residences, including
Petergof Petergof (russian: Петерго́ф), known as Petrodvorets () from 1944 to 1997, is a municipal town in Petrodvortsovy District of the federal city of St. Petersburg, located on the southern shore of the Gulf of Finland. The town hosts ...
, with majestic fountain cascades and parks,
Tsarskoe Selo Tsarskoye Selo ( rus, Ца́рское Село́, p=ˈtsarskəɪ sʲɪˈlo, a=Ru_Tsarskoye_Selo.ogg, "Tsar's Village") was the town containing a former residence of the Russian imperial family and visiting nobility, located south from the cen ...
, with the baroque
Catherine Palace The Catherine Palace (russian: Екатерининский дворец, ) is a Rococo palace in Tsarskoye Selo (Pushkin), 30 km south of St. Petersburg, Russia. It was the summer residence of the Russian tsars. The Palace is part of the ...
and the neoclassical
Alexander Palace The Alexander Palace (russian: Александровский дворец, ''Alexandrovskiy dvorets'') is a former imperial residence near the town of Tsarskoye Selo in Russia, on a plateau about south of Saint Petersburg. The Palace was c ...
, and Pavlovsk, which has a domed palace of
Emperor Paul Paul I (russian: Па́вел I Петро́вич ; – ) was Emperor of Russia from 1796 until his assassination. Officially, he was the only son of Peter III and Catherine the Great, although Catherine hinted that he was fathered by her l ...
and one of Europe's largest English-style parks. Some other residences nearby and making part of the world heritage site, including a castle and park in
Gatchina The town of Gatchina ( rus, Га́тчина, , ˈɡatːɕɪnə, links=y) serves as the administrative center of the Gatchinsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It lies south-south-west of St. Petersburg, along the E95 highway which ...
, actually belong to
Leningrad Oblast Leningrad Oblast ( rus, Ленинградская область, Leningradskaya oblast’, lʲɪnʲɪnˈgratskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ, , ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). It was established on 1 August 1927, a ...
rather than Saint Petersburg. Another notable suburb is
Kronstadt Kronstadt (russian: Кроншта́дт, Kronshtadt ), also spelled Kronshtadt, Cronstadt or Kronštádt (from german: link=no, Krone for "crown" and ''Stadt'' for "city") is a Russian port city in Kronshtadtsky District of the federal city of ...
with its 19th-century fortifications and naval monuments, occupying the
Kotlin Island Kotlin (russian: Ко́тлин) ( sv, Reitskär) is a Russian island, located near the head of the Gulf of Finland, west of Saint Petersburg in the Baltic Sea. Kotlin separates the Neva Bay from the rest of the gulf. The fortified city of Kronst ...
in the Gulf of Finland. Since around the end of the 20th century a great deal of active building and restoration works have been carried out in a number of the city's older districts. The authorities have recently been compelled to transfer the ownership of state-owned private residences in the city centre to private lessors. Many older buildings have been reconstructed to allow their use as apartments and penthouses. Some of these structures, such as the
Saint Petersburg Commodity and Stock Exchange The Saint Petersburg Commodity and Stock Exchange is based in a housing complex in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Its offices along with the residential buildings were constructed in 2007–2008 on Vasilievsky Island near a recreation center. After the ...
have been recognised as town-planning errors.


Parks

Saint Petersburg is home to many parks and gardens. Some of the most well-known are in the southern suburbs, including Pavlovsk, one of Europe's largest
English garden The English landscape garden, also called English landscape park or simply the English garden (french: Jardin à l'anglaise, it, Giardino all'inglese, german: Englischer Landschaftsgarten, pt, Jardim inglês, es, Jardín inglés), is a sty ...
s.
Sosnovka Sosnovka (russian: Сосновка) is the name of several inhabited localities in Russia. Modern localities Altai Krai As of 2012, six rural localities in Altai Krai bear this name: * Sosnovka, Charyshsky District, Altai Krai, a '' selo'' in M ...
is the largest park within the city limits, occupying 240 ha. The
Summer Garden The Summer Garden (russian: Ле́тний сад, ''Letniy sad'') is a historic public garden that occupies an eponymous island between the Neva, Fontanka, Moika, and the Swan Canal in downtown Saint Petersburg, Russia and shares its name w ...
is the oldest, dating back to the early 18th century and designed in the regular style. It is on the Neva's southern bank at the head of the Fontanka and is famous for its cast iron railing and marble sculptures. Among other notable parks are the
Maritime Victory Park Maritime Victory Park (russian: Приморский парк Победы) is a municipal park on Krestovsky Island in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It was opened in 1945 to commemorate the Allied victory over Nazi Germany in World War II. Today, it ...
on
Krestovsky Island Krestovsky Island (russian: Крестовский остров) is a 3.4 km2 island in Saint Petersburg, Russia, between several tributaries of the Neva: the Srednyaya Nevka, the Malaya Nevka and the Krestovka. The island is served by ...
and the Moscow Victory Park in the south, both commemorating the victory over
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
in the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, as well as the Central Park of Culture and Leisure occupying
Yelagin Island Yelagin Island () is a park island at the mouth of the Neva River which is part of St. Petersburg, Russia. Yelagin Island is home to the Yelagin Palace but has a few other buildings as well. A former suburban estate of 18 century Russian nobl ...
and the
Tauride Garden The Tauride Garden (russian: Таврический сад) is a park in the Tsentralny District of Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is located behind the Tauride Palace, and near the Smolny Cathedral. History The garden was laid out between 1783 a ...
around the
Tauride Palace Tauride Palace (russian: Таврический дворец, translit=Tavrichesky dvorets) is one of the largest and most historically important palaces in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Construction and early use Prince Grigory Potemkin of Tauride ...
. The most common trees grown in the parks are the
English oak ''Quercus robur'', commonly known as common oak, pedunculate oak, European oak or English oak, is a species of flowering plant in the beech and oak family, Fagaceae. It is a large tree, native to most of Europe west of the Caucasus. It is widely ...
,
Norway maple ''Acer platanoides'', commonly known as the Norway maple, is a species of maple native to eastern and central Europe and western Asia, from Spain east to Russia, north to southern Scandinavia and southeast to northern Iran. It was introduced to ...
,
green ash ''Fraxinus pennsylvanica'', the green ash or red ash, is a species of ash native to eastern and central North America, from Nova Scotia west to southeastern Alberta and eastern Colorado, south to northern Florida, and southwest to Oklahoma and e ...
,
silver birch ''Betula pendula'', commonly known as silver birch, warty birch, European white birch, or East Asian white birch, is a species of tree in the family Betulaceae, native to Europe and parts of Asia, though in southern Europe, it is only found a ...
,
Siberian Larch ''Larix sibirica'', the Siberian larch or Russian larch, is a frost-hardy tree native to western Russia, from close to the Finnish border east to the Yenisei valley in central Siberia, where it hybridises with the Dahurian larch ''L. gmelinii'' ...
,
blue spruce The blue spruce (''Picea pungens''), also commonly known as green spruce, Colorado spruce, or Colorado blue spruce, is a species of spruce tree. It is native to North America, and is found in USDA growing zones 1 through 7. It is found naturall ...
,
crack willow Crack frequently refers to: * Crack, a fracture in a body * Crack, a fracture (geology) in a rock * Crack, short for crack cocaine Crack may also refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''Cracks'' (film), a 2009 independent thriller * Crac ...
,
limes Limes may refer to: * the plural form of lime (disambiguation) * the Latin word for ''limit'' which refers to: ** Limes (Roman Empire) (Latin, singular; plural: ) is a modern term used primarily for the Germanic border defence or delimiting ...
, and
poplars ''Populus'' is a genus of 25–30 species of deciduous flowering plants in the family Salicaceae, native to most of the Northern Hemisphere. English names variously applied to different species include poplar (), aspen, and cottonwood. The we ...
. Important dendrological collections dating back to the 19th century are hosted by the
Saint Petersburg Botanical Garden The main Saint Petersburg Botanical Garden, officially known as the Russian Academy of Sciences Vladimir Komarov Botanical Institute's Botanical Garden of Peter the Great (russian: Ботанический сад Петра Великого Б ...
and the Park of the Forestry Academy. In order to commemorate 300 years anniversary of Saint Petersburg a new park was laid out. The park is in the northwestern part of the city. The construction was started in 1995. It is planned to connect the park with the pedestrian bridge to the territory of
Lakhta Center The Lakhta Center () is an 87-story skyscraper built in the northwestern neighbourhood of Lakhta, Saint Petersburg, Lakhta in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Standing tall, it is the List of tallest buildings in Russia, tallest building in Russia, t ...
's recreation areas. In the park 300 trees of valuable sorts, 300 decorative apple trees, 70 limes. 300 other trees and bushes were planted. These trees were presented to Saint Petersburg by non-commercial and educational organizations of the city, its sister-cities, the city of Helsinki, heads of other regions of Russia, German Savings Bank and other people and organizations. File:Cameron gallery in Tsarskoe Selo 02.jpg, alt=, Cameron gallery in Catherine park of Tsarskoe Selo. File:Grot pavilion in Tsarskoe Selo.jpg, alt=, Grotto pavilion in Catherine park of Tsarskoe Selo File:Liceum building in Tsarskoe Selo 03.jpg, alt=, The Imperial Lyceum in Tsarskoye Selo. File:RUS-2016-Aerial-SPB-Grand Menshikov Palace.jpg, alt=, Grand Menshikov Palace.


