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Saint Petersburg

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: European Geography

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   CAPTION: Санкт-Петербург
   Saint Petersburg


   Official flag of Санкт-ПетербургSaint Petersburg Official seal of
   Санкт-ПетербургSaint Petersburg
   Flag Coat of arms

   Location
   Position of Saint Petersburg in Europe
   Position of Saint Petersburg in Europe
   Government
   Russia
   District
   Subdivision Russia
   North West Russia
   Federal City
   Governor Valentina Matvienko
   Geographical characteristics
   Area
    - City
   1,439 km²
   Population
    - City (2002)
      - Density
   4,661,219 ( 2002 Census)
     3330/ km²
   Coordinates 59°56′0″N, 30°20′0″E
   Elevation 3 m
   Time zone
   - Summer ( DST) MSK ( UTC+3)
   MSD ( UTC+4)
   Other Information
   Postal Code 190000–199406
   Dialing Code +7 812
   License plate 78, 98
   Website: www.gov.spb.ru
   The Neva river has been called the main street of St Petersburg.
   Enlarge
   The Neva river has been called the main street of St Petersburg.

   Saint Petersburg listen  (Russian: Санкт-Петербу́рг, Sankt-Peterburg)
   is a city located in northwestern Russia on the delta of the Neva River
   at the east end of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. It is
   informally known as Piter (Питер) and was formerly known as Petrograd
   (Петрогра́д, 1914–1924) and Leningrad (Ленингра́д, 1924–1991).

   Founded by Tsar Peter the Great on May 16(27), 1703 as a “window to
   Europe,” it served as the capital of the Russian Empire for more than
   two hundred years. St. Petersburg ceased being the capital when the
   capital was moved to Moscow after the Russian Revolution of 1917. With
   about 4.7 million inhabitants (2002), today Saint Petersburg is
   Russia's second-largest city, Europe's fourth largest city, a major
   European cultural centre, and the most important Russian port on the
   Baltic. The city has a total area of 1439 square km, which makes it the
   second biggest city in terms of area among cities with over a million
   inhabitants in Europe, after London. It is 2 times bigger than New York
   City and 13 times bigger than Paris.

   Among cities of the world having populations of over one million
   people, Saint Petersburg is the northernmost. The city centre is a
   UNESCO World Heritage Site. For over 200 years Russia's political and
   cultural centre, the city is impressive even today, and is sometimes
   called "the Northern Capital" (северная столица, severnaya stolitsa).
   It is the administrative centre of Leningrad Oblast (itself a separate
   region) and of the Northwestern Federal District.

Landmarks and tourist attractions

   The majestic appearance of St. Petersburg is achieved through a variety
   of architectural details including long, straight boulevards, vast
   spaces, gardens and parks, decorative wrought-iron fences, monuments
   and decorative sculptures. The Neva River itself, together with its
   many canals and their granite embankments and bridges gives the city a
   unique and striking ambience. These bodies of water led to St.
   Petersburg being given the name of " Venice of the North".
   St Petersburg is known as the city of 300 bridges.
   Enlarge
   St Petersburg is known as the city of 300 bridges.

   St. Petersburg's position below the Arctic Circle, on the same latitude
   as nearby Helsinki, Stockholm, Aberdeen and Oslo (60° N), causes
   twilight to last all night in May, June and July. This celebrated
   phenomenon is known as the " white nights". The white nights are
   closely linked to another attraction — the eight drawbridges spanning
   the Neva. Tourists flock to see the bridges drawn and lowered again at
   night to allow shipping to pass up and down the river. Bridges open
   from May to late October according to a special schedule between
   approximately 2 a.m. and 4:30 a.m.

   The historical centre of St. Petersburg, sometimes called the outdoor
   museum of Neoclassicism, was the first Russian patrimony inscribed on
   the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites.

The Palaces

   St. Petersburg has been known as the city of palaces. One of the
   earliest of these is the Summer Palace, a modest house built for Peter
   I in the Summer Garden (1710–1714). Much more imposing are the baroque
   residences of his associates, such as the Kikin Hall and the Menshikov
   Palace on the Neva Embankment, constructed from designs by Domenico
   Trezzini over the years 1710 to 1716. A residence adjacent to the
   Menshikov palace was redesigned for Peter II and now houses the State
   University.

