Toponymy
A proponent of westernising Russia, Peter the Great, the then Tsar, 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 ofHistory
Imperial era (1703–1917)
Swedish colonists built Nyenskans, a fortress at the mouth of theRevolution and Soviet era (1917–1941)
In March 1917, during the February Revolution Nicholas II abdicated for himself and on behalf of his son, ending the Russian monarchy and over three hundred years of Romanov dynasty, Romanov dynastic rule. On , the Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, stormed the Winter Palace in an event known thereafter as the October Revolution, which led to the end of the post-Tsarist Russian Provisional Government, provisional government, the transfer of all political power to the Worker's council, Soviets, and the rise of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Communist Party. 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 Operation Albion, invaded the West Estonian archipelago and threatened Petrograd with bombardment and invasion. On 12 March 1918, the Soviets transferred the government to Moscow, to keep it away from the state border. During the Russian Civil War, in mid-1919 White movement, Russian anti-communist forces with the help of Estonian Land Forces, Estonians attempted to capture the city, but Leon Trotsky mobilized the army and forced them to retreat back to Estonia. On 26 January 1924, five days after Lenin's death, Petrograd was renamed ''Leningrad''. Later some streets and other wikt:toponym, toponyms were renamed accordingly. The city has over 230 places associated with the life and activities of Lenin. Some of them were turned into museums, including the Russian cruiser Aurora, cruiser ''Aurora''—a symbol of the October Revolution and the oldest ship in the Russian Navy. In the 1920s and 1930s, the poor outskirts were reconstructed into regularly planned boroughs. Constructivist architecture flourished around that time. Housing became a government-provided social utility, amenity; many "bourgeois" apartments were so large that numerous families were assigned to what were called "communal" apartments (''kommunal apartment, kommunalkas''). By the 1930s, 68% of the population lived in such housing. In 1935 a new general plan was outlined, whereby the city should expand to the south. Constructivism was rejected in favour of a more pompous Stalinist architecture. Moving the city centre further from the border with Finland, Joseph Stalin, Stalin adopted a plan to build a new city hall with a huge adjacent square at the southern end of Moskovsky Prospekt, designated as the new main street of Leningrad. After the Winter War, Winter (Soviet-Finnish) war in 1939–1940, the Soviet–Finnish border moved northwards. Nevsky Prospekt with Palace Square maintained the functions and the role of a city centre. In December 1931, Leningrad was administratively separated from Leningrad Oblast. At that time it included the Leningrad Suburban District, some parts of which were transferred back to Leningrad Oblast in 1936 and turned into Vsevolozhsky District, Krasnoselsky District, Saint Petersburg, Krasnoselsky District, Pargolovsky District and Slutsky District (renamed Pavlovsky District in 1944). On 1 December 1934, Sergey Kirov, the popular communist leader of Leningrad, was assassinated, which became the pretext for the Great Purge. In Leningrad, approximately 40,000 were executed during Stalin's purges.World War II (1941–1945)
During World War II, Nazi Germany, German forces besieged Leningrad following the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941.Siege of LeningradPost-war Soviet era (1945–1991)
In October 1946 some territories along the northern coast of the Gulf of Finland, which had passed to the USSR from Finland in 1940 under the Moscow Peace Treaty, peace treaty following the Winter War, were transferred from Leningrad Oblast to Leningrad and divided into Sestroretsk, Sestroretsky District and Kurortny District. These included the town of Zelenogorsk, Saint Petersburg, Terijoki (renamed Zelenogorsk, Saint Petersburg, Zelenogorsk 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 planning, urban development 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, Saint Petersburg, Levashovo, Pargolovo and Pesochny, Russia, 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. It was a product of rivalry between Stalin's potential successors where one side was represented by the leaders of the city Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Communist Party organization—the second most significant one in the country after Moscow. The entire elite leadership of Leningrad was destroyed, including the former mayor Alexey Kuznetsov, Kuznetsov, 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. The Saint Petersburg Metro, Leningrad Metro underground rapid transit, rapid transit system, designed before the war, opened in 1955 with its first eight stations decorated with marble and bronze. 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 functionalism (architecture), 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)