Tourism

Saint Petersburg has a significant historical and cultural heritage. The city's 18th and 19th-century architectural ensemble and its environs is preserved in virtually unchanged form. For various reasons (including large-scale destruction during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
and construction of modern buildings during the postwar period in the largest historical centres of Europe), Saint Petersburg has become a unique reserve of European architectural styles of the past three centuries. Saint Petersburg's loss of capital city status helped it retain many of its pre-revolutionary buildings, as modern architectural 'prestige projects' tended to be built in Moscow; this largely prevented the rise of mid-to-late-20th century architecture and helped maintain the architectural appearance of the historic city centre. Saint Petersburg is inscribed on the
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
World Heritage list as an area with 36 historical architectural complexes and around 4000 outstanding individual monuments of architecture, history and culture. New tourist programs and sightseeing tours have been developed for those wishing to see Saint Petersburg's cultural heritage. The city has 221 museums, 2,000 libraries, more than 80 theatres, 100 concert organizations, 45 galleries and exhibition halls, 62 cinemas, and 80 other cultural establishments. Every year the city hosts around 100 festivals and various competitions of art and culture, including more than 50 international ones. Despite the economic instability of the 1990s, not a single major theatre or museum was closed in Saint Petersburg; on the contrary many new ones opened, for example a private museum of puppets (opened in 1999) is the third museum of its kind in Russia, where collections of more than 2000 dolls are presented including 'The multinational Saint Petersburg' and Pushkin's Petersburg. The museum world of Saint Petersburg is incredibly diverse. The city is not only home to the world-famous
Hermitage Museum The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is the list of ...
and the
Russian Museum The State Russian Museum (russian: Государственный Русский музей), formerly the Russian Museum of His Imperial Majesty Alexander III (russian: Русский Музей Императора Александра III), on ...
with its rich collection of
Russian art Russian culture (russian: Культура России, Kul'tura Rossii) has been formed by the nation's history, its geographical location and its vast expanse, religious and social traditions, and Western influence. Russian writers and ph ...
, but also the palaces of Saint Petersburg and its suburbs, so-called small-town museums and others like the museum of famous Russian writer
Dostoyevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (, ; rus, Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский, Fyódor Mikháylovich Dostoyévskiy, p=ˈfʲɵdər mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪdʑ dəstɐˈjefskʲɪj, a=ru-Dostoevsky.ogg, links=yes; 11 November 18219 ...
; Museum of Musical Instruments, the museum of decorative arts and the museum of professional orientation. The musical life of Saint Petersburg is rich and diverse, with the city now playing host to a number of annual carnivals. Ballet performances occupy a special place in the cultural life of Saint Petersburg. The Petersburg School of Ballet is named as one of the best in the world. Traditions of the Russian classical school have been passed down from generation to generation among outstanding educators. The art of famous and prominent Saint Petersburg dancers like
Rudolf Nureyev Rudolf Khametovich Nureyev ( ; Tatar/ Bashkir: Рудольф Хәмит улы Нуриев; rus, Рудо́льф Хаме́тович Нуре́ев, p=rʊˈdolʲf xɐˈmʲetəvʲɪtɕ nʊˈrʲejɪf; 17 March 19386 January 1993) was a Soviet ...
,
Natalia Makarova Natalia Romanovna Makarova (russian: Ната́лия Рома́новна Мака́рова, born 21 November 1940) is a Russian prima ballerina and choreographer. ''The History of Dance'', published in 1981, notes that "her performances set ...
,
Mikhail Baryshnikov Mikhail Nikolayevich Baryshnikov ( rus, Михаил Николаевич Барышников, p=mʲɪxɐˈil bɐ'rɨʂnʲɪkəf; lv, Mihails Barišņikovs; born January 28, 1948) is a Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Latvian-born R ...
was, and is, admired throughout the world. Contemporary Petersburg ballet is made up not only of traditional Russian classical school but also ballets by those like
Boris Eifman Boris Eifman (Борис Яковлевич Эйфман) (born 22 July 1946, in Rubtsovsk) is a Russian choreographer and artistic director. He has done more than fifty ballet productions. Eifman was born in Siberia, where his engineer father ha ...
, who expanded the scope of strict classical
Russian ballet Russian ballet (russian: Русский балет) (french: Ballet russe) is a form of ballet characteristic of or originating from Russia. Imperial Russian Ballet Until 1689, ballet in Russia was nonexistent (ballet has its origins in the cour ...
to almost unimaginable limits. Remaining faithful to the classical basis (he was a choreographer at the
Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet The Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet is a school of classical ballet in St Petersburg, Russia. Established in 1738 during the reign of Empress Anna, the academy was known as the Imperial Ballet School until the Soviet era, when, after a brief hi ...
), he combined
classical ballet Classical ballet is any of the traditional, formal styles of ballet that exclusively employ classical ballet technique. It is known for its aesthetics and rigorous technique (such as pointe work, turnout of the legs, and high extensions), its ...
with the avant-garde style, and then, in turn, with acrobatics, rhythmic gymnastics, dramatic expressiveness,
cinema Cinema may refer to: Film * Cinematography, the art of motion-picture photography * Film or movie, a series of still images that create the illusion of a moving image ** Film industry, the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking * ...
, color, light, and finally with spoken word.


Media and communications

All major Russian newspapers are active in Saint Petersburg. The city has a developed telecommunications system. In 2014,
Rostelecom Rostelecom is Russia’s largest provider of digital services for a wide variety of consumers, households, private businesses, government and municipal authorities, and other telecom providers. Rostelecom interconnects all local public operators ...
, the national operator, announced the beginning of a major modernization of the fixed-line network in the city.