   Probably the most illustrious of imperial palaces is the baroque Winter
   Palace (1754–1762), a huge building with dazzlingly luxurious
   interiors, now housing the Hermitage Museum. The same architect,
   Bartolomeo Rastrelli, was also responsible for three residences in the
   vicinity of the Nevsky Prospekt: the Stroganov palace (1752–1754, now a
   wax museum), the Vorontsov palace (1749–1757, now a military school),
   and the Anichkov Palace (1741–1750, many times rebuilt, now a palace
   for children). Other baroque palaces include the Sheremetev house on
   the Fontanka embankment (also called the Fountain House), and the
   Beloselsky-Belozersky Palace (1846–1848) on the Nevsky Prospekt,
   formerly a residence of the Grand Duke Sergey Aleksandrovich.
   The Hermitage Museum complex with the Winter Palace at right.
   Enlarge
   The Hermitage Museum complex with the Winter Palace at right.

   Of Neoclassical palaces, the foremost is St Michael's (or Engineers')
   Castle, constructed for Emperor Paul in 1797–1801 to replace the
   earlier Summer Palace. The Tauride Palace of Prince Potemkin
   (1783–1789), situated nearby, used to be a seat of the first Russian
   parliament. Just to the left from the Hermitage buildings is the Marble
   Palace, commissioned by Count Orlov and built in 1768–1785 from various
   sorts of marble to a Neoclassical design by Antonio Rinaldi. The
   Michael Palace (1819–1825), famed for its opulent interiors and named
   after its first lodger, Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich, now houses the
   Russian Museum. Also built in the Neoclassical style are the Yusupov
   palace (the 1790s), where Rasputin was killed; the Razumovsky palace
   (1762–1766); the Shuvalov palace (1830–1838); and the Yelagin Palace
   (1818–1822), a sumptuous summer dacha of the imperial family, situated
   on the Yelagin Island.

   The last important residences were built for Nicholas I's children: the
   Mariinsky Palace (1839–1844), located just opposite St Isaac's
   Cathedral and housing a city council, the Nicholas Palace (1853–61),
   and the New Michael Palace (1857-1861).

The churches

   Most of the church buildings belong to the Russian government, since
   their seizure in 1917. The largest church in the city is St Isaac's
   Cathedral (1818–1858), one of the biggest domed buildings in the world,
   constructed for 40 years under supervision of its architect, Auguste de
   Montferrand. Another magnificent church in the Empire style is the
   Kazan Cathedral (1801–1811), situated on the Nevsky Prospekt and
   modeled after St Peter's, Vatican. No tourist can miss the Church of
   the Savior on Blood (1883–1907), a gorgeous monument in the old Russian
   style which marks the spot of Alexander II's assassination. The Peter
   and Paul Cathedral (1712–1732), a long-time symbol of the city,
   contains the sepulchers of Peter the Great and other Russian emperors.
   Apart from these four principal cathedrals, which operate today
   primarily as museums, there are numerous other churches.

   Of baroque structures, the grandest is the white-and-blue Smolny
   Convent (1748–1764), a striking design by Bartolomeo Rastrelli, but
   never completed. It is followed by the Naval Cathedral of St Nicholas
   (1753–1762), a lofty structure dedicated to the Russian Navy, the
   outside being covered with plaques to sailors lost at sea. The church
   of Sts Simeon and Anna (1731–1734), St Sampson Cathedral (1728–1740),
   St Pantaleon church (1735–1739), and St Andrew Cathedral (1764–1780)
   are all worth mentioning.
   The Chesma palace church (1780) is a rare example of the Gothic Revival
   in Russia.
   Enlarge
   The Chesma palace church (1780) is a rare example of the Gothic Revival
   in Russia.

   The Neoclassical churches are too numerous to count. Many of them are
   intended to dominate vast squares, like St. Vladimir's Cathedral
   (1769–1789), not to be confused with the church of Our Lady of Vladimir
   (1761–1783). The Transfiguration Cathedral (1827–29) and the Trinity
   Cathedral (1828–1835, fire-damaged) were both designed by Vasily
   Stasov. Smaller churches include the Konyushennaya (1816–1823), also by
   Stasov, the "Easter Cake" church (1785–1787), noted for its droll
   appearance, St Catherine church on the Vasilievsky Island (1768–1771),
   and numerous non-Orthodox churches on the Nevsky Prospekt.

   The Alexander Nevsky Monastery, intended to house the relics of St
   Alexander Nevsky, contains two cathedrals and several smaller churches
   in various styles. It is also remarkable for the Tikhvin Cemetery,
   where many notable Russians are buried.

   The city has two small churches in the early Gothic Revival style,
   those of St John the Baptist (1776–1781) and the Chesmenskaya
   (1777–1780), both designed by Yury Velten. The late 19th-century and
   early 20th-century temples are all constructed from Russian Revival or
   Byzantine Revival designs. The cathedral mosque (1909–1920), reputedly
   the largest in Europe, is built after the model of Timurid temples in
   Samarkand.

