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Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg,[a] formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), is the second-largest city in Russia. It is situated on the Neva River, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of roughly 5.4 million residents as of 2020.[10] Saint Petersburg is the fourth-most populous city in Europe, the most populous city 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.

Saint Petersburg
Санкт-Петербург
Anthem: Anthem of Saint Petersburg
Coordinates: 59°56′15″N 30°18′31″E / 59.93750°N 30.30861°E / 59.93750; 30.30861Coordinates: 59°56′15″N 30°18′31″E / 59.93750°N 30.30861°E / 59.93750; 30.30861
CountryRussia
Federal districtNorthwestern[1]
Economic regionNorthwestern[2]
Founded27 May 1703 (1703-05-27)[3]
Government
 • BodyLegislative Assembly
 • GovernorAlexander Beglov (UR)[4]
Area
 • Total1,439 km2 (556 sq mi)
 • Rank82nd
Population
 • Estimate 
(2018)[6]
5,351,935
Time zoneUTC+3 (MSK [7])
ISO 3166 codeRU-SPE
License plates78, 98, 178, 198
OKTMO ID40000000
Official languagesRussian[8]
Websitewww.gov.spb.ru

The city was founded by Tsar Peter the Great on 27 May 1703 on the site of a captured Swedish fortress, and was named after apostle Saint Peter. In Russia, Saint Petersburg is historically and culturally associated with the birth of the Russian Empire and Russia's entry into modern history as a European great power.[11] It served as a capital of the Tsardom of Russia, and the subsequent Russian Empire, from 1713 to 1918 (being replaced by Moscow for a short period of time between 1728 and 1730).[12] After the October Revolution in 1917, the Bolsheviks moved their government to Moscow.[13] The city was renamed Leningrad after Lenin's death in 1924. In a wave of De-Leninization following the dissolution of the USSR, the city was restored to is original appellation.

As Russia's cultural center,[14] Saint Petersburg received over 15 million tourists in 2018.[15][16] 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 bodies such as the Constitutional Court of Russia and the Heraldic Council of the President of the Russian Federation. It is also a seat for the National Library of Russia and a planned location for the Supreme Court of Russia, as well as the home to the headquarters of the Russian Navy, and the Western Military District of the Russian Armed Forces. The Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments constitute a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Saint Petersburg is home to the Hermitage, one of the largest art museums in the world, the Lakhta Center, the tallest skyscraper in Europe, and was one of the host cities of the 2018 FIFA World Cup and the UEFA Euro 2020.

Toponymy

 
While not originally named for Tsar Peter the Great, during World War I the city was changed from the Germanic "Petersburg" to "Petrograd" in his honour.

The name day of Peter I falls on 29 June, when the Russian Orthodox Church observes the memory of 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 Neerlandophile. The name was later normalized and russified to Санкт-Петербург.[17][18][19]

A proponent of westernising Russia, Peter the Great, the then Tsar, who established the city, originally named it Sankt-Pieter-Burch (Сан(к)т-Питер-Бурхъ) in Dutch manner and later its spelling was standardised as Sankt-Peterburg (Санкт-Петербургъ[b]) under German influence.[20]

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 district of London, near St Sophia's Cathedral, named after a visit by the Tsar to London in 1814.[21]

A 14- to 15-letter-long name, composed of the three roots, 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 uses a derivative of Greek: Πετρόπολις (Петрополис, Petropolis) in a Russified form Petropol' (Петрополь). A combo Piterpol (Питерпол) also appears at this time.[22] 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.

 
From 1924 to 1991 the city was known as 'Leningrad'. This is a picture of the Saint Petersburg port entrance with an old 'Ленинград' (Leningrad) sign.

In the 1830s Alexander Pushkin translated the "foreign" city name of "Saint Petersburg" to the more Russian Petrograd (Russian: Петроград[b], IPA: [pʲɪtrɐˈgrat]) in one of his poems. However, it was only on 31 August [O.S. 18 August] 1914, after the war with Germany had begun, that Tsar Nicholas II renamed the city Petrograd in order to expunge the German words Sankt and Burg.[23] Since the prefix "Saint" was omitted,[24] this act also changed the eponym and the "patron" of the city from Saint Peter to Peter the Great, its founder.[19] On 26 January 1924, shortly after the death of Vladimir Lenin, it was renamed to Leningrad (Russian: Ленинград, IPA: [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 (Russian: Питер, IPA: [ˈpʲitʲɪr]).

 
Embankment of the Neva at 23:11, 22 June 2013.

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.[25] Meanwhile, the oblast whose administrative center is also in Saint Petersburg is still named 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: 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.[22] (The proper Greek translation is Αγία Πετρούπολη, Agia Petroupoli.)[26]

Saint Petersburg has been traditionally called the "Window to Europe" and the "Window to the West" by the Russians.[27][28] The city is the northernmost metropolis in the world, and is also often described as the "Venice 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.[29][30][31] 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 and ensures that in summer the night skies of the city do not get completely dark for a month.[32][33] The city is also often called the "Northern Palmyra", due to its extravagant architecture.[34]

History

Imperial era (1703–1917)

 
The Bronze Horseman, monument to Peter the Great
 
Map of Saint Petersburg, 1744
 
Map of fortifications, Sankt Petersburg, 1722

Swedish colonists built Nyenskans, a fortress at the mouth of the Neva River in 1611, which was later called Ingermanland. This area was inhabited by a Finnic tribe of Ingrians. 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.[35] He needed a better seaport than the country's main one at the time, Arkhangelsk, which was on the White Sea in the far north and closed to shipping during the winter.

On 12 May [O.S. 1 May] 1703, during the Great Northern War, Peter the Great captured Nyenskans and soon replaced the fortress.[36] On 27 May [O.S. 16 May] 1703,[37] closer to the estuary (5 km (3 mi) inland from the gulf), on Zayachy (Hare) Island, he laid down the Peter and Paul Fortress, which became the first brick and stone building of the new city.[38]

The city was built by conscripted peasants from all over Russia; in some years several Swedish prisoners of war were also involved under the supervision of Alexander Menshikov.[39] Tens of thousands of serfs died while building the city.[40] Later, the city became the centre of the Saint Petersburg Governorate. Peter moved the capital from Moscow to Saint Petersburg in 1712, 9 years before the Treaty of Nystad of 1721 ended the war. He referred to Saint Petersburg as the capital (or seat of government) as early as 1704.[35] While the city was being built, Peter lived in a three-room log cabin with his wife Catherine and their children.[citation needed]

 
Nevsky Prospekt from restaurant Legeune in the late 19th century

During its first few years, the city developed around Trinity Square on the right bank of the Neva, near the Peter and Paul Fortress. However, Saint Petersburg soon started to be built out according to a plan. By 1716 the Swiss Italian Domenico Trezzini had elaborated a project whereby the city centre would be on Vasilyevsky Island and shaped by a rectangular grid of canals. The project was not completed but is evident in the layout of the streets. In 1716, Peter the Great appointed Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Alexandre Le Blond as the chief architect of Saint Petersburg.[41]

The style of Petrine Baroque, developed by Trezzini and other architects and exemplified by such buildings as the Menshikov Palace, Kunstkamera, Peter and Paul Cathedral, Twelve Collegia, became prominent in the city architecture of the early 18th century. In 1724 the Academy of Sciences, University and Academic Gymnasium were established in Saint Petersburg by Peter the Great.

In 1725, Peter died at age fifty-two. His endeavors to modernize Russia had been opposed by the Russian nobility. There were several attempts on his life and a treason case involving his son.[42] In 1728, Peter II of Russia moved his seat back to Moscow. But four years later, in 1732, under Empress Anna of Russia, Saint Petersburg was again designated as the capital of the Russian Empire. It remained the seat of the Romanov dynasty and the Imperial Court of the Russian tsars, as well as the seat of the Russian government, for another 186 years until the communist revolution of 1917.

In 1736–1737 the city suffered from catastrophic fires. To rebuild the damaged boroughs, a committee under Burkhard Christoph von Münnich commissioned a new plan in 1737. The city was divided into five boroughs, and the city centre was moved to the Admiralty borough, on the east bank between the Neva and Fontanka.

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

It developed along three radial streets, which meet at the Admiralty building and are now known as Nevsky Prospect (which is considered the main street of the city), Gorokhovaya Street and Voznesensky Avenue. Baroque architecture became dominant in the city during the first sixty years, culminating in the Elizabethan Baroque, represented most notably by Italian Bartolomeo Rastrelli with such buildings as the Winter Palace. In the 1760s, Baroque architecture was succeeded by neoclassical architecture.

Established in 1762, the Commission of Stone Buildings of Moscow and Saint Petersburg ruled 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 in the 1760s–1780s, the banks of the Neva were lined with granite embankments.

However, it was not until 1850 that the first permanent bridge across the Neva, Annunciation Bridge, was allowed to open. Before that, only pontoon bridges were allowed. Obvodny Canal (dug in 1769–1833) became the southern limit of the city.

The most prominent neoclassical and Empire-style architects in Saint Petersburg included:

 
Decembrist revolt at the Senate Square, 26 December 1825

In 1810, Alexander I established the first engineering higher education, the Saint Petersburg Main military engineering School in Saint Petersburg. Many monuments commemorate the Russian victory over Napoleonic France in the Patriotic War of 1812, including the Alexander Column by Montferrand, erected in 1834, and the Narva Triumphal Arch.

In 1825, the suppressed Decembrist revolt against Nicholas I took place on the Senate Square in the city, a day after Nicholas assumed the throne.

By the 1840s, neoclassical architecture had given way to various romanticist styles, which dominated until the 1890s, represented by such architects as Andrei Stackenschneider (Mariinsky Palace, Beloselsky-Belozersky Palace, Nicholas Palace, New Michael Palace) and Konstantin Thon (Moskovsky railway station).

With the emancipation of the serfs undertaken by Alexander II in 1861 and an Industrial Revolution, the influx of former peasants into the capital increased greatly. Poor boroughs spontaneously 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), the Neva River, and a seaport on the Baltic.

The names of Saints Peter and Paul, bestowed upon the original city's citadel and its cathedral (from 1725—a burial vault of Russian emperors) coincidentally were the names of the first two assassinated Russian emperors, Peter III (1762, supposedly killed in a conspiracy led by his wife, Catherine the Great) and Paul I (1801, Nikolay Alexandrovich Zubov and other conspirators who brought to power Alexander I, the son of their victim). The third emperor's assassination took place in Saint Petersburg in 1881 when Alexander II was murdered by terrorists (see the Church of the Savior on Blood).

The Revolution of 1905 began in Saint Petersburg and spread rapidly into the provinces.

On 1 September 1914, after the outbreak of World War I, the Imperial government renamed the city Petrograd,[23] meaning "Peter's City", to remove the German words Sankt and Burg.

Revolution 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 dynastic rule.

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

On 7 November [O.S. 25 October] 1917, the Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, stormed the Winter Palace in an event known thereafter as the October Revolution, which led to the end of the post-Tsarist provisional government, the transfer of all political power to the Soviets, and the rise of the Communist Party.[43] After that the city acquired a new descriptive name, "the city of three revolutions",[44] referring to the three major developments in the political history of Russia of the early 20th century.

In September and October 1917, German troops invaded the West Estonian archipelago and threatened Petrograd with bombardment and invasion. On 12 March 1918, the Soviets transferred the government to Moscow, to keep it away from the state border. During the Russian Civil War, in mid-1919 Russian anti-communist forces with the help of Estonians attempted to capture the city, but Leon Trotsky mobilized the army and forced them to retreat back to Estonia.

 
Leningrad in 1935

On 26 January 1924, five days after Lenin's death, Petrograd was renamed Leningrad. Later some streets and other toponyms were renamed accordingly. The city has over 230 places associated with the life and activities of Lenin. Some of them were turned into museums,[45] including the cruiser Aurora—a symbol of the October Revolution and the oldest ship in the Russian Navy.