Culture


Museums

Saint Petersburg is home to more than two hundred museums, many of them in historic buildings. The largest is the
Hermitage Museum The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is the list of ...
that features the interiors of the former imperial residence and a vast collection of art. The
Russian Museum The State Russian Museum (russian: Государственный Русский музей), formerly the Russian Museum of His Imperial Majesty Alexander III (russian: Русский Музей Императора Александра III), on ...
is a large museum devoted to Russian fine art. The apartments of some famous Petersburgers, including
Alexander Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (; rus, links=no, Александр Сергеевич ПушкинIn pre-Revolutionary script, his name was written ., r=Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈpuʂkʲɪn, ...
,
Fyodor Dostoyevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (, ; rus, Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский, Fyódor Mikháylovich Dostoyévskiy, p=ˈfʲɵdər mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪdʑ dəstɐˈjefskʲɪj, a=ru-Dostoevsky.ogg, links=yes; 11 November 18219 ...
,
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov . At the time, his name was spelled Николай Андреевичъ Римскій-Корсаковъ. la, Nicolaus Andreae filius Rimskij-Korsakov. The composer romanized his name as ''Nicolas Rimsk ...
,
Feodor Chaliapin Feodor Ivanovich Chaliapin ( rus, Фёдор Ива́нович Шаля́пин, Fyodor Ivanovich Shalyapin, ˈfʲɵdər ɪˈvanəvʲɪtɕ ʂɐˈlʲapʲɪn}; April 12, 1938) was a Russian opera singer. Possessing a deep and expressive bass v ...
,
Alexander Blok Alexander Alexandrovich Blok ( rus, Алекса́ндр Алекса́ндрович Бло́к, p=ɐlʲɪˈksandr ɐlʲɪˈksandrəvʲɪtɕ ˈblok, a=Ru-Alyeksandr Alyeksandrovich Blok.oga; 7 August 1921) was a Russian lyrical poet, writer, publ ...
,
Vladimir Nabokov Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov (russian: link=no, Владимир Владимирович Набоков ; 2 July 1977), also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin (), was a Russian-American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Bo ...
,
Anna Akhmatova Anna Andreyevna Gorenko rus, А́нна Андре́евна Горе́нко, p=ˈanːə ɐnˈdrʲe(j)ɪvnə ɡɐˈrʲɛnkə, a=Anna Andreyevna Gorenko.ru.oga, links=yes; uk, А́нна Андрі́ївна Горе́нко, Ánna Andríyivn ...
,
Mikhail Zoshchenko Mikhail Mikhailovich Zoshchenko (russian: Михаи́л Миха́йлович Зо́щенко; – 22 July 1958) was a Soviet and Russian writer and satirist. Biography Zoshchenko was born in 1894, in Saint Petersburg, Russia, according to h ...
,
Joseph Brodsky Iosif Aleksandrovich Brodsky (; russian: link=no, Иосиф Александрович Бродский ; 24 May 1940 – 28 January 1996) was a Russian and American poet and essayist. Born in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg), USSR in 1940, ...
, as well as some palace and park ensembles of the southern suburbs and notable architectural monuments such as St. Isaac's Cathedral, have also been turned into public museums. The
Kunstkamera The Kunstkamera (russian: Кунсткамера) or Kunstkammer (German for "Culture Room" (literally) or "Art Chamber", typically used for a " cabinet of curiosities") is a public museum located on the Universitetskaya Embankment in Saint Pete ...
, with its collection established in 1714 by Peter the Great to collect curiosities from all over the world, is sometimes considered the first museum in Russia, which has evolved into the present-day
Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography The Kunstkamera (russian: Кунсткамера) or Kunstkammer (German for "Culture Room" (literally) or "Art Chamber", typically used for a " cabinet of curiosities") is a public museum located on the Universitetskaya Embankment in Saint Pete ...
. The
Russian Ethnography Museum The Russian Museum of Ethnography (Российский этнографический музей) is a museum in St. Petersburg that houses a collection of about 500,000 items relating to the ethnography, or cultural anthropology, of peoples of t ...
, which has been split from the Russian Museum, is devoted to the cultures of the people of Russia, the
former Soviet Union The post-Soviet states, also known as the former Soviet Union (FSU), the former Soviet Republics and in Russia as the near abroad (russian: links=no, ближнее зарубежье, blizhneye zarubezhye), are the 15 sovereign states that wer ...
and Russian Empire. File:Exterior of Hermitage Museum-2.jpg, alt=, The State Hermitage Museum is the largest art museum in the world by
gallery Gallery or The Gallery may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Art gallery ** Contemporary art gallery Music * Gallery (band), an American soft rock band of the 1970s Albums * ''Gallery'' (Elaiza album), 2014 album * ''Gallery'' (Gr ...
space. File:Russian museam.JPG, alt=, The State Russian Museum is the world's largest depository of Russian fine art. File:Этнографический музей (СПБ).jpg, alt=, The Russian Museum of Ethnography is one of the largest ethnographic museums in the world.
A number of museums provide insight into the Soviet history of Saint Petersburg, including the Museum of the Blockade, which describes the
Siege of Leningrad The siege of Leningrad (russian: links=no, translit=Blokada Leningrada, Блокада Ленинграда; german: links=no, Leningrader Blockade; ) was a prolonged military blockade undertaken by the Axis powers against the Soviet city of L ...
and the Museum of Political History, which explains many authoritarian features of the USSR. Other notable museums include the
Central Naval Museum Central Naval Museum (russian: Центральный военно-морской музей) is a naval museum in St Petersburg, Russia. It is one of the first museums in Russia and one of the world’s largest naval museums, with a large collecti ...
, and Zoological Museum, Central Soil Museum, the
Russian Railway Museum The Russian Railway Museum is situated next to Baltiysky railway station in Saint Petersburg. The museum was established in 1978, its current site and exhibition opened to public on 1 November 2017. The museum utilizes the nineteenth century lo ...
,
Suvorov Museum Suvorov Memorial Museum (Russian: Музей Суворова) in Saint Petersburg, Russia is a military museum dedicated to the memory of Generalissimo Alexander Suvorov (1729–1800). It was founded in 1900 to commemorate the century of Suvorov ...
, Museum of the Siege of Leningrad, Erarta Museum of Contemporary Art, the largest non-governmental museum of contemporary art in Russia,
Saint Petersburg Museum of History The State Museum of the History of Saint Petersburg (russian: Государственный музей истории Санкт-Петербурга) is a museum of the history of the city of Saint Petersburg, Russia. The headquarters of the mu ...
in the
Peter and Paul Fortress The Peter and Paul Fortress is the original citadel of St. Petersburg, Russia, founded by Peter the Great in 1703 and built to Domenico Trezzini's designs from 1706 to 1740 as a star fortress. Between the first half of the 1700s and early 1920s i ...
and Artillery Museum, which includes not only artillery items, but also a huge collection of other military equipment, uniforms, and decorations. Amongst others, Saint Petersburg also hosts State Museum of the History of Religion, one of the eldest museums in Russia about religion depicting cultural representations from various parts of the globe.