   St Petersburg Buddhist temple was the first in Europe. Construction was
   funded by subscriptions of the Dalai Lama and Russian and Mongolian
   Buddhists; the structure was inaugurated in the presence of Itigilov in
   1914 and served as a valuable resource to transient Buryats and Kalmyks
   during World War I. It functioned until 1935 when the lamas passed into
   gulags. The temple and its grounds were used for secular purposes until
   1991, when the datsan was eventually reopened for worship.

Public buildings

   The golden spire of the Peter and Paul Cathedral rises above the Peter
   and Paul Fortress on the Neva river
   Enlarge
   The golden spire of the Peter and Paul Cathedral rises above the Peter
   and Paul Fortress on the Neva river

   The Peter and Paul Fortress, formerly a political prison, occupies a
   dominant position in the centre of the city. A boardwalk was built
   along a portion of the fortress wall, giving visitors a clear view of
   the city across the river to the south. On the other bank of the Neva,
   the spit of the Vasilievsky island is graced by the former Bourse
   building (1805–1810), reminiscent of a classic Greek temple, with two
   great Rostral Columns, decorated with ships' prows, standing in front
   of it.

   Undoubtedly the most famous of St. Petersburg's museums is the
   Hermitage, one of the world's largest and richest collections of
   Western European art. Its vast holdings were originally exhibited in
   the Greek Revival building (1838–1852) by Leo von Klenze, now called
   the New Hermitage. But the first Russian museum was established by
   Peter the Great in the Kunstkammer, erected in 1718–1734 on the
   opposite bank of the Neva River and formerly a home to the Russian
   Academy of Sciences. Other popular tourist destinations include the
   Stieglitz Museum of Applied Arts (1885–1895), the Ethnography Museum
   (1900–1911), the Suvorov Museum of Military History (1901–1904), and
   the Political History Museum (1904–06).
   The city is adorned with numerous monuments from the imperial period of
   Russian history.
   Enlarge
   The city is adorned with numerous monuments from the imperial period of
   Russian history.

   The imperial government institutions were housed in the General Staff
   building on the Palace Square (1820–1827), with a huge triumphal arch
   in the centre, the Senate and Synod buildings on the Senate Square
   (1827–1843), the Imperial Cabinet (1803–1805) and the City Duma
   (1784-87) on the Nevsky Prospekt, the Assignation Bank (1783–1790), the
   Customs Office (1829–1832), and the splendid Admiralty (1806–1823), one
   of the city's most conspicuous landmarks. Most of these buildings were
   designed either by Giacomo Quarenghi, or by Carlo Rossi.

   The former imperial capital is rich in educational institutions. Saint
   Petersburg State University occupies several buildings on the
   Vasilievsky Island, including the spacious baroque edifice of Twelve
   Collegia (1722–1744). The Academy of Arts (1764–1788), an exceedingly
   handsome structure, overlooks a quayside adorned with genuine Egyptian
   griffins and sphinxes. The Smolny Institute (1806–1808), originally the
   first school for Russian women, was picked up by Lenin as his
   headquarters during the Russian Revolution of 1917. The Catherine
   Institute (1804–1807), also designed by Quarenghi, has been affiliated
   with the Russian National Library. Another Neoclassical building by
   Quarenghi, a roomy Horse Guards Riding School (1804–1807), was recently
   designated the Central Exhibition Hall.

   Some of the city shops and storehouses are landmarks in their own
   right. For example, the monumental New Holland Arch (1779–1787) and
   adjacent walls of the New Holland isle are occupied by commercial
   enterprises. The Merchant Court on the Nevsky Prospekt (1761–1785),
   also designed by Jean-Baptiste Vallin de la Mothe, houses the largest
   extant 18th-century supermarket in the world, as well as several coffee
   bars and a metro station. Nearby are the Circular Market, erected in
   1785–1790, and the Passage, one of the great covered arcades of the
   mid-19th century. Other department stores, built in the majestic Art
   Nouveau style, line the Nevsky Prospekt and include the Eliseev
   emporium and the House of Books.

   St Petersburg is a home to many theatres. The oldest is the Hermitage
   Theatre, a private palatial theatre of Catherine the Great, still
   preserving the complex stage machinery of the 18th-century. The
   Alexandrine Theatre, built in 1828–1832 by Carlo Rossi, was named after
   the wife of Nicholas I. Much more famous outside Russia is the
   Mariinsky Theatre (formerly known as the Kirov Theatre of Opera and
   Ballet), which has been styled the capital of the world ballet. Also
   worthy of note is the Ciniselli Circus, one of the oldest circus
   buildings in the world. The city conservatory, the first in Russia, was
   opened in 1862 and bears the name of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov; its
   alumni include Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, and Shostakovich.

