Saint-Petersburg is considered to be the Northern capital of Russia that is situated on Neva River, on the shore of the Finnish Bay that flows to the Baltic Sea. It is one of the largest cities of the Russian Federation with the population more than 5 million people.
Saint-Petersburg has got lots of nicknames or unofficial names such as "City on the Neva", "Northern Palmyra", "Northern Capital", "Northern Venice", "City of White Nights", "Cultural Capital", "Cradle of Three Revolutions". UNESCO included more than four thousand architectural masterpieces of this city into its list. Also, according to the data of the same organization, Saint-Petersburg is ranked the 8th place in the list of the most popular and attractive cities of the world. It is not surprising as the city was created by the best architects and builders of Russia, Italy, France, Germany, Holland, Sweden and many other countries.
The Northern Capital of Russia is famous for its White Nights, which start at the end of May and last till the end of July. During White Nights they organize various festivals and celebrations.
Saint-Petersburg celebrates its anniversary every May, as the history of this fascinating city started on the 27th of May in 1703. In the year of 1703, the czar Peter I laid the Fortress Sankt-Piter-Burch on the reconquered land from the Swedes. As a result the city got the same name.
For Russia those times were difficult times as it was the 3rd year of the Northern War with Sweden. At that moment the young Russian Army were reconquering the lands from Sweden which had been occupied by the Swedes in the 17th century. Observing the banks of the Neva with pleasure Peter I was thinking how to block the entrance to the river for the Swedes. The tsar Peter I was simply in love with that place: a mighty river, hundreds of islands and dozens of channels. He used to call that picturesque place a paradise. And exactly there Peter I decided to lay the fortress that would have to become a so-called barrier against the Swedes. At first the tsar even had not thought about the construction of the city.
However, the city of Saint-Petersburg was built and was called "New Rome". Even its coat of arms resembled the coat of arms of Vatican as the 1st one had crossed anchors on it and the other one - crossed keys. The anchor being a symbol of salvation and faith also symbolized the young Russian Fleet and showed that the tsar Peter I like the Apostles possessing the keys to heaven was eager to open the doors of his own paradise to Europe.
By the way, the modern name of the same Fortress is the Petropavlovskaya Fortress that means the Peter and Paul Fortress, it was renamed this way after the building of the Peter and Paul Cathedral on its territory. The legendary Fortress is located on the island in the city center on the island that is called "Zayachiy Ostrov" or "Hare's Island".
Peter I chose the name of the city in honor of the Apostle St. Peter.The initial name of the city Sankt-Piter-Burch was like imitation of the Dutch pronunciation as the Russian czar was a big admirer of Holland, especially Amsterdam that was the most advanced country of that time, the 1st bourgeois republic in the world, and the main sea power. However, in the 1720-s the name Sankt-Piter-Burch was changed to Saint-Petersburg that is very similar to a German one.
Though, soon after the beginning of the World War I the city name was changed and they started to call it Petrograd which means Peter's City. The city started to be called already not in honor of the Apostle St. Peter but in honor of the emperor.
But, in the year of 1924, immediately after the death of the leader of the world proletariat Vladimir Lenin, the city was renamed Leningrad in memory of him.
However, some active social movement for the restoration of the historical city names in Russia created in the middle of the 1980-s returned back the original historical name to the city on the Neva. And since the year of 1990 the city has been called Saint-Petersburg again.
In 1712 the capital of the Russian Empire was transferred from Moscow to Sain-Petersburg. Simply in the year of 1712 the royal court and after them the main official institutions moved to the city of Saint-Petersburg. And the city officially remained the capital up to 1918. As during the reign of the tsar Peter II, the grandson of Peter I, the capital was returned back to the city of Moscow. That's why nowadays very often they call Saint-Petersburg the Northern capital of Russia, of course not officially.
Petersburg is like a revived historical novel full of palace coups, intrigues, heroic feats of the city residents during the war times. The city of Saint-Petersburg is simply amazing. It is the most European city among all the other Russian cities and the most Russian among all the European cities.
In the Northern Capital of Russia there are more than 250 museums. The Hermitage, the Russian Museum and the Kunstkamera are considered to be ones of the most ancient museums of the world. The Kunstkamera was the first museum in Russia established by Peter the Great in 1719. Peter's museum was a cabinet of curiosities dedicated to preserving "natural and human curiosities and rarities". The Kunstkamera is also known as the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography. The collection of of the World Ard in the Hermitage Museum is much richer than the collection in the Louvre. The Hermitage is located in five historical buildings of the city including the Winter Palace that is the former Residence of the Russian tzars.
The city of Saint-Petersburg has got a number of unique cathedrals and churches: St Isaac's Cathedral that is the former main cathedral of the Russian Empire and the largest cathedral of the city nowadays can hold around 10 thousand people; the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood built as a temple-monument to Alexander II on the same place where the emperor was mortally wounded by terrorists in 1882; the Cathedral of SS Peter and Paul that is the burial place of all the Russian Emperors and Empresses from Peter the Great to Alexander III and considered to be the highest Orthodox Church in the world; the Kazan Cathedral or Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan, its building was inspired by the Basilica of St. Peter’s in Rome and was intended to be the country’s main Orthodox Church, and after the war of 1812 with Napoleon it became a monument to the Russian victory, where the famous Russian Field Marshal Mikhail Kutuzov was buried.
In the Northern Capital it is possible to see the 1st monument in Russia - "Bronze Horseman" dedicated to the Emperor Peter I.
In the city there are also more than 80 theatres including such world famous, the former imperial theaters as the Mariinsky Theater, the Mussorgsky (Maly) Theater of Opera and Ballet.
The Northern Capital of Russia is also considered to be a city of high musical culture with a number of concert Halls, among which the most famous ones are the D.D. Shostakovich St. Petersburg Academic Philharmonia, the Academic Glinka Capella, and the St. Peterburg State Jazz Philharmonic Hall that is the only one in Russia.
St. Petersburg fascinates with its fabulous beauty. The city as if is shrouded in a pearly mist which mutes the brightness of its colors a bit and adds a little mystique to it at the same time. The Northern capital can reveal all its innermost secrets only to those who usually stroll along its avenues and side streets visiting all the corners of the city.
Click on the image of the City to Book the Hotel in Russia! All Hotel Rates brought to you by Booking.com