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ST PETERSBURG - RUSSIA
Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Leningrad (1924-1991) and Petrograd
(1914-1924), is a city located in Northwestern Russia on the Gulf of Finland
of the Baltic Sea. Founded by tsar Peter the Great, it served as the capital
of the country during the 18th and 19th centuries. With over 4.7 million
inhabitants (2002), it is today Russia's second largest city, a major
cultural center and an important port.
Landmarks and tourist attractions
Perhaps the most famous of St. Petersburg's landmarks is the Hermitage
Museum, one of the world's largest and richest collections of Western
European art. The building that houses the Hermitage - the old Winter Palace
- is an architectural landmark in its own right. Another, rather different
museum is the Kunstkamera, established by Peter the Great and housing
primarily ethnographic collections .
The city is graced by a number of cathedrals, including the Peter and
Paul Cathedral, St. Isaac's Cathedral, Kazan Cathedral, and the Church of
the Savior on Blood. These operate today primarily as museums.
The Peter and Paul Fortress (see "History", below) occupies a dominant
position in the center of the city. It houses the cathedral of the same name,
as well as a number of other museums. A boardwalk has been built along a
portion of the fortress wall, giving visitors a clear view of the city
across the river to the south.
Other noteworthy landmarks include the Alexander Column and Tikhvin Cemetery
at the Alexander Nevsky Monastery (monastery), where many members of the
Russian royal family received their education.
Architectural landmarks of 18th and 19th centuries include the Smolny
Institute, Palace Square with the Winter Palace, Nevsky Prospekt, the labour
exchange building on Vasilyevskiy Island, Dekabristov Square with the
monument of Peter I (erected 1782), the Mariinsky Theater, Rossi Street and
the Ostrovskiy Square, Square of Arts. Between 1950-1980 there were erected
new residential areas, administrative and public buildings. The memorial
complex at Piskarevsky Cemetery was created in 1960. The historical center
of St. Petersburg is included in the UNESCO list of world heritage sites.
The majestic appearance of St. Petersburg is achieved through a variety of
architectural details including long, straight boulevards, vast spaces,
gardens and parks, decorative wrought-iron fences, monumental and decorative
sculptures. The Neva River itself, together with its many canals and their
granite embankments and bridges, gives the city a unique and striking
ambience. These bodies of water give St. Petersburg the name of 'Venice of
the North'.
During the city's original construction, the mouth of the Neva was routed
into a series of canals, which still crisscross the central portion of the
city, giving it the name of Venice of the North.
St. Petersburg's position near the Arctic Circle, on the same latitude as
nearby Helsinki, Stockholm and Oslo (60° N), causes twilight to last all
night in May, June and July. This celebrated phenomenon is known as the 'white
nights.' The white nights are closely linked to another attraction - the
nine drawbridges spanning the Neva. Tourists flock to see the bridges drawn
and lowered again at night to allow shipping to pass through the city.
Many historic buildings in the city have been restored in preparation for
the three hundredth anniversary of its founding (May 27, 2003).
History
Tsar Peter the Great founded the city on May 27 (May 16, Old Style), 1703
after reconquering the Ingrian land from Sweden. He named it after his
patron saint, the apostle Saint Peter. The original name of Sankti-Pitersburh
was actually Dutch; Peter had lived and studied in that country for some
time. The Swedish fortress of Nyen and later Nöteborg had formerly occupied
the site, in the marshlands where the river Neva drains into the Gulf of
Finland.
Since construction began during a time of war, the new city's first building
was a fortification. Known today as the Peter and Paul Fortress, it
originally also bore the name of Sankti-Pitersburh. It was laid down on
Zaichiy (Hare) Island, just off the right bank of the Neva, a couple of
miles inland from the Gulf. The marshland was drained and the city spread
outward from the fortress under the supervision of German engineers Peter
invited to Russia. Peter forbade the construction of stone buildings in all
of Russia outside of St. Petersburg, so that all stonemasons would come to
help build the new city. Serfs provided most of the labor for the project.
According to one estimate, 30,000 died.
St. Petersburg was founded to become the new capital of Russia. By virtue of
its position on an arm of the Baltic Sea, it was called by Peter a "window
on the West". Russia would be a major British trading partner for years to
come. It was also a base for Peter's navy, protected by the island fortress
of Kronstadt, built soon after the city.
Russia's elite built lavishly in the city, leaving many palaces that survive
to this day. By far the largest of these structures is the Winter Palace,
constructed between 1754 and 1762 on the orders of the Empress Elizabeth of
Russia. It is now the home of the vast State Hermitage Museum.
Alexander II's emancipation of the serfs (1861) caused the influx of large
numbers of poor into the city. Tenements were erected on the outskirts, and
nascent industry sprang up.