Public monuments

   The Bronze Horseman comes to life and races the streets of St.
   Petersburg in more than one work of Russian fiction. St Isaac's
   Cathedral looms in the background.
   Enlarge
   The Bronze Horseman comes to life and races the streets of St.
   Petersburg in more than one work of Russian fiction. St Isaac's
   Cathedral looms in the background.

   Probably the most familiar symbol of St Petersburg is the equestrian
   statue of Peter the Great, installed in 1782 on the Senate Square.
   Considered the greatest masterpiece of the French-born Etienne Maurice
   Falconet, the statue figures prominently in the Russian literature
   under the name of the Bronze Horseman.

   The Palace Square is dominated by the unique Alexander Column
   (1830–1834), the tallest of its kind in the world and so nicely set
   that no attachment to the base is needed. A striking monument to
   Generalissimo Suvorov, represented as a youthful god of war, was
   erected in 1801 on the Field of Mars, formerly used for military
   parades and popular festivities. Saint Isaac's Square is graced by the
   Monument to Nicholas I (1856–1859), which was spared by Bolshevik
   authorities from destruction as the first equestrian statue in the
   world with merely two support points (the rear feet of the horse).

   The public monuments of St Petersburg also include Mikeshin's circular
   statue of Catherine II on the Nevsky Avenue, fine horse statues on the
   Anichkov Bridge, a Rodin-like equestrian statue of Alexander III by
   Paolo Troubetzkoy, and the Tercentenary monument presented by France in
   2003 and installed on the Sennaya Square.

   Some of the most important events in the city's history are represented
   by particular monuments. The Russian victory over Napoleon, for
   example, was commemorated by the Narva Triumphal Gate (1827–1834), and
   the victory in the Russo-Turkish War, 1828-1829 — by the Moscow
   Triumphal Gates (1834–1838). Following this tradition, the
   Piskarevskoye Cemetery was opened in 1960 as a monument to the victims
   of the 900-Day Siege.

Suburbs

   St Petersburg is surrounded by imperial residences, some of which are
   inscribed in the World Heritage list. These include: Peterhof, with the
   Grand Peterhof Palace and glorious fountain cascades; Tsarskoe Selo,
   with the baroque Catherine Palace and the neoclassical Alexander
   Palace; and Pavlovsk, which contains a domed palace of Emperor Paul
   (1782–1786) and one of the largest English-style parks in Europe.

   Much of Peterhof and Tsarskoe Selo had to be restored after being
   dynamited by the retreating Germans in 1944. Other imperial residences
   have yet to be revived to their former glory. Gatchina, lying 45 km
   southwest of St Petersburg, retains a royal castle with 600 rooms
   surrounded by a park. Oranienbaum, founded by Prince Menshikov,
   features his spacious baroque residence and the sumptuously decorated
   Chinese palace. Strelna has a hunting lodge of Peter the Great and the
   reconstructed Constantine Palace, used for official summits of the
   Russian president with foreign leaders.

   Other notable suburbs are Shlisselburg, with a medieval fortress, and
   Kronstadt, with its 19th-century fortifications and naval monuments.
   Catherinehof, originally intended as a garden suburb, was engulfed by
   the city in the 19th century.

History

   Tsar Peter the Great founded the city on May 27 ( May 16, Old Style),
   1703 after reconquering the Ingrian land from Sweden. He named it after
   his patron saint, the apostle Saint Peter. The original name of
   SanktPiterburh was actually an imitation of the pronunciation of Dutch
   Sint Petersburg; Peter had lived and studied in the Netherlands for
   quite some time. The Swedish fortress of Nyenskans and the city Nyen
   had formerly occupied the site, in the marshlands where the river Neva
   drains into the Gulf of Finland.

   Since construction began during a time of war, the new city's first
   building was a fortification. Known today as the Peter and Paul
   Fortress, it originally also bore the name of SanktPiterburh. It was
   laid down on Zaiachiy (Hare's) Island, just off the right bank of the
   Neva, a couple of miles inland from the Gulf. The marshland was drained
   and the city spread outward from the fortress under the supervision of
   German engineers whom Peter had invited to Russia. Peter forbade the
   construction of stone buildings in all of Russia outside of St
   Petersburg, so that all stonemasons would come to help build the new
   city. Serfs provided most of the labor for the project. According to
   one estimate, 30,000 died .
   Inspired by example of Venice and Amsterdam, Peter the Great envisaged
   boats and coracles as principal means of transport in his city of
   canals. No permanent bridges across the Neva were allowed until 1850.
   Enlarge
   Inspired by example of Venice and Amsterdam, Peter the Great envisaged
   boats and coracles as principal means of transport in his city of
   canals. No permanent bridges across the Neva were allowed until 1850.