In the 1920s and 1930s, the poor outskirts were reconstructed into regularly planned boroughs. Constructivist architecture flourished around that time. Housing became a government-provided amenity; many "bourgeois" apartments were so large that numerous families were assigned to what were called "communal" apartments (kommunalkas). By the 1930s, 68% of the population lived in such housing. In 1935 a new general plan was outlined, whereby the city should expand to the south. Constructivism was rejected in favour of a more pompous Stalinist architecture. Moving the city centre further from the border with Finland, Stalin adopted a plan to build a new city hall with a huge adjacent square at the southern end of Moskovsky Prospekt, designated as the new main street of Leningrad. After the Winter (Soviet-Finnish) war in 1939–1940, the Soviet–Finnish border moved northwards. Nevsky Prospekt with Palace Square maintained the functions and the role of a city centre.

In December 1931, Leningrad was administratively separated from Leningrad Oblast. At that time it included the Leningrad Suburban District, some parts of which were transferred back to Leningrad Oblast in 1936 and turned into Vsevolozhsky District, Krasnoselsky District, Pargolovsky District and Slutsky District (renamed Pavlovsky District in 1944).[46]

On 1 December 1934, Sergey Kirov, the popular communist leader of Leningrad, was assassinated, which became the pretext for the Great Purge.[47] In Leningrad, approximately 40,000 were executed during Stalin's purges.[48]

World War II (1941–1945)

 
Citizens of Leningrad during the 872-day siege, in which more than one million civilians died, mostly from starvation. Nevsky Prospect

During World War II, German forces besieged Leningrad following the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941.[49] The siege lasted 872 days, or almost two and a half years,[49] from 8 September 1941 to 27 January 1944.[50]

The Siege of Leningrad proved one of the longest, most destructive, and most lethal sieges of a major city in modern history. It isolated the city from food supplies except those provided through the Road of Life across Lake Ladoga, 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, in his Supreme Commander Order No. 20, named Leningrad, alongside Stalingrad, Sevastopol, and Odessa, 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. The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR awarded Leningrad as a Hero City the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal "for the heroic resistance of the city and tenacity of the survivors of the Siege". The Hero-City Obelisk bearing the Gold Star sign was installed in April 1985.

Post-war Soviet era (1945–1991)

 
View of Lermontovski Prospekt, Egyptian Bridge and the Fontanka River, 1972

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 peace treaty following the Winter War, were transferred from Leningrad Oblast to Leningrad and divided into Sestroretsky District and Kurortny District. These included the town of Terijoki (renamed Zelenogorsk in 1948).[46] 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 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 and Pesochny merged with Leningrad.[46]

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 organization—the second most significant one in the country after Moscow. The entire elite leadership of Leningrad was destroyed, including the former mayor 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.[51]

The Leningrad Metro underground 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 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)

 
View of the city from the Saint Isaac's Cathedral

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, 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 was introduced, and the city received humanitarian food aid from abroad.[25] This dramatic time was depicted in photographic series of Russian photographer Alexey Titarenko.[52][53] Economic conditions began to improve only at the beginning of the 21st century.[54] In 1995 a northern section of the 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.[55] This agreement was abolished on 4 April 2002.[56]

In 1996, Vladimir Yakovlev defeated Anatoly Sobchak in the elections for the head of the 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 Trinity Bridge is a landmark of Art Nouveau design.

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 designation (there are about 8,000 architectural monuments in Petersburg), the preservation of its historical and architectural environment became controversial.[57] After 2005, the demolition of older buildings in the historical centre was permitted.[58] In 2006 Gazprom announced an ambitious project to erect a 403 m (1,322 ft) skyscraper (the Okhta Center) opposite to Smolny, which[according to whom?] could result in the loss of the unique line of Petersburg landscape.[citation needed] Urgent protests by citizens and prominent public figures of Russia against this project were not considered by Governor Valentina Matviyenko and the city authorities until December 2010, when after the statement of President Dmitry Medvedev, 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. Construction was approved by Gazprom and the city administration and commenced in 2012. The 462 m (1,516 ft) high Lakhta Center has become the first tallest skyscraper in Russia and Europe outside of Moscow.

Geography

 
The Neva River flows through much of the centre of the city. Left – the Spit of Vasilievsky Island, center – River Neva, Peter and Paul Fortress and Trinity Bridge, right – Palace Embankment with the Winter Palace.
 
Satellite image of Saint Petersburg and its suburbs

The area of Saint Petersburg city proper is 605.8 km2 (233.9 square miles). The area of the federal subject is 1,439 km2 (556 sq mi), which contains Saint Petersburg proper (consisting of eighty-one municipal okrugs), nine municipal towns – (Kolpino, Krasnoye Selo, Kronstadt, Lomonosov, Pavlovsk, Petergof, Pushkin, Sestroretsk, 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 in the Neva Bay), Petrogradsky, Dekabristov and Krestovsky. The latter together with Yelagin and Kamenny Island are covered mostly by parks. The Karelian Isthmus, North of the city, is a popular resort area. In the south, Saint Petersburg crosses the Baltic-Ladoga Klint and meets the Izhora Plateau.

The elevation of Saint Petersburg ranges from the sea level to its highest point of 175.9 m (577 ft) 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 4 m (13 ft) 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 (4.21 m or 13 ft 10 in above sea level, during which over 300 buildings were destroyed[c]); 1924 (3.8 m, 12 ft 6 in); 1777 (3.21 m, 10 ft 6 in); 1955 (2.93 m, 9 ft 7 in); and 1975 (2.81 m, 9 ft 3 in). To prevent floods, the Saint Petersburg Dam has been constructed.[59]

Since the 18th century, the city's terrain has been raised artificially, at some places by more than 4 m (13 ft), 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 and 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 white nights.

Saint Petersburg is about 165 km (103 miles) 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.

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 23 °C (73 °F), and the average minimum temperature in February is −8.5 °C (16.7 °F); an extreme temperature of 37.1 °C (98.8 °F) occurred during the 2010 Northern Hemisphere summer heat wave. A winter minimum of −35.9 °C (−32.6 °F) was recorded in 1883. The average annual temperature is 5.8 °C (42.4 °F). 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 19 cm (7.5 in) by February.[60] 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 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.[61][62]

Average annual precipitation varies across the city, averaging 660 mm (26 in) per year and reaching maximum in late summer. Due to the cool climate, soil moisture is almost always high because of lower evapotranspiration. Air humidity is 78% on average, and there are, on average, 165 overcast days per year.

Climate data for Saint Petersburg (1991–2020; extremes 1743–present)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 8.7
(47.7)
10.2
(50.4)
15.3
(59.5)
25.3
(77.5)
33.0
(91.4)
35.9
(96.6)
35.3
(95.5)
37.1
(98.8)
30.4
(86.7)
21.0
(69.8)
12.3
(54.1)
10.9
(51.6)
37.1
(98.8)
Average high °C (°F) −2.5
(27.5)
−2.4
(27.7)
2.3
(36.1)
9.5
(49.1)
16.3
(61.3)
20.5
(68.9)
23.3
(73.9)
21.4
(70.5)
15.9
(60.6)
8.7
(47.7)
2.8
(37.0)
−0.5
(31.1)
9.6
(49.3)
Daily mean °C (°F) −4.8
(23.4)
−5.0
(23.0)
−1.0
(30.2)
5.2
(41.4)
11.5
(52.7)
16.1
(61.0)
19.1
(66.4)
17.4
(63.3)
12.4
(54.3)
6.2
(43.2)
0.9
(33.6)
−2.5
(27.5)
6.3
(43.3)
Average low °C (°F) −7.2
(19.0)
−7.6
(18.3)
−4.0
(24.8)
1.7
(35.1)
7.2
(45.0)
12.2
(54.0)
15.3
(59.5)
13.9
(57.0)
9.4
(48.9)
4.1
(39.4)
−0.9
(30.4)
−4.5
(23.9)
3.3
(37.9)
Record low °C (°F) −35.9
(−32.6)
−35.2
(−31.4)
−29.9
(−21.8)
−21.8
(−7.2)
−6.6
(20.1)
0.1
(32.2)
4.9
(40.8)
1.3
(34.3)
−3.1
(26.4)
−12.9
(8.8)
−22.2
(−8.0)
−34.4
(−29.9)
−35.9
(−32.6)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 46
(1.8)
36
(1.4)
36
(1.4)
37
(1.5)
47
(1.9)
69
(2.7)
84
(3.3)
87
(3.4)
57
(2.2)
64
(2.5)
56
(2.2)
51
(2.0)
670
(26.4)
Average extreme snow depth cm (inches) 15
(5.9)
19
(7.5)
14
(5.5)
1
(0.4)
0
(0)
0
(0)
0
(0)
0
(0)
0
(0)
0
(0)
3
(1.2)
9
(3.5)
19
(7.5)
Average rainy days 9 7 10 13 16 18 17 17 20 20 16 10 173
Average snowy days 25 23 16 8 1 0.1 0 0 0.1 5 16 23 117
Average relative humidity (%) 86 84 79 69 65 69 71 76 80 83 86 87 78
Mean monthly sunshine hours 22 54 125 180 260 276 267 213 129 70 27 13 1,636
Source 1: Pogoda.ru.net[60]
Source 2: NOAA (sun 1961–1990)[63]


Demographics

 
Population pyramid of St. Petersburg in the 2021 Russian Census
 
People walking on the main street of Saint Petersburg, Nevsky Prospekt

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;[citation needed] up from 4,879,566 (3.4%) recorded in the 2010 Census,[64] and up from 5,023,506 recorded in the 1989 Census.[65]

 
Life expectancy at birth in Saint Petersburg
Historical population
YearPop.±% p.a.
1897 1,264,920—    
1926 1,590,770+0.79%
1939 3,191,304+5.50%
1959 3,321,196+0.20%
1970 3,949,501+1.59%
1979 4,588,183+1.68%
1989 5,023,506+0.91%
2002 4,661,219−0.57%
2010 4,879,566+0.57%
2021 5,601,911+1.26%
Source: Census data
Vital statistics for 2016[66]
  • Births: 72 879 (13.9 per 1000)
  • Deaths: 61 459 (11.7 per 1000)
Total fertility rate:[67]
  • 2010 – 1.38
  • 2011 – 1.38
  • 2012 – 1.48
  • 2013 – 1.48
  • 2014 – 1.52
  • 2015 – 1.59
  • 2016 – 1.63
  • 2017 – 1.50
  • 2018 – 1.47
  • 2019 – 1.40
  • 2020 – 1.37

Ethnic composition of Saint Petersburg

Ethnicity Year
1939[68] 1959[69] 1970[70] 1979[71] 1989[72] 2010[73] 2021[74]
Population Percentage Population Percentage Population Percentage Population Percentage Population Percentage Population Percentage Population Percentage
Russians 2,775,979 86.89% 2,951,254 88.86% 3,514,296 88.98% 4,097,629 89.69% 4,448,884 89.14% 3,908,753 92.5% 4,275,058 76.3%
Ukrainians 54,660 1.71% 68,308 2.05% 97,109 2.45% 117,412 2.57% 150,982 3.02% 64,446 1.5% 29,353 0.5%
Tatars 31,506 0.98% 27,178 0.81% 32,851 0.83% 39,403 0.86% 43,997 0.88% 30,857 0.7% 20,286 0.4%
Azerbaijanis 385 - 855 - 1,576 - 3,171 - 11,804 0.23% 17,717 0.4% 16,406 0.3%
Belarusians 32,353 1.01% 47,004 1.41% 63,799 1.61% 81,575 1.78% 93,564 1.87% 38,136 0.9% 15,545 0.3%
Armenians 4,615 0.14% 4,897 0.14% 6,628 0.16% 7,995 0.17% 12,070 0.24% 19,971 0.5% 14,737 0.3%
Uzbeks 238 - - - 1,678 - 1,883 - 7,927 0.15% 20,345 0.5% 12,181 0.2%
Tajiks 61 - - - 361 - 473 - 1,917 - 12,072 0.3% 9,573 0.2%
Jews 201,542 6.31% 168,641 5.07% 162,525 4.11% 142,779 3.12% 106,469 2.13% 24,132 0.6% 9,205 0.2%
Others 89,965 2.81% 53,059 1.59% 68,678 1.73% 76,228 1.66% 113,135 2.26% 90,310 2.1% 277,297 5.0%
Ethnicity not stated 884,678 15.8%
Total 3,191,304 100% 3,321,196 100% 3,949,501 100% 4,568,548 100% 4,990,749 100% 4,879,566 100% 5,601,911 100%

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 and Russian Civil War. The minorities of Germans, Poles, Finns, Estonians and Latvians were almost completely transferred from Leningrad during the 1930s.[75] 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.[76][77] For the first half of 2007, the birth rate was 9.1 per 1000[78] and remained lower than the death rate (until 2012[79]); people over 65 constitute more than twenty percent of the population; and the median age is about 40 years.[80] Since 2012 the birth rate became higher than the death rate.[79] But in 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic caused a drop in birth rate, and the city population decreased to 5,395,000 people.[81]

Religion

 
 
 
 
Clockwise from left: Kronstadt: the Naval Cathedral on Yakornaya Square; the Church of St. Catherine; the Saint Petersburg Mosque; and the Grand Choral Synagogue of St. Petersburg

According to various opinion polls, more than half of the residents of Saint Petersburg "believe in God" (up to 67% according to VTsIOM data for 2002).

