St Petersburg

St Petersburg is the second largest city in Russia. Only Moscow, the capital, has more people. St, Petersburg is a major port of the country and one of the world's leading industrial and cultural centers. The city lays in the northwestern part of the country, at the eastern end of the Gulf of Finland , an arm of the Baltic Sea .

St. Petersburg was the first Russian city built in imitation of Western European cities. Its magnificent palaces, handsome public buildings, and wide squares resemble those of such cities as London, Paris and Vienna. In the early 1800's, a planning commission that included the noted Italian architect Carlo Rossi established a design for the center of the city that includes a series of squares.

The city has had three names. Czar Peter I (the Great) founded it in 1703 as St. Petersburg. After Russia went to war against Germany in 1914, at the start of World War I, the name was changed to Petrograd. The country's officials chose this name to get rid of the German ending «burg». In 1924, the Soviet Union 's government renamed the city in honor of V.I. Lenin, the founder of the Soviet Communist Party. Today, the city has regained its initial name.

St. Petersburg lies on a marshy lowland where the Neva River empties into the Gulf of Finland. Because of its northern location, the city has very short periods of daylight in winter. For about three weeks in June, it has «white nights», during which the sky is never completely dark.

The center of St. Petersburg is on the southern bank of the Neva. This area includes the main business district and most of the city's famous buildings. Many fine examples of baroque and neoclassical architecture have been preserved in the area.

The historic Winter Palace (now the Hermitage Museum), completed in 1762, stands in the center of the city. The palace was the winter home of the czars. The General Staff Building, designed by Rossi, stands across Palace Square from the Winter Palace. Several blocks away are the Cathedral of St. Isaac of Dalmatia , whose massive golden dome dominates the city's skyline.

The center of St. Petersburg is surrounded by old residential areas that have stone or brick apartment buildings. Near the outskirts of the city are thousands of modern apartment buildings. The western section of St. Petersburg is the chief industrial district of the city.

Several luxurious palaces built in the 1700's still stand in three suburbs of St. Petersburg - Pavlovsk, Petrodvorets, and Pushkin/These palaces, famed for their architectural excellence, were summer homes of the czars. Today, they are popular resorts and tourist attractions.

Over 40 institutions of higher learning are in St. Petersburg. The University of St. Petersburg, with about 20,000 students, is one of the largest universities in Russia. The Conservatory of Music, established in 1862, is the nation's oldest music school. Its graduates include such famous composers as Sergei Prokofiev, Dmitri Shostakovich, and Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky. The Choreographic School trained such famous ballet dancers as Vaslav Nijinsky, Rudolf Nureyev, and Anna Pavlova.

St. Petersburg is the home of many fine museums and theatres. The Hermitage is known throughout the world for its masterpieces. It exhibits outstanding collections of ancient

Greek and Roman sculpture; Islamic art; and Baroque, Renaissance, and French impressionist paintings. The Russian Museum has a large collection of Russian art The Mariinsky Theatre presents ballet and opera. Dramatic productions are offered by several theatres, including the Gorki Academic Theatre, the Pushkin Theatre, and the Young Spectators' Theatre.

The city has an important place in Russian literature. A number of famous Russian authors have used St. Petersburg as a background for many of their works. These writers include Alexander Pushkin, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and Leo Tolstoy.

St. Petersburg has been a major shipbuilding center since the early 1700's. During the 1800's, it became an important manufacturer of machine tools. Today, the production of machinery makes up about 40 per cent of the city's industry. Other important products include chemicals, electrical equipment, textiles, and timber.

St. Petersburg's industry and location make it an important trade and distribution Centrex. The city has an excellent port and is served by 12 railroads.

The city's history is closely connected with the history of Russia. Peter the Great made St. Petersburg his «window to Europe». In 1712, Peter moved the nation's capital from Moscow to St. Petersburg. The city became the intellectual and social Centrex of Russia. It played an important part in many major events in Russian history. In 1918, the Bolsheviks moved the capital back to Moscow. During World War II, Leningrad was a major target of Germany's attack on the Soviet Union. The Germans laid siege to the city from September 1941 to January 1944. About a million Leningraders died during the siege, most of them from starvation. The city was badly damaged by the attack but it did not fall. A large number of Leningrad's historic structures were rebuilt after World War II.

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