1991 Leningrad elections, On 12 June 1991, simultaneously with the 1991 Russian presidential election, 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, who became the first directly elected list of heads of Saint Petersburg government, 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 was introduced, and the city received humanitarian World Food Programme, food aid from abroad. This dramatic time was depicted in photographic series of Russian photographer Alexey Titarenko. Economic conditions began to improve only at the beginning of the 21st century. In 1995 a northern section of the Line 1 of Saint Petersburg Metro, Kirovsko-Vyborgskaya Line of the Saint Petersburg Metro 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, signed a power-sharing agreement with the federal government, granting it autonomy. This agreement was abolished on 4 April 2002. In 1996, Vladimir Anatolyevich Yakovlev, Vladimir Yakovlev defeated Anatoly Sobchak in the elections for the head of the Saint Petersburg City Administration, city administration. 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. The law on election of the City Governor was changed, breaking the tradition of democratic election by universal suffrage. In 2006 the Legislative Assembly of Saint Petersburg, city legislature re-approved Matviyenko as governor. Residential building had intensified again; real estate pricing, 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 aGeography
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 ''okrugs''), nine municipal towns – (Kolpino, Krasnoye Selo, Kronstadt, Lomonosov, Russia, Lomonosov, Pavlovsk, Saint Petersburg, Pavlovsk, Petergof, Pushkin (town), Pushkin, Sestroretsk, Zelenogorsk, Saint Petersburg, Zelenogorsk) – and twenty-one municipal settlements. Petersburg is on the middle taiga lowlands along the shores of the Neva Bay of the Gulf of Finland, and islands of the river delta. The largest are Vasilyevsky Island (besides the artificial island between Obvodny canal and Fontanka, and Kotlin Island, Kotlin in the Neva Bay), Petrogradsky Island, Petrogradsky, Dekabristov Island, Dekabristov and Krestovsky Island, Krestovsky. The latter together with Yelagin Island, Yelagin and Kamenny Island are covered mostly by parks. The Karelian Isthmus, North of the city, is a popular Tourist destination, resort area. In the south, Saint Petersburg crosses the Baltic Klint, Baltic-Ladoga Klint and meets the Izhora Plateau. The elevation of Saint Petersburg ranges from the sea level to its highest point of at the Orekhovaya Hill in the Duderhof Heights in the south. Part of the city's territory west of Liteyny Prospekt is no higher than above mean sea level, above sea level, and has suffered from numerous floods. Floods in Saint Petersburg are triggered by a long wave in the Baltic Sea, caused by meteorological conditions, winds and shallowness of the Neva Bay. 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 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 River (Leningrad Oblast), Sestra, Okhta River (Neva basin), Okhta and Izhora River, Izhora. 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 the day length 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 Midnight sun, white nights''. Saint Petersburg is about from the border with Finland, connected to it via the M10 highway (Russia), M10 highway (European route E18, E18), along which there is also a connection to the historic city of Vyborg.Climate
Under the Köppen climate classification, Saint Petersburg is classified as ''Dfb'', a humid continental climate. The distinct moderating influence of Baltic Sea 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, 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#Climate, Moscow's due to the Gulf of Finland and some Gulf Stream 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 (meteorology), precipitation 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. Relative humidity, Air humidity is 78% on average, and there are, on average, 165 overcast days per year.Toponymy
The first and fairly rich chapter of the history of the local wikt:toponym, toponymy is the story of the city's name. The name day of Saint Peter, Peter I falls on 29 June, when the Russian Orthodox Church observes the memory of saint apostles Peter and Paul. 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, while Saint Peter at the same time became the eponym of the whole city. When in June 1703 Peter the Great 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 Netherlands, Neerlandophile. The name was later normalized and Russification, russified to Санкт-Петербург. A 14- to 15-letter-long name, composed of the three word root, roots proved too cumbersome, and many shortened versions were used. The first General Governor of the city Aleksandr Danilovich Menshikov, 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 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 translated the "foreign" city name of "Saint Petersburg" to the more Russian ''Petrograd'' in one of his poems. However, it was only on , after World War I, the war with Germany had begun, that Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, Nicholas II renamed the capital to Petrograd. Since the prefix "Saint" was omitted, this act also changed the eponym and the "patron" of the city from Saint Peter to Peter the Great, its founder. After the October Revolution 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 Oblast, Leningrad. 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" 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: :el:Πέτρωμα, 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 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 Russian Census (2010), 2010 Census, and up from 5,023,506 recorded in the Soviet Census (1989), 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 (1917), Russian Revolution of 1917 and Russian Civil War. The minorities of Germans, Poles, Finns, Estonians and Latvians were almost completely population transfer in the Soviet Union, 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. 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, NGovernment