   "The most artificial city in the world", as Dostoevsky put it, was
   intended to become the new capital of Russia. By virtue of its position
   on an arm of the Baltic Sea, it was called by Pushkin a "window on
   Europe". It was also a base for Peter's navy, protected by the island
   fortress of Kronstadt, built soon after the city. Indeed, the first
   person to build a house in Saint Petersburg was Cornelis Cruys,
   commander of the Baltic Fleet. Inspired by example of Venice and
   Amsterdam, Peter the Great envisaged boats and coracles as principal
   means of transport in his city of canals. No permanent bridges across
   the Neva were allowed until 1850.

   In the course of the 18th and 19th centuries, Russia's elite built
   lavishly in the city, leaving many palaces that survive to this day.
   But the city also suffered from regular flooding. The worst such flood
   occurred in November 7, 1824, when the water level rose 4.21 meters
   above normal. The playwright Alexander Griboyedov wrote, "The
   embankments of the various canals had disappeared and all the canals
   had united into one. Hundred-year-old trees in the Summer Garden were
   ripped from the ground and lying in rows, roots upward." When the
   waters receded 569 dead bodies were found, with thousands more injured
   or made ill, and more than 300 buildings had been washed away. The 1824
   inundation is the setting for Alexander Pushkin's famous poem, The
   Bronze Horseman (1834). Other disastrous floods took place in 1777 and
   1924.

   Alexander II's emancipation of the serfs (1861) caused the influx of
   large numbers of poor into the city. Tenements were erected on the
   outskirts, and nascent industry sprang up. By the end of the century,
   St Petersburg had grown up into one of the largest industrial hubs in
   Europe.

   With the growth of industry, radical movements were also astir.
   Socialist organizations were responsible for the assassinations of many
   royal officials, including that of Alexander II in 1881. The Revolution
   of 1905 began here and spread rapidly into the provinces. During World
   War I, the name Sankt Peterburg was seen to be too German and, on the
   initiative of Tsar Nicholas II, the city was renamed Petrograd on
   August 31 ( August 18, Old Style), 1914.
   Preserved as a museum ship in St. Petersburg, the Aurora became a
   symbol of the October Revolution in Russia.
   Enlarge
   Preserved as a museum ship in St. Petersburg, the Aurora became a
   symbol of the October Revolution in Russia.

   1917 saw the beginnings of the Russian Revolution. The first step (the
   February Revolution) was the removal of the Tsarist government and the
   establishment of two centers of political power, the Provisional
   government and the Petrograd Soviet. The Provisional government was
   overthrown in the October Revolution, and the Russian Civil War broke
   out. The city's proximity to anti-revolutionary armies, and generally
   unstable political climate, forced Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin to
   flee to Russia's historic former capital at Moscow on March 5, 1918.
   The move may have been intended as temporary (it was certainly
   portrayed as such), but Moscow has remained the capital ever since. On
   January 24, 1924, three days after Lenin's death, Petrograd was renamed
   Leningrad in his honour. The central committee's reason for renaming
   the city again was that Lenin had led the October revolution. Deeper
   reasons existed at the level of political symbolism: Saint Petersburg
   had stood as the head of the Tsarist empire. After Moscow it was the
   largest city and the change gave great prestige to Lenin. The renaming
   to Leningrad emphatically symbolised the upheaval that had occurred to
   the social and political system.

   The government's removal to Moscow caused a reversal of the mass
   immigration of the latter 19th century. The benefits of capital status
   had left the city. Petrograd's population in 1920 was a third of what
   it had been in 1915 (see table below).

   During World War II, Leningrad was surrounded and besieged by the
   German Wehrmacht in the Siege of Leningrad from September 8, 1941,
   until January 27, 1944, a total of twenty-nine months. A " Road of
   Life" was established over Lake Ladoga (frozen for a large part of the
   year), but it was open to airstrikes; only one out of three supply
   trucks that embarked on the journey reached its destination. Another
   route was opened on January 18, 1943 after the Red Army had succeeded
   in securing a narrow break-through of the Wehrmacht encirclement of the
   city. Some 800,000 of the city's 3,000,000 inhabitants are estimated to
   have perished. For the heroic tenacity of the city's population,
   Leningrad became the first Soviet city to be awarded the title Hero
   City.
   The downtown preserves numerous profit houses built in the Art Nouveau
   style
   Enlarge
   The downtown preserves numerous profit houses built in the Art Nouveau
   style

   According to some historians, Soviet ruler Joseph Stalin delayed the
   breaking of the siege and stymied the evacuation of the city with the
   intention of letting its intelligentsia perish at the hands of the
   Germans. Many of those Leningraders who were evacuated to distant
   corners of the Soviet Union never returned to their home city.