Among the believers, the overwhelming majority of the residents of the city are Orthodox (57.5%), followed by small minority communities of Muslims (0.7%), Protestants (0.6%), and Catholics (0.5%), and Buddhists (0.1%).[82]

In total, roughly 59% of the population of the city is Christian, of which over 90% are Orthodox.[82] Non-Abrahamic religions and other faiths are represented by only 1.2% of the total population.[82]

Religion in Saint Petersburg as of 2012 (Sreda Arena Atlas)[83][84]
Russian Orthodoxy
50.3%
Other Orthodox
1.4%
Other Christians
3.2%
Islam
1.1%
Spiritual but not religious
20.5%
Atheism and irreligion
15.4%
Other and undeclared
7.6%

There are 268 communities of confessions and religious associations in the city: the Russian Orthodox Church (130 associations), Pentecostalism (23 associations), the Lutheranism (19 associations), Baptism (13 associations), as well as Old Believers, Roman Catholic Church, Armenian Apostolic Church, Georgian Orthodox Church, Seventh-day Adventist Church, Judaism, Buddhist, Muslim, Bahá'í and others.[82]

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

 
The city assembly meets in the Mariinsky Palace.

Saint Petersburg is a federal subject of Russia (a federal city).[85] The political life of Saint Petersburg is regulated by the Charter of Saint Petersburg adopted by the city legislature in 1998.[86] The superior executive body is the Saint Petersburg City Administration, led by the city governor (mayor before 1996). Saint Petersburg has a single-chamber legislature, the Saint Petersburg Legislative Assembly, which is the city's regional parliament.

 
The Smolny Institute, seat of the governor

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 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,[87] restoring direct elections of heads of federal subjects, the city charter was again amended to provide for direct elections of governor.[88] On 3 October 2018, Poltavchenko resigned, and Alexander Beglov was appointed acting governor.[4]

Saint Petersburg is also the unofficial but de facto administrative centre of Leningrad Oblast, and of the Northwestern Federal District.[89] The 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, FSB, postal service, drug enforcement administration, penitentiary service, federal registration service, and other federal services.

Administrative divisions

Saint Petersburg is divided into 18 administrative districts:
 
  1. Аdmiralteysky
  2. Vasileostrovsky
  3. Vyborgsky
  4. Kalininsky
  5. Кirovsky
  6. Kolpinsky
  7. Krasnogvardeysky
  8. Кrasnoselsky
  9. Kronshtadtsky
  1. Kurortny
  2. Moskovsky
  3. Nevsky
  4. Petrogradsky
  5. Petrodvortsovy
  6. Primorsky
  7. Pushkinsky
  8. Frunzensky
  9. Tsentralny
Within the boundaries of the districts, there are 111 intra-city municipalities, 81 municipal districts, and 9 cities: (Zelenogorsk, Kolpino, Krasnoe Selo, Kronstadt, Lomonosov, Pavlovsk, Petergof, Pushkin, and Sestroretsk), as well as 21 villages.[90]

Economy

 
The Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum is a major Russian investment forum

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; technology, including radio, electronics, software, and computers; machine building, heavy machinery and transport, including tanks and other military equipment; mining; instrument manufacture; ferrous and nonferrous metallurgy (production of aluminium alloys); chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and medical equipment; publishing and printing; food and catering; wholesale and retail; textile and 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.[91]

 
Power Machines plant building on Sverdlovskaya embankment in Saint Petersburg

Ten per cent of the world's power turbines are made there at the LMZ, which built over two thousand turbines for 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 Sovkomflot, Petersburg Fuel Company and SIBUR among other major Russian and international companies.

The Port of Saint Petersburg has three large cargo terminals, Bolshoi Port Saint Petersburg, Kronstadt, and Lomonosov terminal.[citation needed] International 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 New Passenger Port on the west of the island.[92] The new passenger terminal is part of the city's "Marine Facade" development project[93] and was due to have seven berths in operation by 2010.[needs update]

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.

The Saint Petersburg Mint (Monetny Dvor), founded in 1724, is one of the largest mints 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 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 Camry plant after investing 5 billion roubles (approx. 200 mln dollars) in Shushary, one of the southern suburbs of Saint Petersburg. Opel, Hyundai and Nissan have also signed deals with the 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, Vena (both operated by BBH), Heineken Brewery, Stepan Razin (both by Heineken) and Tinkoff brewery (SUN-InBev).

The city's many local distilleries produce a broad range of vodka brands. The oldest ones is 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 30,000 m2 (320,000 sq ft), production rate of 22,500 bottles per hour). In 2007, this brand was exported to over 70 countries.[94]

Saint Petersburg has the second-largest 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 2006 exchange rates),.[95] The federal subject's Gross Regional Product as of 2016 was 3.7 trillion Russian rubles (or around US$70 billion), ranked 2nd in Russia, after Moscow[96] and per capita of US$13,000, ranked 12th among Russia's federal subjects,[97] contributed mostly by wholesale and retail trade and repair services (24.7%) as well as processing industry (20.9%) and transportation and telecommunications (15.1%).[98]

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.[99] (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.[100]

Cityscape

 
Lakhta Center, the tallest building in Europe
 
The Admiralty building in St. Petersburg

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 310-meter (1,020 ft) 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 396 meters (1,299 ft) 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.[101] 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 463-metre-tall (1,519-foot) 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 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 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 and in recent years.[citation needed] The oldest of the remaining building is a wooden house built for Peter I in 1703 on the shore of the Neva near Trinity Square. Since 1991 the Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments in Saint Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast have been listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

The ensemble of Peter and Paul Fortress with the Peter and Paul Cathedral takes a dominant position on Zayachy Island along the right bank of the Neva River. Each noon a cannon fires a blank shot from the fortress. The Saint Petersburg Mosque, 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 and Malaya Neva, is connected to the northern bank (Petrogradsky Island) via the Exchange Bridge and occupied by the Old Saint Petersburg Stock Exchange and Rostral Columns. The southern coast of Vasilyevsky Island along the Bolshaya Neva features some of the city's oldest buildings, dating from the 18th century, including the Kunstkamera, Twelve Collegia, Menshikov Palace and Imperial Academy of Arts. It hosts one of two campuses of Saint Petersburg State University.

On the southern, left bank of the Neva, connected to the spit of Vasilyevsky Island via the Palace Bridge, lie the Admiralty building, the vast Hermitage Museum complex stretching along the Palace Embankment, which includes the Baroque Winter Palace, former official residence of Russian emperors, as well as the neoclassical Marble Palace. The Winter Palace faces Palace Square, the city's main square with the Alexander Column.

 

Nevsky Prospekt, also on the left bank of the Neva, is the city's main avenue. It starts at the Admiralty and runs eastwards next to Palace Square. Nevsky Prospekt crosses the Moika (Green Bridge), Griboyedov Canal (Kazansky Bridge), Garden Street, the Fontanka (Anichkov Bridge), meets Liteyny Prospekt and proceeds to Uprising Square near the Moskovsky railway station, where it meets Ligovsky Prospekt and turns to the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. The Passage, Catholic Church of St. Catherine, Book House (former Singer Manufacturing Company Building in the Art Nouveau style), Grand Hotel Europe, Lutheran Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Great Gostiny Dvor, Russian National Library, Alexandrine Theatre behind Mikeshin's statue of Catherine the Great, Kazan Cathedral, Stroganov Palace, Anichkov Palace and Beloselsky-Belozersky Palace are all along that avenue.

 
Palace Square during Christmas

The Alexander Nevsky Lavra, intended to house the relics of St. Alexander Nevsky, is an important centre of Christian education in Russia. It also contains the Tikhvin Cemetery with graves of many notable Petersburgers.

On the territory between the Neva and Nevsky Prospekt the Church of the Savior on Blood, Mikhailovsky Palace housing the Russian Museum, Field of Mars, St. Michael's Castle, Summer Garden, Tauride Palace, Smolny Institute and Smolny Convent are located.

Many notable landmarks are to the west and south of the Admiralty Building, including the Trinity Cathedral, Mariinsky Palace, Hotel Astoria, famous Mariinsky Theatre, New Holland Island, Saint Isaac's Cathedral, the largest in the city, and Senate Square, with the Bronze Horseman, 18th-century equestrian monument to Peter the Great, which is considered among the city's most recognisable symbols.

Other symbols of Saint Petersburg include the weather vane 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.[102] It was not until 2004 that the first high bridge across the Neva, which does not need to be drawn, Big Obukhovsky Bridge, 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. There are hundreds of smaller bridges in Saint Petersburg spanning numerous canals and distributaries of the Neva, some of the most important of which are the Moika, Fontanka, Griboyedov Canal, Obvodny Canal, Karpovka and Smolenka. Due to the intricate web of canals, Saint Petersburg is often called Venice of the North. 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 or cast iron parapets.

 
Aerial view of Peterhof Palace

Southern suburbs of the city feature former imperial residences, including Petergof, with majestic fountain cascades and parks, Tsarskoe Selo, with the baroque Catherine Palace and the neoclassical Alexander Palace, and Pavlovsk, which has a domed palace of Emperor Paul 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, actually belong to Leningrad Oblast rather than Saint Petersburg. Another notable suburb is Kronstadt with its 19th-century fortifications and naval monuments, occupying the Kotlin Island 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 have been recognised as town-planning errors.[103]

Parks

 
The "Temple of Friendship" in Pavlovsk Park

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 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 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 English oak, Norway maple, green ash, silver birch, Siberian Larch, blue spruce, crack willow, limes, and poplars. Important 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.[104]

Tourism

Saint Petersburg
UNESCO World Heritage Site
 
Official nameHistoric Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments
CriteriaCultural: (i), (ii), (iv), (vi)
Reference540bis
Inscription1990 (14th Session)
Extensions2013
Area3,934.1 ha (15.190 sq mi)

Saint Petersburg has a significant historical and cultural heritage.[105][106][107][108][109][110][111]

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 the UNESCO 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.[citation needed]

 
Grand Peterhof Palace and the Grand Cascade

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 and the Russian Museum with its rich collection of Russian art, 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; Museum of Musical Instruments, the museum of decorative arts and the museum of professional orientation.

 
The Bolshoi Zal (Grand Hall) of Saint Petersburg Philharmonia

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, Natalia Makarova, Mikhail Baryshnikov 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, who expanded the scope of strict classical Russian ballet to almost unimaginable limits. Remaining faithful to the classical basis (he was a choreographer at the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet), he combined classical ballet with the avant-garde style, and then, in turn, with acrobatics, rhythmic gymnastics, dramatic expressiveness, cinema, 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, the national operator, announced the beginning of a major modernization of the fixed-line network in the city.[112]

Culture

Museums

 
The State Hermitage Museum (Hermitage Theatre, Old Hermitage, Small Hermitage and Winter Palace, all part of the current museum complex)

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 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 former Soviet Union and Russian Empire.