Saint Petersburg is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (a federal cities of Russia, federal city). The political life of Saint Petersburg is regulated by the Charter of Saint Petersburg adopted by the city legislature in 1998. The superior executive body is the Saint Petersburg City Administration, led by the Governor of Saint Petersburg, city governor (mayor before 1996). Saint Petersburg has a unicameralism, single-chamber legislature, the Legislative Assembly of Saint Petersburg, Saint Petersburg Legislative Assembly, which is the city's Regional parliaments of Russia, 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 and approved by local legislatures. Should the legislature disapprove the nominee, the President could dissolve it. The former governor, Valentina Matviyenko, 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 has already backed her for the position of Speaker to the Federation Council of Russia, Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation and her election qualifies her for that job. After her resignation, Georgy Poltavchenko 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 was appointed acting governor. Saint Petersburg is also the unofficial but ''de facto'' administrative centre of Leningrad Oblast, and of the Northwestern Federal District. The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, Constitutional Court of Russia 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, Federal Security Service (Russia), 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, aerospace industry; technology, including radio, electronics, software, and computers; machine building, heavy machinery and transport, including tanks and other military technology and equipment, military equipment; mining; Tool, instrument manufacture; ferrous and nonferrous metallurgy (production of aluminium alloys); chemicals, Drug, pharmaceuticals, and medical equipment; publishing and printing; food and catering; wholesale and retail; textile and clothing, apparel 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 turbines are made there at the Leningradsky Metallichesky Zavod, LMZ, which built over two thousand turbines for power station, power plants across the world. Major local industries are Admiralty Shipyard, Baltic Shipyard, LOMO, Kirov Plant, Elektrosila, Izhorskiye Zavody; also registered in Saint Petersburg are Sovcomflot, Sovkomflot, Petersburg Fuel Company and Sibur, SIBUR among other major Russian and international companies. The Great Port of Saint Petersburg, Port of Saint Petersburg has three large cargo ports of the Baltic Sea, terminals, Bolshoi Port Saint Petersburg, Kronstadt, and Lomonosov, Russia, Lomonosov terminal. International cruise ship, cruise liners have been served at the passenger port at Morskoy Vokzal on the south-west of Vasilyevsky Island. In 2008 the first two berths opened at the Passenger Port of St. Petersburg, 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 are interconnected with the system of seaports, thus making Saint Petersburg the main link between the Baltic Sea and the rest of Russia through the Volga–Baltic Waterway, Volga-Baltic Waterway. The Saint Petersburg Mint (Monetny Dvor), founded in 1724, is one of the largest mint (coin), mints in the world, it mints Russian ruble, 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 sculpture, bronze statues 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, Paolo Troubetzkoy, Mark Antokolsky, and others, were made there. In 2007, Toyota opened a Toyota Camry, Camry plant after investing 5 billion roubles (approx. 200 mln dollars) in Shushary, one of the southern suburbs of Saint Petersburg. Opel, Hyundai Motor Company, Hyundai and Nissan have also signed deals with the Politics of Russia, Russian government 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 Breweries, Baltika, Vena (both operated by BBH), Heineken International, Heineken Brewery, Stenka Razin, Stepan Razin (both by Heineken Pilsener, Heineken) and Tinkoff brewery (SUN-InBev). The city's many local distillery, distilleries produce a broad range of vodka brands. The oldest ones is :ru:Ливиз, LIVIZ (founded in 1897). Among the youngest is Russian Standard Vodka introduced in Moscow in 1998, which opened in 2006 a new $60 million distillery in Petersburg (an area of , production rate of 22,500 bottles per hour). In 2007, this brand was exported to over 70 countries. Saint Petersburg has the second-largest construction, construction industry in Russia, including commercial, housing, and road construction. In 2006, Saint Petersburg's city budget was 180 billion rubles (about 7 billion US$ at Tables of historical exchange rates to the USD, 2006 exchange rates),. The federal subject's Gross Regional Product was 3.7 trillion Russian rubles (or around US$70 billion), ranked 2nd in Russia, after Moscow and per capita of US$13,000, ranked 12th among Russia's federal subjects, contributed mostly by wholesale and retailing, retail trade and repair services (24.7%) as well as processing industry (20.9%) and transportation and telecommunications (15.1%). Budget revenues of the city in 2009 amounted to 294.3 billion rubles (about 10.044 billion US$ 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 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, to build a list of tallest buildings and structures in the world, supertall skyscraper. In 2008, the World Monuments Fund 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 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 byParks