   The war damaged the city and killed off many of those old Petersburgers
   who had not fled after the revolution and did not perish in the mass
   purges before the war. Nonetheless, Leningrad and many of its suburbs
   were rebuilt over the following decades to the old drawings. Though
   changes in the social fabric were more permanent, the city remained an
   intellectual and arts centre.

   After the collapse of the Soviet Union, a bare majority (54%) of the
   population agreed to restore "the original name, Saint Petersburg," on
   September 6, 1991 (see above). As well as the city, 39 streets, six
   bridges, three Saint Petersburg Metro stations and six parks were
   renamed. Nevertheless, some, especially older people, still use the old
   names and, for example, use the old addresses on letters. The name
   releases positive associations particularly in connection with the
   siege - so that on holidays even authorities call places connected with
   World War II "Hero city Leningrad". Among young people the name
   Leningrad seems to be a vague protest against the new society. One of
   the most successful bands in Russia, a Ska punk band from Saint
   Petersburg, called themselves Leningrad (not to be confused with
   Leningrad Cowboys from Finland).

   After a popular vote the name of the Oblast (administrative province)
   of which the city is the capital remained Leningrad Oblast.

Population

   According to the 2002 Census, St. Petersburg had 4,661,219 inhabitants.
   That amounts to roughly 3.2% of the population of Russia as a whole. It
   is the second largest city in Russia, after Moscow. The International
   Labour Organization (ILO) estimates there are up to 16,000 children
   living on the street (as of 2000).

   According to the 2002 Census, the city's prevailing nationalities are
   Russians (84.7%), Ukrainians (1.9%), Belarusians (1.2%), as well as
   substantial numbers of Jews, Tatars, Chuvash, and people from Caucasus
   (many of whom are illegal immigrants). As for religions most are
   Russian Orthodox; many others are atheist.

Population development

   The following charts show the numbers of inhabitants. Until 1944 these
   were mostly estimates, but the figures for 1959 to 2002 come from
   census returns, and the figure for 2005 is an estimate.
   Population development
   Enlarge
   Population development

   year inhabitants
   1725      75,000
   1750     150,000
   1800     300,000
   1846     336,000
   1852     485,000
   1858     520,100
   1864     539,100
   1867     667,000
   1873     842,900
   1881     876,600
   1886     928,600
   1891   1,035,400
   1897   1,264,900
   1901   1,439,400

                         year       inhabitants
                   1908               1,678,000
                   1910               1,962,000
                   1915               2,318,600
                   1920                 722,000
                   1926               1,616,100
                   1936               2,739,800
                   1939               3,191,300
                   1944               2,559,000
                   January 15, 1959   2,888,000
                   January 15, 1970   3,512,974
                   January 17, 1979   4,072,528
                   January 12, 1989   4,460,424
                   October 9, 2002    4,159,635
                   January 1, 2005    4,596,000

Demographics

   National composition of St. Petersburg ( 2002 Census):
     * Russians: 84.7%
     * Ukrainians: 1.9%
     * Belarusians: 1.2%
     * Jews: 0.8%
     * Tatars: 0.8%

   7.9% of the population did not state their nationality during the
   Census.

Economy

   One of St. Petersburg's many canals
   Enlarge
   One of St. Petersburg's many canals

   The city is a major centre of machine building, including power
   equipment, machinery, shipyards, instrument manufacture, ferrous and
   nonferrous metallurgy (production of aluminium alloys), chemicals,
   printing, and one of the major ports of the Baltic Sea.

   The Saint Petersburg Mint (Monetny Dvor) is apart from Goznak in Moscow
   the only place in Russia that mints Russian coins, medals and badges.

   Ford Motor Company began producing the Ford Focus automobile here in
   2002.

   Toyota is building its plant in one of the suburbs; General Motors and
   Nissan have signed the deals with the Russian government too.

   In 2006 Saint-Petersburg's budget reached volume of more than $6
   billion and planned to reach $8 billion by 2008.