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 and the Museum of Political History, which explains many authoritarian features of the USSR.

Other notable museums include the Central Naval Museum, and Zoological Museum, Central Soil Museum, the Russian Railway Museum, Suvorov Museum, 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 in the Peter and Paul Fortress 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.[115]

Music

 
The main auditorium of the Mariinsky Theatre
 
Panorama of Stalls and Boxes at the Main Mariinsky Theatre.

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, 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 composer's only museum.

 
Scarlet Sails celebration on the Neva River

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 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.[116] 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.[117] The Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra remained one of the best known 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 rock concerts and festivals. In 1972 Boris Grebenshchikov founded the band Aquarium, which later grew to huge popularity. Since then "Peter's rock" 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, Kino, Alisa, Zemlyane, Zoopark, Piknik, and Secret. The first Russian-style happening show 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, Kirpichi, Psychea, 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 school year.

The rave band Little Big also hails from Saint Petersburg. Their music video for "Skibidi" was filmed in the city, starting at Akademicheskiy Pereulok.[118]

Literature

Saint Petersburg has a longstanding and world-famous tradition in literature. 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 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 Gogol, the novels of Dostoyevsky, the verse of Alexander Blok and Osip Mandelshtam, and in the symbolist novel Petersburg by 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 Pushkin, Gogol, and Dostoyevsky. Another important feature of early Saint Petersburg literature is its mythical element, which incorporates urban legends and popular 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 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".[119]

Film

 
Konstantin Khabensky, known for his roles in Night Watch, Day Watch and Admiral, is a native of Saint Petersburg.

Over 250 international and Russian movies were filmed in Saint Petersburg.[120] 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 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, starring Sophie Marceau and Sean Bean and made by an international team of British, American, French and Russian filmmakers.

The cult comedy Irony of Fate[121] (also Ирония судьбы, или С лёгким паром!) is set in Saint Petersburg and pokes fun at Soviet city planning. The 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) and Tamil romantic thriller film-Dhaam Dhoom (2008). Onegin (1999) is based on the 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.[122]

Dramatic theatre

St Petersburg has a number of dramatic theatres and drama schools. These include the Student Theatre on Mokhovaya Street. Учебный театр «На Моховой», Leteiny Theatre and Youth Theatre on the Fontanka.

Education

As of 2006–2007, there were 1,024 kindergartens, 716 public schools and 80 vocational schools in Saint Petersburg.[123] 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 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 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 Olympics. The 1994 Goodwill Games were also held here.

In boating, the first competition here was the 1703 rowing event initiated by Peter the Great, after the victory over the Swedish fleet. The Russian Navy held Yachting events since the foundation of the city. Yacht clubs:[124] 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 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 Russian Tsar Nicholas II to five players: Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine, Tarrasch and Marshall.

The city's main football team is FC Zenit Saint Petersburg, who have been champions of the Soviet and Russian league nine times, most notably claiming the RPL title in four consecutive seasons from 2018–19 to 2021–22, along with winning the Soviet/Russian Cup five times. The club also won the 2007–08 UEFA Cup and the 2008 UEFA Super Cup, spearheaded by successful player and local hero Andrey Arshavin.

Kirov Stadium formerly existed as Zenit's home from 1950 to 1993 and again in 1995, being one of the largest stadiums in the world at the time. In 1951 a crowd of 110,000 set the single-game attendance record for Soviet football. The stadium was knocked down in 2006, with Zenit temporarily moving to the Petrovsky Stadium before the Krestovsky Stadium was built on the same site as the Kirov Stadium. The Krestovsky Stadium opened in 2017, hosting four matches at the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup, including the final. The stadium then hosted seven matches at the 2018 FIFA World Cup, including a semi-final and the third-placed playoff. It also hosted seven matches at UEFA Euro 2020, including a quarter-final. The stadium was going to host the 2022 UEFA Champions League final, however UEFA removed St Petersburg as host in February 2022, citing the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[125]

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.[126] Well-known players on the team include Pavel Datsyuk, Ilya Kovalchuk, Nikita Gusev, Sergei Shirokov and 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 League (1975 and 1992), two USSR Cups (1978 and 1987), and a Russian Cup title (2011). They also won the Saporta Cup twice (1973 and 1975). Legends of the club include Alexander Belov and Vladimir Kondrashin. BC Zenit Saint Petersburg also play in the city, being formed in 2014.

Transportation

 

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 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

 
Tram passing by Kronverksy Avenue
 
Narvskaya station of the Saint Petersburg Metro, opened in 1955

Saint Petersburg has an extensive city-funded network of public transport (buses, trams, trolleybuses) and several hundred routes served by marshrutkas. 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.[127] 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.[128]

Traffic jams are common in the city due to daily commuter traffic volumes, intercity traffic and excessive winter snow. The construction of freeways such as the Saint Petersburg Ring Road, completed in 2011, and the Western High-Speed Diameter, completed in 2017, helped reduce the traffic in the city. The M11 Neva, also known as the Moscow-Saint Petersburg Motorway, is a 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 European routes E18 towards Helsinki, E20 towards Tallinn, E95 towards Pskov, Kyiv and Odessa and 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 7 km (4.3 mi), while 15% travel for over 12 km (7.5 mi) in a single direction.[129]

Waterways

 
Hydrofoil docking in Saint Petersburg upon arrival from Peterhof Palace (2008)

The city is also served by passenger and cargo seaports[clarification needed] 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 and White Sea-Baltic waterways.[citation needed]

The first high bridge that does not need to be drawn, the 2,824-meter-long (9,265 ft) Big Obukhovsky Bridge opened in 2004. Meteor hydrofoils link the city centre to the coastal towns of Kronstadt and Shlisselburg from May through October.[130] 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.[131]

Rail

 
The Sapsan high-speed train runs between Saint Petersburg and Moscow.

The city is the final destination for a web of intercity and suburban railways, served by five different railway terminals (Baltiysky, Finlyandsky, Ladozhsky, Moskovsky and Vitebsky),[d][132] as well as dozens of non-terminal 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 Helsinki railway, built in 1870 and 443 kilometers (275 mi) long, has trains running five times a day, in a journey lasting about three and a half hours with the Allegro train.

The Moscow – Saint Petersburg Railway opened in 1851, and is 651 kilometers (405 mi) long; the commute to Moscow now requires from three and a half to nine hours.[133]

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 281 km/h (174.6 mph)[134] and on 7 May 2009, traveling at 290 kilometers per hour (180 mph).

Since 12 December 2010 Karelian Trains, a joint venture between Russian Railways and VR (Finnish Railways), has been running Alstom Pendolino operated high-speed services between Saint Petersburg's Finlyandsky and Helsinki's 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.[135]

Air

Saint Petersburg is served by Pulkovo International Airport.[136]

Pulkovo airport was opened to passengers as a small aerodrome in 1931. As of 2013, the Pulkovo airport, which handles over 12 million passengers annually, is the 3rd busiest in Russia after Moscow's Sheremetyevo and 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.[137] 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.[138]

There is a regular rapid-bus connection (buses 39, 39E, K39) between Pulkovo airport and the 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:[139]

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 were formerly twin cities of Saint Petersburg, but suspended this link due to St Petersburg's ban on "gay propaganda".[186] Milan suspended the relationship with Saint Petersburg on 23 November 2012[187] and Venice did so on 28 January 2013.[188]

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 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[189][190][191][192][193] On 17 March 2022, Košice joined the list of cities terminating the partnership. The cooperation began in 1995.[194]

Twinning with occupied Mariupol

Some Russian cities are twinned with ones in occupied Ukraine, in particular, Saint Petersburg is twinned with Mariupol.[195] An art symbol of the twinning was unveiled on Palace Square in Saint Petersburg, defaced and removed.[196]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ /ˈptəzˌbɜːrɡ/;[9] Russian: Санкт-Петербург, tr. Sankt-Peterburg, IPA: [ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk] ( listen)
  2. ^ a b In the pre-1918 Russian orthography, these names were spelled Санктпетербургъ and Петроградъ with a trailing hard sign.
  3. ^ The level of flooding is measured near Saint Petersburg Mining Institute, which is normally 11 cm (4.3 in) above sea level
  4. ^ Until 2001, the Varshavsky Rail Terminal served as a major station; it now is a railway museum.