Music

Among the city's more than fifty theatres is the
Mariinsky Theatre The Mariinsky Theatre ( rus, Мариинский театр, Mariinskiy teatr, also transcribed as Maryinsky or Mariyinsky) is a historic theatre of opera and ballet in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Opened in 1860, it became the preeminent music th ...
(formerly known as the Kirov Theatre), home to the
Mariinsky Ballet The Mariinsky Ballet (russian: Балет Мариинского театра) is the resident classical ballet company of the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Founded in the 18th century and originally known as the Imperial Russ ...
company and opera. Leading ballet dancers, such as
Vaslav Nijinsky Vaslav (or Vatslav) Nijinsky (; rus, Вацлав Фомич Нижинский, Vatslav Fomich Nizhinsky, p=ˈvatsləf fɐˈmʲitɕ nʲɪˈʐɨnskʲɪj; pl, Wacław Niżyński, ; 12 March 1889/18908 April 1950) was a ballet dancer and choreog ...
,
Anna Pavlova Anna Pavlovna Pavlova ( , rus, Анна Павловна Павлова ), born Anna Matveyevna Pavlova ( rus, Анна Матвеевна Павлова; – 23 January 1931), was a Russian prima ballerina of the late 19th and the early 20th ...
,
Rudolph Nureyev Rudolf Khametovich Nureyev ( ; Tatar/ Bashkir: Рудольф Хәмит улы Нуриев; rus, Рудо́льф Хаме́тович Нуре́ев, p=rʊˈdolʲf xɐˈmʲetəvʲɪtɕ nʊˈrʲejɪf; 17 March 19386 January 1993) was a Soviet ...
,
Mikhail Baryshnikov Mikhail Nikolayevich Baryshnikov ( rus, Михаил Николаевич Барышников, p=mʲɪxɐˈil bɐ'rɨʂnʲɪkəf; lv, Mihails Barišņikovs; born January 28, 1948) is a Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Latvian-born R ...
,
Galina Ulanova Galina Sergeyevna Ulanova (russian: Галина Сергеевна Уланова, ; 21 March 1998) was a Russian ballet dancer. She is frequently cited as being one of the greatest ballerinas of the 20th century. Biography Ulanova was born ...
and
Natalia Makarova Natalia Romanovna Makarova (russian: Ната́лия Рома́новна Мака́рова, born 21 November 1940) is a Russian prima ballerina and choreographer. ''The History of Dance'', published in 1981, notes that "her performances set ...
, were principal stars of the Mariinsky ballet. The first music school, the
Saint Petersburg Conservatory The N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov Saint Petersburg State Conservatory (russian: Санкт-Петербургская государственная консерватория имени Н. А. Римского-Корсакова) (formerly known as th ...
, was founded in 1862 by the Russian pianist and composer
Anton Rubinstein Anton Grigoryevich Rubinstein ( rus, Антон Григорьевич Рубинштейн, r=Anton Grigor'evič Rubinštejn; ) was a Russian pianist, composer and conductor who became a pivotal figure in Russian culture when he founded the Sai ...
. The school alumni have included such notable composers as
Pyotr Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...
,
Sergei Prokofiev Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''., group=n (27 April .S. 15 April1891 – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, p ...
,
Artur Kapp Artur Kapp (28 February 1878 – 14 January 1952) was an Estonian composer. Born in Suure-Jaani, Estonia, then part of the Governorate of Livonia, Russian Empire, he was the son of Joosep Kapp, who was also a classically trained musician. Ka ...
,
Rudolf Tobias Rudolf Tobias ( – 29 October 1918) was the first Estonian professional composer, as well as a professional organist. He studied at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. His compositions include among others piano works, string quartets and an ...
and
Dmitri Shostakovich Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, , group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his Symphony No. 1 (Shostakovich), First Symphony in 1926 and was regarded throug ...
, who taught at the conservatory during the 1960s, bringing it additional fame. The renowned Russian composer
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov . At the time, his name was spelled Николай Андреевичъ Римскій-Корсаковъ. la, Nicolaus Andreae filius Rimskij-Korsakov. The composer romanized his name as ''Nicolas Rimsk ...
also taught at the conservatory from 1871 to 1905. Among his students were
Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the ...
,
Alexander Glazounov Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov; ger, Glasunow (, 10 August 1865 – 21 March 1936) was a Russian composer, music teacher, and conductor of the late Russian Romantic period. He was director of the Saint Petersburg Conservatory between 190 ...
,
Anatoly Liadov Anatoly Konstantinovich Lyadov (russian: Анато́лий Константи́нович Ля́дов; ) was a Russian composer, teacher, and conductor. Biography Lyadov was born in 1855 in St. Petersburg, into a family of eminent Russian ...
and others. The former St. Petersburg apartment of Rimsky-Korsakov has been faithfully preserved as the composer's only museum. Dmitri Shostakovich, who was born and raised in Saint Petersburg, dedicated his Seventh Symphony to the city, calling it the "Leningrad Symphony". He wrote the symphony while based in the city during the siege of Leningrad. It was premiered in Samara in March 1942; a few months later, it received its first
performance A performance is an act of staging or presenting a play, concert, or other form of entertainment. It is also defined as the action or process of carrying out or accomplishing an action, task, or function. Management science In the work place ...
in the besieged Leningrad at the Bolshoy Philharmonic Hall under the baton of conductor
Karl Eliasberg Karl Ilitch Eliasberg ( be, Карл Ілліч Эліасберг; russian: Карл Ильич Элиасберг) (10 June 1907, in Minsk – 12 February 1978, in Leningrad) was a Soviet conductor. Eliasberg graduated from the Leningrad Conserv ...
. It was heard over the radio and was said to have lifted the spirits of the surviving population. In 1992, the 7th Symphony was performed by the 14 surviving orchestral players of the Leningrad premiere in the same hall as half a century before. The
Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra The Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra (russian: Симфонический оркестр Санкт-Петербургской филармонии, ''Symphonic Orchestra of the Saint Petersburg Philharmonia'') is a Russian orchestra based ...
remained one of the best known
symphony orchestras An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, ce ...
in the world under the leadership of conductors
Yevgeny Mravinsky Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Mravinsky (russian: Евге́ний Алекса́ндрович Мрави́нский) (19 January 1988) was a Russian conductor, pianist, and music pedagogue; he was a professor at Leningrad State Conservatory. Biog ...
and
Yuri Temirkanov Yuri Khatuevich Temirkanov (russian: Ю́рий Хату́евич Темирка́нов; kbd, Темыркъан Хьэту и къуэ Юрий; born December 10, 1938) is a Russian conductor of Circassian ( Kabardian) origin. Early life ...
. Mravinsky's term as artistic director of the Leningrad Philharmonic—a term that is possibly the longest of any conductor with any orchestra in modern times—led the orchestra from a little-known provincial ensemble to one of the world's most highly regarded orchestras, especially for the performance of Russian music. The Imperial Choral Capella was founded and modelled after the royal courts of other European capitals. Saint Petersburg has been home to the newest movements in
popular music Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fun ...
in the country. The early Soviet
jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
bands founded here included
Leopold Teplitsky Leopold may refer to: People * Leopold (given name) * Leopold (surname) Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters * Leopold (''The Simpsons''), Superintendent Chalmers' assistant on ''The Simpsons'' * Leopold Bloom, the protagonist o ...
's First Concert Jazz Band (1927,)
Leonid Utyosov Leonid Osipovich Utyosov or Utiosov (russian: link=no, Леонид Осипович Утёсов, uk, link=no, Леонід Йосипович Утьосов); real name Lazar (Leyzer) Iosifovich Vaysbeyn or Weissbein ()) (, Odesa – 9 March ...
's TheaJazz (1928, under the patronage of composer
Isaak Dunayevsky Isaak Osipovich Dunayevsky (russian: Исаак Осипович Дунаевский ; also transliterated as Dunaevski or Dunaevskiy; 25 July 1955) was a Soviet film composer and conductor of the 1930s and 1940s, who composed music for operett ...
) and Georgy Landsberg's Jazz Cappella (1929). The first jazz appreciation society in the Soviet Union was founded here in 1958 as J58, and later named
jazz club A jazz club is a venue where the primary entertainment is the performance of live jazz music, although some jazz clubs primarily focus on the study and/or promotion of jazz-music. Jazz clubs are usually a type of nightclub or bar, which is license ...
Kvadrat. In 1956 the popular ensemble Druzhba was founded by Aleksandr Bronevitsky and
Edita Piekha Edita Piekha (russian: Эди́та Станисла́вовна Пье́ха, ''Edita Stanislavovna Pyekha'', pl, Edyta Piecha, french: Édith-Marie Piecha) is a Soviet and Russian singer and actress of Polish descent. She was the third popular ...
to become the first popular band in the USSR during the 1950s. In the 1960s student rock-groups Argonavty, Kochevniki and others pioneered a series of unofficial and
underground rock Underground music is music with practices perceived as outside, or somehow opposed to, mainstream popular music culture. Underground music is intimately tied to popular music culture as a whole, so there are important tensions within underground ...
concerts and festivals. In 1972
Boris Grebenshchikov Boris Borisovich Grebenshchikov (russian: link=no, Борис Борисович Гребенщиков; born ) is a prominent member of the generation which is widely considered to be the "founding fathers" of Russian rock music. He is the fou ...
founded the band
Aquarium An aquarium (plural: ''aquariums'' or ''aquaria'') is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aq ...
, which later grew to huge popularity. Since then "Peter's rock"
music style A music genre is a conventional category that identifies some pieces of music as belonging to a shared tradition or set of conventions. It is to be distinguished from ''musical form'' and musical style, although in practice these terms are some ...
was formed. In the 1970s many bands came out from the "underground" scene and eventually founded the
Leningrad Rock Club The Leningrad Rock Club (russian: Ленинградский рок-клуб) was a historic music venue of the 1980s in Leningrad, situated on Rubinstein Street in the city centre. Opened in 1981 and overseen by the KGB, it became the first lega ...
, which provided a stage to bands such as
DDT Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, commonly known as DDT, is a colorless, tasteless, and almost odorless crystalline chemical compound, an organochloride. Originally developed as an insecticide, it became infamous for its environmental impacts. ...
,
Kino Kino may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasters * KINO, a radio station in Arizona, U.S. * Kino FM (98.0 FM – Moscow), a Russian music radio station * KinoTV, now Ruutu+ Leffat ja Sarjat, a Finnish TV channel Fictional entities ...
,
Alisa Alisa is a female given name, a version of Alice in used in Russia, Finland, Estonia and other countries. Notable people with the names Alisa and Alissa include: Alisa People *Alisa Agafonova (born 1991), Ukrainian former competitive ice dance ...
,
Zemlyane Zemlyane (russian: link=no, Земляне, lit=Earthlings) is a Soviet and later Russian rock band, formed in Leningrad in 1978. The band achieved great popularity in the early 1980s and remains active. A key artist in the VIA (vocal-instrumen ...
,
Zoopark Zoopark (russian: link=no, Зоопарк) was one of the founding rock groups which began the Russian rock movement. The group was founded in 1981.Piknik Piknik (Picnic, russian: Пикни́к) is a Russian rock band known for its unique style which is a mixture of art rock, progressive rock and original Russian rock. The band was formed in 1978 in Leningrad by Sergey Omelnichenko, Evgeny Volo ...
, and
Secret Secrecy is the practice of hiding information from certain individuals or groups who do not have the "need to know", perhaps while sharing it with other individuals. That which is kept hidden is known as the secret. Secrecy is often controvers ...
. The first Russian-style happening show Pop Mekhanika, mixing over 300 people and animals on stage, was directed by the multi-talented
Sergey Kuryokhin Sergey Anatolyevich Kuryokhin (russian: Серге́й Анато́льевич Курёхин, also transliterated as Sergei Kuriokhin, Sergei Kurekhin, Sergueï Kouriokhine, Sergey Kuriokhin, etc.; nicknamed "The Captain"; 16 June 1954 – 9 Ju ...
in the 1980s. The Sergey Kuryokhin International Festival (SKIF) is named after him. In 2004 the
Kuryokhin Center The Kuryokhin Center, or more extended the Sergey Kuryokhin Center for Modern Art, is a non-profit cultural centre in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The centre was founded in 2004 and named after the Russian avant garde composer Sergey Kuryokhin Serge ...
was founded, where the SKIF and the Electro-Mechanica and Ethnomechanica festivals take place. SKIF focuses on
experimental pop music Experimental pop is pop music that cannot be categorized within traditional musical boundaries or which attempts to push elements of existing popular forms into new areas. It may incorporate experimental techniques such as musique concrète, a ...
and
avant garde music Avant-garde music is music that is considered to be at the forefront of innovation in its field, with the term "avant-garde" implying a critique of existing aesthetic conventions, rejection of the status quo in favor of unique or original elemen ...
, Electro-Mechanica on
electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...
, and Ethnomechanica on world music. Today's Saint Petersburg boasts many notable musicians of various genres, from popular Leningrad's
Sergei Shnurov Sergey Vladimirovich Shnurov (russian: Серге́й Влади́мирович Шну́ров; born 13 April 1973) is a Russian musician and songwriter, best known as ''Shnur'' (lit. cord), of the ska-punk band Leningrad which he formed in ...
,
Tequilajazzz Tequilajazzz is a Russian alternative rock band led by bassist Evgeny "Ai-yai-yai" Fedorov () based in Saint Petersburg. Band members also included drummer Aleksandr "Dooser" Voronov () on the drums, Konstantin Fedorov (), and guitarist Oleg Ba ...
,
Splean Splean (russian: Сплин) is a popular Russian rock band, formed in Saint Petersburg in 1994.Андрей Бурлака. Рок-энциклопедия. Популярная музыка в Ленинграде – Петербурге. 1965 ...
, and
Korol i Shut Korol i Shut (russian: Король и Шут, lit=King and Jester) were a Russian horror punk band from Saint Petersburg that took inspiration and costumes from tales and fables. In Russia, the band has achieved cult status. History The band wa ...
, to rock veterans
Yuri Shevchuk Yuri Yulianovich Shevchuk (russian: Юрий Юлианович Шевчук; born 16 May 1957) is a Soviet and Russian rock musician and singer/songwriter who leads the rock band DDT, which he founded with Vladimir Sigachyov in 1980. He is best ...
,
Vyacheslav Butusov Vyacheslav Gennadievich Butusov (russian: link=no, Вячеслав Геннадьевич Бутусов; born 15 October 1961) is a Russian singer and songwriter. He was the lead singer of Nautilus Pompilius and U-Piter. Since 2019, he has been ...
, and
Mikhail Boyarsky Mikhail Sergeyevich Boyarsky (russian: Михаи́л Серге́евич Боя́рский; born 26 December 1949 in Leningrad) is a Soviet and Russian actor and singer. He is best known for playing swashbucklers in historical adventure films; ...
. In the early 2000s the city saw a wave of popularity of
metalcore Metalcore (also known as metallic hardcore) is a fusion music genre that combines elements of extreme metal and hardcore punk. As with other styles blending metal and hardcore, such as crust punk and grindcore, metalcore is noted for its use of ...
,
rapcore Rap rock is a fusion genre that fuses vocal and instrumental elements of hip hop with various forms of rock. Rap rock's most popular subgenres include rap metal and rapcore, which include heavy metal and hardcore punk-oriented influences, resp ...
, and
emocore Emo is a rock music genre characterized by emotional, often confessional lyrics. It emerged as a style of and hardcore punk from the Washington D.C. hardcore punk scene, where it was known as emotional hardcore or emocore and pioneered b ...
, and there are bands such as
Amatory Amatory (commonly stylized as MATORY'', to fit their logo) is a Russian metal band from Saint Petersburg, formed in 1998 by Denis ''DENVERZhivotovsky and Daniil ''STEWARTSvetlov. Later in 1998, they were joined by Evgenyy PJ Potekhin but the ...
,
Kirpichi Kirpichi (translated as 'Bricks') is one of the most influential alternative groups in Russia, which formed in 1995 as "Bricks Are Heavy". History Early years and rise to fame The group's birth may be dated to 15 May 1995, when the founder of t ...
, Psychea,
Stigmata Stigmata ( grc, στίγματα, plural of , 'mark, spot, brand'), in Roman Catholicism, are bodily wounds, scars and pain which appear in locations corresponding to the crucifixion wounds of Jesus Christ: the hands, wrists, and feet. Stigm ...
,
Grenouer Grenouer is a Russian rock and metal band, formed in late 1992 in Perm. Their name is an intentional misspelling of grimoire, a magic textbook. History The debut was followed by other albums, released in Russia by labels like Irond, More ...
and
Animal Jazz Animal ДжаZ ("ДжаZ" can be transliterated as "jazz", although "Джаз" is the usual Russian spelling) is a Saint Petersburg-based band playing alternative rock and pop rock. They were formed in 2000. As of 2020, they have released 15 s ...
. The
White Nights Festival The White Nights Festival is an annual summer festival in Saint Petersburg celebrating its near-midnight sun phenomena due to its location near the Arctic Circle; each year between around April 21 and August 21, the skies only reach twilight an ...
in Saint Petersburg is famous for spectacular fireworks and a massive show celebrating the end of the
school year A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compulsor ...
. The rave band Little Big also hails from Saint Petersburg. Their music video for "
Skibidi "Skibidi" is a dance song by Russian rave band Little Big. It was released on 5 October 2018 along with their album ''Antipositive, Pt. 2'' on Warner Music Russia. Ilya Prusikin and the media producer of the group 'Khleb", Lyubim Khomchuk w ...
" was filmed in the city, starting at Akademicheskiy Pereulok.