Transport

   Finlyandsky Rail Terminal from helicopter
   Enlarge
   Finlyandsky Rail Terminal from helicopter

   The city is a major transport hub. It is the centre of the local road
   and railway system, and has a seaport (in the Gulf of Finland of the
   Baltic Sea) and river ports (in the Neva delta). It is the terminus of
   the Volga-Baltic Waterway which links the Baltic with the Black Sea.
   The St Petersburg Dam (currently under construction) will complete a
   ring road around the city.

   The city has five major railway stations serving various directions:
   Baltiysky Rail Terminal, Vitebsky Rail Terminal, Ladozhsky Rail
   Terminal, Moskovsky Rail Terminal and Finlyandsky Rail Terminal. Until
   recently, the Varshavsky Rail Terminal served as another major station,
   however, it has been closed down and converted into a railway museum.

   Saint Petersburg has daily international railway connections to
   Helsinki, Finland via Vyborg (on the Russian side) and Kouvola and
   Lahti (on the Finnish side). Two Russian trains - the Repin and the
   Tolstoi - as well as the Finnish Sibelius operate exclusively on this
   route (although Tolstoi continues to Moscow). The journey to Helsinki
   takes just over 5 hours including the time used for border control and
   customs.
   The exquisite decoration of Saint Petersburg Metro
   Enlarge
   The exquisite decoration of Saint Petersburg Metro

   The city is served by Pulkovo Airport, which carries both domestic and
   international flights. Saint Petersburg has an extensive public
   transport system, including the tramway network that is considered the
   world's largest by track length. The Saint Petersburg Metro (
   subway/underground) system began operation in 1955, and some of its
   stations are a tourist attraction on their own.

Administrative divisions

   The city has numerous islands on which many historically important
   parts of the city are located. Vasilyevsky island is the largest of
   them and forms the whole Vasileostrovsky Administrative District.
   Petrogradsky, Petrovsky, Aptekarsky, Krestovsky, Yelagin, and Kamenny
   islands form Petrogradsky Administrative District.

Culture

Music in St. Petersburg

   St. Petersburg has always been known for its high-quality cultural
   life. Among the city's more than forty theaters is the world-famous
   Kirov Theatre (known now by its pre-revolution name of Mariinsky
   Theatre), home to the Kirov Ballet company and first-class ballet and
   opera. The St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra is one of the best in
   Russia.

   The Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich, who was born in St.
   Petersburg, dedicated his Seventh Symphony to the city, calling it the
   "Leningrad Symphony." He wrote the symphony during the German siege of
   the city in 1941.

   St. Petersburg has also been home to the newest movements in modern
   music. For example, in 1972 mathematics student Boris Grebenshchikov
   founded the band Aquarium, an underground rock group that grew to huge
   popularity in the 70s and 80s. St. Petersburg was similarly home to
   Kino, headed by the legendary Viktor Tsoi. Since then the "Piter's
   rock" music style was formed.

   Today's St. Petersburg boasts many pioneering musicians, from
   Leningrad's Sergei Shnurov to the group Tequilajazzz.

   St. Petersburg also features on Billy Joel's 1989 album Storm Front in
   Track 7 titled 'Leningrad'.

St. Petersburg in the movies

   Skyline of St Petersburg in the 19th century, seen from St Isaac's
   Cathedral.
   Enlarge
   Skyline of St Petersburg in the 19th century, seen from St Isaac's
   Cathedral.

   The end of the cultural predominance of St. Petersburg coincided with
   Moscow's being chosen as the new capital and the dawn of film industry
   in Russia. Few films achieved international acclaim and international
   productions from Western countries couldn't film there. Lenfilm was the
   Soviet film studio based in St. Petersburg; however, films that became
   known internationally were often based on famous literary works, such
   as a few versions of Anna Karenina (a Russian and a French film, each
   of 1911; the first Western Anna Karenina has been shot in Petersburg
   after the end of communism) or of Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Idiot (the
   first one, Russian, in 1910).

   Several films deal with the complex history of the city many of which
   have propagandistic purposes. Outstanding is the film Noi Vivi (Italy,
   1942; see Noi Vivi at IMDB), based on the novel We the Living by Ayn
   Rand, a film that comments on Italian politics by way of featuring the
   October Revolution. Anastasia has been shot several times, and
   especially famous is the 1956 version casting Ingrid Bergman; Warner
   Brothers also set a 1997 musical in the city. Giuseppe Tornatore
   planned a film about the Siege of Leningrad in 2005. The Russian Ark,
   shot in the Winter Palace (now the Russian State Hermitage Museum), let
   the audience meet various real and fictional personages from 300 years
   of Russian history up till the present. Der Untergang was also filmed
   in Petersburg because of similarities of the historical city centre and
   the centre of Berlin of 1945.