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saint, petersburg, this, article, about, city, russia, city, florida, petersburg, florida, other, uses, disambiguation, leningrad, petrograd, redirect, here, other, uses, leningrad, disambiguation, petrograd, disambiguation, formerly, known, petrograd, 1914, 1. This article is about the city in Russia For the city in Florida see St Petersburg Florida For other uses see Saint Petersburg disambiguation Leningrad and Petrograd redirect here For other uses see Leningrad disambiguation and Petrograd disambiguation Saint Petersburg a formerly known as Petrograd 1914 1924 and later Leningrad 1924 1991 is the second largest city in Russia It is situated on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea The city had a population of roughly 5 4 million residents as of 2020 10 Saint Petersburg is the fourth most populous city in Europe the most populous city 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 Saint PetersburgFederal citySankt PeterburgTop down left to right The Winter Palace Palace Bridge Peter and Paul Cathedral Saint Isaac s Cathedral the General Staff Building the Moyka River from the Pevchesky Bridge to the Red BridgeFlagCoat of armsAnthem Anthem of Saint Petersburg source source Coordinates 59 56 15 N 30 18 31 E 59 93750 N 30 30861 E 59 93750 30 30861 Coordinates 59 56 15 N 30 18 31 E 59 93750 N 30 30861 E 59 93750 30 30861CountryRussiaFederal districtNorthwestern 1 Economic regionNorthwestern 2 Founded27 May 1703 1703 05 27 3 Government BodyLegislative Assembly GovernorAlexander Beglov UR 4 Area 5 Total1 439 km2 556 sq mi Rank82ndPopulation Estimate 2018 6 5 351 935Time zoneUTC 3 MSK 7 ISO 3166 codeRU SPELicense plates78 98 178 198OKTMO ID40000000Official languagesRussian 8 Websitewww wbr gov wbr spb wbr ruThe city was founded by Tsar Peter the Great on 27 May 1703 on the site of a captured Swedish fortress and was named after apostle Saint Peter In Russia Saint Petersburg is historically and culturally associated with the birth of the Russian Empire and Russia s entry into modern history as a European great power 11 It served as a capital of the Tsardom of Russia and the subsequent Russian Empire from 1713 to 1918 being replaced by Moscow for a short period of time between 1728 and 1730 12 After the October Revolution in 1917 the Bolsheviks moved their government to Moscow 13 The city was renamed Leningrad after Lenin s death in 1924 In a wave of De Leninization following the dissolution of the USSR the city was restored to is original appellation As Russia s cultural center 14 Saint Petersburg received over 15 million tourists in 2018 15 16 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 bodies such as the Constitutional Court of Russia and the Heraldic Council of the President of the Russian Federation It is also a seat for the National Library of Russia and a planned location for the Supreme Court of Russia as well as the home to the headquarters of the Russian Navy and the Western Military District of the Russian Armed Forces The Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments constitute a UNESCO World Heritage Site Saint Petersburg is home to the Hermitage one of the largest art museums in the world the Lakhta Center the tallest skyscraper in Europe and was one of the host cities of the 2018 FIFA World Cup and the UEFA Euro 2020 Contents 1 Toponymy 2 History 2 1 Imperial era 1703 1917 2 2 Revolution and Soviet era 1917 1941 2 3 World War II 1941 1945 2 4 Post war Soviet era 1945 1991 2 5 Contemporary era 1991 present 3 Geography 3 1 Climate 4 Demographics 4 1 Religion 5 Government 5 1 Administrative divisions 6 Economy 7 Cityscape 7 1 Parks 8 Tourism 9 Media and communications 10 Culture 10 1 Museums 10 2 Music 10 3 Literature 10 4 Film 10 5 Dramatic theatre 11 Education 12 Sports 13 Transportation 13 1 Roads and public transport 13 2 Saint Petersburg public transportation statistics 13 2 1 Waterways 13 2 2 Rail 13 2 3 Air 14 Notable people 15 International relations 15 1 Former twin towns 15 2 Twinning with occupied Mariupol 16 See also 17 Notes 18 References 18 1 Citations 18 2 Sources 19 External linksToponymy Edit While not originally named for Tsar Peter the Great during World War I the city was changed from the Germanic Petersburg to Petrograd in his honour The name day of Peter I falls on 29 June when the Russian Orthodox Church observes the memory of 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 Sanktpetersburk Sanktpetersburk emulating German Sankt Petersburg and Santpiterburh Santpiterburkh emulating Dutch Sint Pietersburgh as Peter was multilingual and a Neerlandophile The name was later normalized and russified to Sankt Peterburg 17 18 19 A proponent of westernising Russia Peter the Great the then Tsar who established the city originally named it Sankt Pieter Burch San k t Piter Burh in Dutch manner and later its spelling was standardised as Sankt Peterburg Sankt Peterburg b under German influence 20 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 district of London near St Sophia s Cathedral named after a visit by the Tsar to London in 1814 21 A 14 to 15 letter long name composed of the three roots 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 Petri Petri It took some years until the known Russian spelling of this name finally settled In 1740s Mikhail Lomonosov uses a derivative of Greek Petropolis Petropolis Petropolis in a Russified form Petropol Petropol A combo Piterpol Piterpol also appears at this time 22 In any case eventually the usage of prefix Sankt ceased except for the formal official documents where a three letter abbreviation SPb SPB was very widely used as well From 1924 to 1991 the city was known as Leningrad This is a picture of the Saint Petersburg port entrance with an old Leningrad Leningrad sign In the 1830s Alexander Pushkin translated the foreign city name of Saint Petersburg to the more Russian Petrograd Russian Petrograd b IPA pʲɪtrɐˈgrat in one of his poems However it was only on 31 August O S 18 August 1914 after the war with Germany had begun that Tsar Nicholas II renamed the city Petrograd in order to expunge the German words Sankt and Burg 23 Since the prefix Saint was omitted 24 this act also changed the eponym and the patron of the city from Saint Peter to Peter the Great its founder 19 On 26 January 1924 shortly after the death of Vladimir Lenin it was renamed to Leningrad Russian Leningrad IPA 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 Russian Piter IPA ˈpʲitʲɪr Embankment of the Neva at 23 11 22 June 2013 After the October Revolution the name Red Petrograd Krasnyj Petrograd 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 25 Meanwhile the oblast whose administrative center is also in Saint Petersburg is still named 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 Petr 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 22 The proper Greek translation is Agia Petroypolh Agia Petroupoli 26 Saint Petersburg has been traditionally called the Window to Europe and the Window to the West by the Russians 27 28 The city is the northernmost metropolis in the world and is also often described as the Venice 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 29 30 31 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 and ensures that in summer the night skies of the city do not get completely dark for a month 32 33 The city is also often called the Northern Palmyra due to its extravagant architecture 34 History EditMain article History of Saint Petersburg For a chronological guide see Timeline of Saint Petersburg Imperial era 1703 1917 Edit The Bronze Horseman monument to Peter the Great Map of Saint Petersburg 1744 Map of fortifications Sankt Petersburg 1722 Swedish colonists built Nyenskans a fortress at the mouth of the Neva River in 1611 which was later called Ingermanland This area was inhabited by a Finnic tribe of Ingrians 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 35 He needed a better seaport than the country s main one at the time Arkhangelsk which was on the White Sea in the far north and closed to shipping during the winter On 12 May O S 1 May 1703 during the Great Northern War Peter the Great captured Nyenskans and soon replaced the fortress 36 On 27 May O S 16 May 1703 37 closer to the estuary 5 km 3 mi inland from the gulf on Zayachy Hare Island he laid down the Peter and Paul Fortress which became the first brick and stone building of the new city 38 The city was built by conscripted peasants from all over Russia in some years several Swedish prisoners of war were also involved under the supervision of Alexander Menshikov 39 Tens of thousands of serfs died while building the city 40 Later the city became the centre of the Saint Petersburg Governorate Peter moved the capital from Moscow to Saint Petersburg in 1712 9 years before the Treaty of Nystad of 1721 ended the war He referred to Saint Petersburg as the capital or seat of government as early as 1704 35 While the city was being built Peter lived in a three room log cabin with his wife Catherine and their children citation needed Nevsky Prospekt from restaurant Legeune in the late 19th century During its first few years the city developed around Trinity Square on the right bank of the Neva near the Peter and Paul Fortress However Saint Petersburg soon started to be built out according to a plan By 1716 the Swiss Italian Domenico Trezzini had elaborated a project whereby the city centre would be on Vasilyevsky Island and shaped by a rectangular grid of canals The project was not completed but is evident in the layout of the streets In 1716 Peter the Great appointed Frenchman Jean Baptiste Alexandre Le Blond as the chief architect of Saint Petersburg 41 The style of Petrine Baroque developed by Trezzini and other architects and exemplified by such buildings as the Menshikov Palace Kunstkamera Peter and Paul Cathedral Twelve Collegia became prominent in the city architecture of the early 18th century In 1724 the Academy of Sciences University and Academic Gymnasium were established in Saint Petersburg by Peter the Great In 1725 Peter died at age fifty two His endeavors to modernize Russia had been opposed by the Russian nobility There were several attempts on his life and a treason case involving his son 42 In 1728 Peter II of Russia moved his seat back to Moscow But four years later in 1732 under Empress Anna of Russia Saint Petersburg was again designated as the capital of the Russian Empire It remained the seat of the Romanov dynasty and the Imperial Court of the Russian tsars as well as the seat of the Russian government for another 186 years until the communist revolution of 1917 In 1736 1737 the city suffered from catastrophic fires To rebuild the damaged boroughs a committee under Burkhard Christoph von Munnich commissioned a new plan in 1737 The city was divided into five boroughs and the city centre was moved to the Admiralty borough on the east bank between the Neva and Fontanka Palace Square backed by the General staff arch and building As the main square of the Russian Empire it was the setting of many events of historic significance It developed along three radial streets which meet at the Admiralty building and are now known as Nevsky Prospect which is considered the main street of the city Gorokhovaya Street and Voznesensky Avenue Baroque architecture became dominant in the city during the first sixty years culminating in the Elizabethan Baroque represented most notably by Italian Bartolomeo Rastrelli with such buildings as the Winter Palace In the 1760s Baroque architecture was succeeded by neoclassical architecture Established in 1762 the Commission of Stone Buildings of Moscow and Saint Petersburg ruled 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 in the 1760s 1780s the banks of the Neva were lined with granite embankments However it was not until 1850 that the first permanent bridge across the Neva Annunciation Bridge was allowed to open Before that only pontoon bridges were allowed Obvodny Canal dug in 1769 1833 became the southern limit of the city The most prominent neoclassical and Empire style architects in Saint Petersburg included Jean Baptiste Vallin de la Mothe Imperial Academy of Arts Small Hermitage Gostiny Dvor New Holland Arch Catholic Church of St Catherine Antonio Rinaldi Marble Palace Yury Felten Old Hermitage Chesme Church Giacomo Quarenghi Academy of Sciences Hermitage Theatre Yusupov Palace Andrey Voronikhin Mining Institute Kazan Cathedral Andreyan Zakharov Admiralty building Jean Francois Thomas de Thomon Spit of Vasilievsky Island Carlo Rossi Yelagin Palace Mikhailovsky Palace Alexandrine Theatre Senate and Synod Buildings General staff Building design of many streets and squares Vasily Stasov Moscow Triumphal Gate Trinity Cathedral Auguste de Montferrand Saint Isaac s Cathedral Alexander Column Decembrist revolt at the Senate Square 26 December 1825 In 1810 Alexander I established the first engineering higher education the Saint Petersburg Main military engineering School in Saint Petersburg Many monuments commemorate the Russian victory over Napoleonic France in the Patriotic War of 1812 including the Alexander Column by Montferrand erected in 1834 and the Narva Triumphal Arch In 1825 the suppressed Decembrist revolt against Nicholas I took place on the Senate Square in the city a day after Nicholas assumed the throne By the 1840s neoclassical architecture had given way to various romanticist styles which dominated until the 1890s represented by such architects as Andrei Stackenschneider Mariinsky Palace Beloselsky Belozersky Palace Nicholas Palace New Michael Palace and Konstantin Thon Moskovsky railway station With the emancipation of the serfs undertaken by Alexander II in 1861 and an Industrial Revolution the influx of former peasants into the capital increased greatly Poor boroughs spontaneously 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 the Neva River and a seaport on the Baltic The names of Saints Peter and Paul bestowed upon the original city s citadel and its cathedral from 1725 a burial vault of Russian emperors coincidentally were the names of the first two assassinated Russian emperors Peter III 1762 supposedly killed in a conspiracy led by his wife Catherine the Great and Paul I 1801 Nikolay Alexandrovich Zubov and other conspirators who brought to power Alexander I the son of their victim The third emperor s assassination took place in Saint Petersburg in 1881 when Alexander II was murdered by terrorists see the Church of the Savior on Blood The Revolution of 1905 began in Saint Petersburg and spread rapidly into the provinces On 1 September 1914 after the outbreak of World War I the Imperial government renamed the city Petrograd 23 meaning Peter s City to remove the German words Sankt and Burg Revolution and Soviet era 1917 1941 Edit In March 1917 during the February Revolution Nicholas II abdicated for himself and on behalf of his son ending the Russian monarchy and over three hundred years