Literature

Saint Petersburg has a longstanding and world-famous tradition in literature.
Dostoyevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (, ; rus, Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский, Fyódor Mikháylovich Dostoyévskiy, p=ˈfʲɵdər mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪdʑ dəstɐˈjefskʲɪj, a=ru-Dostoevsky.ogg, links=yes; 11 November 18219 ...
called it "The most abstract and intentional city in the world", emphasizing its artificiality, but it was also a symbol of modern disorder in a changing Russia. It often appeared to
Russian writers This is a list of authors who have written works of prose and poetry in the Russian language. For separate lists by literary field: * List of Russian-language novelists * List of Russian-language playwrights *List of Russian-language poets A ...
as a menacing and inhuman mechanism. The grotesque and often nightmarish image of the city is featured in Pushkin's last poems, the Petersburg stories of
Gogol Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol; uk, link=no, Мико́ла Васи́льович Го́голь, translit=Mykola Vasyliovych Hohol; (russian: Яновский; uk, Яновський, translit=Yanovskyi) ( – ) was a Russian novelist, ...
, the novels of
Dostoyevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (, ; rus, Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский, Fyódor Mikháylovich Dostoyévskiy, p=ˈfʲɵdər mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪdʑ dəstɐˈjefskʲɪj, a=ru-Dostoevsky.ogg, links=yes; 11 November 18219 ...
, the verse of
Alexander Blok Alexander Alexandrovich Blok ( rus, Алекса́ндр Алекса́ндрович Бло́к, p=ɐlʲɪˈksandr ɐlʲɪˈksandrəvʲɪtɕ ˈblok, a=Ru-Alyeksandr Alyeksandrovich Blok.oga; 7 August 1921) was a Russian lyrical poet, writer, publ ...
and
Osip Mandelshtam Osip Emilyevich Mandelstam ( rus, Осип Эмильевич Мандельштам, p=ˈosʲɪp ɨˈmʲilʲjɪvʲɪtɕ mənʲdʲɪlʲˈʂtam; – 27 December 1938) was a Russian Empire, Russian and Soviet Union, Soviet poet. He was one of t ...
, and in the symbolist novel '' Petersburg'' by
Andrey Bely Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev ( rus, Бори́с Никола́евич Буга́ев, p=bɐˈrʲis nʲɪkɐˈlajɪvʲɪtɕ bʊˈɡajɪf, a=Boris Nikolayevich Bugayev.ru.vorb.oga), better known by the pen name Andrei Bely or Biely ( rus, Андре ...
. According to Lotman in his chapter, 'The Symbolism of Saint Petersburg' in ''Universe and the Mind'', these writers were inspired by symbolism from within the city itself. The effect of life in Saint Petersburg on the plight of the poor clerk in a society obsessed with hierarchy and status also became an important theme for authors such as
Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (; rus, links=no, Александр Сергеевич ПушкинIn pre-Revolutionary script, his name was written ., r=Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈpuʂkʲɪn, ...
, Gogol, and Dostoyevsky. Another important feature of early Saint Petersburg literature is its mythical element, which incorporates
urban legend An urban legend (sometimes contemporary legend, modern legend, urban myth, or urban tale) is a genre of folklore comprising stories or fallacious claims circulated as true, especially as having happened to a "friend of a friend" or a family m ...
s and popular
ghost stories A ghost story is any piece of fiction, or drama, that includes a ghost, or simply takes as a premise the possibility of ghosts or characters' belief in them."Ghost Stories" in Margaret Drabble (ed.), ''Oxford Companion to English Literature''. ...
, as the stories of Pushkin and Gogol included ghosts returning to Saint Petersburg to haunt other characters as well as other fantastical elements, creating a surreal and abstract image of Saint Petersburg. 20th-century writers from Saint Petersburg, such as
Vladimir Nabokov Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov (russian: link=no, Владимир Владимирович Набоков ; 2 July 1977), also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin (), was a Russian-American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Bo ...
,
Ayn Rand Alice O'Connor (born Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum;, . Most sources transliterate her given name as either ''Alisa'' or ''Alissa''. , 1905 – March 6, 1982), better known by her pen name Ayn Rand (), was a Russian-born American writer and p ...
, Andrey Bely and
Yevgeny Zamyatin Yevgeny Ivanovich Zamyatin ( rus, Евге́ний Ива́нович Замя́тин, p=jɪvˈɡʲenʲɪj ɪˈvanəvʲɪtɕ zɐˈmʲætʲɪn; – 10 March 1937), sometimes anglicized as Eugene Zamyatin, was a Russian author of science fictio ...
, along with his apprentices, The
Serapion Brothers The Serapion Brothers (or Serapion Fraternity, russian: Серапионовы Братья) was a group of writers formed in Petrograd, Russian SFSR in 1921. The group was named after a literary group, ''Die Serapionsbrüder'' ( The Serapion Bret ...
created entirely new styles in literature and contributed new insights to the understanding of society through their experience in this city.
Anna Akhmatova Anna Andreyevna Gorenko rus, А́нна Андре́евна Горе́нко, p=ˈanːə ɐnˈdrʲe(j)ɪvnə ɡɐˈrʲɛnkə, a=Anna Andreyevna Gorenko.ru.oga, links=yes; uk, А́нна Андрі́ївна Горе́нко, Ánna Andríyivn ...
became an important leader for
Russian poetry This is a list of authors who have written poetry in the Russian language. Alphabetical list A B C D E F G I K L M N O P R S T U V Y Z Sources See also