At the same time, though, the city was the nation's cultural center, with
composers (such as the "Mighty Handful"), artists, writers, and art
collectors.
Intellectual movements were also astir. Socialist organizations were
responsible for the assassinations of many royal officials, including that
of Alexander II in 1881. The Revolution of 1905 began here and spread
rapidly into the provinces. During World War I, the name Sankt Peterburg was
seen to be too German and, on the initiative of Tsar Nicholas II, the city
was renamed Petrograd on August 31 (August 18, Old Style), 1914.
1917 saw the beginnings of the Russian Revolution. The first step (the
February Revolution) was the removal of the Tsarist government and the
introduction of a liberal multi-party governance. The new government was
overthrown in the October Revolution, and the Russian Civil War broke out.
The city's proximity to anti-revolutionary armies, and generally unstable
political climate, forced Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin to flee to
Russia's historic former capital at Moscow on March 5, 1918. The move may
have been intended as temporary (it was certainly portrayed as such), but
Moscow has remained the capital ever since. On January 26, 1924, three days
after Lenin's death, Petrograd was renamed Leningrad in his honor.
The government's removal to Moscow caused a reversal of the mass immigration
of the latter 19th century. The benefits of capital status had left the city.
Petrograd's population in 1920 was a third of what it had been in 1915 (see
table below).
During World War II, Leningrad was surrounded and besieged by the German
Wehrmacht in the Siege of Leningrad from September 8, 1941, until January
27, 1944, a total of twenty-nine months. A "Road of Life" was established
over Lake Ladoga (frozen for a large part of the year), but it was open to
airstrikes; only one out of three supply trucks that embarked on the journey
reached its destination. Another route, running through the frontline, was
opened on January 18, 1943. Some 800,000 of the city's 3,000,000 inhabitants
are estimated to have perished. For the heroic tenacity of the city's
population, Leningrad became the first Soviet city to be awarded the title
Hero City.
According to some historians, Soviet ruler Joseph Stalin delayed the
breaking of the siege and stymied the evacuation of the city with the
intention of letting its intelligentsia perish at the hands of the Germans.
Many of those Leningraders who were evacuated to distant corners of the
Soviet Union never returned to their home city.
The war damaged the city and killed off many of those old Petersburgers who
had not fled after the revolution and did not perish in the mass purges
before the war. Nonetheless, Leningrad and many of its suburbs were rebuilt
over the following decades to the old drawings. Though changes in the social
fabric were more permanent, the city remained an intellectual and arts
centre.
The original name, Saint Petersburg, was restored on September 6, 1991, as a
result of the collapse of Soviet rule. The name of the Oblast (administrative
province) of which the city is the capital remains Leningrad Oblast.
Economy
The city is a major center of machine building, including power equipment,
machinery, shipyards, instrument manufacture, ferrous and nonferrous
metallurgy (production of aluminum alloys), chemicals, printing, and one of
the major ports of the Baltic Sea.
The city is a major transportation hub. It is the center of the local road
and railway system, and has a seaport (in the Gulf of Finland of Baltic Sea)
and river ports (in the delta of Neva). It is the terminus of the Volgo-Baltic
waterway which links the Baltic with the Black Sea. The city is served by
Pulkovo Airport, which carries both domestic and international flights. The
city's Metro (subway/underground) system began operation in 1955 and now
includes four lines.
Ford Motor Company began producing the Ford Focus automobile here in 2002.
Administrative division
Saint Petersburg is divided into 13 administrative districts, called "rayons".
They are:
Admiralteysky District
Frunzensky District
Kalininsky District
Kirovsky District
Krasnogvardeysky District
Krasnoselsky District
Moskovsky District
Nevsky District
Petrogradsky District
Primorsky District
Tsentralny District
Vasileostrovsky District
Vyborgsky District
City has numerous islands and many historically important city parts are
located on them. Vasilyevsky island is the largest of them and forms the
whole Vasileostrovsky District. Petrogradskaya, Krestovsky, Yelagin and
Kamenny islands form Petrogradsky District.
Famous people
Anna Akhmatova, died in Leningrad in 1966
Elsa Brandstrom, born in St. Petersburg in 1888
Daniel Bernoulli and Leonhard Euler, worked in St. Petersburg
Joseph Brodsky, born in Leningrad in 1940
Fyodor Dostoevsky, lived in St. Petersburg and died there in 1881
Aleksandr Pushkin, died following a duel in St. Petersburg in 1837
Vladimir Putin, born in Leningrad in 1952
Ayn Rand, born in St. Petersburg in 1905
Alexandr Rodchenko, born in St. Petersburg 1891
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