   St. Petersburg also is seen in Interdevochka (also Интердевочка or
   Intergirl) by Pyotr Todorovsky in 1989 featuring impressive shots of
   the city. The cult comedy Irony of Fate (Cyrillic: Ирония судьбы, или С
   лёгким паром!) even if mostly shot at Cheremushki, Moscow) plays in St.
   Petersburg and pokes fun at Soviet city planning.

   Fiction movies include GoldenEye (1995) or the action movie Midnight in
   St. Petersburg (UK, 1996). Onegin (1999 featuring Liv Tyler) is based
   on the Pushkin poem and showcases many tourist attractions. The Stroll
   (2003) by Aleksei Uchitel featured many attractions of the city with
   Irina Pegova playing the role of a mysterious, well endowed and
   enchanting Russian beauty. Two Brothers and A Bride (2002), originally
   titled A Foreign Affair and starring David Arquette, is a comedy about
   brothers seeking a mail order bride in St. Petersburg and end up
   finding much more. The International Film Festival in Saint Petersburg
   has been held annually since its inauguration in 1993 during the White
   Nights.

St. Petersburg in literature

   The feverish life of St Petersburg's main avenue was described by Gogol
   in his stories, notably in The Nevsky Prospect.
   Enlarge
   The feverish life of St Petersburg's main avenue was described by Gogol
   in his stories, notably in The Nevsky Prospect.

   It was said that St. Petersburg was the head of the Russian Empire,
   whereas Moscow was its heart. "The most deliberate city in the world,"
   Dostoyevsky called it, emphasizing its artificiality. But it was also a
   symbol of modern disorder in a changing Russia. It frequently appeared
   to Russian writers as a menacing and unhuman 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).

Notable people

   Numerous Russian and international aristocrats, politicians, artists,
   and scientists were born and/or have lived in Saint Petersburg. These
   include many of the Russian emperors; the novelists Fyodor Dostoyevsky,
   Ayn Rand, and Vladimir Nabokov; the composers Modest Mussorgsky, Pyotr
   Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Igor Stravinsky, Dmitri Shostakovich, and Nikolai
   Rimsky-Korsakov; the painters James McNeill Whistler and Kazimir
   Malevich; the scientists Leonhard Euler, Mikhail Lomonosov, Heinrich
   Schliemann and Alfred Nobel; the ballet dancers Vaslav Nijinsky, Anna
   Pavlova, George Balanchine and Rudolf Nureyev; the mathematician
   Grigori Perelman; and the politicians Ignaz Aurelius Fessler, Gustaf
   Emil Mannerheim, and Vladimir Putin.

Education

   Saint Petersburg has long been a centre of education in Russia.
     * Saint Petersburg State University (founded 1724)
     * Saint Petersburg State Institute of Technology (1828)
     * Saint Petersburg Conservatory (1862)
     * Saint Petersburg Electrical Engineering University (1886)
     * Saint Petersburg Polytechnical University (1899)
     * Saint Petersburg State University of Information Technologies,
       Mechanics and Optics (1900)
     * Saint Petersburg State University of Engineering and Economics
       (1906)
     * Smolny College (1999)
     * Saint Petersburg State Technical University of Telecommunications
     * Saint Petersburg Christian University

Sister cities

     * Belgium Antwerp, Belgium
     * Serbia Belgrade, Serbia
     * Hungary Debrecen, Hungary
     * Germany Dresden, Germany (since 1961)
     * Poland Gdańsk, Poland (since 1997)
     * Germany Hamburg, Germany (since 1953)
     * Iran Isfahan, Iran (since 1999)
     * Turkey Istanbul, Turkey
     * Sudan Khartoum, Sudan
     * Slovakia Košice, Slovakia (since 1995)
     * United States Lansing, Michigan, USA (since 1992)
     * United States Los Angeles, USA
     * United Kingdom Manchester, United Kingdom (since 1962)
     * Australia Melbourne, Australia (since 1989)
     * Italy Milan, Italy
     * India Mumbai, India
     * Myanmar Naypyidaw, Myanmar(since 2006)
     * Japan Osaka, Japan (since 1979)
     * Canada Québec City, Québec, Canada (since 2002)
     * Netherlands Rotterdam, Netherlands
     * People's Republic of China Shanghai, People's Republic of China
       (since 1988)
     * Finland Turku, Finland (the first one, since 1953)
     * Poland Warsaw, Poland (since 1997)
     * Armenia Yerevan, Armenia
     * Croatia Zagreb, Croatia (since 1968)
     * Ukraine Lviv, Ukraine (since 2006)

   In addition, Saint Petersburg has a "twin city" relationship with:
     * United States St. Petersburg, Florida

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