* List of Russian arc ...
. Her poem ''Requiem'' adumbrates the perils encountered during the Stalinist era. Another notable 20th-century writer from Saint Petersburg is
Joseph Brodsky Iosif Aleksandrovich Brodsky (; russian: link=no, Иосиф Александрович Бродский ; 24 May 1940 – 28 January 1996) was a Russian and American poet and essayist. Born in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg), USSR in 1940, ...
, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Literature ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , caption = , awarded_for = Outstanding contributions in literature , presenter = Swedish Academy , holder = Annie Ernaux (2022) , location = Stockholm, Sweden , year = 1901 , ...
(1987). While living in the United States, his writings in English reflected on life in Saint Petersburg from the unique perspective of being both an insider and an outsider to the city in essays such as, "A Guide to a Renamed City" and the nostalgic "In a Room and a Half".


Film

Over 250 international and Russian movies were filmed in Saint Petersburg. Well over a thousand feature films about tsars, revolution, people and stories set in Saint Petersburg have been produced worldwide but not filmed in the city. The first
film studios A film studio (also known as movie studio or simply studio) is a major entertainment company or motion picture company that has its own privately owned studio facility or facilities that are used to make films, which is handled by the productio ...
were founded in Saint Petersburg in the 20th century and since the 1920s
Lenfilm Lenfilm (russian: link=no, Ленфильм) is a Russian production company with its own film studio located in Saint Petersburg (the city was called Leningrad from 1924 to 1991, thus the name). It is a corporation with its stakes shared betwee ...
has been the largest film studio based in Saint Petersburg. The first foreign feature movie filmed entirely in Saint Petersburg was the 1997 production of Tolstoy's ''
Anna Karenina ''Anna Karenina'' ( rus, «Анна Каренина», p=ˈanːə kɐˈrʲenʲɪnə) is a novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy, first published in book form in 1878. Widely considered to be one of the greatest works of literature ever writte ...
'', starring
Sophie Marceau Sophie Marceau (; born Sophie Danièle Sylvie Maupu, 17 November 1966) is a French actress. As a teenager, she achieved popularity with her debut films ''La Boum'' (1980) and ''La Boum 2'' (1982), receiving a César Award for Most Promising Act ...
and
Sean Bean Sean Bean (born Shaun Mark Bean on 17 April 1959) is an English actor. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Bean made his professional debut in a theatre production of ''Romeo and Juliet'' in 1983. Retaining his Yorkshire ac ...
and made by an international team of British, American, French and Russian filmmakers. The cult comedy ''
Irony of Fate ''The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath!'' (russian: Ирония судьбы, или С лёгким паром!, literally: The Irony of Fate, or With A Light Steam; trans. ''Ironiya sudby, ili S lyogkim parom!''), usually shortened to ''The ...
'' (also Ирония судьбы, или С лёгким паром!) is set in Saint Petersburg and pokes fun at Soviet city planning. The 1985 film ''
White Nights White night, White Night, or White Nights may refer to: * White night (astronomy), a night in which it never gets completely dark, at high latitudes outside the Arctic and Antarctic Circles * White Night festivals, all-night arts festivals held in ...
'' received considerable Western attention for having captured genuine Leningrad street scenes at a time when filming in the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
by Western production companies was generally unheard of. Other movies include ''
GoldenEye ''GoldenEye'' is a 1995 spy film, the seventeenth in the ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions, and the first to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Directed by Martin Campbell, it was the first in the ser ...
'' (1995), ''
Midnight in Saint Petersburg ''Midnight in Saint Petersburg'' is a 1996 made-for-television thriller film starring Michael Caine for the fifth and final time as British secret agent Harry Palmer. It served as a sequel to ''Bullet to Beijing'', which had been released the ...
'' (1996), ''
Brother A brother is a man or boy who shares one or more parents with another; a male sibling. The female counterpart is a sister. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to non-familia ...
'' (1997) and
Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...
romantic
thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre ...
-''
Dhaam Dhoom ''Dhaam Dhoom'' is a 2008 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film based on the 1997 American film ''Red Corner''. Written, filmed and directed by Jeeva shortly before his death and produced by Sunanda Murali Manohar, it stars Jayam Ravi, Kan ...
'' (2008). '' Onegin'' (1999) is based on the
Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (; rus, links=no, Александр Сергеевич ПушкинIn pre-Revolutionary script, his name was written ., r=Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈpuʂkʲɪn, ...
poem and showcases many
tourist attraction A tourist attraction is a place of interest that tourists visit, typically for its inherent or an exhibited natural or cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, offering leisure and amusement. Types Places of natural b ...
s. In addition, the Russian romantic comedy, ''
Piter FM Piter FM is a 2006 Russian romantic comedy-drama film directed by Oksana Bychkova and starring Ekaterina Fedulova, Evgeniy Tsyganov and Alexey Barabash. The plot revolves around the serendipitous and unexpected romance between a young man and w ...
'', intricately showcases the cityscape, almost as if it were a main character in the film. Several international film festivals are held annually, such as the
Festival of Festivals, Saint Petersburg The Festival of Festivals in Saint Petersburg is Russia’s largest non-competitive festival of recent outstanding works of international and Russian cinema. It is held annually in June, during Saint Petersburg's White Nights Festival. History ...
, as well as the Message to Man International Documentary Film Festival, since its inauguration in 1988 during the White Nights.


Dramatic theatre

St Petersburg has a number of dramatic theatres and drama schools. These include the Student Theatre on
Mokhovaya Street Mokhovaya Street (russian: Моховая улица) is a one-way street in central Moscow, Russia, a part of Moscow's innermost ring road - Central Squares of Moscow. Between 1961 and 1990 it formed part of Karl Marx Avenue (Проспект ...
. :ru:Учебный театр «На Моховой», Учебный театр «На Моховой»
Leteiny Theatre
an
Youth Theatre on the Fontanka


Education

–2007, there were 1,024 kindergartens, 716 public school (government funded), public schools and 80 vocational education, vocational schools in Saint Petersburg. The largest of the public higher education institutions is
Saint Petersburg State University Saint Petersburg State University (SPBU; russian: Санкт-Петербургский государственный университет) is a public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter the G ...
, enrolling approximately 32,000 undergraduate students; and the largest non-governmental higher education institutions is the St. Petersburg Institute of International Trade, Economics and Law, Institute of International Economic Relations, Economics, and Law. Other famous universities are Saint Petersburg Polytechnic University, Herzen University, Saint Petersburg State University of Economics and Finance and Military engineering-technical university, Saint Petersburg Military engineering-technical university. However, the public universities are all federal property and do not belong to the city.