Saint Petersburg is home to many parks and gardens. Some of the most well-known are in the southern suburbs, including Pavlovsk Palace, Pavlovsk, one of Europe's largest English gardens. Sosnovka is the largest park within the city limits, occupying 240 ha. The Summer Garden 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 on Krestovsky Island and the Moscow Victory Park in the south, both commemorating the victory over Nazi Germany in the Second World War, as well as the Central Scherbakov Park of Culture and Leisure, Central Park of Culture and Leisure occupying Yelagin Island and the Tauride Garden around the Tauride Palace. The most common trees grown in the parks are the Quercus robur, English oak, Acer platanoides, Norway maple, Fraxinus pennsylvanica, green ash, Betula pendula, silver birch, Siberian Larch, Picea pungens, blue spruce, Salix euxina, crack willow, Tilia, limes, and Populus, poplars. Important Xylotheque, dendrological collections dating back to the 19th century are hosted by the Saint Petersburg Botanical Garden 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'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.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 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 theMedia and communications
All major Russian newspapers are active in Saint Petersburg. The city has a developed telecommunications system. In 2014, Rostelecom, 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 that features the interiors of the former imperial residence and a vast collection of art. The Russian Museum is a large museum devoted to Russian fine art. The apartments of some famous Petersburgers, including Alexander Pushkin, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Feodor Chaliapin, Alexander Blok, Vladimir Nabokov, Anna Akhmatova, Mikhail Zoshchenko, Joseph Brodsky, 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, 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 Kunstkamera, Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography. The Russian Ethnography Museum, which has been split from the Russian Museum, is devoted to the cultures of the people of Russia, the Post-Soviet states, former Soviet Union and Russian Empire.Music
Among the city's more than fifty theatres is the Mariinsky Theatre (formerly known as the Kirov Theatre), home to the Mariinsky Ballet company and opera. Leading ballet dancers, such as Vaslav Nijinsky, Anna Pavlova, Rudolf Nureyev, Rudolph Nureyev, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Galina Ulanova and Natalia Makarova, were principal stars of the Mariinsky ballet. The first music school, the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, was founded in 1862 by the Russian pianist and composer Anton Rubinstein. The school alumni have included such notable composers as Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Sergei Prokofiev, Artur Kapp, Rudolf Tobias and Dmitri Shostakovich, who taught at the conservatory during the 1960s, bringing it additional fame. The renowned Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov also taught at the conservatory from 1871 to 1905. Among his students were Igor Stravinsky, Alexander Glazounov, Anatoly Liadov and others. The former St. Petersburg apartment of Rimsky-Korsakov has been faithfully preserved as the Rimsky-Korsakov Apartment and Museum, composer's only museum. Dmitri Shostakovich, who was born and raised in Saint Petersburg, dedicated his Symphony No. 7 (Shostakovich), 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 Leningrad première of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 7, performance in the besieged Leningrad at the Bolshoy Philharmonic Hall under the baton of conductor Karl Eliasberg. 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 Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra remained one of the best known orchestra, symphony orchestras in the world under the leadership of conductors Yevgeny Mravinsky and Yuri Temirkanov. 