of Romanov dynastic rule Bolsheviks celebrating 1 May near the Winter Palace half a year after taking power 1918On 7 November O S 25 October 1917 the Bolsheviks led by Vladimir Lenin stormed the Winter Palace in an event known thereafter as the October Revolution which led to the end of the post Tsarist provisional government the transfer of all political power to the Soviets and the rise of the Communist Party 43 After that the city acquired a new descriptive name the city of three revolutions 44 referring to the three major developments in the political history of Russia of the early 20th century In September and October 1917 German troops invaded the West Estonian archipelago and threatened Petrograd with bombardment and invasion On 12 March 1918 the Soviets transferred the government to Moscow to keep it away from the state border During the Russian Civil War in mid 1919 Russian anti communist forces with the help of Estonians attempted to capture the city but Leon Trotsky mobilized the army and forced them to retreat back to Estonia Leningrad in 1935 On 26 January 1924 five days after Lenin s death Petrograd was renamed Leningrad Later some streets and other toponyms were renamed accordingly The city has over 230 places associated with the life and activities of Lenin Some of them were turned into museums 45 including the cruiser Aurora a symbol of the October Revolution and the oldest ship in the Russian Navy In the 1920s and 1930s the poor outskirts were reconstructed into regularly planned boroughs Constructivist architecture flourished around that time Housing became a government provided amenity many bourgeois apartments were so large that numerous families were assigned to what were called communal apartments kommunalkas By the 1930s 68 of the population lived in such housing In 1935 a new general plan was outlined whereby the city should expand to the south Constructivism was rejected in favour of a more pompous Stalinist architecture Moving the city centre further from the border with Finland Stalin adopted a plan to build a new city hall with a huge adjacent square at the southern end of Moskovsky Prospekt designated as the new main street of Leningrad After the Winter Soviet Finnish war in 1939 1940 the Soviet Finnish border moved northwards Nevsky Prospekt with Palace Square maintained the functions and the role of a city centre In December 1931 Leningrad was administratively separated from Leningrad Oblast At that time it included the Leningrad Suburban District some parts of which were transferred back to Leningrad Oblast in 1936 and turned into Vsevolozhsky District Krasnoselsky District Pargolovsky District and Slutsky District renamed Pavlovsky District in 1944 46 On 1 December 1934 Sergey Kirov the popular communist leader of Leningrad was assassinated which became the pretext for the Great Purge 47 In Leningrad approximately 40 000 were executed during Stalin s purges 48 World War II 1941 1945 Edit Main article Siege of Leningrad Citizens of Leningrad during the 872 day siege in which more than one million civilians died mostly from starvation Nevsky Prospect During World War II German forces besieged Leningrad following the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941 49 The siege lasted 872 days or almost two and a half years 49 from 8 September 1941 to 27 January 1944 50 The Siege of Leningrad proved one of the longest most destructive and most lethal sieges of a major city in modern history It isolated the city from food supplies except those provided through the Road of Life across Lake Ladoga 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 in his Supreme Commander Order No 20 named Leningrad alongside Stalingrad Sevastopol and Odessa 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 The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR awarded Leningrad as a Hero City the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal for the heroic resistance of the city and tenacity of the survivors of the Siege The Hero City Obelisk bearing the Gold Star sign was installed in April 1985 Post war Soviet era 1945 1991 Edit View of Lermontovski Prospekt Egyptian Bridge and the Fontanka River 1972 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 peace treaty following the Winter War were transferred from Leningrad Oblast to Leningrad and divided into Sestroretsky District and Kurortny District These included the town of Terijoki renamed Zelenogorsk in 1948 46 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 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 and Pesochny merged with Leningrad 46 Griboedov Canal and the Church of the Saviour on Blood 1991 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 organization the second most significant one in the country after Moscow The entire elite leadership of Leningrad was destroyed including the former mayor 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 51 The Leningrad Metro underground 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 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 Edit View of the city from the Saint Isaac s Cathedral 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 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 was introduced and the city received humanitarian food aid from abroad 25 This dramatic time was depicted in photographic series of Russian photographer Alexey Titarenko 52 53 Economic conditions began to improve only at the beginning of the 21st century 54 In 1995 a northern section of the 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 55 This agreement was abolished on 4 April 2002 56 In 1996 Vladimir Yakovlev defeated Anatoly Sobchak in the elections for the head of the 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 Moyka River flowing through Central Saint Petersburg The Trinity Bridge is a landmark of Art Nouveau design 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 designation there are about 8 000 architectural monuments in Petersburg the preservation of its historical and architectural environment became controversial 57 After 2005 the demolition of older buildings in the historical centre was permitted 58 In 2006 Gazprom announced an ambitious project to erect a 403 m 1 322 ft skyscraper the Okhta Center opposite to Smolny which according to whom could result in the loss of the unique line of Petersburg landscape citation needed Urgent protests by citizens and prominent public figures of Russia against this project were not considered by Governor Valentina Matviyenko and the city authorities until December 2010 when after the statement of President Dmitry Medvedev 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 Construction was approved by Gazprom and the city administration and commenced in 2012 The 462 m 1 516 ft high Lakhta Center has become the first tallest skyscraper in Russia and Europe outside of Moscow Geography EditMain article Geography of Saint Petersburg The Neva River flows through much of the centre of the city Left the Spit of Vasilievsky Island center River Neva Peter and Paul Fortress and Trinity Bridge right Palace Embankment with the Winter Palace Satellite image of Saint Petersburg and its suburbs The area of Saint Petersburg city proper is 605 8 km2 233 9 square miles The area of the federal subject is 1 439 km2 556 sq mi which contains Saint Petersburg proper consisting of eighty one municipal okrugs nine municipal towns Kolpino Krasnoye Selo Kronstadt Lomonosov Pavlovsk Petergof Pushkin Sestroretsk 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 in the Neva Bay Petrogradsky Dekabristov and Krestovsky The latter together with Yelagin and Kamenny Island are covered mostly by parks The Karelian Isthmus North of the city is a popular resort area In the south Saint Petersburg crosses the Baltic Ladoga Klint and meets the Izhora Plateau The elevation of Saint Petersburg ranges from the sea level to its highest point of 175 9 m 577 ft 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 4 m 13 ft 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 4 21 m or 13 ft 10 in above sea level during which over 300 buildings were destroyed c 1924 3 8 m 12 ft 6 in 1777 3 21 m 10 ft 6 in 1955 2 93 m 9 ft 7 in and 1975 2 81 m 9 ft 3 in To prevent floods the Saint Petersburg Dam has been constructed 59 Since the 18th century the city s terrain has been raised artificially at some places by more than 4 m 13 ft 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 and 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 white nights Saint Petersburg is about 165 km 103 miles 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 Climate Edit Main article Climate of Saint Petersburg Under the Koppen 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 23 C 73 F and the average minimum temperature in February is 8 5 C 16 7 F an extreme temperature of 37 1 C 98 8 F occurred during the 2010 Northern Hemisphere summer heat wave A winter minimum of 35 9 C 32 6 F was recorded in 1883 The average annual temperature is 5 8 C 42 4 F 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 19 cm 7 5 in by February 60 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 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 61 62 Average annual precipitation varies across the city averaging 660 mm 26 in per year and reaching maximum in late summer Due to the cool climate soil moisture is almost always high because of lower evapotranspiration Air humidity is 78 on average and there are on average 165 overcast days per year Climate data for Saint Petersburg 1991 2020 extremes 1743 present Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec YearRecord high C F 8 7 47 7 10 2 50 4 15 3 59 5 25 3 77 5 33 0 91 4 35 9 96 6 35 3 95 5 37 1 98 8 30 4 86 7 21 0 69 8 12 3 54 1 10 9 51 6 37 1 98 8 Average high C F 2 5 27 5 2 4 27 7 2 3 36 1 9 5 49 1 16 3 61 3 20 5 68 9 23 3 73 9 21 4 70 5 15 9 60 6 8 7 47 7 2 8 37 0 0 5 31 1 9 6 49 3 Daily mean C F 4 8 23 4 5 0 23 0 1 0 30 2 5 2 41 4 11 5 52 7 16 1 61 0 19 1 66 4 17 4 63 3 12 4 54 3 6 2 43 2 0 9 33 6 2 5 27 5 6 3 43 3 Average low C F 7 2 19 0 7 6 18 3 4 0 24 8 1 7 35 1 7 2 45 0 12 2 54 0 15 3 59 5 13 9 57 0 9 4 48 9 4 1 39 4 0 9 30 4 4 5 23 9 3 3 37 9 Record low C F 35 9 32 6 35 2 31 4 29 9 21 8 21 8 7 2 6 6 20 1 0 1 32 2 4 9 40 8 1 3 34 3 3 1 26 4 12 9 8 8 22 2 8 0 34 4 29 9 35 9 32 6 Average precipitation mm inches 46 1 8 36 1 4 36 1 4 37 1 5 47 1 9 69 2 7 84 3 3 87 3 4 57 2 2 64 2 5 56 2 2 51 2 0 670 26 4 Average extreme snow depth cm inches 15 5 9 19 7 5 14 5 5 1 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 1 2 9 3 5 19 7 5 Average rainy days 9 7 10 13 16 18 17 17 20 20 16 10 173Average snowy days 25 23 16 8 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 5 16 23 117Average relative humidity 86 84 79 69 65 69 71 76 80 83 86 87 78Mean monthly sunshine hours 22 54 125 180 260 276 267 213 129 70 27 13 1 636Source 1 Pogoda ru net 60 Source 2 NOAA sun 1961 1990 63 Demographics EditMain article Demographics of Saint Petersburg Population pyramid of St Petersburg in the 2021 Russian Census People walking on the main street of Saint Petersburg Nevsky Prospekt 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 citation needed up from 4 879 566 3 4 recorded in the 2010 Census 64 and up from 5 023 506 recorded in the 1989 Census 65 Life expectancy at birth in Saint Petersburg Historical populationYearPop p a 18971 264 920 19261 590 770 0 79 19393 191 304 5 50 19593 321 196 0 20 19703 949 501 1 59 19794 588 183 1 68 19895 023 506 0 91 20024 661 219 0 57 20104 879 566 0 57 20215 601 911 1 26 Source Census data Vital statistics for 2016 66 Births 72 879 13 9 per 1000 Deaths 61 459 11 7 per 1000 Total fertility rate 67 2010 1 38 2011 1 38 2012 1 48 2013 1 48 2014 1 52 2015 1 59 2016 1 63 2017 1 50 2018 1 47 2019 1 40 2020 1 37 Ethnic composition of Saint Petersburg Ethnicity Year1939 68 1959 69 1970 70 1979 71 1989 72 2010 73 2021 74 Population Percentage Population Percentage Population Percentage Population Percentage Population Percentage Population Percentage Population PercentageRussians 2 775 979 86 89 2 951 254 88 86 3 514 296 88 98 4 097 629 89 69 4 448 884 89 14 3 908 753 92 5 4 275 058 76 3 Ukrainians 54 660 1 71 68 308 2 05 97 109 2 45 117 412 2 57 150 982 3 02 64 446 1 5 29 353 0 5 Tatars 31 506 0 98 27 178 0 81 32 851 0 83 39 403 0 86 43 997 0 88 30 857 0 7 20 286 0 4 Azerbaijanis 385 855 1 576 3 171 11 804 0 23 17 717 0 4 16 406 0 3 Belarusians 32 353 1 01 47 004 1 41 63 799 1 61 81 575 1 78 93 564 1 87 38 136 0 9 15 545 0 3 Armenians 4 615 0 14 4 897 0 14 6 628 0 16 7 995 0 17 12 070 0 24 19 971 0 5 14 737 0 3 Uzbeks 238 1 678 1 883 7 927 0 15 20 345 0 5 12 181 0 2 Tajiks 61 361 473 1 917 12 072 0 3 9 573 0 2 Jews 201 542 6 31 168 641 5 07 162 525 4 11 142 779 3 12 106 469 2 13 24 132 0 6 9 205 0 2 Others 89 965 2 81 53 059 1 59 68 678 1 73 76 228 1 66 113 135 2 26 90 310 2 1 277 297 5 0 Ethnicity not stated 884 678 15 8 Total 3 191 304 100 3 321 196 100 3 949 501 100 4 568 548 100 4 990 749 100 4 879 566 100 5 601 911 100 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 and Russian Civil War The minorities of Germans Poles Finns Estonians and Latvians were almost completely transferred from Leningrad during the 1930s 75 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 76 77 For the first half of 2007 the birth rate was 9 1 per 1000 78 and remained lower than the death rate until 2012 79 people over 65 constitute more than twenty percent of the population and the median age is about 40 years 80 Since 2012 the birth rate became higher than the death rate 79 But in 2020 the COVID 19 pandemic caused a drop in birth rate and the city population decreased to 5 395 000 people 81 Religion Edit Clockwise from left Kronstadt the Naval Cathedral on Yakornaya Square the Church of St Catherine the Saint Petersburg Mosque and the Grand Choral Synagogue of St Petersburg According to various opinion polls more than half of the residents of Saint Petersburg believe in God up to 67 according to VTsIOM data for 2002 Among the believers the overwhelming majority of the residents of the city are Orthodox 57 5 followed by small minority communities of Muslims 0 7 Protestants 0 6 and Catholics 0 5 and Buddhists 0 1 82 In total roughly 59 of the population of the city is Christian of which over 90 are Orthodox 82 Non Abrahamic religions and other faiths are represented by only 1 2 of the total population 82 Religion in Saint Petersburg as of 2012 Sreda Arena Atlas 83 84 Russian Orthodoxy 50 3 Other Orthodox 1 4 Other Christians 3 2 Islam 1 1 Spiritual but not religious 20 5 Atheism and irreligion 15 4 Other and undeclared 7 6 There are 268 communities of confessions and religious associations in the city the Russian Orthodox Church 130 associations Pentecostalism 23 associations the Lutheranism 19 associations Baptism 13 associations as well as Old Believers Roman Catholic Church Armenian Apostolic Church Georgian Orthodox Church Seventh day Adventist Church Judaism Buddhist Muslim