Sports

Leningrad hosted part of the association football tournament during the 1980 Summer Olympic Games, Summer Olympics. The 1994 Goodwill Games were also held here. In boating, the first competition here was the 1703 rowing (sport), rowing event initiated by Peter the Great, after the victory over the Swedish Navy, Swedish fleet. The Russian Navy held Yachting events since the foundation of the city. Yacht clubs: St. Petersburg River Yacht Club, Neva Yacht Club, the latter is the oldest yacht club in the world. In the winter, when the sea and lake surfaces are frozen and yachts and dinghies cannot be used, local people sail ice boats. Equestrianism has been a long tradition, popular among the Tsars and aristocracy, as well as part of military education and training, military training. Several historic sports arenas were built for equestrianism since the 18th century to maintain training all year round, such as the Zimny Stadion and Konnogvardeisky Manezh. Chess tradition was highlighted by the 1914 international tournament, partially funded by the Tsar, in which the title "Grandmaster" was first formally conferred by Nicholas II of Russia, Russian Tsar Nicholas II to five players: Emanuel Lasker, Lasker, José Raúl Capablanca, Capablanca, Alexander Alekhine, Alekhine, Siegbert Tarrasch, Tarrasch and Frank Marshall (chess player), Marshall. Kirov Stadium with a capacity of 70 thousand seats (now a modern New Zenit Stadium, Gazprom Arena since 2017) which hosted matches for the 2018 FIFA World Cup is one of the largest stadiums in the world and home to FC Zenit Saint Petersburg from 1950 to 1993 and again in 1995. In 1951 a crowd of 110,000 set the single-game attendance record for Soviet football. Zenit have been champions of the Soviet Top League, Soviet and Russian Premier League, Russian league nine times, most notably claiming the RPL title in four consecutive seasons from 2018-19 to 2021-22. The club has also won the Soviet/Russian Cup on five occasions. One of Zenit's most successful players was Andrei Arshavin, who led the team to claim the 2007–08 UEFA Cup, UEFA Cup 2007–08 season and the 2008 UEFA Super Cup. Hockey teams in the city include SKA Saint Petersburg in the KHL, HC VMF St. Petersburg in the VHL, and junior clubs SKA-1946 and Silver Lions in the Russian Major League. SKA Saint Petersburg is one of the most popular in the KHL, consistently being at or near the top of the league in attendance. Along with their popularity, they are one of the best teams in the KHL right now, as they have won the Gagarin Cup twice. Well-known players on the team include Pavel Datsyuk, Ilya Kovalchuk, Nikita Gusev, Sergei Shirokov and Viktor Tikhonov (ice hockey b. 1988), Viktor Tikhonov. During the NHL lockout, stars Ilya Kovalchuk, Sergei Bobrovsky and Vladimir Tarasenko also played for the team. They play their home games at Ice Palace Saint Petersburg. The city's long-time basketball team is BC Spartak Saint Petersburg, which launched the career of Andrei Kirilenko. BC Spartak Saint Petersburg won two championships in the USSR Premier Basketball League, USSR Premier League (1975 and 1992), two USSR Basketball Cup, USSR Cups (1978 and 1987), and a Russian Basketball Cup, Russian Cup title (2011). They also won the Saporta Cup twice (1973 and 1975). Legends of the club include Alexander Belov and Vladimir Kondrashin. The city also has a new basketball team, BC Zenit Saint Petersburg. Citing the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, UEFA removed St Petersburg as host for the 2022 UEFA Champions League Final in February 2022.


Transport

Saint Petersburg is a major transport hub. The first Russian railway was built here in 1837, and since then the city's transport infrastructure has kept pace with the city's growth. Petersburg has an extensive system of local roads and railway services, maintains a large public transport system that includes the Tramways in Saint Petersburg, Saint Petersburg tram and the
Saint Petersburg Metro The Saint Petersburg Metro (russian: links=no, Петербургский метрополитен, Peterburgskiy metropoliten) is a rapid transit system in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Construction began in early 1941, but was put on hold due to Wor ...
, and is home to several riverine services that convey passengers around the city efficiently and in relative comfort. The city is connected to the rest of Russia and the wider world by several federal highways and national and international rail routes. Pulkovo Airport serves most of the air passengers departing from or arriving to the city.


Roads and public transport

Saint Petersburg has an extensive city-funded network of public transport (buses, Tramways in Saint Petersburg, trams, trolleybuses) and several hundred routes served by ''marshrutkas''. Tramways in Saint Petersburg, Trams in Saint Petersburg used to be the main means of transport; in the 1980s this was the largest tram network globally, but many tracks were dismantled in the 2000s. Buses carry up to three million passengers daily, serving over 250 urban and a number of suburban bus routes.
Saint Petersburg Metro The Saint Petersburg Metro (russian: links=no, Петербургский метрополитен, Peterburgskiy metropoliten) is a rapid transit system in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Construction began in early 1941, but was put on hold due to Wor ...
underground rapid transit system was opened in 1955; it now has 5 lines with 72 stations, connecting all five railway terminals, and carrying 2.3 million passengers daily. Metro stations are often elaborately decorated with materials such as marble and bronze. As of 2018, the Saint Petersburg Metro will include new stations: Prospekt Slavy, Dunayskaya, Shushary, Begovaya, and Novokrestovskaya, the latter built specifically to offer convenient access to the stadium during the
2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national Association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awa ...
games and games played by FC Zenit. Traffic congestion, Traffic jams are common in the city due to daily commuter traffic volumes, intercity traffic and excessive winter snow. The construction of Controlled-access highway, freeways such as the Saint Petersburg Ring Road, completed in 2011, and the Western Rapid Diameter, Western High-Speed Diameter, completed in 2017, helped reduce the traffic in the city. The Moscow–Saint Petersburg motorway, M11 Neva, also known as the Moscow-Saint Petersburg Motorway, is a Russian federal highway, federal highway, and connects Saint Petersburg to Moscow by a freeway. Saint Petersburg is an important transport corridor linking Scandinavia to Russia and Eastern Europe. The city is a node of the International E-road network, international European routes E18 towards
Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...
, European route E20, E20 towards Tallinn, European route E95, E95 towards Pskov, Kyiv and
Odessa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrativ ...
and European route E105, E105 towards Petrozavodsk, Murmansk and Kirkenes (north) and towards Moscow and Kharkiv (south).


Saint Petersburg public transportation statistics

The average amount of time people spend commuting with public transit in Saint Petersburg, for example to and from work, on a weekday is 69 minutes. 19.6% of public transit riders ride for more than 2 hours every day. The average amount of time people wait at a stop or station for public transit is 11 minutes, while 16.1% of riders wait for over 20 minutes on average every day. The average distance people usually ride in a single trip with public transit is , while 15% travel for over in a single direction.


Waterways

The city is also served by passenger and cargo seaports in the
Neva Bay The Neva Bay (Russian: Не́вская губа́, ''Névskaya Gubá''), also known as the Gulf of Kronstadt, is the easternmost part of the Gulf of Finland between Kotlin Island and the Neva River estuary where Saint Petersburg city centre is lo ...
of the
Gulf of Finland The Gulf of Finland ( fi, Suomenlahti; et, Soome laht; rus, Фи́нский зали́в, r=Finskiy zaliv, p=ˈfʲinskʲɪj zɐˈlʲif; sv, Finska viken) is the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea. It extends between Finland to the north and E ...
,
Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...
, the river port higher up the Neva and tens of smaller passenger stations on both banks of the Neva river. It is a terminus of both the Volga–Baltic Waterway, Volga-Baltic and White Sea-Baltic Canal, White Sea-Baltic waterways. The first high bridge that does not need to be drawn, the
Big Obukhovsky Bridge The Big Obukhovo Bridge (russian: Большо́й Обу́ховский мост, ''Boĺšoj obuhovskij most'') is the newest (not taking into account the Blagoveshchensky Bridge rebuilt in 2007) bridge across the Neva River in Saint Petersbur ...
opened in 2004. Meteor hydrofoils link the city centre to the coastal towns of
Kronstadt Kronstadt (russian: Кроншта́дт, Kronshtadt ), also spelled Kronshtadt, Cronstadt or Kronštádt (from german: link=no, Krone for "crown" and ''Stadt'' for "city") is a Russian port city in Kronshtadtsky District of the federal city of ...
and Shlisselburg from May through October. In the warmer months many smaller boats and water-taxis navigate the city's canals. The shipping company St. Peter Line operates two ferries that sail from
Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...
to Saint Petersburg and from Stockholm to Saint Petersburg.