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 in the country. The early Soviet jazz bands founded here included Leopold Teplitsky's First Concert Jazz Band (1927,) Leonid Utyosov 's TheaJazz (1928, under the patronage of composer Isaak Dunayevsky) 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 Kvadrat. In 1956 the popular ensemble Druzhba was founded by Aleksandr Bronevitsky and Edita Piekha 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 music, underground rock concerts and festivals. In 1972 Boris Grebenshchikov founded the band Aquarium (band), Aquarium, which later grew to huge popularity. Since then "Peter's rock" music genre, music style was formed. In the 1970s many bands came out from the "underground" scene and eventually founded the Leningrad Rock Club, which provided a stage to bands such as DDT (band), DDT, Kino (band), Kino, Alisa (Russian band), Alisa, Zemlyane, Zoopark, Piknik, and Secret (Russian band), Secret. The first Russian-style happening show Pop-Mechanics, Pop Mekhanika, mixing over 300 people and animals on stage, was directed by the multi-talented Sergey Kuryokhin in the 1980s. The Sergey Kuryokhin International Festival (SKIF) is named after him. In 2004 the Kuryokhin Center was founded, where the SKIF and the Electro-Mechanica and Ethnomechanica festivals take place. SKIF focuses on experimental pop music and avant garde music, Electro-Mechanica on electronic music, and Ethnomechanica on world music. Today's Saint Petersburg boasts many notable musicians of various genres, from popular Leningrad's Sergei Shnurov, Tequilajazzz, Splean, and Korol i Shut, to rock veterans Yuri Shevchuk, Vyacheslav Butusov, and Mikhail Boyarsky. In the early 2000s the city saw a wave of popularity of metalcore, rapcore, and emocore, and there are bands such as Amatory (band), Amatory, Kirpichi, Psychea, Stigmata (Russian band), Stigmata, Grenouer and Animal Jazz. The White Nights Festival in Saint Petersburg is famous for spectacular fireworks and a massive show celebrating the end of the Academic term, school year. The rave band Little Big (group), Little Big also hails from Saint Petersburg. Their music video for "Skibidi" was filmed in the city, starting at Akademicheskiy Pereulok.Literature
Saint Petersburg has a longstanding and world-famous tradition in literature. Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Dostoyevsky 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 List of Russian language writers, Russian writers 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 Nikolai Gogol, Gogol, the novels of Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Dostoyevsky, the verse of Alexander Blok and Osip Mandelstam, Osip Mandelshtam, and in the symbolist novel ''Petersburg (novel), Petersburg'' by Andrei Bely, Andrey Bely. 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 Alexander Pushkin, Pushkin, Gogol, and Dostoyevsky. Another important feature of early Saint Petersburg literature is its mythical element, which incorporates urban legends and popular ghost story, ghost stories, 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, Ayn Rand, Andrey Bely and Yevgeny Zamyatin, along with his apprentices, The Serapion Brothers created entirely new styles in literature and contributed new insights to the understanding of society through their experience in this city. Anna Akhmatova became an important leader for List of Russian language poets, Russian poetry. Her poem ''Requiem'' adumbrates the perils encountered during the Stalinist era. Another notable 20th-century writer from Saint Petersburg is Joseph Brodsky, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature (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 Movie studio, film studios were founded in Saint Petersburg in the 20th century and since the 1920s Lenfilm 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 (1997 film), Anna Karenina'', starring Sophie Marceau and Sean Bean and made by an international team of British, American, French and Russian filmmakers. The cult comedy ''The Irony of Fate, Irony of Fate'' (also Ирония судьбы, или С лёгким паром!) is set in Saint Petersburg and pokes fun at Soviet city planning. The 1985 film ''White Nights (1985 film), White Nights'' received considerable Western attention for having captured genuine Leningrad street scenes at a time when filming in the Soviet Union by Western production companies was generally unheard of. Other movies include ''GoldenEye'' (1995), ''Midnight in Saint Petersburg'' (1996), ''Brother (1997 film), Brother'' (1997) and Tamil cinema, Tamil romantic thriller (genre), thriller film-''Dhaam Dhoom'' (2008). ''Eugene Onegin#Film, Onegin'' (1999) is based on the Alexander Pushkin, Pushkin poem and showcases many tourist attractions. In addition, the Russian romantic comedy, ''Piter FM'', 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, 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 (Saint Petersburg), Mokhovaya Street. :ru:Учебный театр «На Моховой», Учебный театр «На Моховой»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, 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, 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 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 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 European route E18, E18 towards Helsinki, European route E20, E20 towards Tallinn, European route E95, E95 towards Pskov, Kyiv and Odessa 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 of the Gulf of Finland, Baltic Sea, 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 opened in 2004. Meteor hydrofoils link the city centre to the coastal towns of Kronstadt 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 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, 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 andTwinning 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 in Saint Petersburg, defaced and removed.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 PetersburgNotes
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. .External links