Baha i and others 82 229 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 EditFurther information Politics of Saint Petersburg The city assembly meets in the Mariinsky Palace Saint Petersburg is a federal subject of Russia a federal city 85 The political life of Saint Petersburg is regulated by the Charter of Saint Petersburg adopted by the city legislature in 1998 86 The superior executive body is the Saint Petersburg City Administration led by the city governor mayor before 1996 Saint Petersburg has a single chamber legislature the Saint Petersburg Legislative Assembly which is the city s regional parliament The Smolny Institute seat of the governor 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 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 87 restoring direct elections of heads of federal subjects the city charter was again amended to provide for direct elections of governor 88 On 3 October 2018 Poltavchenko resigned and Alexander Beglov was appointed acting governor 4 Saint Petersburg is also the unofficial but de facto administrative centre of Leningrad Oblast and of the Northwestern Federal District 89 The 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 FSB postal service drug enforcement administration penitentiary service federal registration service and other federal services Administrative divisions Edit Main article Administrative divisions of Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg is divided into 18 administrative districts Admiralteysky Vasileostrovsky Vyborgsky Kalininsky Kirovsky Kolpinsky Krasnogvardeysky Krasnoselsky Kronshtadtsky Kurortny Moskovsky Nevsky Petrogradsky Petrodvortsovy Primorsky Pushkinsky Frunzensky TsentralnyWithin the boundaries of the districts there are 111 intra city municipalities 81 municipal districts and 9 cities Zelenogorsk Kolpino Krasnoe Selo Kronstadt Lomonosov Pavlovsk Petergof Pushkin and Sestroretsk as well as 21 villages 90 Economy EditMain article Economy of Saint Petersburg The Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum is a major Russian investment forum 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 technology including radio electronics software and computers machine building heavy machinery and transport including tanks and other military equipment mining instrument manufacture ferrous and nonferrous metallurgy production of aluminium alloys chemicals pharmaceuticals and medical equipment publishing and printing food and catering wholesale and retail textile and 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 91 Admiralty Shipyard Power Machines plant building on Sverdlovskaya embankment in Saint Petersburg Ten per cent of the world s power turbines are made there at the LMZ which built over two thousand turbines for 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 Sovkomflot Petersburg Fuel Company and SIBUR among other major Russian and international companies The Port of Saint Petersburg has three large cargo terminals Bolshoi Port Saint Petersburg Kronstadt and Lomonosov terminal citation needed International 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 New Passenger Port on the west of the island 92 The new passenger terminal is part of the city s Marine Facade development project 93 and was due to have seven berths in operation by 2010 needs update 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 The Saint Petersburg Mint Monetny Dvor founded in 1724 is one of the largest mints 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 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 Jurgensburg Paolo Troubetzkoy Mark Antokolsky and others were made there In 2007 Toyota opened a Camry plant after investing 5 billion roubles approx 200 mln dollars in Shushary one of the southern suburbs of Saint Petersburg Opel Hyundai and Nissan have also signed deals with the 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 Vena both operated by BBH Heineken Brewery Stepan Razin both by Heineken and Tinkoff brewery SUN InBev The city s many local distilleries produce a broad range of vodka brands The oldest ones is 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 30 000 m2 320 000 sq ft production rate of 22 500 bottles per hour In 2007 this brand was exported to over 70 countries 94 Saint Petersburg has the second largest 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 2006 exchange rates 95 The federal subject s Gross Regional Product as of 2016 update was 3 7 trillion Russian rubles or around US 70 billion ranked 2nd in Russia after Moscow 96 and per capita of US 13 000 ranked 12th among Russia s federal subjects 97 contributed mostly by wholesale and retail trade and repair services 24 7 as well as processing industry 20 9 and transportation and telecommunications 15 1 98 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 99 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 100 Cityscape EditMain articles Landmarks of Saint Petersburg and Kronstadt Lakhta Center the tallest building in Europe The Admiralty building in St Petersburg 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 310 meter 1 020 ft 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 396 meters 1 299 ft 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 101 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 463 metre tall 1 519 foot 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 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 Kazan Cathedral an example of Neoclassical architecture Saint Isaac s Square Unlike in Moscow the historic architecture of Saint Petersburg s city centre mostly Baroque 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 and in recent years citation needed The oldest of the remaining building is a wooden house built for Peter I in 1703 on the shore of the Neva near Trinity Square Since 1991 the Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments in Saint Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast have been listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site The ensemble of Peter and Paul Fortress with the Peter and Paul Cathedral takes a dominant position on Zayachy Island along the right bank of the Neva River Each noon a cannon fires a blank shot from the fortress The Saint Petersburg Mosque 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 and Malaya Neva is connected to the northern bank Petrogradsky Island via the Exchange Bridge and occupied by the Old Saint Petersburg Stock Exchange and Rostral Columns The southern coast of Vasilyevsky Island along the Bolshaya Neva features some of the city s oldest buildings dating from the 18th century including the Kunstkamera Twelve Collegia Menshikov Palace and Imperial Academy of Arts It hosts one of two campuses of Saint Petersburg State University On the southern left bank of the Neva connected to the spit of Vasilyevsky Island via the Palace Bridge lie the Admiralty building the vast Hermitage Museum complex stretching along the Palace Embankment which includes the Baroque Winter Palace former official residence of Russian emperors as well as the neoclassical Marble Palace The Winter Palace faces Palace Square the city s main square with the Alexander Column Aerial view of Peter and Paul Fortress The Field of Mars Nevsky Prospekt also on the left bank of the Neva is the city s main avenue It starts at the Admiralty and runs eastwards next to Palace Square Nevsky Prospekt crosses the Moika Green Bridge Griboyedov Canal Kazansky Bridge Garden Street the Fontanka Anichkov Bridge meets Liteyny Prospekt and proceeds to Uprising Square near the Moskovsky railway station where it meets Ligovsky Prospekt and turns to the Alexander Nevsky Lavra The Passage Catholic Church of St Catherine Book House former Singer Manufacturing Company Building in the Art Nouveau style Grand Hotel Europe Lutheran Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul Great Gostiny Dvor Russian National Library Alexandrine Theatre behind Mikeshin s statue of Catherine the Great Kazan Cathedral Stroganov Palace Anichkov Palace and Beloselsky Belozersky Palace are all along that avenue Nevsky Prospekt Palace Square during Christmas The Alexander Nevsky Lavra intended to house the relics of St Alexander Nevsky is an important centre of Christian education in Russia It also contains the Tikhvin Cemetery with graves of many notable Petersburgers On the territory between the Neva and Nevsky Prospekt the Church of the Savior on Blood Mikhailovsky Palace housing the Russian Museum Field of Mars St Michael s Castle Summer Garden Tauride Palace Smolny Institute and Smolny Convent are located Church of the Savior on Blood seen from Griboyedov Canal Smolny Convent an example of Baroque architectureMany notable landmarks are to the west and south of the Admiralty Building including the Trinity Cathedral Mariinsky Palace Hotel Astoria famous Mariinsky Theatre New Holland Island Saint Isaac s Cathedral the largest in the city and Senate Square with the Bronze Horseman 18th century equestrian monument to Peter the Great which is considered among the city s most recognisable symbols Other symbols of Saint Petersburg include the weather vane 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 102 It was not until 2004 that the first high bridge across the Neva which does not need to be drawn Big Obukhovsky Bridge 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 There are hundreds of smaller bridges in Saint Petersburg spanning numerous canals and distributaries of the Neva some of the most important of which are the Moika Fontanka Griboyedov Canal Obvodny Canal Karpovka and Smolenka Due to the intricate web of canals Saint Petersburg is often called Venice of the North 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 or cast iron parapets Aerial view of Peterhof Palace Southern suburbs of the city feature former imperial residences including Petergof with majestic fountain cascades and parks Tsarskoe Selo with the baroque Catherine Palace and the neoclassical Alexander Palace and Pavlovsk which has a domed palace of Emperor Paul 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 actually belong to Leningrad Oblast rather than Saint Petersburg Another notable suburb is Kronstadt with its 19th century fortifications and naval monuments occupying the Kotlin Island 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 have been recognised as town planning errors 103 Parks Edit The Temple of Friendship in Pavlovsk Park 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 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 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 English oak Norway maple green ash silver birch Siberian Larch blue spruce crack willow limes and poplars Important 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 104 Cameron gallery in Catherine park of Tsarskoe Selo Grotto pavilion in Catherine park of Tsarskoe Selo The Imperial Lyceum in Tsarskoye Selo Grand Menshikov Palace Tourism EditSaint PetersburgUNESCO World Heritage Site Catherine Palace in Tsarskoe SeloOfficial nameHistoric Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of MonumentsCriteriaCultural i ii iv vi Reference540bisInscription1990 14th Session Extensions2013Area3 934 1 ha 15 190 sq mi Saint Petersburg has a significant historical and cultural heritage 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 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 The Amber Room in the Catherine Palace Saint Petersburg is inscribed on the UNESCO 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 citation needed Grand Peterhof Palace and the Grand CascadeDespite 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 and the Russian Museum with its rich collection of Russian art 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 Museum of Musical Instruments the museum of decorative arts and the museum of professional orientation The Bolshoi Zal Grand Hall of Saint Petersburg Philharmonia Old Saint Petersburg Stock Exchange and Rostral Columns 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 Natalia Makarova Mikhail Baryshnikov 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 who expanded the scope of strict classical Russian ballet to almost unimaginable limits Remaining faithful to the classical basis he was a choreographer at the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet he combined classical ballet with the avant garde style and then in turn with acrobatics rhythmic gymnastics dramatic expressiveness cinema color light and finally with spoken word Media and communications EditAll 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 112 Culture EditMain article Society and culture in Saint Petersburg Museums Edit Further information List of museums in Saint Petersburg The State Hermitage Museum Hermitage Theatre Old Hermitage Small Hermitage and Winter Palace all part of the current museum complex 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 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 former Soviet Union and Russian Empire The State Hermitage Museum is the largest art museum in the world by gallery space 113 The State Russian Museum is the world s largest depository of Russian fine art The Russian Museum of Ethnography is one of the largest ethnographic museums in the world 114 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 and the Museum of Political History which explains many authoritarian features of the USSR Other notable museums include the Central Naval Museum and Zoological Museum Central Soil Museum the Russian Railway Museum Suvorov Museum 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 in the Peter and Paul Fortress 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 115 Music Edit The main auditorium of the Mariinsky Theatre Panorama of Stalls and Boxes at the Main Mariinsky Theatre 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 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 composer s only museum Scarlet Sails celebration on the Neva River 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 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 116 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 117 The Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra remained one of the best known 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 The Alexandrinsky Theatre 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 rock concerts and festivals In 1972 Boris Grebenshchikov founded the band Aquarium which later grew to huge popularity Since then Peter s rock 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 Kino Alisa Zemlyane Zoopark Piknik and Secret The first Russian style happening show 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 Kirpichi Psychea 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 school year The rave band Little Big also hails from Saint Petersburg Their music video for Skibidi was filmed in the city starting at Akademicheskiy Pereulok 118 Literature Edit The Pushkin House