Rail

The city is the final destination for a web of intercity and suburban railways, served by five different railway terminals (Baltiysky Rail Terminal, Baltiysky, Finlyandsky Rail Terminal, Finlyandsky, Ladozhsky Rail Terminal, Ladozhsky, Moskovsky Rail Terminal (Saint Petersburg), Moskovsky and Vitebsky Rail Terminal, Vitebsky), as well as dozens of non-terminal Train station, railway stations within the federal subject. Saint Petersburg has international railway connections to
Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...
, Finland, Berlin, Germany, and many former republics of the USSR. The Riihimäki – Saint Petersburg Railway, Helsinki railway, built in 1870 and long, has trains running five times a day, in a journey lasting about three and a half hours with the Karelian Trains Class Sm6, Allegro train. The Moscow – Saint Petersburg Railway opened in 1851, and is long; the commute to Moscow now requires from three and a half to nine hours. In 2009 Russian Railways launched a high speed service for the Moscow–Saint Petersburg route. The new train, known as Sapsan, is a derivative of the popular Siemens Velaro train; various versions of this already operate in some European countries. It set records for the fastest train in Russia on 2 May 2009, travelling at and on 7 May 2009, traveling at . Since 12 December 2010 Karelian Trains, a joint venture between Russian Railways and VR Group, VR (Finnish Railways), has been running Karelian Trains Class Sm6, Alstom Pendolino operated high-speed services between Saint Petersburg's Finlyandsky Rail Terminal, Finlyandsky and Helsinki's Helsinki Central railway station, Central railway stations. These services are branded as "Allegro" trains. "Allegro" is known for suffering some big technical problems from time to time, which sometimes result in significant delays and even cancellation of tourists' trips.


Air

Saint Petersburg is served by Pulkovo Airport, Pulkovo International Airport. Pulkovo airport was opened to passengers as a small aerodrome in 1931. , the Pulkovo airport, which handles over 12 million passengers annually, is the 3rd busiest in Russia after Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport, Sheremetyevo and Domodedovo International Airport, Domodedovo. As a result, the steadily increasing passenger traffic has triggered a massive modernization of the entire airport infrastructure. A newly built Terminal 1 of the Pulkovo airport was put into operation on 4 December 2013 and integrated international flights of the former terminal Pulkovo-2. The renovated terminal Pulkovo-1 has been opened for domestic flights as an extension of Terminal 1 in 2015. One of the oldest air carriers of the Russian Federation Rossiya is registered in Saint Petersburg and is the largest and the base carrier of Pulkovo Airport. There is a regular rapid-bus connection (buses 39, 39E, K39) between Pulkovo airport and the Moskovskaya (Saint Petersburg Metro), Moskovskaya metro station as well as 24/7 taxi service.


Notable people


International relations

List of sister cities to Saint Petersburg as it appears on the official portal of the City Government, listing both sister cities and partnership ties: Non CIS/Baltic states sister cities of Saint Petersburg (from official government list) Sister cities in the Commonwealth of Independent States and Baltic states Sister cities of Saint Petersburg (not included on official government list)


Former twin towns

Milan and
Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400  ...
were formerly twin cities of Saint Petersburg, but suspended this link due to St Petersburg's ban on "gay propaganda". Milan suspended the relationship with Saint Petersburg on 23 November 2012 and Venice did so on 28 January 2013. In March 2022, Gdańsk, Warsaw, Aarhus and Melbourne terminated or suspended the cooperation, affiliation or sister city relationship with Saint Petersburg as a response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russian invasion of Ukraine..


Twinning with occupied Mariupol

Some Russian cities are twinned with ones in occupied Ukraine, in particular, Saint Petersburg is twinned with Mariupol. An art symbol of the twinning was unveiled on
Palace Square Palace Square ( rus, Дворцо́вая пло́щадь, r=Dvortsovaya Ploshchad, p=dvɐˈrtsovəjə ˈploɕːɪtʲ), connecting Nevsky Prospekt with Palace Bridge leading to Vasilievsky Island, is the central city square of St Petersburg a ...
in Saint Petersburg, defaced and removed."Murderers, you bombed it": a schoolgirl was detained in St. Petersburg for writing on an installation about Mariupol
/ref>


See also

* Fences in Saint Petersburg * Hotels in Saint Petersburg * List of buildings and structures in Saint Petersburg * List of museums in Saint Petersburg * List of people from Saint Petersburg, List of notable people from Saint Petersburg * List of Saint Petersburg Metro stations * List of sister cities to Saint Petersburg, List of Saint Petersburg sister cities * List of theatres in Saint Petersburg * Outline of Saint Petersburg * Timeline of Saint Petersburg


Notes


References


Citations


Sources

* Amery, Colin, Brian Curran & Yuri Molodkovets. ''St. Petersburg''. London: Frances Lincoln, 2006. . * Bater, James H. ''St. Petersburg: Industrialization and Change''. Montreal: McGuill-Queen's University Press, 1976. . * Berelowitch, Wladimir & Olga Medvedkova. ''Histoire de Saint-Pétersbourg''. Paris: Fayard, 1996. . * Brumfield, William Craft. ''The Origins of Modernism in Russian Architecture''. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991. . * Buckler, Julie. ''Mapping St. Petersburg: Imperial Text and Cityshape''. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2005 . * Clark, Katerina, ''Petersburg, Crucible of Revolution''. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1995. * Cross, Anthony (ed.). ''St. Petersburg, 1703–1825''. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003. . * "San Pietroburgo, la capitale del nord" by Giuseppe D'Amato in ''Viaggio nell'Hansa baltica.'' L'Unione europea e l'allargamento ad Est. Greco&Greco editori, Milano, 2004. pp. 27–46. .
Travel to the Baltic Hansa
. The European Union and its enlargement to the East) Book in Italian. * George, Arthur L. & Elena George. ''St. Petersburg: Russia's Window to the Future, The First Three Centuries''. Lanham: Taylor Trade Publishing, 2003. . * Glantz, David M. ''The Battle for Leningrad, 1941–1944''. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2002. . * Hellberg-Hirn, Elena. ''Imperial Imprints: Post-Soviet St. Petersburg''. Helsinki: SKS Finnish literature Society, 2003. . * * Duncan Fallowell, ''One Hot Summer in St Petersburg'' (London, Jonathan Cape,1995) * ''Knopf Guide: Sat. Petersburg''. New York: Knopf, 1995. . * Eyewitness Guide: St. Petersburg. * Lincoln, W. Bruce. ''Sunlight at Midnight: St. Petersburg and the Rise of Modern Russia''. New York: Basic Books, 2000. . * Orttung, Robert W. ''From Leningrad to St. Petersburg: Democratization in a Russian City''. New York: St. Martin's, 1995. . * * Ruble, Blair A. ''Leningrad: Shaping a Soviet City''. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990. . * Shvidkovsky, Dmitry O. & Alexander Orloff. ''St. Petersburg: Architecture of the Tsars''. New York: Abbeville Press, 1996. . * Volkov, Solomon. ''St. Petersburg: A Cultural History''. New York: Free Press, 1995. . * St. Petersburg:Architecture of the Tsars. 360 pages. Abbeville Press, 1996. * Saint Petersburg: Museums, Palaces, and Historic Collections: A Guide to the Lesser Known Treasures of St. Petersburg. 2003. . * . * *


External links


City Tourist Portal
* by FIFA *
St-Petersburg, Virtual Tour • 360° Aerial Panorama
*  50 photographs of St. Petersburg from "Travel literature, Travelogues" of Burton Holmes (Vol. 8, 1914) and other sources * * 3500 entries, 9200 personalities, 3500 addresses, 2000 pictures and 40 geographical maps, 3800 bibliographical references from the original "Encyclopaedia of Saint Petersburg" (SPb., Rosspen, 2004) *
Байков В.Д. Ленинградские хроники: от послевоенных 50-х до "лихих 90-х". М. Карамзин, 2017. – 486 с., илл. – in English: Leningrad Chronicles: from the postwar fifties to the "wild nineties"


site {{Authority control Saint Petersburg, 1703 establishments in Russia 1703 establishments in Europe Federal cities of Russia Former national capitals Planned capitals Populated coastal places in Russia Populated places established in 1703 Port cities and towns in Russia Port cities and towns of the Baltic Sea Sankt-Peterburgsky Uyezd World Heritage Sites in Russia