Saint Petersburg has a longstanding and world famous tradition in literature 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 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 Gogol the novels of Dostoyevsky the verse of Alexander Blok and Osip Mandelshtam and in the symbolist novel Petersburg by 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 Pushkin Gogol and Dostoyevsky Another important feature of early Saint Petersburg literature is its mythical element which incorporates urban legends and popular 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 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 119 Film Edit Konstantin Khabensky known for his roles in Night Watch Day Watch and Admiral is a native of Saint Petersburg Over 250 international and Russian movies were filmed in Saint Petersburg 120 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 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 starring Sophie Marceau and Sean Bean and made by an international team of British American French and Russian filmmakers The cult comedy Irony of Fate 121 also Ironiya sudby ili S lyogkim parom is set in Saint Petersburg and pokes fun at Soviet city planning The 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 and Tamil romantic thriller film Dhaam Dhoom 2008 Onegin 1999 is based on the 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 122 Dramatic theatre Edit Further information List of theatres in Saint Petersburg St Petersburg has a number of dramatic theatres and drama schools These include the Student Theatre on Mokhovaya Street Uchebnyj teatr Na Mohovoj Leteiny Theatre and Youth Theatre on the Fontanka Education EditSee also List of higher education and academic institutions in Saint Petersburg As of 2006 update 2007 there were 1 024 kindergartens 716 public schools and 80 vocational schools in Saint Petersburg 123 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 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 Saint Petersburg Military engineering technical university However the public universities are all federal property and do not belong to the city The Twelve Collegia of Saint Petersburg State UniversitySports EditMain article Sport in Saint Petersburg Gazprom Arena on Krestovsky Island Leningrad hosted part of the association football tournament during the 1980 Summer Olympics The 1994 Goodwill Games were also held here In boating the first competition here was the 1703 rowing event initiated by Peter the Great after the victory over the Swedish fleet The Russian Navy held Yachting events since the foundation of the city Yacht clubs 124 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 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 Russian Tsar Nicholas II to five players Lasker Capablanca Alekhine Tarrasch and Marshall The city s main football team is FC Zenit Saint Petersburg who have been champions of the Soviet and Russian league nine times most notably claiming the RPL title in four consecutive seasons from 2018 19 to 2021 22 along with winning the Soviet Russian Cup five times The club also won the 2007 08 UEFA Cup and the 2008 UEFA Super Cup spearheaded by successful player and local hero Andrey Arshavin Kirov Stadium formerly existed as Zenit s home from 1950 to 1993 and again in 1995 being one of the largest stadiums in the world at the time In 1951 a crowd of 110 000 set the single game attendance record for Soviet football The stadium was knocked down in 2006 with Zenit temporarily moving to the Petrovsky Stadium before the Krestovsky Stadium was built on the same site as the Kirov Stadium The Krestovsky Stadium opened in 2017 hosting four matches at the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup including the final The stadium then hosted seven matches at the 2018 FIFA World Cup including a semi final and the third placed playoff It also hosted seven matches at UEFA Euro 2020 including a quarter final The stadium was going to host the 2022 UEFA Champions League final however UEFA removed St Petersburg as host in February 2022 citing the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine 125 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 126 Well known players on the team include Pavel Datsyuk Ilya Kovalchuk Nikita Gusev Sergei Shirokov and 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 League 1975 and 1992 two USSR Cups 1978 and 1987 and a Russian Cup title 2011 They also won the Saporta Cup twice 1973 and 1975 Legends of the club include Alexander Belov and Vladimir Kondrashin BC Zenit Saint Petersburg also play in the city being formed in 2014 Transportation Edit A section of the Western High Speed Diameter 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 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 Edit Tram passing by Kronverksy Avenue Narvskaya station of the Saint Petersburg Metro opened in 1955 Saint Petersburg has an extensive city funded network of public transport buses trams trolleybuses and several hundred routes served by marshrutkas 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 Trolleybus on Nevsky Prospekt 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 127 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 128 Saint Petersburg Metro map Traffic jams are common in the city due to daily commuter traffic volumes intercity traffic and excessive winter snow The construction of freeways such as the Saint Petersburg Ring Road completed in 2011 and the Western High Speed Diameter completed in 2017 helped reduce the traffic in the city The M11 Neva also known as the Moscow Saint Petersburg Motorway is a 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 European routes E18 towards Helsinki E20 towards Tallinn E95 towards Pskov Kyiv and Odessa and E105 towards Petrozavodsk Murmansk and Kirkenes north and towards Moscow and Kharkiv south Saint Petersburg public transportation statistics Edit 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 7 km 4 3 mi while 15 travel for over 12 km 7 5 mi in a single direction 129 Waterways Edit Hydrofoil docking in Saint Petersburg upon arrival from Peterhof Palace 2008 The city is also served by passenger and cargo seaports clarification needed 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 and White Sea Baltic waterways citation needed The first high bridge that does not need to be drawn the 2 824 meter long 9 265 ft Big Obukhovsky Bridge opened in 2004 Meteor hydrofoils link the city centre to the coastal towns of Kronstadt and Shlisselburg from May through October 130 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 131 Rail Edit See also Rail transport in Russia The Sapsan high speed train runs between Saint Petersburg and Moscow The city is the final destination for a web of intercity and suburban railways served by five different railway terminals Baltiysky Finlyandsky Ladozhsky Moskovsky and Vitebsky d 132 as well as dozens of non terminal 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 Helsinki railway built in 1870 and 443 kilometers 275 mi long has trains running five times a day in a journey lasting about three and a half hours with the Allegro train The Moscow Saint Petersburg Railway opened in 1851 and is 651 kilometers 405 mi long the commute to Moscow now requires from three and a half to nine hours 133 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 281 km h 174 6 mph 134 and on 7 May 2009 traveling at 290 kilometers per hour 180 mph Since 12 December 2010 Karelian Trains a joint venture between Russian Railways and VR Finnish Railways has been running Alstom Pendolino operated high speed services between Saint Petersburg s Finlyandsky and Helsinki s 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 135 Intercity and suburban rail terminals of Petersburg Vitebsky Station Moskovsky Station Baltiysky Station Finlyandsky Station Ladozhsky StationAir Edit Pulkovo International Airport Saint Petersburg is served by Pulkovo International Airport 136 Pulkovo airport was opened to passengers as a small aerodrome in 1931 As of 2013 update the Pulkovo airport which handles over 12 million passengers annually is the 3rd busiest in Russia after Moscow s Sheremetyevo and 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 137 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 138 There is a regular rapid bus connection buses 39 39E K39 between Pulkovo airport and the Moskovskaya metro station as well as 24 7 taxi service Notable people EditMain article List of people from Saint PetersburgInternational relations EditSee also List of twin towns and sister cities in Russia 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 139 Non CIS Baltic states sister cities of Saint Petersburg from official government list Adana Turkey since 1997 139 Alexandroupoli Greece since 2015 Antwerp Belgium since 1958 139 Bangkok Thailand since 1997 139 Barcelona Spain since 1984 139 140 Bethlehem Palestine since 2003 141 Bordeaux France since 1991 139 142 143 Cape Town South Africa since 2001 139 Cebu Philippines since 2010 139 144 Colombo Sri Lanka since 1997 139 Chengdu China since 1998 139 Daegu South Korea since 1997 139 145 Dresden Germany since 1961 139 146 Edinburgh United Kingdom since 1995 139 147 failed verification Faisalabad Pakistan Gothenburg Sweden since 1962 139 Hamburg Germany since 1957 139 Havana Cuba since 2000 139 Helsinki Finland since 1993 139 Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam since 1977 139 Isfahan Iran since 1999 139 Istanbul Turkey since 1990 139 148 149 Kota Kinabalu Malaysia since 2017 139 Kotka Finland since 1997 139 Le Havre France since 1965 139 150 Los Angeles United States since 1990 139 151 Lyon France since 1993 139 152 Manchester United Kingdom since 1956 153 Mikkeli Finland since 1996 139 Montevideo Uruguay since 1998 139 Mumbai India since 1963 139 154 Nice France since 1997 139 155 Osaka Japan since 1961 139 156 Piraeus Greece since 1965 139 157 Plovdiv Bulgaria since 2001 139 158 Quebec City Canada since 2002 139 Rio de Janeiro Brazil since 1986 139 Rotterdam Netherlands since 1966 139 Santa Cruz de Tenerife Spain 159 Santiago Cuba 139 Shanghai China since 1959 139 Sofia Bulgaria St Petersburg Florida United States Stockholm Sweden since 1992 139 Tampere Finland since 1993 139 Thessaloniki Greece since 2002 139 160 Turku Finland since 1953 139 Zagreb Croatia since 1968 139 161 Sister cities in the Commonwealth of Independent States and Baltic states Almaty Kazakhstan since 1996 139 Baku Azerbaijan since 1998 139 Daugavpils Latvia since 2002 162 Dushanbe Tajikistan since 1999 139 Riga Latvia since 1997 139 163 Sevastopol since 2000 139 Tallinn Estonia since 2002 164 Vilnius Lithuania since 2002 139 165 Yerevan Armenia since 1997 139 166 167 Sister cities of Saint Petersburg not included on official government list Aqaba Jordan since 2003 168 failed verification Bethlehem Palestine 169 Busan South Korea since 2008 168 Cebu City Philippines since 2008 168 Chungcheongbuk do South Korea since 2008 168 Debrecen Hungary since 2002 170 Florence Italy since 2001 171 Galveston Texas United States 172 Guadalajara Mexico since 2008 168 173 Haifa Israel since 2008 174 Hai Phong Vietnam since 2008 168 Khartoum Sudan since 2002 168 Lansing Michigan United States since 1992 175 Le Havre France 176 177 Lviv Ukraine since 2006 178 Mar del Plata Argentina since 2008 168 Maribor Slovenia since 2001 179 State of Maryland United States 180 Nampho North Korea since 2002 168 Nur Sultan Kazakhstan since 2008 168 Osh Kyrgyzstan since 2004 168 Oslo Norway since 2002 181 Port Vila Vanuatu Porto Alegre Brazil since 2002 182 Rishon LeZion Israel since 1966 Sousse Tunisia since 2008 168 Turin Italy since 2012 183 184 Ulan Bator Mongolia since 2008 168 Westport Connecticut United States 185 Former twin towns Edit Milan and Venice were formerly twin cities of Saint Petersburg but suspended this link due to St Petersburg s ban on gay propaganda 186 Milan suspended the relationship with Saint Petersburg on 23 November 2012 187 and Venice did so on 28 January 2013 188 In March 2022 Gdansk Warsaw Aarhus and Melbourne terminated or suspended the cooperation affiliation or sister city relationship with Saint Petersburg as a response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine 189 190 191 192 193 On 17 March 2022 Kosice joined the list of cities terminating the partnership The cooperation began in 1995 194 Twinning with occupied Mariupol Edit Some Russian cities are twinned with ones in occupied Ukraine in particular Saint Petersburg is twinned with Mariupol 195 An art symbol of the twinning was unveiled on Palace Square in Saint Petersburg defaced and removed 196 See also EditFences in Saint Petersburg Hotels in Saint Petersburg List of buildings and structures in Saint Petersburg List of museums in Saint Petersburg List of notable people from Saint Petersburg List of Saint Petersburg Metro stations List of Saint Petersburg sister cities List of theatres in Saint Petersburg Outline of Saint Petersburg Timeline of Saint PetersburgNotes Edit ˈ p iː t e z ˌ b ɜːr ɡ 9 Russian Sankt Peterburg tr Sankt Peterburg IPA ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk listen a b In the pre 1918 Russian orthography these names were spelled Sanktpeterburg and Petrograd with a trailing hard sign The level of flooding is measured near Saint Petersburg Mining Institute which is normally 11 cm 4 3 in above sea level Until 2001 the Varshavsky Rail Terminal served as a major station it now is a railway museum References EditCitations Edit Prezident Rossijskoj Federacii Ukaz 849 ot 13 maya 2000 g O polnomochnom predstavitele Prezidenta Rossijskoj Federacii v federalnom okruge Vstupil v silu 13 maya 2000 g Opublikovan Sobranie zakonodatelstva RF No 20 st 2112 15 maya 2000 g President of the Russian Federation Decree 849 of May 13 2000 On the Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in a Federal District Effective as of May 13 2000 Gosstandart Rossijskoj Federacii OK 024 95 27 dekabrya 1995 g Obsherossijskij klassifikator ekonomicheskih regionov 2 Ekonomicheskie rajony v red Izmeneniya 5 2001 OKER Gosstandart of the Russian Federation OK 024 95 December 27 1995 Russian Classification of Economic Regions 2 Economic Regions as amended by the Amendment 5 2001 OKER Official website of St Petersburg St Petersburg in Figures Archived 19 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine a b Aleksandr Beglov naznachen vrio Gubernatora Sankt Peterburga in Russian Rambler news 3 October 2018 Retrieved 3 October 2018 Federalnaya sluzhba gosudarstvennoj statistiki Federal State Statistics Service 21 May 2004 Territoriya chislo rajonov naselyonnyh punktov i selskih administracij po subektam Rossijskoj Federacii Territory Number of Districts Inhabited Localities and Rural Administration by Federal Subjects of the Russian Federation Vserossijskaya perepis naseleniya 2002 goda All Russia Population Census of 2002 in Russian Federal State Statistics 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